Dierdre Wolownick climbed a 7,500ft rock face in Yosemite on my 70th birthday, becoming the oldest woman to climb the monolith a second time. ✍️ 'I want people to know that when they just give it a try, they’d be surprised at how much they can do.'
Climbing without ropes isn’t something a novice climber would do, and many have died trying. It’s not something for the faint hearted.
I figured I’d get halfway up one wall, let fear get the best of me, and head back home. But I ended up scaling 10 or 12 walls. I loved it and didn’t want to stop.We took the Lurking Fear route, which usually takes people four days to complete – but we did it in 19 hours; 13 to go up and six to come back down.
Living with the pain would have been preferable to the results of the surgery, but it can’t be undone. Now, when I climb, I have to figure out alternative techniques, other ways to do what everyone else does simply and easily. It makes me slower and more thoughtful.Quite frankly, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to climb at all. I decided to do El Cap again when I was wondering how to celebrate my 70th birthday.
For the last stretch, we climbed solid slabs of rock that don’t have places to attach. If that sounds terrifying, it’s because it was! You can’t use rope, even though it’s very steep in spots. You have to basically free solo it, with no gear to tether you to the wall, just in case.By this time I was already so drained, but I knew I’d done it before, and could very well do it again.
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