Sasha DiGiulian

The freak accident happened when a ledge Smythe was standing on gave way, shearing his rope as he fell.

Caldwell: “Climbers are the eyes and the ears of the mountains.”

Sasha DiGiulian and Tommy Caldwell team up with Access Fund and NativesOutdoors, led by Len Necefer, to discuss land management and how climbers can do a better job at interacting with Native Lands and Communities.

In this essay, Molly Mitchell recounts her and Sasha DiGiulian's epic day spent on Samadhi, a 13-pitch 5.13a big wall in El Salto Mexico.

Check out Rock and Ice's author page.

The Rocky Mountain Trilogy: Three 5.14 big walls in the Canadian Rockies in a single season. Only Sonnie Trotter had completed the feat before DiGiulian.

Check out how Sasha DiGiulian prepares for an upcoming project with her climbing partner Edu Marin.

Anna Liina Laitinen also made an ascent recently.

DiGiulian says the climb is "quite technical with a lot of delicate movements and endurance oriented, but it also has some really powerful bouldering sections."

In episode 3, DiGiulian takes the sharp end for the first time, and she and VanWiemeersch have a sobering close call.

In episode 2, VanWiemeersch gives DiGiulian a crash course on how to swing your tools right if you want to feel good on lead.

"Climbing ice of this nature, it being so ephemeral and things changing, you just have to roll with the punches ... If we had gotten onto the climb, it would have gave way and we would have both died. There's just no way around that."