Mayan succeeds in freeing the Salathe wall
5 October 2011 - 5:39pm
The Salathe Wall
Free climbing El Capitan has always been a dream of mine… Something which I have always aspired to ever since I started climbing. I have always had a fascination for big walls, and loved being in exposed, beautiful places. However, until a couple years ago I did not take it on as a real goal. Then, when I when I climbed El Capitan for the first time, via the Free Rider, I realized my dream was not too far fetched and I set my sights on trying the Salathe. The strikingly steep, flaring crack on the crazily exposed headwall captured my imagination… It is beautiful and brutally unforgiving.
I started my mission on the Salathe on my own and spent countless hours alone on the Headwall, working out how to climb an overhung flaring crack… This is where I really started learning how to crack climb. I had several unsuccessful attempts on the route – Exactly a year before sending the Salathe I was forced to bail off the route after freeing everything up to the Headwall, when a brutal thunderstorm hit and soaked us and all our equipment. This year I spent several days trying to climb the Headwall, and the day before I sent I had a heartbreaking fall off the very last move. This left me dejected and with the weather looking a little threatening, I was also very anxious that it would be a repeat of the previous year. But Sean, my climbing partner, was a constant source of energy and belief in my abilities. He could not have been more encouraging and supportive, and helped keep my spirits up with the help of his music and stories.
Another Birthday in the Meadow after success on the Salathe!
The weather held, conditions were perfect the next day… Every hand jam felt amazing and the climbing flowed – It was an incredible feeling reaching the top of the Headwall, free from the ground, with only a couple easy pitches to the top. A total sense of elation, release of tension and relief. Then slowly the emptiness set in, the Salathe has been a huge part of my life for the last year, and there was almost a sense of sadness – kind of like saying good bye to a great friend and teacher. Best of all Sean also succeeded in climbing the Salathe the next day! Thanks to everyone who has supported me and helped me achieve this goal of mine… It really is one of the most amazing climbs!
From:http://www.mayanclimbs.com/
12 October 2011 - 9:39am
#2
13 October 2011 - 11:40am
#3
Thanks Sally I missed that!
13 October 2011 - 12:20pm
#4
Going to put some of this on the notice board at the Gym for the kids to see. pretty inspirational.
19 October 2011 - 6:01pm
#5
Fastest Female Ascent of El Cap: Smith-Gobat Cruises Free Rider (VI 5.12d)
Written by Christopher Parker | 
| 
Mayan Smith-Gobat has scorched up El Cap’s 37-pitch Free Rider (VI 5.12d) in a mere 14 hours and 10 minutes.
"It was a hell of a lot of fun," she told Rock and Ice. "I was quite surprised because I had never actually freed the top pitches so I was psyched to be able to do them at the top of the route."
Free Rider is a four-pitch variation to the Salathé Wall that avoids the Salathé's high headwall crux pitches with a 5.12 traverse into Excalibur.
"I had been up there once, on my first trip to the Valley," she said of the Free Rider variation. "But I French-freed through the upper pitches so I actually hadn't done them."
Smith-Gobat and her partner, Niels Tietze of Yosemite Search and Rescue, started climbing 10 minutes past midnight on October 17, and summited El Cap 20 minutes past 2:00 yesterday afternoon. Her ascent is the fastest any female has ever free climbed El Capitan.
Smith-Gobat also free climbed the Salathé Wall (VI 5.13b) earlier this month for the route’s second female ascent (see report and interview).
The German ace Alexander Huber made the first ascent of Free Rider in 1998.
Steph Davis accomplished the first female ascent of Free Rider in 2004 and shortly after made an impressive one-day ascent, climbing the route in 22:15. Madaleine Sorkin and Kate Rutherford spent five days in 2010 making the first female team-free ascent of Free Rider.
[Above: Mayan Smith-Gobat free climbs the Salathé Wall. Photo by Danny Uhlmann.]
19 October 2011 - 10:44pm
#6
Brava!
20 October 2011 - 7:48am
#7
Free ridding monkeys…
•October 19, 2011 • Leave a Comment
When I first arrived in the Yosemite two years ago, I remember looking up at El Capitan with awe… I found it difficult to fathom the daunting task of free climbing that massive face in several days, let alone in a single day! However, I had my heart set on free climbing this historic wall, so I threw myself in the deep end and attempted Free Rider ground up, leading and hauling nearly every pitch, with the selfless support of my partner Max, who agreed to follow me up, even with the treat of a fast-moving storm! That first time up the Capitan totally destroyed me… and yet as soon as I reached the top I was dreaming of returning – El Capitan had found its way into my heart and there was no way I could ignore it any longer.
This year, after two seasons in the Valley, I fulfilled my dream free climb this great wall, with my ascent of the Salathe, becoming the first Kiwi (male or female) to free climb one of the central routes on El Capitan and only the second female to free the Salathe. However, I still had a couple weeks left in the Valley and decided the obvious progression was to attempt to free the Capitan in a single day…
Niels Tietze leading the traverse pitch on Free Rider. Photographer: Tom Evans.
At ten past midnight, two weeks after my ascent of the Salathe, Niels Tietze (a member of the SAR team at Yosemite) and I started up the Free Rider, carrying minimal gear, several energy bars and a bottle of water each. We moved fast through the moonlit night, swinging leads and simul-climbing the easier sections of the route. Everything flowed like clockwork, and we reached the crux of the route, the Huber Boulder pitch, at first light. Here, we encountered the only other party on the route, and they happened to be good friends of ours, who were also trying to free climb Free Rider over several days. Luckily, they were using the Teflon corner variation to the crux pitch and so we were not in each others way. Unbelievably, I managed to stick the boulder problem first try, and let out an unrestrained whoop of joy knowing that a free ascent was totally possible for me now! With that I started an awesome train of sending – Within 10 minutes all four of us sent the crux pitch of Free Rider! So, with adrenalin soaring we continued our charge for the top… It was only after my battle to hang on to the slopping laybacks in the enduro-corner, that fatigue started to set in. However, after slumping at the anchor for a few minutes, I managed to pull myself together to follow Niels through the last hard section – the traverse pitch, which I had not actually free climbed before. After this it was simply a matter of hanging on though the last few wide pitches.
We reached the summit at 2.20pm, 14 hours and 10 minutes after leaving the ground! Making for a bunch of firsts… The fastest free female ascent of El Capitan, the first New Zealander to free climb El Capitan in a day, the first free Kiwi ascent of Free Rider, Niels Tietze first free route on El Capitan, and most importantly the best 14 hours of incredible climbing in my life, on the most beautiful piece of rock ever!
20 October 2011 - 8:54am
#8
Awesome!
26 October 2011 - 12:39pm
#9
Mayan is now in Getu for PETZL roctrip China, since she is a Petzl sponsored climber
You can follow roctrip on this link
http://www.petzl.com/en/outdoor/news/events-0/2011/10/24/petzl-roctrip-g...
26 October 2011 - 1:51pm
#10
Great achievement Mayan.
Nice Petzl plug too there. Imagine what other Kiwi climbers could do if they had the kind of support Mayan gets? Petzl? Anyone?
26 October 2011 - 2:27pm
#11
We get a lot of applications, and unfortunately you have to pick and choose as it's an expensive exercise. Mayan is determined, works hard and a nice person, so we're pretty stoked to have her on our team.
29 October 2011 - 3:23pm
#12
2/3
26 October 2011 - 3:17pm
#13
I'm supported by Petzl, I just have to pay for it.
26 October 2011 - 7:18pm
#14
Like
30 October 2011 - 9:35am
#15
I've just been reading through Mayan's blog. She's certainly had some amazing experiences of late, and climbed some amazing routes. One thing that I noticed, which seems out of character for Mayan, is the steady stream of hyperbole (takes one to know one). For example, in relation to her last visit to Fiordland, she says "I spent nearly second day climbing at Little Babylon, arguably the best sport-climbing crag in NZ, attempting to climb one of the few routes in the country that I have not yet climbed". Seriously? One of the few routes? What's she ever done at Titahi Bay? :)
Serously tho, is that yet another example of a sponsored climber having to 'pay the bills'? How do sponsors responsibly manage that risk, and ensure that sponsored climbers do not have unrealistic expectations forced on them?
I remember a local alpinist telling me that he only ever went on one sponsored expedition - and someone died, in his view, because the group continued to pursue an objective that, although unrealistic, was the central basis on which the expedition had been funded. Sad but true.
1 November 2011 - 11:45am
#16
The very last thing a sponsor wants is their athletes injured or killed, it dosn't really promote the brand, and these are people you have a relationship with.
I think that these people are often driven within them selves, to get to where they are at. Their drive to succeed for them selves would be the reason they push it rather than an airfare and some gear.
3 November 2011 - 7:52pm
#17
For sure, Sal. But how do sponsors deal with the constant need for "news"? After all, it's a business "relationship".
28 December 2011 - 7:24am
#18
Don't mean to harp but....there is another example of what I was banging on about on Mayan's last blog post: "A week before I left I came very close to climbing one of the few climbs which I have not climbed in the Cave..."
From what I can see on Mayan's 8a.nu scorecard, which seems current, that statement is misleading (IMHO). And I can't understand why it needs to be made? It's not like it gonna sell more shoes.
6 January 2012 - 2:33pm
#19
Is it really that inaccurate statement? If she was referring to the few climbs of 8b and up how many climbs would there be left?
Yes the statement is a bit ambiguous but definitely not worth complaining about is it?
Furthermore, I would argue that statements like that, when not taken trhe wrong way, can be inspiring to people who look up stronger kiwi climbers.
And surely it can't not help shoe sales if we could actually buy some of the shoes she wears in NZ 
6 January 2012 - 8:54pm
#20
Well, if she meant 8b and up (which is by no means obvious), then there are 15 routes in the cave to chose from. According to her 8a scorecard, she has done one of these routes (Space Boy). Does that make her statement misleading? I certainly think so.
26 January 2012 - 8:01am
#21
There's some footage here: http://vimeo.com/31878065
26 January 2012 - 1:14pm
#22
shes climbing the hardest and wildest rock routes ever free climbed by a kiwi
and thats bloody phenomenal
who really cares about some chossy little cave routes? the future of rock climbing isnt there ... they arent even that hard ( by international standards) but free climbing big walls ... that is the future, and shes the best weve got
well done
26 January 2012 - 1:47pm
#23
Nice footage and commentary. Oh to be young and gorgeous.....again.
26 January 2012 - 4:44pm
#24
(coughs) again?
27 January 2012 - 7:04pm
#25
Exactly en. Radness plus. Which makes the claims/comments about the Darrans and the Cave even more unnecessary.
30 January 2012 - 9:19am
#26
en says, "free climbing big walls ... that is the future"
Bugger, I thought the future was scrubbing dirty boulders problems into submission. Apparently, you can still get publicity in the climbing magazines with such meager accomplishments.
It is not as cool as "the cave" or even Babylon but Hells Gate is a biggish wall..dirty but exciting. How about the big walls at the head of the Blue. We just need Red Bull to provide mission support.
That is fantastic Mayan. A bit of history. Only the second woman after Steph Davis I believe.
http://rockandice.com/news/1196-salathe-free-as-can-be
Unleashing the Fury since 1997