Emily Harrington Opens Up on Her Epic El Cap Ascent and the Power of Being a ‘Girl Climber’

Emily Harrington wants to be clear: She’s just following in the footsteps of the women who redefined rock climbing. When Lynn Hill used just her hands and feet to scale all 3,000 feet of El Capitan in 1994, it was heralded as perhaps the most important ascent in the history of the sport, ushering in a new era of free climbing big walls.

Climbing historians have made similar claims about the El Cap ascent of Austrian crusher Babsi Zangerl, who ascended the iconic wall in a single day — on her first try.

So what does it mean for a 39-year-old American wunderkind like Emily Harrington to be a “girl climber?” It means trying to meet the standards of some of the best vertical explorers to ever do it.

“Two of the most groundbreaking achievements in this sport are held by women. That’s pretty unique and pretty special. I just hope we highlight more female stories up there,” she said.

This weekend, it’s the story of Harrington that will be highlighted. Her new climbing documentary, Girl Climber, follows her brutal journey to free climb El Capitan in one day — a feat rarely repeated by anyone, male or female. Moreover, it’s available on IMAX for a single day, bringing the epic landscapes of Yosemite National Park’s most famous wall to the big screen.

“Girl Climber” will play in select IMAX theaters on Sunday, August 24, before its wider digital release on September 12.

Want more? Don’t miss the GearJunkie podcast interview with Emily Harrington!

Who Is Emily Harrington?

Harrington started off as a competition climber and won U.S. Nationals five times. Later in her career, she shifted toward outdoor climbing and has a vast resume. She’s summited high peaks like Everest and Makalu, and set mountaineering speed records. As a sport climber, Harrington has earned several First Female Ascents on multiple 5.14s.

In 2015, Harrington climbed the Golden Gate (VI, 5.13a) route up El Capitan over the course of 6 days, and the experience stuck with her. She began seriously training to send the 36-pitch route in 24 hours in late 2018, ultimately sending the full route in fall 2020 in just over 21 hours.

GearJunkie: You’ve got experience in multiple disciplines, including ice climbing, mountaineering, and sport climbing. Why did you decide to focus on a big wall objective?

Harrington: I’ve always prided myself on being an all-around good rock climber in a lot of different realms. I spent my career kind of diversifying from competitions to big mountains to ski mountaineering to ice climbing, and trying to excel in all different areas.

I was really drawn to big wall free climbing because it kind of combines a lot of those skills: the suffering aspect of climbing in the big mountains and going on expeditions … and then the technical, difficult rock climbing. And I just really liked the combination of all of that boiled down in one 24-hour period.

I’m pretty good at everything. I wouldn’t say I’m exceptional or at the very top of any one discipline, but I think being able to free climb El Cap in a day requires a kind of diverse set of skills, and I’ve put a lot of time into being diverse.

With your send of Golden Gate, you became the fourth woman to ever free climb El Cap in a day, joining legends like Lynn Hill, Steph Davis, and Mayan Smith-Gobat. How does it feel to join this small crew of elite female climbers?

It’s interesting because two of the most groundbreaking achievements in sport — free climbing El Cap in a day [Lynn Hill in 1994] and flashing Freerider [Babsi Zengerl in 2024] — those are two achievements held by women.

That’s pretty unique and pretty special, and I’m really proud to have a lesser achievement, but still an achievement, up there, and am excited to be among those legends of the sport.

What significance do you think your send of Golden Gate and the film holds for the sport?

Climbing is such a unique sport in terms of females being able to excel. We are actually quite a bit closer to our male counterparts than in other sports. I do think it’s cool to highlight those stories.

We are different, and we do approach projects differently, and we react to things differently, and I think this film shows that in a beautiful way. I’m proud of it and I just hope that this kind of thing ignites more female stories in the climbing world, because we are exceptional at climbing in terms of gender parity.

The trailer talks about your need to prove yourself as a female climber. How much of this came from internal doubt versus external pressure? How did your motivations for this project change over time?

There’s both. When you grow up as a young girl in a space like climbing where there’s not many young girls … I always had this little bit of a chip on my shoulder, like I needed to prove myself, and I needed to be stronger and maybe less emotional and more like the boys. It’s cultural: It’s what we feel as women in general in a lot of places.

And then there’s internal insecurity that I have, that I’m kind of constantly reckoning with. I wouldn’t say it’s a weakness; it’s just something that’s there and that I carry with me.

I really had to come to a place where I was doing it for me, because there was no other way I was going to succeed otherwise. That’s the beauty of big, hard goals: They really kind of force you to understand your motivation.

For me, it was this cool journey of trying to figure out what I wanted out of climbing and what I wanted out of this objective.

Since completing this project, you’ve had a child with your partner. How did the choice to potentially have children influence your decision to pursue Golden Gate?

It’s just part of our reality as women. Of course, I can still pursue big goals and do things that are hard for me now that I have a kid, absolutely. But I think I knew this before, even though I kind of didn’t want to admit, and it’s the reason why I wanted to do this before I had a child: It does change, without a doubt. It does change things for women more than it does for men.

I knew this goal was requiring all of my energy, emotionally and physically, and time. It was requiring almost all of me in order to accomplish it. It was just a big sacrifice. And now that I have a kid … I’m not saying that I could never do anything like that again. But I’m not sure I want to because I have something else in my life that is so meaningful.

And it’s not a bad thing, and it’s not a barrier. And I’m not saying it’s like that for everybody. But I think for me, I knew that it was not something that I potentially could put that much energy into once I had a child.

The title has attracted a diverse range of comments, including criticism. You didn’t choose the title, but what are your thoughts on it and the reactions?

It’s really interesting and kind of entertaining to me in a way because I think it’s meant to be a bit ironic. It’s meant to put a label on something. And then you watch the film and you realize that it’s a film about a rock climber who tries really hard and kind of shows herself in a way that’s feminine. But I’m also a rock climber and I also achieve something that not many people can achieve.

I think it’s funny how people are, “Oh, she’s not a girl, she’s a woman. We shouldn’t be saying this.” Well, actually, that’s you telling me what I am and how I can identify and who I can be. Of course I’m a woman, but I’m also a girl.

I’ve never equated [the word “girl”] with weakness. In fact, I think we’ve kind of reclaimed it and equated it with strength and power. The title ignites this projection. People have these strong reactions to it … There’s clearly some conflict there with identity.

There are many difficult, challenging routes up El Cap. What made you choose Golden Gate (VI, 5.13a) as opposed to other iconic routes like Freerider (VI, 5.13a)?

When I did it back in 2015, I chose it because I’m not very good at off-width climbing. My friend Hazel Findlay, who had already climbed it, recommended it to me. She was like, “It’s harder than Freerider, but there’s less wide climbing, so you’ll do better at it.”

I was just drawn to the idea of doing it in a day, because I thought it would be this really unique show of progression for me as a climber.

Golden Gate is a 36-pitch route that is rated 5.13a. What were the most challenging aspects of the route?

You need to be able to climb 2,000 feet of 5.9 to 5.11 and not be tired, so that when you get to the 5.13 pitches, which are generally way higher up on the wall, you’re more or less fresh.

The Monster [a challenging pitch of off-width climbing rated at 5.11d] is definitely a crux. That’s the off-width that just gets you really tired. And I had to learn how to not get super tired on it because essentially, right after that is where all the hard climbing starts.

There’s the Down Climb (5.12c), which is pretty reachy and it’s a slab, and it’s really technical. You’re just kind of standing on your feet and lowering yourself down onto these tiny little edges.

The Move Pitch (5.13-) is maybe the hardest pitch. It’s quite reachy, and I think if you’re shorter, it’s significantly harder, and I had to figure out a different way to do it from most of the taller male climbers who climbed it. It’s quite long, and the crux is at the end, and that’s the one that gives me the most trouble.

How did you train for Golden Gate?

The training for it is quite unique and challenging, because you need to have finger strength and be able to climb hard and do hard moves, but you have to be able to do that after a really long day.

So I would try to mimic that. I would go sport climbing and have a project, and I tried the project three times, but then I wouldn’t stop climbing for the day. I’d go on and keep trying to climb. I went to Ten Sleep one summer and was trying a 5.14 project, but then … I would move on to another project or flash some things.

In Yosemite, we would rap all the way down to where the hard climbing starts and climb from there to the top, which is a big day in and of itself. And then we started from the ground and tried to climb up to that point.

Alex Honnold was your belayer and is a prominent part of Girl Climber. Why was Alex a good fit for you as a climbing partner?

Alex obviously was the person that I looked up to when it came to this goal. He was always excited to go up there with me and share his knowledge and experience. He provided this great partnership support, because he’s just the best there is at this style of climbing. And you actually really need a good partner if you’re going to be doing this, because they need to be moving fast up the wall as well.

His attitude up there is really good for me. I actually think I excel when I’m climbing with Alex because he kind of makes El Cap feel smaller, just by how he approaches it and how at ease he is up there.

I trusted that he had faith in my abilities. He’s just incapable of being fake. He’s so brutally honest, so you really know if he thinks you can do something or not. When he believes you can do something, he genuinely believes it.

In the film, you have two other sources of support: Hilaree Nelson and Adrian Ballinger. Tell us more about the role that each of these people played in your journey projecting El Cap.

Adrian is my life partner, and he’s that person that I really lean on when things get emotionally super-difficult. He’s always been my biggest supporter when I’m at my lowest, and I feel like I can be super vulnerable around him.

We’ve built this life together, and we know everything about one another, and I’ve supported him during some of his hardest achievements. We have this really good connection and we understand what the other person is going through, and we can be that support for them. There’s also a trust in that as well.

Hilaree was this big sister mentor figure for me. In terms of my career, she’s this person who kind of helped me branch out of just being a competition climber and a sport climber. She encouraged me to do the things that I maybe wouldn’t have had the confidence to do without her encouragement.

Hilaree was the person who showed me that I could be whatever kind of climber I wanted to be.

The film includes an incident where you take a large fall and need to be medically evacuated. Tell us what happened.

It was my second attempt in the fall of 2019, after a really close attempt 2 weeks before. I just really wanted to try again because I had come so close the previous try, and it was kind of the last opportunity [weather-wise]. I was just in the wrong mindset of like, “I just want to get it over with. I just want to do it and be done.”

I started up the route really early in the morning, it was super cold, and Alex and I were getting ready to simul climb. I was just going really quickly and not taking time to think about how I was actually feeling. It was just super cold, and I was quite numb, and I slipped and fell in an easy section, and I just hadn’t placed enough gear. I hit a ledge before the rope could catch me, and I flipped upside down.

I got a concussion and was unconscious, and had some neck and back pain. There was a lot of fear around a spinal cord injury.

I was fully rescued and evacuated, and went to the hospital in Fresno. I ended up being totally fine in general, some bumps and bruises, but nothing long term. I was super lucky for that.

How did you bounce back mentally from the accident?

In a way, COVID sort of helped because there was no way I was going back to Yosemite until a full year later. That kind of helped me reflect on where my motivation was, and what I wanted to do, and how I wanted to approach it differently.

I very much knew that I’d made some mistakes. I knew that I wasn’t in the right headspace, and I had to reset and recognize that it was basically all on me, and it was all very preventable in the future.

I wasn’t afraid to try again because I knew that I could not put myself in that situation again. It was really helpful to recognize that I had agency over the situation.

What are your current climbing goals and objectives?

With the film stuff and the way that our lives are structured right now, I’m having a sport climbing year. I’ve been on these trips: 2- or 3-week trips basically. It’s not enough time to dive into a long-term, really hard project, but I climbed a 5.14a in Spain.

In the Fins [in Idaho], I did this route called Vesper (5.14a). It shows me that I’m in this kind of place where I can probably climb harder if I had a little more time.

We’re gonna go to Kentucky and Vegas this fall. There’s a route in Kentucky that I’ve tried for several seasons: Transworld Depravity (5.14a), I’m thinking of going back to that one.

There’s this cave near our house: Clear Light Cave. It’s a horizontal cave, and I’m not that great at that style of climbing. It’s super, super steep. But I want to lean into that this year. That cave is something I’m excited about embracing. Like I said, I really like being good at all different styles of climbing.

“Girl Climber” will play in select theaters on August 24 before its digital release on September 12.