Guest Editor Sasha DiGiulian: World Champion Rock Climber

The motivation

Do I crave the exhilaration of conquering? On some days, but not always.

Sometimes it’s just about climbing smoothly, finding the rock’s inner cadence and matching my body rhythm to the silent beat etched by the elements in the rock.  To transcend limitations, and to push boundaries is the way in which I strive to mentally persist. By overcoming challenges and by following my heart then I can ultimately succeed.

I need to find love in my action, in my doing, in my sheer existence given the moment at which I am living.  I need to set myself free.

I can do this by letting go. I can succeed by letting my body take over and by letting myself exist in the moment.

Rock climbing creates this catharsis for me in which I am operating on a level that comes naturally. Through this form of expression I find myself.  At my peak performance, I know in my mind what to do and the voice in my head guides my limbs to move and to perform the motions necessary to progress upwards.

Passion for climbing and subsequent repetition through sixteen years of practice brings me to this point of internal dialogue. Guided by my instructional voice inside my head, my body functions and my mind opens to an otherworld. I exist in a realm of hyper in tune senses. I feel the motion, the air, the pain and the surrounding environment.

What it takes

My actions encompass me and I am liberated from gravity. I am free to fly.

Each route is a puzzle to be solved. You must break it into sections – piece it into separate segments and string together moves that are seemingly impossible at first. You will lead with your fingertips. They need to be strong enough to carry your weight; your forearm tendons link your finger grips with your shoulders; your shoulders pull your back in closer to the wall; your core stabilizes and controls your motion.

Engaging the core is innate. If you breathe too heavily you can fall out of position and off of the wall. Driven by your core, the bottom half of your body deliberately follows.

Your shoes are lined with rubber with more traction than snow tires yet thinner than racing bike wheels. The shoes are bound tightly around your foot. You cannot wear them for longer than fifteen minutes without your feet aching.

The movement varies. Sometimes, you will not find the hold to grab. Instead, there will be a small pebble that sticks out of the otherwise blank rock face, as a credit card would protrude from a tabletop. You see it and you feel for it with the tips of you fingers. You squeeze your fingertips into this minuscule gap you have located on the wall. Dig your fingernails in to the edge. Lead with your hips to move your feet.

Reach with your right then grasp for something with your left. Adjust and shift your body weight so that your hips point in the direction you want to go, whether to lean in with your right or to lead with your left.

Your movement is graceful and fluid, technical and precise, and needs to be approached with utmost caution and conscience. There can be no thrusting your body upwards, slashing against the rock. If there is clumsiness, you will waste energy and crumble off of the face.

Instead, you delicately stay on to the wall because in your mind it is possible. You trick your mind into believing that the credit card piece of rock protrusion is enough to lug yourself upwards.

Turn in to the movements. Gather energy and squeeze your spine inwards. Tighten your body and compress. The tension latches you to the wall. You are like an insect, cupping on to the surface. You are in control. If your mind wanders from the intricate movement, the precision is lost. Doubt creates failure, a failure to see through the impossible.

Falling is part of the task when you try something beyond your perceived limit. Though you fall and you reassess how to figure the section out. You figure out how to place the pieces together and to solve the problem. Sometimes it is a matter of physically needing to build more muscle to be able to compress and to conquer the holds that you are alone with. Though, often you possess the physical strength, but the mind is not committed. Free your mind of doubt.

Breathe. Feel the surrounding air. Touch its infinite weightlessness.

Sasha DiGiulian is a female overall world champion rock climber and 3-time U.S. champion who is a full-time student at Columbia University in New York City. 

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