Sasha DiGiulian has made the second ascent of Blue Jeans Direct 5.14a on Yamnuska and has completed the Rockies’ alpine trilogy which she came to Canada to climb.
The trilogy was first climbed by Sonnie Trotter in 2017 after he made the first ascents of the 15-pitch Warhammer 5.14a, the 15-pitch The Shining Uncut 5.14a and the seven-pitch Blue Jeans Direct 5.14a.
The pitches for Blue Jeans Direct go 5.12b, 5.12d, 5.12d, 5.13a, 5.14a, 5.11d and 5.10d. The original route climbs a 5.13c pitch next to the 5.14a pitch.
In 2011, Derek Galloway made the first free ascent of Blue Jeans 5.13c after Nick Rochacewich established the line with a number of partners, such as Katie Brown, Peter Thurlow and Brandon Pullan.
In 2013, Vikki Weldon made the second ascent of the original Blue Jeans line and it’s since been sent a handful of times.
Click on the clip below to watch DiGiulian on the crux. Congrats DiGiulian on completing three of the biggest 5.14s in North America in just over a month!
I am in a total state of disbelief.⛰?? I can’t believe I sent the Shining!!!!! Coming off a high of sending Warhammer (my first of the Trilogy goal) I dove directly into the process again with the Shining on the Diamond ? of Mt. Louis, my next goal. The climb felt really scary; exposed, run out, and on edge. But very thin microscopic @tommycaldwell @sonnietrotter technical edges! I put in two days that were each 18+ hour days; injuring my shoulder the second day. I was pretty down and hard on myself having to rest because all I wanted was to keep charging forward on my climbing agenda. Though, during this time I worked with @fmoser on mobilizing, strengthening, and rehabbing the shoulder. I took time off of climbing and did light exercises to keep my body flowing. Nothing like the big pushes I had been becoming accustomed to prior to the injury. I lead through the first two pitches and felt much more energized than before. When I took off on the crux pitch, I told @pete.hoang (not that he needed me to tell him but this reassured myself) that I’d be taking some big whips to clear my mind and I needed to commit to the hard moves. He was ready for me to fly off the wall. But when I pulled through the beginning difficult sections, I was just sticking on like Velcro to the wall. For the first few draws, I was putting so much extra force into the razor blade credit card sized bits that my fingers clinged on to. The ideal state of climbing to me is this state where I am physically and mentally committed but my body just operates without needing to be told what to do. This flow state where mind and matter fuse is hard to tap into on demand; though, when I really care about a climb or am being pushed to my limits, I find it happens naturally quite often. I wasn’t there yet, at the beginning of the climb. Though, as I methodically punched through sequences, all of a sudden I had passed the hardest section of the climb; a series of bad side pulls with minimal feet. I yelled down to Peter in disbelief “Omg. I just got through the crux!” I was so surprised. This is the moment just after sending the crux!!! ??♀️ photos and video coming soon!
A post shared by S A S H A • D I G I U L I A N (@sashadigiulian) on Jul 31, 2018 at 4:23pm PDT
This summer I took off for Banff, ?? with this goal in mind; to commit my summer to 3 sustained big walls put up by Sonnie Trotter, aptly named the Canadian Trilogy. I had no idea what to expect as to how I would do on the routes (I still don’t); all I felt in control of was preparing myself physically as best as I could. Yesterday, after a week here, @mikedoyleca and I did the 2nd Free Ascent (First Female Ascent) of @sonnietrotter ‘s “Warhammer,” a complete line up Castle Mountain that includes Castles in the Sky, with technical grades up to 5.14. I have known @mikedoyleca for many years. He has always been an inspiring fellow climber, mentor, and friend. I am so thankful to have succeeded on this climb together. Having @sonnietrotter , the first ascentionist, and one of my all time inspirations there to film it was icing on the cake. Thank you so much, both of you. ?? Also, huge congrats to @s_a_m_t_u_c_k_e_r on Castles in the Sky; you’ve got it on Warhammer! And to @alex_fricker – who I tried the ground up push with a couple days before; go take it down!!!
A post shared by S A S H A • D I G I U L I A N (@sashadigiulian) on Jul 21, 2018 at 11:07am PDT
