“My favorite pitch was definitely the 5.12d on pitch 12. It’s so wild how the rock geology changed amidst the route,” Sasha messaged me from an elevation of 35,000 feet during her flight from Nuevo León, Mexico, back to Boulder, Colorado. “You’re out on this orange shield exposed to this big drop, and you feel like you’re really high up.” 

In what is known as the first all-female team ascent of 15-pitch (Grade V) 5.12d Sendero Luminoso in Potrero Chico, Mexico, over January 18 and 19, Sasha and Mariana “Mango” Ordoñez climbed the long route packed with nine 5.12 pitches. Except for one slip on pitch 2, graded 5.12d, which she successfully climbed on her second attempt, the world champion DiGiulian sent the 450-meter line on the central pillar of El Toro, including onsighting the 5.12d section on pitch 12. 

Ordoñez did not free the route but used a combination of free climbing and pulling on gear to reach the top over two days. “Mango is an amazing partner,” Sasha says, emphasizing that climbing the classic route made famous by Alex Honnold’s free solo ascent was made all the sweeter by sharing the experience with a close friend. I didn’t go to Mexico thinking I would try Sendero Luminoso. I honestly just went to escape the cold and climb with my friend. But then you’re staying at Rancho Sendero, which is right at the base, and it looks up at Sendero Luminoso, and I was like, it just looks so cool. We need to go up there.”

This was Sasha’s first visit to Potrero Chico, where before sending Luminoso, she onsighted the nine-pitch 5.12c Thunderkiss in a day, a route developed by Hank Caylor and Keith Guillory on La Estrella’s Main Wall. Then, after a day of single-pitch cragging and one more spent in Monterey at the new climbing gym, Pico Norte, to wait out the weather, she returned to Potrero.

The Route 

Located fifteen minutes from her lodging, past loose scree and sharp bushes, Sendero Luminoso, Spanish for the Shining Path, climbs “the cleanest, blankest rock up the center of the central pillar,” describes The Crag. The guidebook El Potrero Chico Rock Climbing by Frank Madden describes the climb as “A true test piece of climbing, Sendero is a lofty goal for anyone seeking a tough multi-pitch send.”

Bolted in 1994 by Jeff Jackson, Pete Peacock, and Kurt Smith, a large bivy on the midway ledge on pitch 5 breaks up the sustained route. Though only a third the way up the wall pitch-wise, these first leads are rope stretchers that makeup half the total distance. The route requires “pressing down on small crimps and pulling through the burly crack moves,” says the guidebook.  

Day one was energy-depleting for Sasha, who had to pull her rope and re-lead pitch two after making it a whisper from the chains before falling. That delay, plus getting off route on the approach after an already late start, meant the day was getting ahead of them. 

Despite making it to the ledge where the team’s sleeping bags were stashed, Sasha climbed the next five pitches, including many of 5.12, before she and Mango rapped back to the midway ledge, chugged some water and munched on Send Bars, and met Diego Cana and Guillermo Gutierrez who had come up and filmed the climb before calling it a night. The next day, Sasha re-led the terrain from the previous day, with Mango following, and continued up the final five pitches to reach the top in over two days.

Honnold’s solo climb in 2014 remains the fastest ascent, which required three hours. This was his most difficult free solo at the time.

Sharing her thoughts on Honnold’s incredible ascent, Sasha said, “It’s not crack climbing; it’s a lot of technical face climbing, and just when I thought I was solid, all of a sudden, my foot would slip. It’s wild to imagine someone climbing it without a rope, but I don’t do that, so I can’t really relate.”

Reflections on Past Tragedies 

Aside from climbing Sendero Luminoso over two days “to have an enjoyable experience,” DiGiulian chose to bivy on route for personal reasons. This included “residual trauma from a tragic, fatal event that altered the way I think about safety and climbing,” she says, referring to Nolan Smythe, who died due to a rockfall in March 2020 while climbing the 1,000-meter 5.13 Logical Progression on El Gigante in Chihuahua just before Sasha and her team.

“I think about how something that can be so joyful could change on a dime,” she says.

A year before Smythe’s passing, the other tragedy that impacted her was when Brad Gobright died in 2019 while simul-rappelling Sendero Luminoso. When Sasha climbed the route, she reflected on his passing, too. “I respect Brad deeply,” she says.

Overcoming Setbacks 

For thirty-one-year-old DiGiulian, who has recently overcome double hip surgery, the route marks a return to her former self. Other significant climbs she’s completed since her operation include the first female ascent of 670m 5.14 Rayu in Spain and bolting and cleaning the first ascent of the three-pitch 5.13+ Queen Line with Lynn Hill in the Flatirons, Colorado.

“My climbing has changed so much because my flexibility is completely different,” she says of her surgery. “I used to be so flexible, and now, anatomically, I’ll never be the same because my pelvic bone was broken into four pieces on both sides. My femur head was shaved down and a new hip socket was made for me that’s much deeper and has a lot more coverage so that my femur head doesn’t pop out. But with that, there’s a limited range of motion. I’m short, so I put my heel really high. Now I can’t do that. So I need to jump and use more strength.”

The Bivy & the Send

Sasha, who chose to break up the climbing over two days, told me, “When the night fell, and we had five more very manageable pitches to go, even though I had the fitness and energy to keep pushing, I was nervous about climbing on unknown terrain at night, for fear of rock fall and the safety of myself and my team.” 

“Spending a bivy night on a ledge on the wall and then re-climbing through the five pitches I had done to reach back to my high point and finish the remaining five pitches of the route felt like the safest decision for us— and the best way to have an enjoyable experience with my friend,” she said. 

The route goes from technical slab climbing to vertical face, with the cap consisting of solid rock overcome by short boulder problems in a surrounding of choss where it’s possible to knock things free. “I was glad to do it with daylight because the terrain was really loose. The easier pitches can be sketchier because that’s where more of the choss is,” she says.  

What made the route special was taking their time and savoring the experience. “Mango is very supportive, very excited, and just good vibes. At the end of the day, I think all you want is someone to have fun with.”

In a video Sasha posted on social media, Mango is crying joyfully on the summit.

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A post shared by S A S H A • D I G I U L I A N (@sashadigiulian)

Continuing, Sasha says, “I’m learning as I mature with the sport that having fun and being okay with taking your time and making the right decisions are really important. I think that climbing culture typically really likes bold, but we need to start celebrating correct decision-making and being safe because that contributes to longevity.” 

“I have a lot to reflect on about the experience on Sendero Luminoso — I felt proud of the decisions we made as we climbed and the teamwork that went into making a spontaneous romp up a big wall so successful.”

Sasha Has a Half Ironman Triathlon Coming Up

Back home in Boulder, where we caught up between her meetings, Sasha says she is competing in a half Ironman in Panama on February 25. “Something that’s a big part of the training is getting a solid nutrition plan in place and knowing when to fuel,” she says.

“I was using Sendero Luminsoso as a part of my training plan, too.” A sponsored athlete with smartwatch maker Coros, DiGiulian used the route to gauge her fitness by tracking her metrics. She followed each pitch on her watch and used the data to track her progress on the route and personal fatigue. 

“I think the metrics, data analytics, sleep analytics, food analytics, it’s all the part of the progress and climbing that we’ll see.” She’s training for the Half Ironman to increase her physical and mental fitness, which she says should help her on big climbing projects like freeing El Cap in the future. For now, she believes her intensive swimming, running, and biking helped her succeed on the long and challenging Sendero Luminoso. 

“I think the big component of any big wall just being able to stay in it for long hours mentally.”