Last year, Emily Harrington became the first woman to send the Golden Gate route on El Capitan in under 24 hours. It was an impressive feat — almost as impressive as the pain and work it took to get there.
Should you ever break a record, that’s most likely what folks will remember. It is, after all, recorded.
But what if everything it took to achieve it — including the pain, tears, and partners that came along on the journey — were also recorded?
When Emily Harrington sent the first sub-24-hour climb of El Capitan’s Golden Gate route by a woman, most of her fans and followers already watched her previous attempts and training (including two bloody falls and one nail-biting trip to the hospital). And that record of her work to get there paid off: Harrington’s accomplishment blew up across news media — both inside and outside the world of climbing.
Even if you’ve watched DangerStikTV, Harrington and fiancé Adrain Ballinger’s adventure YouTube channel, hearing the 34-year-old climber retell her stories of success and near-misses is gripping.
And that’s not all: Harrington also gave us her thoughts on the realities of finding health insurance if you’re an elite climber, the Olympics, and the surprising misreporting of her climb.
