Miška Izakovičová makes free ascent of Golden Gate on El Capitan, Yosemite

Yosemite is one of my favorite places in the world and free climbing El Capitan had been my dream ever since I started climbing. After sending Freerider in 2018 I turned my eyes to the other route, Golden Gate. I briefly tried it in 2019, but at that time it was too hard for me, climbing it felt absolutely impossible. When the borders closed due to Covid I just kept dreaming about the route, hoping that one day I would get the chance to try it again.

I finally returned to the Valley last year, but after a few years away from El Cap everything felt so big and scary. Nevertheless I decided to try the route and it actually went surprisingly well. Despite it feeling to hard back then, I felt like I stood a chance to send it one day. I couldn’t do all the moves on the Move Pitch and the rest of the route also felt hard. I knew I wanted to come back, but I needed to be stronger and more prepared.

Unfortunately things don’t always go according to plan. In spring I injured my ankle and I had to take almost three moths off climbing, even walking for that matter. It felt unlikely that I would send the route this year. But the autumn season went very well for me back home so I decided to travel to the Valley and try. I felt different compared to a year ago, I was very motivated, confident and not afraid at all, and right from day one in Yosemite I climbed better and felt stronger than ever before. After three weeks in the Valley everything came together and I was ready for the push. I went with my friend Karel Nováček from the Czech Republic, who decided to support my dream and I am very happy he did, because he was exactly the partner I needed up there.

We pre-hauled to Heart Ledges, rested and then started from the ground. The first day went very well I had a really good flow and we made it to the Hollow Flake Ledge at sunset. On day two we climbed all the way to the Downclimb, at 5.13a the first of four crux pitches of the route. I wanted to try it early the next morning, before the sun hits the wall. I expected that it would take me some time to send so we thought we’d camp at the Alcove at least one more night. But things turned out different: I sent the pitch second go and at 8 am we were back at our camp, so we decided to continue on up. The new plan was to climb all the way to Tower to the People and set up camp there. That day I didn’t really try the Move Pitch (5.13a), the second crux pitch, because we climbed through it in the middle of the day when it was way too hot for any serious attempts. We got to the Tower in the evening of day 3, and since I was leading every pitch and hauling most of the route, I was pretty exhausted.

The next morning we slept in, I simply didn’t have enough energy to go and try the Move Pitch. We spent most of the day chilling at the tower, eating and drinking lot of water. After the sun set we lowered down to the Move Pitch and I started trying the crux boulder. At first it felt impossible and I spent over an hour trying at least ten different methods, but none felt even remotely close. After that I returned to the belay to rest and I must admit I was pretty downhearted; I had hoped in some progress compared to last year, because back then the rest of the route had felt much harder than now, but I still couldn’t do those moves. After the rest I tried one last beta I had thought about, and to my big surprise I did the boulder! I lowered down and did it again! Suddenly I was able to do it, but I was just too tired to give it a serious redpoint try that night. We jumared back to our portaledge and as I fell asleep I climbed the boulder at least 20 times in my head.

The next morning we went back and I sent the pitch first go. Conditions during the day were horrible, the sun was very strong and it was way too hot for any hard climbing. So again, I waited until sunset to try the next crux pitch, The Golden Desert (5.13a). I thought this one would go easy and that I'd send it that evening. Maybe I underestimated it, or I just remembered it not being as hard as it really is, the fact of the matter is that I really struggled. On my first try I took a pretty big whip when I fell while clipping, and even ripped a piece of gear below me. For a second I thought that I was going to land on the portaledge, but luckily I stopped before that! On my second try I slipped again while trying to stem in the shallow corner. My right foot slid down the rock as I fell and this hurt my injured ankle. I had enough for that night, my ankle was in pain and I didn’t wanted to climb anymore. I felt really bad, I thought it might be over for me.

When I woke up the next morning my ankle was swollen and slightly blue and in pain, but I was determined to continue climbing. I had to! This was supposed to be our second to last day on the wall, as we only had two days until the 4-day storm and we really needed to top out before the rain. My first morning go on Golden Desert was very shaky, I was afraid to fall and my ankle was pretty stiff and painful so I just looked at the crux.

I lowered and tried again. That morning I fell three more times on the pitch and was totally done with it, I physically couldn’t give it any more tries. I knew that I didn't have too much time so I decided to try the A5 Traverse (5.13a), the last crux pitch. I tried it twice that day, but I really struggled, it was in the sun and it felt impossible. After that I was pretty exhausted and had no skin on my fingertips, so I decided to call it a day and went back to the portaledge. I now seriously thought that I wasn’t going to send the route, as we had only one day ahead of us and we still needed to get to the top.

That evening I didn’t climb and I decided that I would give both the Golden Desert and the A5 Traverse one more try the next morning. I wanted to give it everything I had even though it felt unlikely that I was going to send.

The last morning on the wall I started on Golden Desert and already on the first few moves I felt much better than before, I was able to give it everything I had and I sent! Now there was just one last crux pitch left and I sensed that I probably had only one try in me. I don’t think I’ve ever fought so hard on any pitch, ever, like I did on that A5 Traverse! From about halfway up I almost fell off every single move, my forearms were cramping up constantly, but somehow I refused to let go and in the end I sent! I couldn’t believe what had just happened! I didn’t wanted to celebrate too much because there were still 5 more pitches to the top, but I knew that those would’t stop me now.

Golden Gate is by far the hardest thing I’ve ever climbed and I really value this ascent because I climbed the route ground-up, leading every single pitch. I free climbed every single pitch, and hauled most of the route myself. Sending it this way was exactly how I had dreamt of doing it, and I still can’t believe it happened.

by Miška Izakovičová

Golden Gate, El Capitan, Yosemite
First climbed free by German brothers Alexander Huber and Thomas Huber in a single-push on 13 and 14 October 2000.