When Hayley Ashburn left her home—the climbing mecca of Moab, Utah—she was on her way to accomplish something no one had done before. Her goal: to cross the gap between the Vajolet Towers in winter.
While the 9,000-foot-tall peaks in the Italian Dolomites are frequented during the summer, snow and ice make the stone pillars formidable during the winter. Indeed, the journey to put her in a position to make climbing history was arduous in its own right. It started with a full day of backcountry skiing, another full day climbing the Towers, then two full days of attempts before Ashburn achieved her goal after almost 60 tries.
“I’ve never worked so hard on a project, ever! I was eating four times the amount of food that I normally do just to keep my calories in me,” Ashburn told Redbull in an interview. “Without that, I don’t think I would have had the energy and body heat to do the project!” Watch Ashburn accomplish her goal in the video filmed by Norwegian director Stian Smestad at the top, before seeing all the hard work required in the behind-the-scenes video below.
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