Stillness and Storms: Mayan Smith-Gobat

In 2002, Mayan Smith-Gobat was in a ski accident and broke her jaw and both feet. Within a few weeks, she turned her focus to climbing and began training while her feet were still in casts. Nine years later, she became the second woman ever to free climb the Salathé Wall on El Capitan. Today, she’s concentrating on Riders on the Storm, a 1,300-meter big wall on the icy east face of Torre Central in Chilean Patagonia, which still hasn’t had a free ascent. For more on this climb, check out Smith-Gobat's article "Stillness and Storms" in Issue 55 of Alpinist magazine.