Mayan Smith-Gobat has posted on Facebook that she sent the 3,000 foot Salathé Wall (VI 5.13b).

"Thanks for all the bday wishes," she posted from Yosemite. "Just got off the Salathe! Bday sendage!!!"

Smith-Gobat had attempted the route in  2010, but was thwarted by a five-day rainstorm.  

Having returned to Yosemite Valley this fall with the Salathé Wall as her main goal, Smith-Gobat reported on her blog, “My season in the Valley has been filled with psych, I have become very comfortable on the slick  granite slabs and perfect splitter cracks of El Capitan and my sights have been broadened. I have spent most of the last few weeks building up my fitness and re-familiarizing myself with the crux pitches of the Salathé Wall.”

The Salathé Wall was first free climbed in 1988 by Paul Piana and Todd Skinner, opening central El Cap’s first free route.  In 2005, Steph Davis sent the 32-pitch line for the first female ascent.

Rock and Ice will post more information as it becomes available. Meanwhile Smith-Gobat has been receiving congratulations from friends all over the world.

She is the subject of a Rock and Ice Spotlight interview in issue 193 (page 24).

[Photos by Max Farr]