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sasha-digiulian-female-rock-climber

Category: Talent

Heart with Sasha DiGiulian

NAME: Sasha DiGiulian

AGE: 23

YEARS PARTICIPATING: 17 years

PERSONAL CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Female Overall World Champion, 3x National Champion, undefeated PanAm champ since 2004, First North American Woman to climb the grade 9a, the hardest sport climb achieved by a woman, over 2 dozen first female ascents including 6 first ascents

SPONSORS: RedBull, Adidas, Bellabeat, GoPro, Falken Tires, ProTec Athletics, FiveTen, Petzl, Perky Jerky


Sasha DiGiulian is one of those women that really is indescribably incredible. Over the course of her career thus far she has won almost every climbing competition out there, as well as been the first female to climb pretty much every famous outdoor ascent. She balances out her life being an accomplished female rock climber, with also being enrolled as a full time business student at Columbia University. Her accomplishments, positive attitude, and well-spoken words about the sport have helped to bring rock climbing to the main stream and solidifying it as a true sport that is here to stay for both women and men.

Sasha has truly inspired me from the moment I met her with her passion for sport, life, and adventure and her drive to do it all. At such a young age she is truly impacting not only her sport, but also women’s sports in general making yet another male dominated sport more accessible for other women.

 

Q: Rock climbing and business school?! Quite different aspirations, do you feel they balance each other out?

I am studying nonfiction writing and business at Columbia University. I’m actually graduating in less than a month. I have found the balance to be tricky at times when it comes to fitting in everything that I’d like to do in my schedule. Though, I have grown a lot from the experience. A large part of being a professional climber is telling a story and articulating adventures that I have to an audience- whether through content production like videos, speaking, or even just sharing an experience on social media. I have always valued writing and I use it as my outlet to open up to myself personally, and also to write about adventures that I go on. Lately I’ve been more involved with speaking and working as an ambassador with nonprofits and I find practicing and learning writing in school has helped me fine tune my ability to voice what I believe in in my career. Studying business has also been valuable in its application to my career as an athlete. As individual athletes we are constantly defining the brand that we define ourselves to be. In this way, as a personal brand, it helps to learn the best methods from which to collaborate with other brands (companies and organizations) and also to be able to understand strategy, partnerships, negotiations, etc.

 

Q: In rock climbing, there is an entire part of the sport that you are very well known for, sport climbing. There is no competition for this style climbing, you are just out there pushing yourself for the sake of pushing yourself. Is this a hard thing to describe to people when they ask what you do?

Haha, yes, it is. Something that I love about communities like within the action sports world is that we can all relate to this feeling of freedom while pushing our limits and challenging ourselves outdoors. The average person in New York can understand how to relate success with my competition results  much easier than my drive to travel around the world exploring culture and new lines (climbs).

 

Q: Best advice you ever received?

You will limit yourself if you are afraid of failure. Define yourself.

 

Q: Dirty hippy style or clean-cut preppy boys?

Haha! I don’t know. I always am drawn to athletes or guys who are really passionate and committed to what they are doing. The biggest turn off to me is someone who gives up what they love to  try to compromise for me. Intellect is important to me, too though. I don’t want to just talk about how stoked we are about our sports/jobs!

 

Q: Favorite place in the world?

Yosemite, CA

 

Q: Best GoPro hack for getting those insane “I am falling off the side of a massive cliff photos”?

I like to use the wrist mount when I am rock climbing, or mount the GoPro on my helmet to get the motion shot of my hands and the landscape that my eyes can see.

 

Q: Are you afraid of heights at all?

No, not really. I have moments when exposure takes my breath away, still, though.

 

Q: Personal favorite place to study?

Comfortable coffee shop- ideally a quiet buzz of commotion but no obnoxiously loud people..!

 

Q: Salty or sweet?

Sweet!

 

sasha-sweet-candy

 

FOLLOW SASHA ONLINE

Website: www.Sasha-DiGiulian.com

Twitter: twitter.com/sashadigiulian

Instagram: @sashadigiulian

Snapchat: sashadigiulian

YouTube: youtube.com/sashadigiulian

 

 

  • Dalton

    Great interview with an awesome athlete! I love my GoPro and use a Feiyu Tech Gimbal with it and various mounts from GoPro and some of them I’ve customized for other uses. I have the GoPro HERO 3+ Black and would so love to win a new 4! :)
    Keep up the great work Elena and Sasha!
    #GoPro #FeiyuTech #Gimbal #RockClimbing

  • Tamara Vaughn

    Wonderful story ,love people with passion to expand and explore our world.

  • Dean Valouch

    Interesting article with great answers! Gotta say that my favourite GoPro Mount is the Jaws Flex Clamp – it’s super handy having the adjustable neck and the quick release base! I would be stoked to win a GoPro camera as I do not have my own – I borrow my girlfriend’s! Will continue to enjoy and watch your amazing rock climbing skills and the amazing pics you take! You are doing an amazing job defining yourself! Cheers!

  • Nate nagatani

    The jaws clamp! Keep living!

  • Ben

    Cool article! Love how you balance education with being an athlete. My favorite GoPro mount would have to be the three way selfie stick. Originally I thought I’d never use it but it’s becoming almost exclusively the only one I use.

  • Stephani H

    I am super impressed at what you have accomplished so far in your life! Finding a balance between work, school, and adventuring is super tough. I find that adventures become more important to me. But, I’m working on that balance! Congrats on graduating soon! Good work!

    • Stephani H

      I forgot to mention that the mount I would use would be the handler because I do a lot of things in the water or the 3 way because it gives you options which is nice especially if you’re hiking.

  • Jenn

    Great interview. I’m all for girl stoke and athletic inspiration. Thank you both for sharing your wise words with us!

    My favorite GoPro mount would be the helmet mount. Works great for downhill mountain biking and for snowboarding! The chesty would be my next best choice

  • Josh Segovia

    Cool story and website Elena! im a fan of the 3-way gopro mount, although the clamp mount is very versatile as well!

  • Marissa Rocks

    My favorite GoPro mount is the low profile helmet swivel mount! It’s the best for shredding while still protecting your melon!

  • Susie McAdam

    Great Q & A you two! It’s so much fun following you both on Social Media to see what amazing things you are up to! My favourite GoPro mount would be my 3-way, just got it and I love it’s versatility and how small and light it is!

  • Alexander schuchman

    I love snowboarding with the wrist mount on either front or backside hand. Climbing I would guess on my helmet but I don’t have a mount…maybe I’ll win one here!
    I’ve seen guys with the mouth mounts, those are kind of weird but functional.

    I love your red bull headbands, they are your signature style.

    Alex

  • Jocelyn C.

    I love the article on Sasha. She’s a young and ambitious athlete with a bright future ahead of her. I wish her well in the future.

    I love GoPro’s 3-Way Mount. I thank you in advance for the opportunity.

    Thank you and take care!

  • MJ Smoot

    Wow, I wouldn’t have guessed that Yosemite is your favorite place to climb! As far as my favorite mount for the GoPro goes, I’d have to go with the “Fetch” dog mount. Love seeing things from my dog’s perspective..

  • Luke Hendrickson

    My favorite GoPro mount is the godome it allows you to take photos above and below water at the same time

  • Heather

    The GoPro Sportsman mount is my all time favorite! I never leave the house without it. It’s so versatile!

  • Kim

    I love the selfie stick because I love capturing videos of our adventures and formatting it into a GoPro video. And for those hard to reach moments! However, I would love to get the dog mount for my pup!

  • Ayax

    You’re an amazing role model to everyone and especially me, trying to explore the world by climbing is my thing!! I love to climb and compete!!
    I would have to say that my favorite Gopro mount is the helment mount because I like to see what I was doing in the moment.

  • Martin Michalský

    I would say, that my favorite is wrist mount for climbing and head mount for hiking and skiing ! :) But i don´t have my own cam .. sooo .. you know :D
    May the force be with you Sasha ! :)

  • Poul Brix

    Hi Sasha,
    Good interview, maybe a little light and I would like to hear more in depth about how you been handling University, a professional climbing career and doing great in both. Did University give you any flexibility regarding schedule (not actual course work) to allow for your extensive travel and did you have a life coach to help you with the planning everything? Also you must have been training a lot “on the go” what is your best training advice when you’re travelling and can’t hit the gym?
    I don’t personally own a GoPro but have worked with them on several occasions using both helmet mount and chest mount, I prefer the chest mount all though it’s not ideal for climbing :)
    Cheers Poul

  • Aaron

    It’s always cool to find out what drives people. I wish I had a gopro with a dog mount. My border collie and I are always going on adventures. I’d love to see it from her perspective.

  • Edouard

    What an inspiration.
    I barely find the time to climb when I work and you achieve high grade study with an unmatched level of climbing.
    Also : love the illustrating picture. You make it look so easy.

  • Dustin frech

    I wish I had a go pro with a body cam mount. :) or a dash cam mount for my car .

  • milly

    Great article! My favorite mount is a foot mount, low maintenence and can get cool shots flying. On the ground I like a boom stick/3 way or helmet mount.

  • Zach Veneziano

    Love that you want a guy to keep loving his passion with you and to not give it up! Found the same thing with my girlfriend. She loves sitting there and watching me surf wherever we go in New Jersey. The old Gooseneck GoPro mount was my favorite to get a clean shot surfing before my GoPro clocked out!

  • Jackie Kido

    Absolutely wonderful interview. Thank you for sharing. Favorite mount – hand held preferred to capture all those rad shots. Would be spectacular to win a GoPro, but good luck to everyone. Enjoy!! Thank you Elena & Sasha

  • Paul Osborn

    Good advice about fear. Don’t run away from opportunity!

  • Kailey

    Definitely a fan of the helmet mount! The memories our 4 kids have made out snowboarding have been the most priceless when they forgot the camera was rolling. Unfortunately, we lost our entire photo and digital footage over the past 14-15 years when burglars broke into our home a week or so ago and stole all of our memory cards, hard drives and computers. Not going to stop us from making new memories!! Hope they get returned but would be stoked to win a new camera.

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