Woman free climbs rock in a day - 23rd November 2020

American Emily Harrington has climbed El Capitan in a single day.

El Capitan is a 1,000 metre high rock in California's Yosemite National Park. Each year, thousands try to climb the gigantic rock. It usually takes someone four to six days to get to the top. Only a few climbers have done it within 24 hours.

You can take many different routes to the top of El Capitan and Harrington chose 'the Golden Gate route'. She is the first woman to use this route to reach the top of El Capitan within a day.

Harrington does free climbing, which means she climbs without any ropes to get to the top. She pulls herself up with her hands and her feet and ropes are only used to keep her safe.

She set off at 1.30am and she completed the first part of her climb with Alex Honnold, another famous climber.

Three people have reached the top of El Capitan in one day with the Golden Gate route. These were all men but Harrington planned to be the first woman to do this.