Rock climber Emily Harrington has made history as the first woman, and fourth person, to free-climb the Golden Gate route on Yosemite National Park's 3,000-foot granite wall in a single day.
The 34-year-old scalled El Capitan, reaching the top in 21 hours, 13 minutes, and 51 seconds, just a year after recovering from injuries from a fall on the mountain that required hospitalization.
Harrington posted a message and image on Instagram on Saturday to mark the achievement.
"I never believed I could actually free climb El Cap in a day when I first set the goal for myself. It didn't seem like a realistic objective for me," she wrote, adding: "Impossible dreams challenge us to rise above who we are now to see if we can become better versions of ourselves."
A proving ground for experienced climbers, Harrington joins a small club of only three, all men who've achieved the climb on that route.
Many consider El Capitan the birthplace of rock climbing. Harrington ascended with her boyfriend, Adrian Ballinger, an experienced Mount Everest guide, and Alex Honnold, famed for his free solo climb on El Capitan, according to CBS News. The three were tied on the same rope.
At one point, it looked as if Harrington wouldn't make it to the peak. At one of the route's most challenging spots, her foot slipped and she fell sideways, hitting her head into the granite wall.
"Blood just started pouring down her face, dripping onto me at the belay," Ballinger told the Chronicle. "We immediately thought her day was done. It was a wild, scary flashback to last year's fall."
But after taking an hour-long rest and bandaging her wound, Harrington continued.
"There was a part of me that wanted to give up and quit," she said. "But this other part of me was like, this is why you're here. It's supposed to be hard. You owe it to yourself to try again."