Steph Davis
climber
Steph is a climber who has tackled some of the toughest climbs in the world and achieved a number of firsts. She has been a high-profile climber for 25 years and is known as one of the most successful climbers globally.
She is believed to be the only woman to have free-soloed at 5.11 grade. In 2003 she climbed El Capitan, a 900 metre vertical climb in Yosemite national park, in one day. Only one woman had done so before. In 2005 she free-climbed the Salanthe Wall on El Capitan, which had never been free-climbed by a woman before. She also became the first woman to climb Torre Egger in Patagonia in one day.
https://youtu.be/4z7Z82bV9a8
In March 2013 she was featured on the cover of ‘Climbing’ magazine when a video of her crack climb in Mineral Canyon was released.
As well as pioneering a number of difficult climbs, Steph has undertaken some amazing base jumps and is an experienced wingsuit flyer. She has written ‘High Infatuation’ and ‘Learning to Fly’ about her extraordinary achievements.
Vegan!
Steph is also a vegan. She says she is “endlessly interested in nutrition and performance effects” , and turned vegan in 2002 aside from organic milk in coffee, which she gave up in 2008. On her blog at the time she noted that she was feeling “stronger and healthier than ever before…. overall feeling more fit than ever.”
- First woman to climb Torre Egger in one day
- First woman to free climb Salanthe Wall on El Capitan
- Climbed El Capitan in one day
“I started eating vegan purely for health/athletic reasons originally. But as the years have gone by, I care very much about trying to cause as little harm to other creatures as possible. I really love animals and respect them very much, and I don’t want to see them hurt or forced into unnatural lives. I’m not so much out to change the world, as to change myself, but I would love to see all the people taking care of all living creatures, humans included. Wouldn’t that be something? With being vegan and avoiding animal products of any kind, my policy has always been to just do the best I can. No one’s perfect, but we can’t let that stop us from trying to be better, right?”
More about Steph elsewhere online
Video – the incredible climb of the Salanthe Wall