Climbing Era Bella in Margalef, Spain & Kayaking Toketee Falls, Oregon...NAT.GEO.

While climbing a hard route, everything else fades away. I am only thinking about the movement in front of me, the next sequence, what I am holding on to, and my breath," says 19-year-old climbing phemon Sasha DiGiulian, seen on Era Bella, graded 5.14d, in the sport-climbing mecca of Margalef, Spain. "These isolated thoughts are part of the thrill of climbing—nothing else in the world matters in that moment."
On April 26, 2012, DiGiulian reached the top of Era Bella, considered the hardest route completed by a woman, after working on it for more than three days over two trips. The feat was another feather in the cap of a woman who, in the past year, became the first American woman to climb a 5.14d route (Red River Gorge's Pure Imagination), won the overall gold at the climbing world championships, and captured her third consecutive national sport-climbing title.

"I wanted to climb Era Bella because it is a challenging, beautiful route," she says. "Even when my hands were bleeding and hurt from the rock's pockets cutting my skin, I kept going because I knew the experience of doing the route was worth more than a few bloody fingers."

Getting the Shot
Having previously photographed the Era Bella climbing route in Margalef, photographer Keith Ladzinski was prepared to capture DiGiulian on the difficult route. Ladzinski worked around a film crew to get his shot.

“The route itself was so athletically engaging that the expressions and body positions of Sasha were exciting to shoot,” he recalls. “Knowing you could be shooting a historic moment is always a great feeling.”

He adds: “I do my best to keep the frame sharp and precisely composed while paying strict attention for notable moments. The whole time I'm thinking ‘This could be it!’ "
Ladzinski used a Nikon D3 camera and Nikon 24mm f/1.4 lens

"At this moment I was about to toss my paddle and tuck up for landing," says kayaker Fred Norquist. "Coming over the lip was an incredible view!"

To get to Toketee Falls, which drop more than 65 feet into the North Umpqua River, this group of five kayakers had to do rope-assisted climbing down into the gorge—which included lowering their boats as well. "Once you are in the gorge you are pretty committed to running the falls," says the Bellingham, Washington-based paddler. "There is a 20-foot-tall waterfall shortly above this last drop. We ran the 20-footer, then ran the final drop."

Only six people have run this waterfall. Kayaker Chris Korbulic claimed the first decent in 2011. On this spring day in April 2012, all five paddlers—including Norquist, Evan Garcia, Kyle Hull, Erik Johnson, and Sam Friehofer—had successful runs. "None of us got injured and everyone had great lines on the waterfall," recalls Norquist, who contributes to Bomb Flow Magazine. "It was a picture perfect day."

Getting the Shot

An Oregon native, photographer Charlie Munsey shot Toketee Falls 15 years earlier and had hoped to return to photograph a kayaker descending the impressive falls. “The main challenge of capturing this moment was the combination of getting the right water level and a group of kayakers that could mentally and physically pull it off,” says Munsey. The remote Toketee Falls are Class V rapids.

To capture the kayakers and create horizontal framing, Munsey scaled a steep cliff and set up 30 feet above the water. Kayakers at the top of the falls shouted to Munsey as Norquist approached the falls' crest, and Munsey steadied himself to shoot. “I have to admit, the moment was so powerful that I was shaking a little bit,” he says.

Munsey took this shot with a Nikon D700 camera body and a Nikkor 70-200mm, f/2.8 lens.