{"id":109870,"date":"2025-11-11T08:04:21","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T08:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/explorersweb.com\/?p=109870"},"modified":"2025-11-11T13:57:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T13:57:13","slug":"how-chantel-astorga-became-an-elite-alpinist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/explorersweb.com\/how-chantel-astorga-became-an-elite-alpinist\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hard Way: How Chantel Astorga Became an Elite Alpinist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chantel Astorga is possibly the least suitable example of self-learning. Now a multifaceted alpinist with a strong leaning for solo climbing, Astorga learned the ABCs of climbing mainly from books. She studied knots, rope-soloing, and ice climbing. Soon, she was heading for Yosemite, Alaska, and the Himalaya.<\/p>\n

Determined to stay away from the social media fanfare, Astorga is perhaps less well-known than others at her level, except in the U.S. community of elite alpinists and the organizing committees of Cutting Edge and Grit & Rock awards, where she is a regular recipient.<\/p>\n

We had a chance to speak to her at the Banff Centre’s Mountain Film and Book Festival, where she took part in a panel on the future of alpinism.<\/p>\n

A life-changing article<\/h2>\n

Chantel Astorga had no mountaineering background or interest in the mountains — except for snowboarding like many other teenagers — until she stumbled upon a magazine with an article called The Art of Suffering<\/em>, the alpine manifesto of Voytek Kurtyka<\/a>. One of the legendary Polish climbers who shaped winter 8,000m climbing during the 1980s, Kurtyka’s intense character stuck in the young woman’s mind.<\/p>\n

“I really knew nothing about that stuff, but for some reason, it really drew me in, so I stole the magazine from the library, and…it set the course for my future.”<\/p>\n

When Bernadette McDonald published The Art of Freedom<\/em>, about Kurtyka’s climbs and thoughts, Astorga, then at university, devoured it. She had just one question: How do I become a climber?<\/p>\n

Self-taught<\/h2>\n

“I decided to get a job as a ski patroller, so I switched from snowboarding to skiing,” she said. “I also realized that skiing was just a more efficient tool than split boards for moving in the mountains.”<\/p>\n

She read more books about how to climb, then went out by herself and started. It sounds like the sort of experiment requiring a disclaimer like, “Kids, don’t try this at home.” But it worked out well for her.<\/p>\n

There was this very moderate ice climb in Little Cottonwood Canyon, [Utah]. I would go down there every day after work and practice swinging the tools and kicking the crampons in. Then I bought a book about how to rope solo, and then I basically taught myself how to rope solo so I could ice climb this thing. That took a bit of time because the first time, I got scared and bailed. But eventually, I just was climbing this moderate ice with a rope by myself.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“I just felt natural, like I belonged there, I was so drawn to it,” she recalls.<\/p>\n

She also did a lot of backcountry skiing, mostly on her own.<\/p>\n

“My foundation was just like moving through the mountains on skis, and a lot of this I was just doing by myself and figuring it out,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"Chantel

Chantel Astorga speaks to Angela Benavides in the Banff Film Festival’s press room. Photo: Jerry Kobalenko<\/p><\/div>\n

Teenager on Denali<\/h2>\n

At the time, she met Willie and Damian Benegas. The brothers and Everest guides took Astorga under their wing. They gave her some of their hand-me-down gear, since she couldn’t afford to buy much equipment. They also took her on her first real rock-climbing experience: the Super Crack<\/em><\/a> in Indian Creek.<\/p>\n

The Benegas also lent her a pair of ski boots three sizes too big for her and smaller skis with Dynafit bindings. She then skied down Denali with them.<\/p>\n

“I stuffed the toe box so that my foot would fit in there,” she casually explained.<\/p>\n

Soon afterward, she was guiding groups up the normal route of the mountain.<\/p>\n

By the time she considered herself an (intermediate) rock climber, she made a big move — to Yosemite Valley, no less.<\/p>\n

Yosemite rookie<\/h2>\n

“I had a friend who was working on the search-and-rescue team in the Valley, so I spent the summer there, getting better and more familiar with granite and bigger walls,” she said. “I didn’t climb\u00a0El Cap or anything that year, but then, yeah, somehow the next year, I ended up on the search-and-rescue team.”<\/p>\n

\"Astorga

File image of a young Chantel Astorga climbing El Cap. Photo: Chantel Astorga\/Instagram<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

“It was super intimidating for me, because I just didn’t really feel good enough, or like I belonged there, and free climbing obviously takes time to progress. I just kind of focused on what was my strength at that time, which was big wall climbing. [Then] I just got into the speed-climbing scene, and so I started doing a lot of that, and then soloing walls and stuff…”<\/p>\n

The “stuff” is female speed records on The Nose, Lurking Fear, and Zodiac between 2010 and 2014, a solo climb of El Cap’s The Nose in 2014, and the first linkup of The Nose of El Capitan with the NW Regular Route of Half Dome on a female team. Not bad for someone who, not many years earlier, had been a beginner.<\/p>\n

Avalanche forecaster to pro<\/h2>\n

Next came some impressive climbs in Alaska, like the first free ascent of Mount Huntington’s Polarchrome<\/em> route in a day (Grade V, WI6, M7), and her first expeditions to the Himalaya. Yet, like most alpinists, she needed to keep a day job to keep going. In her case, she became an avalanche forecaster, a not-so-well-paid job but something she enjoyed. It gave her flexibility and enough of an off-season to plan for an expedition every two years (all she could afford). When the budget didn’t fit, there was always Alaska.<\/p>\n

In 2021, Astorga stunned the climbing community by soloing Denali’s Cassin Ridge<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A

Chantel Astorga soloing the huge Cassin ridge on Denali. Photo: Zach Novak<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Around the time of COVID, she was invited to join The North Face team. Asked if she feels pressured by her new responsibilities to a major sponsor, she said no. She feels she is able to climb what she wants, with whom she wants, and that the real pressure comes from herself.<\/p>\n

“I feel that, because I’m a sponsored athlete, I should be performing at the highest level at all disciplines,” she admitted.<\/p>\n

What she fears most about her new role as a professional climber is social media.<\/p>\n

“I never had social media before I signed the agreement, and I was happy like that. Now I have to work on it, which I understand I must, but I can’t say I like it.”<\/p>\n

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