Yosemite isn’t known for mellow lines or easy victories, it’s a place of exposure, sweat, and big-wall commitment. And this season, 25-year-old French climber Laura Pineau, teamed with John Kasaian, paddled straight into the deep end and stuck the ride of her life: the first female ascent of Wet Lycra Nightmare (5.13d, 9 pitches), a towering, mixed-style testpiece that throws everything at you from slabs to bouldery cruxes to a final, thrashy chimney.

First ascended by Jim Hewitt and Todd Skinner in 2004, it's known for being the steepest big wall in the USA. It's also been climbed by Alex Honnold, William Moss, Jordan Cannon and several others.

Pineau led all pitches over three days. For someone who tied in for the first time at 17, after competitive tennis and a stint in boxing, the rise has been steep, fast, and refreshingly raw. 

Laura's Story

In 2023, after spending two months in Squamish preparing for Free Rider, a film screening at the Arc’teryx festival completely shifted the direction of my season. Samuel Crossley’s film about the ascent of Wet Lycra Nightmare deeply moved me. I knew instantly that one day I, too, would try this iconic route, driven by the idea of doing that improbable “chicken wing” move suspended 600 meters above the void. It wasn’t just the exposure that attracted me, but the richness of the climbing itself: slabs, cracks, powerful bouldery sequences, and a highly exposed final chimney… a true granite sampler where I wanted to test my experience and push my limits.

But the preparation was far from ideal. A heavy bike crash in July left me with a shoulder injury and two months of disrupted training. Arriving in the Valley with so little strength could have discouraged me, but the desire to throw myself into a big project was stronger. During the first sessions, I climbed cautiously, giving my shoulder time to heal — and, almost miraculously, after 10 days, the pain had vanished. That’s when I started putting real attempts into the 8b and committed to working the route over six weeks, seventeen days in total. When I finally sent the 8b pitch on lead, I knew the full ascent was possible, even though the two 7c+ pitches ahead of me would still push my limits.

The final three-day push was an emotional whirlwind. The first day went smoothly, right up until five exhausting attempts on the 8b that convinced me to stop for the night on the comfortable Awahnee Ledge. My Coros watch showed me I had burned 4700 calories on that first day which is way more than I expected, so I made sure to have multiple dinners. Day two became a mental battle like few I’ve experienced: ten attempts on the 8b, including a heartbreaking slip on the seventh try that almost crushed me. It was only after putting on some upbeat music that I managed to calm my mind. On the tenth attempt, I finally sent the pitch, carried by an unexpected flow. With a few minutes of shade left, I jumped on the next pitch — and it went. From that moment on, I knew I would make it to the top.

The third day remains one of the most beautiful climbing days of my life. I sent the last 7c+ in a state of complete fatigue, balancing somewhere between determination and total pump. In the final chimney, I even thought I might get stuck — a full minute frozen between tension and pure willpower. When I finally managed to climb higher, everything clicked into place, and I savored every move up to the final anchor.

Clipping that last anchor filled me with immense pride and deep relief. Wet Lycra Nightmare is not only my first big wall sent on my own, but also the defining achievement of what I now call my “Yosemite year.” After seven months in the Valley, I’m leaving with memories, connections, and the feeling of having added my own small stone to this legendary place.

Next up: Europe. France, Italy, good food, and the southern cliffs I’ve missed so much.

• Laura Pineau, Yosemite, USA (photos by Miya Tsudome)

The First Ascent by Photographer Jim Thornburg

im Hewitt and Todd Skinner on the first ascent of Wet Lycra Nightmare (5.13d) in 2004. At the end of 2 straight days jugging the entire route, I was pretty tired when I took this shot. While changing lenses, I fumbled an expensive lens hood and cursed as I watched it float 2000’ to the talus.

Always the optimist, Todd told me not to worry, “Anything you drop up here ends up in the exact same spot near the trail—you’ll find it”. Horseshit, I thought (everybody knew about Todd’s penchant for tall tales) and I resigned to never see that hood again. Todd had also told me he sent the crux pitch (a shouldery V10 roof) with a torn rotator cuff and that he’d crush 6-8 ibuprofen and sprinkle it on his morning bowl of cereal before heading up the route. That was certainly hard to believe, but Hewitt had witnessed it all.

Equally hard to believe was that this guy Hewitt (never heard of him?) was crushing 5.13 pitches 1500’ feet off the deck on a Yosemite Big Wall first ascent, all while working a full time job in Mill Valley, Ca. But I can assure you, he did those pitches multiple times for the camera, and didn’t shy away from the bruising, back-first whipper out of the bombay chimney at the top of the route. Anyway, by the end of our two day shoot (Todd wanted photos of every pitch) I was utterly wasted.

As we stumbled down the trail in the gathering darkness, Todd, from way up ahead (he always was) shouted back “keep an eye out for your lens hood”, and I muttered “yeah right” as a felt my way down the dark trail. Two steps later my hand brushed something from a small ledge I’d been using for balance, and fell onto the trail. I glanced down (figuring it was a can or plastic water bottle) and there, at my feet, was the lens hood!

The Film That Inspired