Play hard, party hard: “I realized a long time ago that I could either live in a nice house and not climb or live in a car and climb whenever I want. It was an easy decision. I took every seat but the driver’s out of my grandmother’s Oldsmobile Cutlass Sierra. It was great for Yosemite; the rangers never suspected I was in there sleeping.”

No fear: “We’re all going to die. So when I’m climbing, I only worry about it in a vague way. My friend Seth died last year when a sérac [house-size chunk of ice] fell on him. I use it as a constant reminder: ‘Seth is dead; séracs are bad.’”

Hard as a rock: “On the mountain I’m not thinking about myself as a girl or a woman; I’m just a climber. But off the mountain, when I’m honed and fit, my friends tell me guys are always checking me out. Could be; I’m usually in my own little world.”