Caitlin Horan's feet are still numb after suffering from some minor nerve damage and her hands are still full of fluid, after her marathon climb.
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But after spending three years in chemotherapy to being able to stand on the top of El Capitan after an intensive ascent, she says she feels on top of the word.
"It's a comeback story for me, I guess, fighting tooth and nail to stay alive against an aggressive cancer and a long and slow recovery to achieve my dreams," Ms Horan said.
"Climbing El Capitan is the ultimate test of mental and physical endurance. I think it's still sinking in that I got to the top."
The Canberran spent 132 hours climbing El Capitan, an almost 1000 metre vertical rock face in Yosemite National Park in California as part of a team of three late last month.
For Ms Horan, the feat of climbing El Capitan was more than just a test of strength and endurance.
Speaking to The Canberra Times from California after her climb, she said it was the realisation of a goal that kept her going through her battle with Leukemia in 2015.
After seeing renowned climbers Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgensen climb a new route on El Capitan that was live streamed online, Ms Horan said the goal of tackling the peak kept her going through the treatment
"When I was sick, I saw those amazing climbers do what they did, and thought that [climbing El Capitan] was a dream for me," she said.
"Yosemite is the spiritual home of rock climbers everywhere and El Capitan is the biggest wall there and it's ingrained in climbing culture.
"If you can climb something like that, it's something that you can hang your hat on."
The mentor for Climbers Against Cancer was set to tackle El Capitan as part of a three-day climb, but ended up taking five to reach the summit, after being stuck behind a crew from Germany.
Ms Horan said the challenge of overtaking the crew made the ascent even more challenging, climbing for 26 hours straight at one point.
"The other party had slowed us down, which put us a day behind from where we were supposed to be, which put on pressure to overtake," she said.
"We were climbing for 132 hours and only got 19 hours of sleep. While you're on El Capitan, there's so much adrenaline going on. Everyone has this fierce determination to get to the top, and come hell or high water, I wasn't going to stop until I realised the dream."
Such is the sheer rock face, climbers often aren't able to see the top of El Capitan while they're ascending until they almost reach the summit.
After training for months through Canberra Indoor Rock Climbing and practice runs on other rock faces in the lead up to the climb, Ms Horan said the determination to reach the summit of El Capitan was similar to a determination to overcome Leukemia years earlier.
"Surviving an aggressive cancer requires relentless optimism and positive thinking and so does climbing El Capitan," she said.
"I'm more focused now and more determined than I've ever been, and that's because I'm determined to make every moment count, because you don't know when your number's up."
Despite the grueling conditions, using hand holds some the size of matchboxes to climb up, Ms Horan said the gamble paid off, and the accomplishment was still sinking in.
She said she was now on the look out for her next climb.
"It's probably been the best week of my life," she said.
"It's the happiest I've ever been, and I've dreamed of this for so long, and I wasn't sure it was ever going to be a reality."
Andrew Brown
I've been part of the Canberra Times since 2016, after reporting at local papers in Sydney's north-west. Since starting at the paper I've had stints on the Sunday Times, on the early morning breaking news round, and now as a general reporter, covering the ins and outs of anything and everything happening in Canberra, with a focus on health.
I've been part of the Canberra Times since 2016, after reporting at local papers in Sydney's north-west. Since starting at the paper I've had stints on the Sunday Times, on the early morning breaking news round, and now as a general reporter, covering the ins and outs of anything and everything happening in Canberra, with a focus on health.
