Jul 2, 2021
How do we move from beginner to mastery? Dierdre Wolownick started climbing in her 50s to understand her son Alex Honnold's world. Now she's scaled El Capitan in Yosemite with a second trip planned this fall for her 70th birthday. In this episode, we talk about gaining mastery, what it meant to climb El Cap and how our relationships with children evolve.
Wolownick grew up in New York City and has lived and worked in many parts of the world. She began long-distance running at 55, and at 58, took up rock climbing with Alex. At 66, she became the oldest woman to climb El Capitan, the iconic 3,200-foot wall in Yosemite National Park. Check out her memoir, The Sharp End of Life: A Mother's Story