Chantel Astorga

Chantel Astorga

KETCHUM, IDAHO


“Alpine literature put me into the dream state. Through reading I could imagine what I could accomplish one day in my future”


For Chantel, it started with reading a book on Denali National Park. By the time she was 19, she was skiing on the park’s highest peak. Just a few years later she was putting up iconic routes on the Denali Diamond, the Slovak Direct, and most impressively a solo climb and ski of the Cassin ridge—a four-day route she completed in less than a day.


“It’s been pure chance and luck that all my most meaningful expeditions have been with other women”


Chantel and Anne Gilbert Chase were awarded an honorable Piolet d’Or for their first ascent in India in 2018. She and Jewel Lund were the first female team to climb Alaska Grade VI. She was also part of the first female team to link the Nose and El Capitan in Yosemite and has set various female speed records in the famous valley. For Chantel, the reward is not the records, but the friendships formed and lessons learned.


“Each climb shows me that I am capable of much more than I was aware of”


For 14 years, Astorga balanced her alpinism with her challenging job as avalanche forecaster for the state of Idaho. In 2024, she decided to go all-in on alpinism. In her first year as a full-time athlete for The North Face, she was a part of the first team to descend the Great Trango Towers on skis along with teammates Jim Morrison and Christina Lusti.


Career Highlights

  • First Ski Descent, Great Trango Tower, West Face, Pakistan (2024)
  • First Ascent Menage Trout, Bear’s Face, (A2+, 5.10R, 13 Pitches) Beartooth Mountains, Montana (2023)
  • First female solo and fastest onsight time ascent,  Cassin Ridge, Denali 14.39 Hours.
  • Climbed with skis and opened a new ski descent (Seattle/Wickwire Ramp) enroute to the Cassin, Alaska Range (2021)
  • First Female Ascent, Slovak Direct, Denali (Grade VI, WI6, M6+, A2), Alaska Range (2018)
  • First Ascent and Honorable Mention Piolets d’Or—SW Face of Mount Nilkantha 6596m, Grade VI, WI5, M6+, A0, Garhwal Region, India (2017)
  • Denali Diamond, Denali, (Grade VI, WI5+, M6, A1) First Female Team to climb Alaska Grade VI. Alaska Range (2015)
  • First Free Ascent, Polarchrome, Mount Huntington in a day (Grade V, WI6, M7) Alaska Range (2014)
  • Solo climb, The Nose, El Cap (24.35 hrs) Yosemite National Park (2014)
  • First Female Team Linkup Nose, El Capitan/NW Regular Route, Half Dome

(Valley to Valley 21.5hrs) Yosemite National Park (2012)

  • Past female team speed records The Nose, Lurking Fear and Zodiac, Yosemite National Park (2010-2014)