At 21 years old, Sasha DiGiulian has accomplished more than your average junior at Columbia University. This summer, instead of relaxing by the pool with a cold beverage, she planned to travel to a remote location in Switzerland to attempt one of the hardest climbing challenges of her life.

Even at her young age, the climber has made a name for herself in the industry, even recently earning a world championship title. Her journey to the Bernese Oberland with climbing partner Edu Martin was supposed to be another challenging addition to her climbing repertoire.

But in her final weeks of preparation, things changed. Her father, John DiGiulian, suddenly and unexpectedly became ill, and within the span of just two weeks, passed away.

Determined to complete the climb in her father’s honor, DiGiulian traveled to the Swiss Alps, but when she arrived, found the area to be plagued by unyielding torrential downpours. It soon became evident that climbing the Zahir Plus was not going to be an option.

Though she could have returned home, DiGiulian decided to seek out other opportunities, which is when locals told her of a renowned route on the island of Sardinia. Only ever completed by one other climbing group—legendary climber Dani Andrada and his partner Daniel DeLac, in 2002—DiGiulian took a leap of faith and decided to tackle the 1,000-foot climb called Viaje de los Locos.

“My dad was a dreamer,” DiGiulian told Red Bull before the climb. “He dreamt about achieving things bigger than himself. He taught me to follow my heart, and to live for my passion.”

And so she did just that. The route consists of seven pitches much more difficult than Zahir Plus, which challenged the athlete to tap into abilities she never thought she had; most notably, her power of conviction.

“Arriving to the wall it all of the sudden hit me, ‘What are we getting ourselves into?’” DiGiulian told ABC in a post-climb interview. “I definitely felt like I was exposing myself to the hardest thing that I’ve tried yet in my climbing career, which was a really cool feeling but also […] almost nauseating.”

Though it was far from easy, DiGiulian found the strength and stamina to complete the climb just a day before she was due back in New York to begin classes. She will go down in history as the first female to ever complete the dangerous climb.

“Sardinia ended up being some kind of destiny,” DiGiulian said in the aftermath. “Because of how the trip played out, because I didn’t think I could do it, and because my dad was with me on this climb, I would say that this was the most rewarding climbing experience of my life.”

Watch DiGuilian face the climb in the video below, and follow her climbing career on Instagram and Twitter.