Lunch just outside Yosemite Nat’l Park

By the time we got to Yosemite, we had already had an amazing interview with Allen Steck and Tom Frost (who took us out to Mexican for dinner, by the way – woopee!). We arrived at the park to find (not to our surprise) that all campsites were taken. We just weren’t getting any lucky breaks in the golden state! There were too many of us to crash Camp4, so we went to plan B – get a hold of our camp Curry employee friends and see what we could do.

We ended up driving the van into camp curry employee parking (after being stopped by a police car in the park when we attempted a failed u-turn…OF COURSE.) Signs everywhere read “employee parking only” and “not sleeping in cars” and finally “no food in cars.” I had seen the damage to my friend Thanh’s jeep only some months early (he had left a can of food, and the bear broke through his passenger side window for it.) So, I knew that we were basically breaking every rule the park (rightfully) had. But, that’s how it goes! We didn’t want to attract too much attention to ourselves *sleeping in the van* in employee parking, so we didn’t raise the pop top the whole way. Nick and Alex (who had the top bunk) hoisted it only an inch above their face, and used the camera tripod to prop it up. A long, cold night of precipitation touching their noses ensued. Down below, with me and Corene in the bottom bunk, a long night thinking every bump was most certainly a bear trying to break in to our honey-laden van occurred.

Our view from the camp curry parking lot…where’s da bears?

Crew quarters.  Amazed that my crew put up with this for 30+ days.

We made it through the night, and in fact, through Yosemite. We interviewed Ron Kauk and Ken Yager before moving on to our last California destination of Mammoth Lakes/Bishop.

When we interviewed Ron in his backyard right outside the park, there was an insurgency of mosquitos. Ron is not into mosquito spray – and at first I tried to go along with it. But, damn, after about 5 minutes of itchy swelling swatting, I couldn’t help myself. Ron remained steadfast, and continued the entire interview au natural. There were mosquitos visibly landing and feasting on Ron while he interviewew. “Why didn’t you tell me I had a mosquito right in the middle of my forehead?!” he said. Well, I tried. I really did. I told him the first few times, and then I tried motioning. But he didn’t seem to mind, and they sure didn’t want to relent, so I continued the interview amidst a cloud of mosquitos landing intermittently on Ron Kauk’s face. “Don’t worry, we’ll cgi those out.”

It’s a new year, a new day, a new president, a new moon.

I went out to Joshua Tree National Park for the first time since Fall; it had finally warmed up - in fact it was so balmy and warm it felt like an Indian Summer.  My friend/line producer Nick and I walked back to our campsite in the dark with our ropes and gear strung about us after a full day of climbing.  The moon was out and it was full and milky white, beaming down on us.  Everything else was a beautiful blue.  We were tired but happy and full of peace.  We just walked in silence, looking at our moonshadows, not saying a word.  A coyote trotted past us heading the opposite way.  A falling star shot through the sky.

It really is a new year, and it’s going to be a great year.

2008

2008 had been an eventful year for the Rock Adventure.  We’d gone to Salt Lake City for Outdoor Retailer, gone to the Climber’s Museum opening in Yosemite, been in Colorado for the Craggin Classic, made a million phone calls and a million emails, been to New York for the ‘Gunks Reunion; crashed a car, slept on the ground, slept in the van, not slept at all, partied with International climbers, met a ton of new people, been to Yosemite for the 50th Year Reunion of the First Ascent of the Nose; lost some crew, gained some crew; interviewed, in order: John Gill, Majka Burhard, Matt Samet, Alison Osius, Bob D’Antonio, Jim Donini, Katie Brown, Rob Pizem, Bob Culp, Rich Goldstone, Ajax Greene, Burt Angrist, Jim McCarthy, Dick Williams, Elaine Matthews, Al DeMaria, and Rich Romano.  This was just the beginning.

2009

We have a new mac book pro.  We have fresh faces on crew.  We’re on twitter.  We have a garageful of our favorite Duraflame logs for the storytelling sessions by the campfire.  We will be interviewing: Royal Robbins, Tom Frost, Henry Barber, John Bragg, Joe Herbst, Ed Webster, Paul Piana, John Long, Ron Kauk, Michael Kennedy, Doug Robinson, Scott Cosgrove, Sybille Hechtel, Don Lauria, Tom Higgins to name a few.   In a few months, we will be traveling to Yosemite, the Red Rocks, Colorado, Wyoming, New Hampshire to name some.  We want to meet you.  It’s a great beginning…

Our trip ended with a special California homecoming: the 50th Year Anniversary of the first ascent of the Nose of El Capitan by Warren Harding and his mix of ragtag partners (including Wayne Merry, George Whitmore, Allen Steck, Mark Powell, Wally Reed, Rich Calderwood, and Dolt Feuror).

Unfortunately, Warren passed away a few years ago so he wasn’t around to see this event or hear that Congress had named his ascent a Historic Event (though I bet he would have laughed, as did Wayne Merry, upon hearing this).

Harding was known for his affection for (among other things) wine. He was known to haul wine and wine glass up 3,000 feet just to toast on a bivvy ledge. And so the entire auditorium poured out a glass of wine (provided free by the Yosemite Climber’s Association headed by Ken Yager who set all this up) and toasted in his honor.

From left to right, the ascent team: Powell, Reed, Whitmore, Steck, Ellen Searby (behind Yager), Calderwood, and Merry.

All kinds of faces from climbing were around for the event: the ever gracious Royal Robbins, Sybille Hechtel, Don Lauria, Jerry Galwas, my old friends Joe McKeown & Fam, Doug Robinson, Ron Kauk, etc…It was a veritable reunion of all those who love Yosemite. I went with my father, as it was also his birthday weekend, and the climbing and roadside chats with people he hadn’t seen for maybe 30 years (Sybille, Ron) was a surefire way to stir up some good stories.

Ron spotted my van and left this on the windshield - evidently he was out at his old project that Beth Rodden had recently finished and renamed ‘Meltdown’

Here are some excerpts of the story of the Nose by Warren from Galen Rowell’s “Vertical World of Yosemite”:

It took Warren Harding about 2 years and 45 days to get up El Capitan. He faced threats from weather, injury, the National Park Service, and changed every single member of his original crew, who dropped out or left, before he would top out in 1958.

For me, this was great news.

The reason this is all good news is because it’s a reminder that big projects take hard work and determination in the face of many obstacles, and that independent resolve can get you to the top  (while still keeping good spirits and drinking gallons of cheap jug wine).

We’re kind of like the Harding team - probably above El Cap Towers, but below the 1800ft Camp IV - happy about the ground we’ve gained but realizing its going to take quite a big effort to finish.

As the New Year comes around the corner, the Portrait of the American Climber is contemplating, regrouping, and rescheming with the zest of Warren Harding peering up at El Capitan through binoculars in 1957.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Picture this: I’m sitting by the side of a beautiful green river, strumming my guitar.

My producer, Paul, is sitting on the grass to my right, remarking on the thousands of lady bugs flying around us.

Just then, a motorcycle pulls in to Cascade River Picnic area, and off of it comes Ron Kauk.

Yup, this is a business meeting. Sort of. “See that?” says Ron as we walk on the roadside (stopping only to pick up cigarette butts). He’s pointing to some ridiculously hard climb on Cookie Cliff and telling me about it. “Looks easy,” I say. He looks at me sideways. I smile.

You meet some people and you have an inexplicable bond with them right off the bat. Some people just have an inexplicable bond with pretty much everyone they meet, because they just have one of those electric personalities.

The thing about Ron Kauk (you know, the guy who put up Separate Reality with no cams, who freed Astroman, the guy who stunt doubled for Stallone and Tom Cruise in MI:2) - instead of sitting around complaining about how much tougher he was than all the young kids clippin bolts today, he has a genuine interest in seeing that this generation become the best, most well-rounded, connected to nature generation of climbers yet. The man’s got no ego. Chance made him a badass, fate made him cool. Or something like that.
After a few hours of talking shop, eating grapefruit and cherries, following him on his motorcyle towards el Portal, I’m convinced. What we agreed upon most: our deep-seated feeling that the future of rock climbing is not headed for the scrap heap but rather, it’s at a crossroads where it could stand to become [with some dedication - should we have an adopt a gym climber mentorship?] the greatest time for climbing yet. Are the new generation of climbers magazine fed, gym raised, and unknowing products of the ‘commercialization’ of climbing etc etc? That’s something that, when we hit the road in September to make this film, we will ask with our cameras.

a rough outline of where we will be filming and climbing

Part of the strength in this documentary is not that it can tell a great story and connect climbers with their past, but that it can search for answers to questions about climbing today and climbing tomorrow. It’s a journey.

Yeah, I don’t know the outcome. But if I did, what kind of adventure would that be? But I’m hopeful enough to find myself camped out all this week at my producers Apartment in Santa Monica, working all day and well into the night to make sure this film will get made right. Speaking of which, time for another pot of coffee! Paul says I can’t go to bed until I hand him the revised travel itinerary…

(Incidentally, waking up and hiding from the Rangers this past weekend at Camp4 also required lots of coffee…at least some things never change eh?)