Yosemite

A group of old Cleveland friends and I made a trip out to Yosemite this year to climb Half Dome! It’s a 16 mile, 12 hour hike that has you walking up the 45 degree slope of dope with cables and heavy gloves. It was pretty exhilarating to descend the slope - even better than actually being on top of the dome - because if you were standing fully upright and perpendicular to the rock, you were staring downward into miles and miles of Yosemite. It’s probably one of the most beautiful scenes I’ve ever witnessed.

After the big hike we spent the rest of our visit relaxing in Touloumne Meadow and Olmstead Point, running around, trying to cross streams and find rocks.

Okay, so finding rocks was mostly just me - Yosemite is a HUGE climbers’ paradise and I’m only just learning what things like Camp 4 are all about. I may have been a little obsessed with climbing over the trip, sorry Yosemite friends. We were able to spy two tiny tents on El Cap. Next chance I get, I’m coming here for Yosemite Mountaineering School. I drew this guy out of the pages of Ascent Magazine on the plane ride back to CHI. His name is Jernej Kruder and he is bouldering Riders on the Storm (V13) in Switzerland.

We stayed in a peaceful Airbnb in Groveland. Most of our cabin time was spent prepping for the hike, cooking, doing laundry and playing Spaceteam - but on the last morning most of us got some good patio time with the trees.