the Valley—Yosemite Valley inside Yosemite National Park.
Yosemite Decimal System—The scale or grade on which climbs in North America are rated.
SELECTED FURTHER MEDIA ON YOSEMITE,
CLIMBING, AND CLIMBING IN YOSEMITE
Getting to the top is nothing.
How you get to the top is everything.
—Royal Robbins, who met his wife and fellow climber,
Liz Robbins, during a summer in Yosemite
BOOKS
Blanchard, Barry. The Calling: A Life Rocked by Mountains. Ventura, CA: Patagonia, 2014.
Caldwell, Tommy. The Push. New York: Viking, 2017.
Davis, Steph. High Infatuation: A Climber’s Guide to Love and Gravity. Seattle, WA: Mountaineers Books, 2007.
———. Learning to Fly. New York: Touchstone, 2015.
Denny, Glen, and Yvon Choiunard. Yosemite in the Sixties. Santa Barbara, CA: Patagonia/T. Adler Books, 2007.
Farabee, Charles R. “Butch.” Big Walls, Swift Water. San Francisco: Yosemite Conservancy, 2017.
Fieldman, Dean and John Long. Yosemite in the Fifites. Santa Barbara, CA: Patagonia/T. Adler Books, 2015.
Harrer, Heinrich. The White Spider. New York: Tarcher/Puntam, 1998.
Hill, Lynn. Climbing Free. New York: W. W. Norton, 2003.
Honnold, Alex. Alone on the Wall. New York: W. W. Norton, 2015.
Johnson, Shelton. Gloryland. San Francisco: Sierra Club, 2009.
Jones, Chris. Climbing in North America. Seattle, WA: Mountaineers Books, 1997.
Krakauer, Jon. Eiger Dreams. Guilford, CT: Lyons/Globe Pequot Press, 2009.
Leonard, Brendan. Sixty Meters to Anywhere. Seattle, WA: Mountaineers Books, 2016.
Long, John, with Jeff Jackson and Dean Fieldman. The Stonemasters. Santa Barbara, CA: Stonemaster Press/T. Adler Books, 2009.
Muir, John. The Yosemite. New York: The Century Co., 1912.
Rébuffat, Gaston. Starlight and Storm. New York: Random House, 1999.
Robbins, Royal. Basic Rockcraft. Glendale, CA: La Siesta Press, 1971.
Roper, Steve. Camp 4. Seattle, WA: Mountaineers Books, 1994.
FILMS
Meru, by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi. Music Box Films, 2015.
Reel Rock 9: Valley Uprising, by Peter Mortimer, Nick Rosen, and Josh Lowell. Sender Films, 2014.
Note from the Author
It’s not a coincidence that many climbers are also writers or artists. There is something about climbing that strips away all the things you want to believe about yourself, leaving you with just who you are and the great beyond—something so big you will never fully understand it and are always trying to explain.
Yosemite, specifically, is an incredibly special place, with a special history of climbing. Women have always been part of Yosemite’s history, though their stories are often forgotten or summed up into being girlfriends (who happen to make ascents). The climbing community is not immune to the struggles of culture at large. And like Petra says to Adeena, heralding one woman at the top for her success is not the same thing as supporting all women. Some of the best climbing in the world has been done by women.
I am a lifelong climber, including throughout my pregnancies, but I am the worst climber to ever write a book about climbing. Without climbing, though, I wouldn’t be a writer. No one will ever be inspired watching me shuffle up a 5.8 top-rope, but hopefully my words will inspire girls to go out and find themselves on the rock.
Acknowledgments
This book was born the moment I walked across Sportrock Climbing Center’s gym floor for employee training, and the girl who was training me pointed to Sasha DiGiulian banging out pull-ups like a badass, and said, “There’s Sasha. She’s kind of a bitch.”
I never found out if it was true or not, since I am a terrible climber and was hired to belay birthday parties, but I knew then and there I wanted to write a book about climbing girls.
Ten years later, it’s real! So thank you, Sasha, for being unforgettable and an amazing climber. And thank you, employee I don’t remember, for talking shit behind someone’s back.
Thank you, Amanda, for meeting a stranger at LAX on a whim and heading to Yosemite. That trip will forever be one of the greatest experiences of my life. Zion next! Thank you, Mom Lemon, for taking care of my babies (and me) then and all the other times. Without you, almost more than anyone else, I wouldn’t be able to do this.
Thank you, Jeff, Toothless Guy with Insane Arms, Old Man Who Knows Everything, Virginia Good Old Boy, Red Shirt Guy, the Guy Who Packed His Pillow in the Pig, and Joe, for letting me interrupt, ask questions and poke around your box (snort) truck. Thank you for trying to impress us by smoking your summit cigars while you were packing. Our ovaries will never recover.
Thank you, Josh, for being so willing to share, and bringing us into the circle at HUFF. And for showing us the couch!
Thank you Alix Morris and Ken Kreis, for being excited and willing to share even when I walk into your camp uninvited. I came back with whiskey, but I feel like it didn’t get to you (at least, full).
Thank you so much, Josie McKee, for coming around when I interrupted your breakfast and for your invaluable feedback during revisions. You made me look like I knew what I was talking about. Your quote brought me to tears. Thank you!
The characters in this book are all versions of people that always seem to exist in climbing circles, and I’m so inspired by the young generation of girls dominating climbing and taking it to new levels.
Thank you to all my writer friends who have kept me sane and grounded throughout this whole second book experience—Ricki, Rénee, J. J., Emily, Henning, and Lee. The Coven. The Fight Me Club. You know who you are.
B! You continually have my back, encourage me, and talk me down. I am so lucky to be your client.
Thank you, Anne and everyone at Amulet, for believing in this book.
Thank you, NRG climbers and residents! I tried so hard to write a book about West Virginia climbing, but I guess I leave that for someone else!
Even now, at the end, I can think of so many other things I learned from climbing that I wasn’t able to write about, so forgive me climbers!
Thank you, J, for being my partner, through the shit climbs and the great ones, through the times someone forgot gear, dropped gear, froze up, or fell off. Through the times we’ve tapped out, been scraped off, and the times we’ve had great ascents. We’ve been through it all, and I wouldn’t do it any other way. Except the time I got stung in the ass. I would take that back.
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty One
Twenty Two
Twenty Three
Twenty Four
Twenty Five
Twenty Six
Twenty Seven
Twenty Eight
Twenty Nine
Thirty
Thirty One
Thirty Two
Thirty Three
Thirty Four
Thirty Five
Thirty Six
Thirty Seven
Thirty Eight
Thirty Nine
Forty
Forty One
Forty Two
Forty Three
Glossary of Terms
Note from the Author
Acknowledgments
Valley Girls Page 35