EDITION 04 - APRIL 2, 2025
Your window into the stories, history, and ongoing work to preserve Yosemite’s climbing legacy.
A Note from the Editor
This week, we profile Yosemite big wall first ascensionist Kevin DeWeese. He shares insights on his mentorship with Steve Bosque—whose first ascents span decades—and discusses his many new routes around the Valley. These days, DeWeese says, he’s having more fun than ever.
Next week, we speak with Sonnie Trotter—Yosemite big-wall free climber from Canmore, Alberta—about his upcoming book, Uplifted: The Evolution of a Climbing Life. The book will be released May 13th through Patagonia Books. Trotter will present at this year’s Yosemite Facelift and sign copies.
Next week, we’ll feature Southern award-winning filmmaker and photographer Andrew Kornylak and discuss his new book, Spare These Stones, set for release this fall. The book—two years in the making—captures three decades of climbing culture through his unique lens.
Chris Van Leuven
Editor, Yosemite Climbing Association News Brief
YosemiteClimbing.Org
DeWeese high on Lurking Fear, El Capitan. Photo: Quinn Hatfield
Kevin DeWeese: Yosemite Climber Talks Mentorship, First Ascents, and the Art of Not-Suffering
I see myself enjoying climbing instead of surviving a suffer-fest
“Bosque never cared if it was the hardest thing or the best thing—he cared about having a good experience with his bros,” says Kevin DeWeese of his longtime climbing partner Steve Bosque. “He taught me from day one that suffering hones your spirit, but enjoying the experience expands your soul.”
When I first interviewed DeWeese for a 2018 profile in Climbing, he described first ascents—particularly the more challenging, grittier ones—as some of the best days of his life. We also discussed his nearly two-week solo ascent of El Capitan’s Tribal Rite (FA: Walter Rosenthal, Tom Carter, Allan Bard October 1978) in 2013, which he’s also talked about at the Yosemite Climbing Association Museum in Mariposa. It was a pivotal climb for him, and when I saw him on stage at YCA in 2023, he emphasized that he was in his element.
Bosque, whose first ascents date back to the Porcelain Wall in 1976, has established dozens of routes across Yosemite. Together with DeWeese, “We have three routes in Ribbon Falls, one on the Hourglass Wall, and an abandoned route on Arches Wall,” Kevin tells me after a day of looking for new places to move to in Oakland.
Twenty-five years ago, DeWeese first tried climbing while working as an instructor at a summer camp. He began pursuing the sport seriously after his sister's death, using climbing to quiet the voices in his head. Through mutual friends, he met Bosque, and the two began spending their weekends authoring new big wall lines.
DeWeese’s first ascent list includes several routes on Jericho Wall, located left of Glacier Point Apron: Horns of Jericho (A2+), a direct solo start; Jericho Wall itself (V A2+); Munge and Honey (V A3+); Book of Ruth (V A3); and Epidemia de Opiáceos (V 5.7 A3-). His other routes include Blood and Coin (V 5.5 A3-) on Lost Brother; Blue Collar (V A3) on the Hourglass Wall near the Ribbon Falls Amphitheater. On Ribbon Falls, he’s put up three new routes: Spaghetti Western (V 5.6 A3), Resist! (V 5.7 A2+) and Direct Action (V 5.7 A4). Other new routes include Generation Gap (V 5.9 A3) on Higher Cathedral Rock; and Hail to the Chief (V 5.9 A3 R) on Lower Cathedral Spire.
He also made a solo ascent of Roulette on Leaning Tower, a Grade V line from 1984 once rated A5. “Even when I was putting up my own big wall routes, I still failed on Roulette,” he says.
The route had an almost mythical reputation. “Previous stories of insane runout hooking seem to be overhyped as the ‘pancake potential,’” DeWeese wrote on Mountain Project.
“When I finally soloed the route, everything changed—I felt competent.” DeWeese adds of what motivated him to do such hard and committing routes, “A Napoleon complex drove me.”
Looking back on new routing with Bosque, DeWeese recalls standout moments such as the giant, unstable flake on Hail to the Chief—a feature that looked promising from below but “began to shake loose” as they climbed it. Another is from Blood and Coin, and the 180-foot pitch of near-continuous beaking. But those moments don’t compare to “Steve warming me up during a freezing bivy without saying anything—that camaraderie is what I remember.”
Years passed, and DeWeese kept up his momentum to climb big walls. But “At a certain point, I realized I didn’t need to prove anything anymore. I see myself enjoying climbing instead of surviving a suffer-fest. Now I’m climbing because I want an experience that enriches my life, not to prove something.
“I’m doing more easier free climbing now, which is actually my limit anyway.”
Today, DeWeese still lives simply—subsisting on a single steak once a day and energy drinks. After years of living in shared apartments (including when he lived in a closet), he and his partner, Yi, are looking to move in together.
DeWeese holds a degree in creative writing from San Francisco State and taught English and creative writing in high school for a decade before taking his current role in training and development at Stanford Federal Credit Union. Yi works in biofuel research. On the weekends—unless rain or snow keeps them grounded—they pack into their compact SUV on Friday nights and head for Yosemite. This past season, I’ve seen them aid cragging on warm winter days on El Cap routes, free climbing the sunny slabs at Parkline and navigating up glacier-polished free climbs. DeWeese told me that they spend summers exploring Tuolumne and the East Side. “Finding a climbing partner who enjoys sleeping in cars every weekend is rare,” he says.
While he’ll never forget his life chapter spent big wall FA’ing, his priorities have shifted. “Yi doesn’t like suffering,” he says, “so big walls aren’t the number one priority right now.”
And he’s changed too. “Now I’m climbing because I want an experience that enriches my life, not to prove something. The thing left to prove is having healthy relationships on and off the rock.”
Yi Chun Chen and Kevin DeWeeses in Tuolumne. Photo: DeWeese collection
PHOTO OF
THE WEEK
Matt Cornell on Widow’s Tears, Yosemite. Photo: Chris Van Leuven