Your window into the stories, history, and ongoing work to preserve Yosemite’s climbing legacy.

A Note from the Editor

With mid-June heat settling over Yosemite Valley, many climbers are escaping to higher elevations in Tuolumne or farther south to Shuteye Ridge. Last week, a few of us spent several days at Shuteye, enjoying temps 10 to 15 °F cooler than Mariposa. We climbed golden granite framed by trees scorched in the September 2020 Creek Fire — a 379,000-acre blaze that remains one of California’s largest single fires.

At our campsite, we met the fire lookout director as he was driving to work. Shuteye Peak Lookout — built in 1911 — is considered the oldest continuously operated lookout in the Sierra Nevada.

Fire Season Notes

Watch Duty has pinged Mariposa residents several times this month about small starts, most recently the Band Fire southeast of town. The blaze reached only a few acres, and a crew of 64 firefighters brought it to 100% containment on June 19.

New Shuteye Guidebook in the Works

Local developer Grahm Doe just launched a Kickstarter for a second-edition Shuteye Ridge guide. Highlights include:

114 new pitches (5.6 – 5.14a) in the North Zone
A brand-new sector, Ice Falls
GPS coordinates for every crag
Turn-by-turn driving directions with odometer readings

Lydia Bothwell climbing at Shuteye. *Photo: Chris Van Leuven*

Yosemite Updates

Campgrounds: For the first time since 2019, all 13 Yosemite campgrounds will open this summer, adding roughly 500 campsites. “Camping in this park is truly a magical experience, and we want to provide the opportunity for as many visitors as possible,” acting superintendent Ray McPadden told the L.A. Times.
Facelift reservations: YCA reminds volunteers that Facelift camping reservations opened on June 15 on Recreation.gov; demand is high, so create your account in advance.

Valley Speed News

The duo Brant Hysell and Jake Whisenant set a new speed record on The Prow (Washington Column, 11 pitches, C2+) in 2 h 52 m 29 s. Their post credits rehearsals and a “super-sick simul of the last four pitches” for the time.

This Week’s Feature Story

This week we profile Pat Curry, who roped 18 friends — many Yosemite first-timers — into climbing 40 pitches for his 40th birthday. Pat, his wife Maggie, and one-year-old June are Valley regulars; Pat recently soloed the West Face of Leaning Tower in a day and continues to push 5.11+/5.12 terrain. The story below touches on the loss of his friend Steve and how his love of the community and climbing keep Pat motivated.

Chris Van Leuven

Editor, Yosemite Climbing Association News Brief

YosemiteClimbing.Org

Pat is all smiles while running laps on the Enduro Corner, Astroman. Photo: Chris Van Leuven

Pat Curry: Climbing, Balancing His Career, Family, and Cultivating Community

Since picking up climbing 35 years ago, I’ve changed—ideally grown—and shifted who I climb with and why. It’s become less about me and my goals and more about the people around me, and it doesn’t really matter what we climb as long as we’re having fun and being safe. I also like being the snack king.

When I lived in Colorado many moons ago, I often climbed with Mike Schneiter because he was someone I wanted to spend time with and get to know, and it didn’t hurt that he was the strongest climber I knew. We once repeated a giant, terrifyingly loose route in Glenwood Canyon (his choice) while his wife, Joy, was pregnant with their daughter, Selah. A decade later, I wrote about Selah becoming the youngest person to climb the Nose on El Cap in 2019. Writing the story of her ascent was special because I cared about them so much. After the climb, I cooked them dinner at my old place in Mariposa.

My climbing partnership with Pat reminds me of climbing with Mike. He can pull 5.12 terrain, will lead just about anything you put in front of him, and he loves big walls. Sometimes, he’ll FaceTime me from the wall; I remember one call when he was stuck on top of the Boot Flake on the Nose during a multiday ascent. He’d let his daisy chains hang while walking across the flake, and a carabiner slid into a crack behind the ledge and got lodged. We talked while he sat there, attached to the wall, waiting for his partner, Phil, to finish cleaning the pitch below and come up with a nut tool to free him. Eventually, he got unstuck, and they continued to the top.

The last time we climbed together, Pat, Maggie, June, and I hiked up to Pat and Jack Pinnacle for some cragging. I’d hold June while Pat belayed Maggie and vice versa. Since I make a habit of packing snacks for climbers I run into at the crags, I handed out blueberry muffins (baked fresh that morning) to nearby parties. I’d also packed a jar of pickles and wandered around saying, “Pickles? Fresh muffins?”

Meanwhile, Pat was offering teams top-rope laps on the hard routes he’d just rope-gunned. That day, I gifted Pat a pink muscle shirt with a photo of Maggie and baby June that I’d made, and I wore my matching one with my dog’s mug on it. It was cute.

Pat lives in Merced and is the co-founder (alongside his brother, Brock) and chief technology officer at Simplexam, a cloud-based medical-legal software company. His wife, Dr. Maggie Sogin, is an assistant professor of molecular cell biology at UC Merced. They grind out their careers Monday through Friday, spend evenings at the climbing gym, and climb in Yosemite every weekend.

Pat told me during a recent call, “I want to climb in Yosemite—that’s non-negotiable. Climbing centers me—it’s therapeutic in a way meditation or running never was.” As for work, “I’m trying to figure out how to be a good manager and boss.” And regarding his 40-pitch birthday challenge: “I wanted to involve a lot of people—family, friends, even beginners. If the birthday were all about me, I’d try the Nose in a day, but I wanted something everyone could share.”

As for why he climbs, “I’m a one-thing-at-a-time person; when I’m climbing, that’s all I want to do. Doing something intense clears my mind; a big hike tires me out, but climbing resets everything. The more I climb, the more I want to climb.”

Logistically, he said of his 40-pitch day, “We started at Pat & Jack at 6 a.m., logged about ten pitches there, then moved to Toe-Joe and did ten more. A few of the crew had never even placed or cleaned a cam before; getting them outside was the best part. Taking a first-timer up Bishop’s Terrace blew his mind—he’d never even rappelled before.”

“Eighteen people showed up—some I’d never met until that day.”

It was a Saturday in mid-May on a non-reservation day, which made the challenge even more chaotic as parking was limited and traffic choked the roads. “By noon, everybody was scattered; traffic in the Valley was insane,” he says. “The hardest part was traffic and keeping the group together—coordination, for sure.” Jam Crack was so packed he couldn’t get a spot and gave up, opting instead for another area.

One crag, Swan Slab, “saved the day—easy top-rope setup, loads of pitches; everybody could jump on something.”

By 3 p.m., he was slowing down. He texted that his fingertips hurt, he was hot and dehydrated, and he hadn’t eaten enough. I was sad I couldn’t make it—I’d been guiding e-bike tours all week and would have offered him pickles and muffins. After a quick break, some food, and a switch to approach shoes, he knocked out the remaining pitches.

Pat and Maggie finished on Manure Pile Buttress, pausing on top to remember their late friend and climbing partner, Steve Roach. After drying their tears, they walked off and headed to the Pat and Jack picnic area to reconnect with the crew.

“We wrapped the day with a massive barbecue—steaks, corn; someone even tried to grill pizza,” he says.

Looking back on the birthday challenge, he says, “A birthday challenge punctuates the year—it’s something to build toward. But they aren’t just about me anymore; it’s about making sure everyone has fun.”