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

A Note from the Editor

As we’ve reported in previous newsletters, temps have climbed into the 90s in recent weeks. However, they haven’t stayed as high—or for as long—as in past summers. Current conditions in Mariposa (July 25) are in the low 80s, and forecasts call for highs in the 80s to low 90s until a warmer spell arrives around August 5. Yosemite Valley is expected to reach the upper 80s today and is projected to remain mostly in the 70s and low 80s through next week. It’s been one of the coolest summers in memory. FOX Weather reports:

“With an average high temperature just shy of 68 degrees overall this season, this has been San Francisco’s coolest summer since 1965.”

Yosemite Entry Reservations

NPS confirms that daily reservations to enter the park between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. end on August  15. No reservations are required from August 16 - 29. The system will restart for Labor Day Weekend (August 30 - September 1).

“September  2 through the rest of  2025: A reservation is not required at any time,” NPS says.

Climbing-Closure Update

YCA posted on Instagram:

Peregrine & Golden Eagle Closures Lifted

As of July 15, all climbing closures related to peregrine falcons and golden eagles have been lifted.

2025 Nesting Season Highlights:

A record-breaking seven new peregrine nests found in Yosemite
15 active nests and 23 fledglings successfully confirmed
New territory at Parkline Slab
New occupancy at BHOS Dome (Tenaya Canyon)
Yosemite Point/Falls pair returned to their 1993 nest on Rhombus Wall

(NPS policy confirms most raptor-related closures typically lift by July 15.)

An Update from Yosemite Climbing Ranger, Miles Fullman

Miles Fullman sent us a recent interview he conducted with Adriana Sabella about the first female solo in a day ascent of Zodiac, El Capitan (June 22-23). The conversation highlights the importance of being respectful on the walls, both to other parties and to the cliffs themselves.

READ MILES FULLMAN’S EDITORIAL

Photographer Spotlight: Justin  Olsen

Over six years, Olsen evolved from a Yosemite concession worker to a photographer documenting top climbers—including Kevin Jorgeson, Sasha DiGiulian, and Molly Mitchell—as well as the Valley’s highlining and rope-jumping scenes. He learned photography through a high school elective and mentorship from Yosemite, and through constant trial and error.

Highlights include capturing:

Eugene Cepoi’s record-breaking 861-meter highline No Sleeping Allowed—“the longest ever rigged in California, & 3× longer than the previous Yosemite record,” wrote Scott Oller on Reddit.
Daniel Bosch’s 60-meter free-fall rope jump over Yosemite Valley.
I wrote a profile of Olsen in Gripped in 2024.

Speaking of photographers, while writing this editor’s note, the mailman delivered Andrew Kornlyak’s new title, Spare These Stones: A Journey Through Southern Climbing Culture. The book came out beautifully.

To learn more about Olsen’s work, check out the feature below and follow him on Instagram.

Chris Van Leuven

Editor, Yosemite Climbing Association News Brief

YosemiteClimbing.Org

Justin Olsen on the east couloir of Matterhorn Peak on the border of Yosemite. *Photo: Chris Brinlee Jr.*

Justin Olsen: Yosemite Climbing Photographer’s Next Chapter in Northern California

Former Valley lensman swaps El Cap for his hometown OK Corral bar

When Justin Olsen—who goes by his last name—moved to Yosemite in 2016, he planned to spend three months working for the concession, go on some hikes, get some climbing in, and capture images of the park’s beauty. Three months stretched into six years. He stayed from 2016 to 2020, then returned in 2023.

During that time, former local and master-rigger Ryan Sheridan took him under his wing and recruited him to shoot a new route by Kevin Jorgeson on Higher Cathedral Rock in 2018. Olsen captured the line, a 1,200-foot 5.13d called Blue Collar, between his late-night shifts while working at a bar.

His style and images, captured with natural light only and minimal editing, impressed adidas Outdoor/Terrex, and the company soon regularly assigned him tasks.

In 2019, he and Sheridan traveled to the Canadian Rockies to capture Sasha DiGiulian on her free ascent of The Shining Uncut, a 13-pitch 5.14. During the assignment, Olsen and Sheridan endured a heinous bivy on Mount Louis.

However, in 2021, he broke his hand when he slipped on a crack at the Cookie Cliff. During his fall, his hand stayed in the crack, snapping the pinky side of his left hand. In 2023, his left shoulder began to experience severe pain due to overuse.

“I really, really obliterated the tendons in it…tore them up,” Olsen says of the shoulder injury to his rotator cuff tendons. “The damage was cumulative—first from a winter spent shoveling snow and breaking ice in Yosemite, then from a summer job at the rafting stand where I hauled about 150 rafts a day, each about 150 pounds.”

He first realized how bad it was about 1,500 feet up El Cap while climbing with Sasha DiGiulian; the pain forced him to bail. He has been in physical therapy for approximately 18 months. He hasn’t regained the ability to climb, but his shoulder is “feeling good,” and he hopes to return to rock climbing once it’s fully rehabilitated.

Today, Olsen is back in his hometown of Cottonwood, California, and is living near his family. Though there are things he misses about living and working in Yosemite, “It’s really nice not being around so much tourism all the time.” Adding to that, “My goal is a little more stability— not just living in a tent with two other dudes.”

He and his brothers bought and restored the OK Corral country bar and are three months into operation. He says business is booming on the weekends, which brings in a mix of decades-long regulars and I-5 travelers, keeping the place lively. “It’s like a big hang-out every day—you get the same people, but you also get travelers and vagabonds. We’re one of two bars in town, and probably the only true country bar in Shasta County.”

Though the OK Corral is a country bar, whose tagline is “Cowboys Watering Hole | Home of the Scorpion Shot 🦂,” Olsen doesn’t consider himself a cowboy. “I grew up with horses, and I can rope a little, but I don’t ‘cowboy’; cowboy is an actual profession,” he says.

Tonight (July 25), he’s hosting Redding’s top rock n’ roll cover band, Whiskey Kronic.

Although working at the bars with his brothers keeps him busy, he still shoots commercially, including for Tenaya Lodge near Yosemite’s south entrance, and collaborates with friends in various activities such as climbing, highlining, rodeo, and motocross. He also drives to Yosemite about once a month to “fill the cup.”

These days, he enjoys a slower pace, exploring hidden spots in Northern California, and playing pool or hosting live music at the bar while planning for future stability and family. “I still go to Yosemite and other places, and I still shoot professionally, which is really nice. Yosemite is so magnificent, it’s pretty easy just to take a good photo.”

However, he’s also interested in capturing new images in different places. “Yosemite’s been shot probably more than anywhere else on Earth; up here, there’s stuff no one’s ever seen before.”

His future plans include keeping the saloon growing, rehabbing his shoulder, shooting fresh terrain like Castle Crags, guiding occasional Sierra road-trips, and lining up an e-bike ride with me to the old-timey saloon in Raymond, California.

He describes being back in Cottonwood as his “own little paradise—hidden gems everywhere.” And while he’s not climbing vertical rock faces, “Climbing—especially deep-mountain alpine stuff—gets me more excited.”

Although he’s still capturing all the activities and more that he shot during his six-year tenure in Yosemite, he believes he’s in no way mastered photography. “I’m learning all the time—I’d never say I’m a master or anything.”

These days, his backyard is much different than Yosemite, but he’s no less inspired. “Castle Crag has twelve rappels through a cascading waterfall—world-class and no one knows about it.”