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

A Note from the Editor

It’s the ninth day of the government shutdown. Two hours ago (it’s Oct. 9, 1 PM as I write this), Erin Doherty at CNBC posted this story:

Funding bills to end government shutdown fail in Senate vote for seventh time…Two funding bills that could end the federal government shutdown failed to pass in Senate votes for the seventh time on Thursday.

Also in the news, on Oct. 9, staff writer Gregory Thomas of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote:

During federal shutdown, Yosemite BASE jumpers are taking flight… This week, with the federal government shutdown in effect and many National Park Service workers furloughed, it appears that eager jumpers are seizing their chance. [Charles] Winstead, who has been working his way up El Cap all week on a multiday ascent, has seen a steady stream of jumpers soaring overhead. He and other valley visitors have even captured videos of some of them in action.

What’s remarkable is how brazen the activity is right now. Jumpers are flying mid-day, launching from an obvious and accessible exit point in El Cap, parachuting above onlookers, then landing in El Capitan Meadow unbothered.

Federal regulations pertaining to “aerial delivery” in national parks have been used to pursue cases against jumpers in the past, and park officials have told the Chronicle that the activity is dangerous and distracting. An infraction is punishable by a $5,000 fine and six months in jail.

On Oct. 3, Maya Silver at Climbing reported:

Bold Young Alpinist Balin Miller Dies in Yosemite… The 23-year-old Alaskan achieved impressive solos of historic routes—with glitter on his cheeks.

On October 2, Miller reached the top of the last pitch of Sea of Dreams, but his haul bag got stuck on the terrain below. As he descended back down his lead line to free his bag, Miller rappelled off the ends of the rope.

When Miller wasn’t climbing, he worked as a crab fisher in Alaska and as a snow shoveler in Montana. Originally from Anchorage, Miller grew up climbing with his father and brother Dylan. He is also survived by a younger sister, Mia.

Another incredible climber passed recently, Dale Bard, on Oct. 1, after a battle with cancer.

Dave Diegelman wrote on The Bold and Cold:

I just learned that Dale Bard passed away last night in a Moab hospital. The news hit hard. Dale was not only one of my climbing partners in the late ’70s but also one of my mentors—a climber truly in a class of his own. He was a world-class free climber with countless first ascents to his name, and an equally accomplished big wall aid climber with accolades to match. Dale carried more harrowing stories than perhaps anyone I’ve ever known—and I’ve known some of the world’s greatest adventurers.

In this week’s founder’s log, Yager shares his memories of Bard.

Randy Leavitt shared on Instagram:

It’s sad to learn that Dale Bard has passed. Dale was not only a legendary Yosemite climber but also someone who gave me a real chance early on. When I was just 18 and worn out from a solo climb (Electric Ladyland on Washington Column), he invited me—with little warning—to be his partner for the Pacific Ocean Wall’s fourth ascent in 1978. Climbing with him, a mentor seven years my senior, was a turning point for me. Dale set a high bar as a partner and shaped a lot of who I became on the rock. Grateful for the memories—rest in peace, Dale.

Notable ascents Bard made in Yosemite include:

El Cap:

Sea of Dreams: Jim Bridwell, Dale Bard and Dave Diegelman October 1978

New Jersey Turnpike. Ken Yager wrote in Climbing: In 1978, Dale Bard, Hugh Burton, Bruce Hawkins, and Ron Kauk made the first ascent of New Jersey Turnpike on the Southeast Face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. When they veered off to the right of the North American Wall, they were dive-bombed by a couple of angry birds. They had been climbing very close to the birds’ eyrie.

Iron Hawk, I wrote in Gripped: The first five rope lengths on Iron Hawk traverse west, and midway up it heads west again for four more pitches, then it goes east for the next few. All this zig-zagging makes upward progress slow. Adding to this, the lead rivets and many belay bolts are still in place from Dale Bard and Ron Kauk’s first ascent of the line in September 1978.

Sunkist: Bill Price, Dale Bard, October 1978

Half Dome:

Bushido. Listed on Jim Bridwell’s Wiki page, which dates the first ascent to 1977. Other climbs include: “1975 Wailing Wall, Tuolumne Meadows, California, with Dale Bard and Rick Accomozo.”

In other news, October 12th is the 150th Anniversary of the first ascent of Half Dome. Blacksmith Richard Willis has recreated the George Anderson spike that he used as the first person to climb Half Dome in 1875. Check out this special video of the spike recreation: WATCH HERE.

This week, we’re profiling Langstyn Avery, founder of Negus in Nature, which “connects Black people to the joy of being outdoors,” says their website. Avery emceed this year’s Yosemite Facelift event.

Chris Van Leuven

Editor, Yosemite Climbing Association News Brief

YosemiteClimbing.org

October 12th is the 150th Anniversary of the first ascent of Half Dome. Blacksmith Richard Willis has recreated the George Anderson spike that he used as the first person to climb Half Dome in 1875. Check out a special video of the spike recreation below.

Dale Bard on High Plains Drifter, early 80s, Buttermilks. Photo: Ken Yager

Ken Yager’s Log | October 10, 2025

I spent a stretch of the early ’80s living on the Eastside, working in Mammoth, and bouldering at the Buttermilks whenever I could. That’s where I fell into a good rhythm with Dale. He’d tuck his bread van out in the sage, well off the main blocs—mysterious unless you knew where to look. We’d link up and boulder often. I’d first known of him from Yosemite—we all knew who had been up on El Cap back then—and by the late ’70s, Dale had already done a staggering amount of climbing.

What stands out is how insatiable and energetic he was. He lived on sugar and seemingly had no body fat. Out at the Buttermilks, I watched him establish the problems that would become his calling cards—High Plains Drifter, Drifter, Club Tropicana, and more. No pads in those days; sometimes just a little white towel under the landing. I’ve got photos from those sessions and early repeats, and I’ll dig up more to share soon (and make sure we have the right permissions for the classic images).

We crossed paths over the years—Phoenix comps in the mid-’80s, training days with friends, the odd after-party—and I always came away reminded that Dale climbed like very few people I’d ever seen. He bouldered alone a lot, but he’d also rope up with whoever was motivated. There’s plenty of legend around him, and a whole lot of people he influenced who might not have even known his full Yosemite story. I remember him once telling me he did 18 El Cap routes in one year.

YCA Updates

We just wrapped a run of regional Facelift cleanups—back-to-back weekends that went great and left our whole crew happily exhausted. Volunteers turned out in large numbers (Rotary included), and we hauled out nearly 13,000 lbs in Yosemite; ~2,500 in Mariposa/Oakhurst/Groveland. We’re already talking about next year’s third annual events.

At the museum, our winter/spring goals are:

Finish the outdoor Half Dome replica by spring
Accelerate cataloging across the collection
Build a second, “private-tour-only” space next door so we can split groups and create a deeper experience
Start 2026 Facelift planning early (it always takes more time than you think).

Thanks to everyone who showed up to volunteer, donated, or brought a friend to the museum. Your energy keeps this work moving forward.

Ken Yager

Founder and President, YCA

YosemiteClimbing.org

Image courtesy of Yosemite Climbing Association

Langstyn Avery: This Year’s Yosemite Facelift Emcee

Negus in Nature’s founder returns to Facelift, pairing cleanup with community access

This week, while chatting with Ken Yager for his Founder’s Log, he mentioned the successful Yosemite Facelift in late September and the follow-up cleanup in Oakhurst on October 4.

I was pulled over during a bike ride in Mariposa, enjoying a crisp fall day; he was taking a break at the MetalMark climbing gym in Fresno. He told me about Negus in Nature founder Langstyn Avery, who supported this year’s Facelift in three ways: volunteering for the cleanup, emceeing the evening programs, and helping coordinate logistics to bring roughly 25 first-time visitors to Yosemite. Two winters ago, during the Ouray Ice Festival in Colorado, Avery emceed and was connected with YCA, who then invited him to emcee in California. This was his second year at Yosemite Facelift.

For the past 15 years, Avery has worked in entertainment, art curation, and outdoor education. He’s the founder of Negus in Nature, a Bay Area–based 501(c)(3) conservation and education nonprofit that gets people out climbing, camping, snorkeling, and doing hands-on scientific exploration. The organization has run projects from Yosemite to Kenya and Nigeria.

As for the name Negus: in Amharic/Ge’ez, it means “king” (from a Semitic root meaning “to reign”). And Nature, as the group frames it, is “the phenomena of the physical world collectively—including plants, animals, landscape, and other features and products of the earth—as opposed to human creations.” On inclusive language and framing, Avery is cautious about the catch-all “BIPOC,” preferring COTAD (Children of the African Diaspora) and describing the org as Afrocentric but inclusive.

He says Black visitation is growing in Yosemite, but at the same time, “the needle is getting pushed back” due to underinvestment and the loss of advocates inside institutions. Real change, he stresses, must include diversity among decision-makers, not just visitors.

Reflecting on this year’s visit to Facelift, he told me: “I had the honor to wear a few hats—volunteer helping clean up the park, emceeing the evening programming, and helping bring folks to Yosemite Valley, a lot of them for the first time.”

“Whenever we have the opportunity,” he says of his nonprofit, “we try to show up the best we can while also encouraging other folks to get into this space as well. It’s not about if you can come; it’s about how you can show up.”

For many in his group, it was their first time in Yosemite and camping. “It takes a village to put it together,” he says. “Transportation and food, and then all the gear—our organization is there to mitigate that for folks.”

I expected him to say everything was wonderful—this is Yosemite, after all, the land of giant granite walls and impossibly long waterfalls—but that wasn’t his answer:

“With all that happening, how do you create a space where you feel safe? One way is showing up in numbers and inviting people in.”