EDITION 38 - DECEMBER 16, 2025
Your window into the stories, history, and ongoing work to preserve Yosemite’s climbing legacy.
A Note from the Editor
Clear skies and warm temps—high 50s—continue in Yosemite, while thick Tule fog covers the Central Valley. I climbed in the park yesterday, visiting Pat and Jack Pinnacle. It was T-shirt weather, and the wall was bathed in afternoon light. Everyone I spoke with said it felt peaceful and perfect. Even the clerk at the Midpines Store & Gas agreed as we stood outside under still skies and bright light: no wind, no clouds—just warm stillness. “Hard to believe it’s mid-December,” he said.
But the weather is set to change soon. There’s a chance of rain on Wednesday (Dec. 17), with a week-long storm system projected to arrive on Friday.
In Yosemite climbing news, Sam Stroh and Jim Pope made the fifth and sixth free ascents of Magic Mushroom (5.14, 31 pitches) on El Cap. Stroh, Pope, and Arc’teryx posted about the ascent on Dec. 12.
“It was my first El Cap route and first trip to the Valley, so I had a lot of uncertainty. How would I get on with the climbing style? How would my body fare with all of the work? Was I trying to run before I could walk? All the way up, it still felt like a far-fetched dream, even though we were slowly creeping closer to making it a reality,” Pope says.
Also on El Cap, Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold have freed Platinum Wall/The Direct Line. Honnold posted one day ago (Dec. 14).
In general Yosemite news, a story by Brooke Baitinger of The Sacramento Bee quotes Mecia Serafino of Friends of YOSAR:
How busy is Yosemite search and rescue team? See latest incident, death numbers
These stats highlight “how quickly conditions can change” at Yosemite National Park, one group said.
Continues Baitinger:
The popular park attracted about 2.9 million visitors over the summer — a 7% increase from 2024, when park rangers reported 2.7 million visits during the same time period, The Fresno Bee reported previously.
As the number of visitors increases, so do the number of accidents and the need for emergency rescues, according to Mecia Serafino, Friends of Yosemite Search and Rescue’s director of outreach and digital content.
“We’re seeing an increasing number of accidents due to climbing,” Serafino told The Fresno Bee. “The more climbers that are out there, the more climbing incidents that happened. The numbers are reflecting that.”
… Yosemite Search and Rescue responded to 16 deaths in 2024 — including seven accident-related deaths and six from natural causes including heart attacks and preexisting conditions.
Three of the deaths were the result of suicide, the post said.
This week, we’re highlighting Yosemite Boulder Farm in Mariposa, which opened to the public earlier this month. Read more about it in my Climbing magazine story here:
They Wanted a Bouldering Area to Call Home, So They Bought and Developed One
The Boulder Farm offers private instructional climbing via toproping and bouldering, along with a WiFi-enabled Airbnb and an outdoor grill—all on the outskirts of Yosemite.
Read more in the feature story below.
Chris Van Leuven
Editor, YCA News Brief
Alex Smith and Charlotte DeWitt climbing near the entrance to the Boulder Farm. Photo: Chris Van Leuven
Yosemite Boulder Farm: Lodging, bouldering, and disc golf in Mariposa
“Ken [Yager] comes around now and then, and we usually chat and catch up,” says Willie Pollard, co-founder and resident of the Yosemite Boulder Farm, of the slab-and-crack bouldering area he helped build with his dad, Dean.
The Boulder Farm began about 10 years ago, when Dean bought the 6.3-acre plot in 2016. He picked the site because of its rock slabs, seams, and cracks, including a tight hand-size roof crack and a tall, leaning offwidth— with the idea, as Willie says, to “farm” the boulders into climbable lines. Before moving to Mariposa, Dean lived in Santa Cruz, where he taught eurythmy dance at Waldorf schools, and he has a climbing background in Yosemite, including climbing El Cap’s Shield in 1986. Going further back, when he was a teenager, Dean’s Hilmar wrestling and football team used to compete at Mariposa High School, and he has always liked the area.
In the first year, Dean worked with another family member, but it didn’t work out at the property, so he invited his adult son Willie, who took to it right away. Just months ago, Willie married his longtime girlfriend, Amanda, and now they live on the property with two small dogs and two cats.
I first arrived when they were still partway through the project, just two years in, before most of the boulders had been cleared from the thick brush, before the (still-growing) 14-hole disc golf course was installed. Around that time, Dierdre Wolownick (Alex Honnold’s mom) gave a presentation in Mariposa. Dean approached her afterward and told her about the property. She told me. I checked it out—and I was so impressed that I kept returning regularly over the next several years.
Riding my e-bike there, climbing all day, and biking home (a six-hour adventure out of my front yard) inspired me to start my business, Yosemite E-Biking, in 2022.
Soon it became a scene of locals, with Ken Yager testing his slab skills—and even did the first ascent of the “Wicked” slab, which Dean suggested he check out. Ken dipped around a corner and threaded through the brush. Wicked is home to a few polished V2 to V5 lines, all 15 feet tall.
Another classic is the Half Dome Boulder: a left-to-right or right-to-left traverse. Around the bend from that is Chris Rock (named after me), with an engaging offwidth that climbs surprisingly gentler than it looks. Behind that is a cluster of highball moderate slabs and cracks, with a row of top-rope anchors.
“Mostly what we have here is slab climbing and some mantles, plus the roof, and the offwidth,” Willie says. “And we’ve found some other potential spots where we can create some overhanging kind of climb-out-of-a-cave type of situation.”
To Willie’s dad, Dean, unearthing boulders is also a form of therapy—steady, physical work with visible progress, and his hard work has paid off. He, Amanda, and Willie bring out the occasional car jack, but mainly swing pickaxes and shovel out dirt to expose more and more stone. Then they power-wash the boulders, turning them from dark, weathered masses into shimmering grey boulders. While most of the climbing is V0 to V3 on slabs and cracks, there are harder routes (up to V7), with plenty of potential for more.
Today, there are 25 boulders, each with many lines, spread across the well-maintained property, and Willie, who works as a drafter, has created a map of the area. The disc-golf holes are named after iconic Yosemite locations, including El Portal, the Apron, the Lodge, the Meadow, and Housekeeping.
“We just recently opened. Our first listing is for Dec. 19th,” Willie tells me. What he means by “open” is available to the public: bed-and-breakfast guests who book through Airbnb (minimum two nights, at $119 a night during the week and $139 on weekends) can stay on the guest level, get online, and help themselves to complimentary snacks. Of course, they can also enjoy the extensive bouldering area and the beautiful disc golf course.
Before opening, a few months ago, Willie and Amanda held their wedding here, with 130 people in attendance and dancing the night away. The Boulder Farm is available to rent out for private events.
Matt Cornell night climbing at the Boulder Farm. Photo: Chris Van Leuven
Speaking of night: much of my time at the Boulder Farm has been in the evenings, especially during the heat of summer. Though the Boulder Farm is open year-round—and conditions are ideal right now—summers are hot in Mariposa, so we all meet at sunset, wait for temperatures to drop, bring out Dean’s big, bright lights, and climb for hours. Willie says the property is lit for night sessions, and they’re working on adding solar lights around the climbs and illuminating disc golf baskets so people can play glow rounds.
Big-name climbers and disc golfers have enjoyed their time here, including North Face athletes Conrad Anker and Matt Cornell, as well as Yosemite first ascensionist Sean Jones. Disc golfers Paige Pierce, Connor O’Reilly, and Jeremy Koling frequent the Farm. Many first-time climbers have also had a great experience, learning to trust their feet and build finger strength. On the taller boulders, Dean has installed anchors so those who want to harness up—whether young, old, or simply not willing to risk a ground fall—can practice the moves and feel safe.
They come for the bouldering, the company (or solitude), and the stunning views across the Sierra foothills and toward snow-capped Sierra Nevada peaks in the distance.
“We’re on a dead-end road, and only the people who live on it drive past,” Willie says of the three or four vehicles that go by each day. That includes me (usually by e-bike), since just down the road, there are a few off-property boulders I like to visit, a tall, technical arête, and a round block split with parallel tips cracks, all with a flat landing.
Willie adds that the area rarely gets too cold. While climbing by artificial light in summer is great, he suggests getting on the rock in the morning in winter, when temperatures are perfect, and the light is beautiful, due to the southwest-facing property.
Before moving to the Boulder Farm, Willie wasn’t much of a climber, but under the tutelage of local Mariposa climbers (and me) Mariposa climbers (and a few from Oakhurst and Groveland), he learned how to move over granite. Taking it one step further, we’ve shown him around Yosemite, and a half dozen times we’ve climbed Royal Arches with him and his dad.
“Yosemite is one of the most beautiful places on the planet,” Willie says. “It’s humbling; it makes you feel small. And every time that I’ve gone to the park and done Royal Arches, it definitely gets easier.”
Back to the Yosemite Boulder Farm: it’s more than just climbing. Dean and Willie started playing disc golf after they moved there and have since become regulars on the competitive circuit. It’s also a beautiful piece of land, with clear paths leading everywhere, waterways running through, and it’s a great spot to barbecue, pull out lawn chairs, and just enjoy the view and watch the climbers.
It’s also pet-friendly. The trio can fence off their own pets (who are great, by the way), so guests can bring theirs for an additional fee.
“It’s an ongoing project,” Willie says—more beautification to come, more climbs, more disc golf, and potentially more lodging options.
To learn more, visit YosemiteBoulderFarm.com and Airbnb.
Stu Grossman doing a no-hands ascent at the Yosemite Boulder Farm. Photo: Chris Van Leuven
Yadi Jelen bouldering late in the day. Photo: Chris Van Leuven
TM Herbert: Golden Age Climber
TM Herbert readies gear for Midterm, Yosemite Valley, 1968. Photo: Pat Ament / Wiki Commons
Founder’s Log | By Ken Yager
We were finishing up a great weekend of climbing at Lover’s Leap in the early 1970s. Darkness caught us on the final part of the descent. We exited the trees and reached the jeep trail, which was covered in pale granite rocks. We could barely see well enough to start stumbling back to the car, on alert for rattlesnakes.
We came around a bend, and a bright light snapped on. A jeep sat on the trail with a searchlight illuminating the hill toward the base of the climbs. I had never seen a vehicle on that trail before, and I believe it was a rare sight during daylight—let alone at night. We approached the black jeep. It had SHERIFF written on the side. A man in uniform was shining the spotlight up the hill at some kind of activity.
He asked if we could help with a carryout. They needed more people. We said, “Yes, of course,” and dropped our packs. We walked up the faint trail through the manzanita toward another light bouncing around in the darkness.
Coming toward us were four people carrying a loaded stretcher down the talus field. Gene and I quickly joined in, much to the relief of the others. Even with six of us, it was difficult to carry the injured person without jostling them.
The injured climber was Rick Sumner, one of the better local climbers. He had taken a long fall on the second ascent of a route he’d put up called Wallflower. He was pretty messed up, and even with the morphine, he was vocal about it. I felt sorry for him and hoped he would be okay.
One of the stretcher bearers had a calming voice and a sense of humor that somehow didn’t feel out of place. It was hard work, but we made it back to the jeep, loaded the stretcher in, and they took off for the hospital in South Lake Tahoe.
It was too dark to see the others clearly, so we introduced ourselves before saying goodbye. The man with the calm voice and the sense of humor was named TM Herbert. I was ecstatic. I knew who he was, but I still had no idea what he looked like.
I wouldn’t meet him again until the 1990s, when I started working for the Mountaineering School. He loved Tuolumne Meadows and would spend much of his summers there. He could be seen free soloing South Crack and other routes on Stately Pleasure Dome regularly. He liked to weave down the descent backward. He was a graceful climber. I never saw him climb with a rope.
In the evenings, he’d drink beers with the guides around the campfire behind the Rat Room. We relished those campfires. Some nights, they got pretty rowdy. TM would tell tall tales about the old days, embellishing the facts with a twinkle in his eye. He could hold a deadpan look, and it wasn’t until further into the story that you realized he was pulling your leg.
If asked what TM stood for, he’d answer Tough Motherf*cker, or, in mixed company, Tough Mother. He once told a climber in the Grill parking lot that I was his dad. He said I looked younger than him because I used sunscreen, and he was a bad son and hadn’t. He liked to boast that he used to pound pitons into cracks with his fists.
With TM, you never knew what he would say. You could always count on it being outrageous and funny. He was the kind of person everyone liked. I never met anyone who didn’t. He was modest about his many accomplishments. It was always a pleasure to talk to TM.
I miss those Tuolumne campfires.
PHOTO OF
THE WEEK
Matt Cornell on the Half Dome Boulder, Yosemite Boulder Farm, Mariposa. Photo: Chris Van Leuven
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The YCA News Brief is made possible by a generous grant, provided by Sundari Krishnamurthy and her husband, Jerry Gallwas