For Rock-Climbing Guru, the Sky Is His Roof

He was known as the king of the Yosemite lifers, that proud band of rock climbers, tightrope walkers and seekers who made camp on the margins of the law, sleeping under the black oaks and sequoias and California stars.

Oh my, where to start. I don’t know if I ever saw this guy during the summers I spent living in my 1967 VW bus in Camp 4/Sunnyside parking lot in Yosemite Valley in the late 1970′s but I absolutely get the spirit of what he was doing. I wasn’t a Yosemite lifer but I got and get what it might be like to turn into one.

I still have my shower key used to take showers in the communal Lodge shower. I still have matchbooks taken from the Ahwahnee Hotel where I had tea and cookies a few times a week in the amazing living room with the walk-in fireplaces and Chinese vase lamps.

While many of my friends focussed solely on climbing I got a taste of this other life in the Valley and it really did appeal to me. I was no Chongo and I doubt I ever met him but somehow his story rings true for me. I can easily see attempting to make a life as a Valley bum or “lifer” as they were called. My guess is that those days are long over and it’s a shame. Climbing is now a high end sport and this “grunge” aspect is no doubt extinct.