September 30,2013

Ken and Lisa (Assistant Guide) participated in the Yosemite Climbing Association (YCA) and National Park Services 10th Annual Facelift, a six-day effort to clean up the Yosemite after the long summer season. Hundreds of volunteers worked in many capacities to make Yosemite a much cleaner and more enjoyable place to visit. Ken and Lisa are shown here picking up litter along the Wawona Road between Tunnel View and Grouse Creek.

Working with them was veteran climber, Ed Hartouni.

By the end of the day, we’d collected about 28 pounds of litter, most of it what is called, “micro-litter” because as Facelift has progressed, the larger, heavier kinds of litter have been removed, leaving smaller bits of litter for us to remove.

After each evening’s weigh-in, there is a raffle and give-away where the corporate sponsors’ donations are given away to the participants. This is always a lively and fun part of each evening.

Here are veteran climbers Timmy O’Neill and Ken Yager (YCA president) raffling off various items of outdoor gear to the Facelift volunteers.

Special attention is given by climbers to our own trash that has been left. Here is a pile of climbers’ litter collected in just one day, mostly from the base of El Capitan where there are many climbs.

In the evenings, there are free special programs in the Visitor Center’s East Auditorium for climbers, other volunteers, and any other people who are interested climbers’ programs. Timmy O’Neill emceed several of the programs, as he has for several years.

Thursday night, Sybille Hechtel who made the first all-woman ascent of El Cap with Bev Johnson gave a presentation about her life as a climber.

That night, Doug Robinson also gave a presentation about his new book about the physiological-psychological-chemical effects of climbing.

We spent some evenings in camp where there were lovely sunsets, good campfires, food, and camaraderie.