Adventure Sports Journal
We were thrilled and honored to do a story with the Adventure Sports Journal (it starts on page 28 in their spring issue). Many thanks to Leonie Sherman for her fine writing and research and to the Journal staff for their support.
Board members Mecia Serafino and Lucho Rivera enjoy a moment high above Hetch Hetchy.
Leonie distills the Hetch Hetchy story into its key components: that Hetch Hetchy includes soaring granite walls, cascading waterfalls, alpine meadows, a roaring river, and miles of trails to ramble; that its damming was a singular insult to our national parks; and that Hetch Hetchy is an alternative to being in a snarl of traffic in often overcrowded Yosemite Valley.
Leonie interviewed both Executive Director Spreck Rosekrans and board member (and rock climber) Mecia Serafino.
Rosekrans provides some thoughts about Hetch Hetchy’s link to other conservation issues – “Yosemite is sort of a gateway drug; people learn about and start to care about the environment there. If we can restore this lost landscape, we will not only inspire a whole new generation of conservationists to care about parks, but also to have the courage to tackle bigger environmental issues wherever they are in the world.”
Serafino shares her own experience, often with partner Lucho Rivera, as a climber in Yosemite’s seldom-visited sister valley, “Once you go down, there are some established routes on different formations. Some friends and I have been putting up new multi-pitch routes at the base of this one formation. There’s just so much potential for sport climbing, trad climbing bouldering….”
Thanks so much to Leonie and the Adventure Sports Journal. Check out the article and the rest of the magazine as well.
Yosemite Reservations
A correction: the policy for reservations in 2025 is unresolved. Our March 30 post referenced a draft press release that has now been superseded with the following from the National Park Service:
Yosemite National Park anticipates sharing details about this year’s reservation system in the near future. We recognize the importance of providing clarity on that system as soon as possible to accommodate peak summer season travel planning. We are grateful for the robust public engagement in this process to shape an improved and sustainable visitor experience.
National Parks Week – Sign the Petition
In conjunction with National Park Week (April 19 to 27), the Yosemite Climbing Association is collecting signatures to ask California Senators to protect Yosemite, ensuring that the park has sufficient staff and funding for safety and essential services. We appreciate the YCA’s leadership and ask our supporters to sign its petition.