(photo of climbers gathered
around Columbia boulder)
Camp 4 is where the rock
climbers hang out, and when I’m in Yosemite I stay with them. I like their
camaraderie and the stories they share around the evening campfires of adventures
from the day.
On days when they’re not
climbing the big walls, they often gather at the 30-foot-tall Columbia boulder
in camp and challenge each other to make it up the overhanging “Midnight
Lightning” route. Almost all of them will lose their grip at some point and
peel off the rock, with friends catching them below.
Climbers know their big wall
climbs are dangerous. Sometimes they will miss a hold, or the rock will
disintegrate in their hands, and they fall, with safety ropes catching them forty
or fifty feet down. Generally the only injuries are bruises and cuts.
