Yosemite Awahnee rock climbers (#0562)

Did some rock climbing in my 20s. That was a _long_ time ago-- ;)

Heights and I have never been on close terms :)

I just don't have the patience or precision a person needs to do this. I wouldn't mind being the guy standing up there on that little ledge below the tree, but I'd want there to be a ladder.

Do you know what the white streaks are? Is that a path weathered into the rock (which would surprise me), or is that the spilled chalk of a hundred-thousand climbers?

I wondered myself. Like you I assumed they wouldn't be wear and tear from climbing. I was thinking they might be water runoff paths, but looking at the patterns here, they look like they're probably chalk. Maybe SLGWV will respond...

I'd guess it's _both_ chalk and wear. The climbing doesn't wear into the rock itself significantly, but it _does_ wear off the dark surface coating, mostly lichen! Chalk was just starting to be used, to keep your fingers dry, back when I was in this loop, but it's apparently pretty routine now.

Ah, that makes sense. I know these walls see a lot of traffic, but I figured that granite would be too hard to show much wear. But rubbing off the lichen makes complete sense.

Thanks!

I guess there's no environmental movement for liking lichen....

One of the motivations for the "clean climbing" movement 40-odd years ago was to minimize damage to the rock. Pitons became politically incorrect because of the damage caused by hammering them in and then removing them.

Somehow I was aware that pitons were now used much less frequently. Despite that, it seems that rock climbing has become much more common -- sometimes too common. They weren't obnoxious while I was in Yosemite, but they've become a detriment to enjoying parts of Joshua Tree and in the Alabama hills near Lone Pine.

It's become a lot more common now--I guess for once I was a trend-setter! ;) But even back in fall 1974, when I went climbing in Joshua Tree with some friends, there was a section that was off-limits for climbing. I think the reason was traffic jams due to the gawkers!