By Josh McMurray, 2024 diploma graduate
Climbing in Yosemite is a dream for many climbers, and for good reason. The valley is packed with world-class granite routes, offering enough challenges to last a lifetime — let alone just one trip. When the opportunity to head down and climb in Yosemite came up, it felt like the perfect time for all of us. The weather was ideal, the valley was in season, and the group had the stoke.
Our goal was to explore new climbs and see what we could achieve with the time we had. Waking up each day and biking to our climbs felt surreal, especially as we passed the massive walls in every direction with oversized haul bags on our backs. Just being there was a dream come true.
Looking back, I realize how much I sometimes underestimate the value of embracing opportunities and gaining real experience. The adventures we had in Yosemite were amazing and they helped our climbing development along the way. As I reflect on the great memories we’ve built over the past couple of years at school, I see that we all learned a lot about ourselves and each other.
Some great parts of the trip were sitting around the fire at Camp 4 planning climbs and talking about how we wanted to do a trip like this again, even before it was over. We were grateful to have friends to enjoy such trips with and make the most of being there.
The trip was filled with incredible climbing, but the pinnacle was a day on the East Buttress of El Capitan. It felt like the perfect way to end our time in the valley, and we were all stoked for how everything came together even after the thousands of kilometers driven and the endless In-N-Out burgers along way.
From left to right: Carson, Kayden, Josh and Brady (24′ grads)
