The 13th annual Facelift, a partnership between The Yosemite Climbing Association and Yosemite National Park, has continued to be a remarkable event where climbers, park administrators, and the general public collaborate on cleaning up Yosemite at the end of the busy summer season.

Yosemite Close Up Tours’ (YCUT) was again present with Ken Boche and Lisa Rockwell putting in several days of clean-up of areas especially used by YCUT during the course of our tours..

Tunnel View is always severely impacted due to its heavy visitation. On Wednesday, Sept. 21 st, Ken and Lisa picked up over 19 pounds of litter left by previous visitors. Some of the rubbish was tossed down the dangerous northern slope of the parking area. Lisa belayed Ken on a climbing rope, so he could safely clean up the dangerous slope above the 500’ drop-off above the Merced River.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As has been usual in past years, there is the evening raffle of prizes that are donated by the Facelift sponsors, much of which is climbing and outdoor gear and clothing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Patagonia had a unique booth, offering to repair clothing that needed patching and other TLC to extend our favorite garments

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ken Yager, President of the Yosemite Climbing Association, is the originator of Facelift and often conducts the raffle. His vision for a Yosemite Climbing Museum remains open to many ideas concerning what and how to display climbing’s historical artifacts and how also to interpret them for the general public.

 

 

 

While climbers and the Park Service have a long history of differences, part of the idea of Facelift is to have Yosemite Park Personnel and climbers working side by side to clean up our Park and to build trust and respect in doing so.

 

 

Ed Hartouni so often offers his skills in photo-scanning and other technical areas to other climbers. He’s been a HUGE help to me personally, scanning my old color slides and just a good all-around friend.