A Son Returns to Yosemite to Retrace His Father's Final Climb
Processing My Father's Death by Climbing in His Footsteps
After his father's death, a writer carries a rope and harness back up the East Buttress of Middle Cathedral Rock in Yosemite—the last route they climbed together 32 years earlier. He recalls the near-fatal rappelling mistake that shattered his trust in his father's judgment, the Way and Path of Yosemite climbing, and how he sought forgiveness for never climbing with him again.
If I had not heard those voices and stopped, if I had lowered myself down that rope for 10 more seconds, I would have fallen 80 feet to the boulders below. My father would've watched me the whole way down. He would've seen and heard his son's death.