Amazon magical meltdown3/2/2024 ![]() We had spent the previous decade sleeping in our cars and vans, running from the rangers, poaching campsites-the typical rites of passage for anyone wanting to be called a Valley local in the early 2000s. I liked the somewhat civilized nature of this project. Tommy had completed the first free ascent, and then the first in-one-day ascent, of Magic Mushroom on El Cap the previous spring, so this fall was mine. We had a rhythm of either trying a project together or alternating supporting each other on individual ones. Growing up in Davis, I had long had a love for the Sierra our voracious love of climbing and obsession with Yosemite funneled us into wanting to make a home there. Tommy Caldwell (my then husband) and I had just finished building our house in Yosemite a year earlier. For Meltdown, this process took me six months. Then, over the next months, I see if and how they come together. Some people can dive in and start putting together the pieces of a hard project right away, but I spend the first days and weeks just identifying the pieces, as if it were a giant jigsaw puzzle. ![]() All of the rock within 20 feet of the ground is polished and pitch black, in stark contrast to the famous, sought-after white and light gray granite of El Cap. It’s directly to the right of Upper Cascade Falls. The route, which I would later name Meltdown, is striking. I convinced myself that shorter routes, ones I could walk to, ones where I could stand on the ground in between attempts, would be a worthy temporary substitute. At the time, I thought I just wanted a break. But more important, I knew what parts of me remained unfulfilled. I had paid my dues and experienced the fulfillment of free climbing the Nose and other routes. I had become that person who was a topic of shit talk around the cafeteria tables, but I didn’t care. A $25 annual membership gets you Climbing in print and unlimited online access to thousands of ad-free stories. I wanted fresh food, a toilet that flushed, a refrigerator, and a fluffy pillow. But after a handful of years up there and three free ascents, my body and mind were exhausted. I obsessed over free climbing in the vast amount of granite and endless possibilities. At some point during that period, I realized I only had eyes for El Cap. I had spent the spring and fall of the previous eight years in Yosemite, slowly working my way up from After Six to El Cap, learning to trust the polished granite and convince myself that my swollen knuckles and bruised ego were all part of becoming a better Valley climber. Embarking on another one of his routes (this time unfinished) felt ominous but made me appreciate his eye for beauty and location in a climb. The week before, I had surprised myself by completing a route of his, Peace, up in Tuolumne. Ron Kauk had worked on it but had abandoned it many years earlier. In September 2007, I started working on a thin, discontinuous crack through a dark black wall next to Upper Cascade Falls in Yosemite. So many questions run through my mind : Is it possible? Is it good? Is it worthy? It’s always weird starting a new project, especially one that has never been done before, especially one left unfinished by one of my climbing heroes. The route marked a turning point for her life both in and out of climbing and stands as a testament to what can happen, for better or for worse, when we devote ourselves entirely to the sport.Įxcerpted from Valley of Giants: Stories from Women at the Heart of Yosemite Climbing edited by Lauren DeLaunay Miller (April 2022) with permission from the publisher Mountaineers Books. The agonizing routine of attempting the route, then going home to train for hours, was harsh on Beth’s physical and emotional well-being. ![]() A pinnacle is a peak, a summit it is what we strive for.īut a pinnacle is also the beginning of a decline, and for Beth, the six-month process of establishing Meltdown also showed her that she needed to step away from climbing. The word pinnacle often implies the top of an upward trajectory, and this certainly was true for Meltdown. ![]() In many ways, her first ascent of Meltdown, one of the hardest single-pitch traditional climbs in the world, was the pinnacle of her climbing career. From teen comp phenom to freeing El Cap, Beth’s name was synonymous with hard climbing for over a decade. Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members!Ī book about the women of Yosemite would not be complete without Beth Rodden.
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