Yosemite Climbing Museum

Ken Yager was either prescient or nuts. Long before rock climbers were rock stars, or the documentary Free Solo won an Academy Award, or indoor climbing gyms became birthday-party staples, he dreamed of opening a museum dedicated to rock climbing in Yosemite.

“Climbing gave me a focus, shaped my life, and kept me out of trouble,” he said of the sport he discovered as a 12-year-old growing up in Davis, California. A year later, when the young rock climber first laid eyes on Yosemite’s “vast edifice of stone and space,” as Ansel Adams once described the park’s extraordinary valley, Yager saw his future unfurl before him.

Just before turning 18, he moved to Camp 4, the boho climbing camp near El Capitan. And in the ensuing years, he became a fixture on the local climbing scene, juggling various jobs and eventually a family while devoting himself to scaling the park’s sheer vertical walls.

Recognizing a need to preserve the sport’s history, Yager began asking friends and legends to donate artifacts decades ago. The climbers delivered. Tom Frost donated hand-forged pitons once belonging to Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard. Royal Robbins gave Yager historic photos and a climbing shoe. And Lynn Hill donated the shoes she wore during her first free ascent of the Nose of El Capitan. As the items accumulated, Yager vowed to do right by their donors. “I was just a dirtbag climber,” he said. “These people trusted me.”

A sign proclaims the Yosemite Rock Climbing Museum as the "coolest place in the county"

The Yosemite Rock Climbing Museum in Mariposa, California. Photo by Eric Van Eyke

Now 63, Yager has invested more than $200,000 of his money into the project and made good on his promise. Not only did he recently curate a permanent climbing exhibit in Yosemite National Park’s Visitors Center, but he also put the finishing touches on the 1,200-square-foot Yosemite Climbing Museum in the small Sierra foothills town of Mariposa.

Inside the museum, glass cases showcase early carabiners and pitons. Historic photos line the walls. And informational displays have titles such as “The Stonemasters: Yosemite Climbing in the 1970s.”

Founder Ken Yager inside the Yosemite Climbing Museum

Yosemite Climbing Museum founder Ken Yager. Photo by Eric Van Eyke

Greeting a visitor on a recent afternoon, Yager pointed out key artifacts, recalled epic climbs, and generally revealed an encyclopedic knowledge of the sport’s history. He also noted that he has bigger plans. The creator of the nonprofit Yosemite Climbing Association (YCA), as well an annual cleanup day in the park, Yager wants to build “a hub not just for climbers but for everybody” near Mariposa, he said. He envisions a climbing gym, a campground, and an amphitheater for slide shows.

Ken Yager outside the Yosemite Climbing Museum

Ken Yager began soliciting items for the new Yosemite Climbing Museum decades ago. Photo by Eric Van Eyke

Star climbers are down with the cause and quick to sing Yager’s praises. “I’ve long been a fan of Ken’s great work,” said Tommy Caldwell, one of the world’s top climbers, a YCA board member, and the subject of the acclaimed documentary The Dawn Wall. “So much of climbing history came from Yosemite. To be able to collect it all in one place and understand it is a great thing.”

Travel editor Jim Benning wrote about California wildfires in early 2022.

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On display at the Yosemite Climbing museum

Classic cord: Hemp rope used by climbers Warren Harding, George Whitmore, and Wayne Merry to complete the first ascent of the Nose route on El Capitan in 1958.

Photo by Eric Van Eyke

Legendary slippers: These shoes were worn by climber Lynn Hill during her historic first free-climb ascent—by a man or woman—of the Nose route on El Capitan in 1993. Upon reaching the top, she famously declared, “It goes, boys.”

Photo by Eric Van Eyke

Pioneer’s bolt: This spike, the museum’s oldest piece, was used by George Anderson, the climber who made the first recorded ascent of Half Dome in 1875. The route he blazed—barefoot, reportedly—is what’s now commonly known as the Cable Route. The spike was found more than 40 years ago by a kid who lived in the Yosemite area.

Photo by Eric Van Eyke

Rocking out—and up: Tape deck boom box like the one Ken Yager hauled up El Cap—notice the sling on it—so he could rock out to Cream and Jimi Hendrix in the late ’70s. “You’re up there for a week. You want the comforts of home,” he says.

Photo by Eric Van Eyke

Know before you go: 5180 Highway 140, Mariposa. (209) 742-1000. Suggested donation, $5.

You may want to read: Valley of Giants: Stories From Women at the Heart of Yosemite Climbing (Mountaineers Books, 2022, $21.95) collects essays, journal excerpts, interviews, and other material from nearly 40 contributors, including Lynn Hill, whose shoes grace the Yosemite Climbing Museum, and Miranda Oakley.

Photo by David Ricks

Published in April, the book makes a strong case that women have played important roles in the history of Yosemite climbing—even if, as women in the book point out, they haven’t always gotten credit for it.

Writes editor Lauren DeLaunay Miller in the preface: “Women have been climbing these walls since the very beginning, crafting their own equipment, establishing new routes, and dancing with grace in the harshest of earthly environments.”