Yosemite is a world-renowned rock-climbing destination, with approximately 100,000 climbers coming each year to test their skills on famed granite monoliths, such as El Capitan and Cathedral Rocks.

Despite climbing’s growing popularity, Yosemite had no sustainable system of approach or descent trails, leaving climbers to use the path of “least resistance” to get to their destinations. This resulted in an informal network of severely eroded trails and the unintentional destruction of surrounding vegetation and habitat.

This project changed that by bringing together local youth groups, climbing organizations and park partners to create clearly delineated climber trails and restore surrounding habitat. In 2013, this project included “Yosemite Climbing Steward” interns to act as ambassadors to the climbing community and encourage proactive stewardship.

Your support opened up life-changing opportunities for youth, while helping build new trails and protecting fragile habitat.