WE ARE A FAMILY OF LIFERS.
My wife, Anne, and I have been climbing for 40 years. Our children, Kara and Connor, now young adults, have climbed most of their walking lives. We’re weekend warriors recharging in the mountains after a hectic week of work, school, and life, often on Yosemite’s magical granite although any area with climbable rock makes us happy.
I’m now known, if known at all, as the old guy who sometimes belays Connor Herson on his wild El Capitan adventures. But before I was old, I was sometimes known, among a very tiny sliver of internet climbers, as the guy who writes trip reports about climbing in Yosemite with his young children.
I certainly didn’t intend to undermine birth control in the small niche group of 30s something internet trip-report-reading climbers who are thinking of starting a family. But here we are. A worrisome number of complete strangers have confided in me over the years that the trip reports with the kids weighed in their decision to have children. And if we’re being totally honest, only trad dads have ever said that. It’s weird to even have to type this, but climbing the Northwest Face of Half Dome in winter with a middle schooler is completely disqualifying for any role in anyone’s family planning!
