HE WHO STAYS BEHIND GETS LEFT BEHIND.
In the summer of 2012, Mason Earle and I hiked up to the East face of DAFF Dome in Tuolumne, climbing 300 feet to an immaculate arching crack. We equipped the line, cleaning, bolting, and sussing the beta on the five-star crack. However, as we grew closer to sending the project, Mason’s health worsened. Stricken with MECFS, chronic fatigue syndrome, Mason suddenly lost his ability to climb. We wrestled with the Pirate’s Code. Would we stay behind? Would we get left behind?
We sought help, from a young Bay Area trad climber. Connor Herson came out and fought up the steep crack, jamming and screaming to a move before the anchor. We knew the route would be hard. In the fall of 2022 Herson completed the first free ascent of the Pirate’s Code (5.14d), one of Yosemite National Park’s hardest climbs.
—Ben Ditto
