THE DARK SIDE
A film documenting the often-overshadowed bouldering of Yosemite climbing, where jedis like BD Athlete Carlo...
On December 23, 2023, I pulled into the Camp 4 parking lot and lifted the back hatch of my camper shell. I stacked the gear I would need for the day in a pile on the ground; shoes, chalk, water, food, pads, camera, ladder, fan, and stick brush, a truly comical collection that would probably dishearten even the most hardened big wall climber. Luckily, I wasn’t going far, and I wasn’t going up. Just a couple hundred feet into the woods to the base of a 15-foot-tall boulder just off the Valley Loop Trail. This was my current project.
I warmed up slowly and got to work reconnecting with the state of my body. What does that crystal feel like when it grabs my skin today? Does it bite back, or does it shift and slide? How about the full body tension? What is lacking? Am I sweating already? I latch onto the positives, hold tight and push out the negatives. This process wasn’t new.
First go from the bottom, not ready to pull on the crimp. Second go, into the mid-section, but foot comes off. Third try, everything sits perfect, then hard dry fire off the biter crimp. Back to the pads staring up. What the hell am I doing? Why am I here?
Our motivations are rarely self-driven. Even in the best circumstances, when they derive from that inner fire, the flames are ignited by something heard or seen and fanned by a narrator, inside or out. What stories do you keep telling yourself to keep trying day after day?
"What stories do you keep telling yourself to keep trying day after day?"
In Yosemite, that was always easy because the stories are endless. But most of them involve big walls and herculean efforts that stand out because of the sheer scale of the challenge. It’s easy to find a story about El Cap because just approaching El Cap is a story. But what about under the shade of the trees on the Valley floor?
"THIS IS THE DARKSIDE."
I recognize the complete absurdity of 20+ years and a thousand days in the Valley while rarely climbing higher than a small house. But that’s this story, this motivation, and this conclusion. This is The Dark Side.
—Carlo Traversi
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