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Chicken Skinner
Trad climber
Yosemite
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Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 4, 2008 - 09:18pm PT
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Over 2,000 people showed up for the 5th annual Yosemite Facelift to help clean up Yosemite National Park. This event is organized by the Yosemite Climbing Association in partnership with the National Park Service and Delaware North Parks and Resorts at Yosemite. The Yosemite Facelift is a California Coastal Cleanup event, a National Public Lands Day event, and the largest Access Fund Adopt a Crag event in the country.
The participants cleaned up trails, roadways, river corridors, campgrounds, lodging and housing areas taking special care to not disrupt archeological sites. Several special projects were taken on with NPS crew leaders, some of these included abandoned phone lines that ran to Nevada Falls and to Mirror Lake. Other special projects included cleaning up a former dumpsite in Tuolumne Meadows and loading up over 400 rusted fire rings for recycling through the generous loan of a backhoe and crew by Candelaria Corporation.
41,631 pounds of trash was gathered and two thirds of it was recycled. Over a hundred miles of trail and sixty miles of roadway were scoured. Over a thousand pounds of non-native plant species were removed and disposed of. Many children’s groups helped with this effort including the Yosemite Institute, the El Portal School, the Yosemite School and a Brownie Troop from Sacramento. These children had a lot of fun and will be the future land stewards of our Public Lands.
The Yosemite Climbing Association treated all Facelift helpers to incredible daily raffles and evening entertainment. Slideshows were provided by Don Lauria, Glen Denny and Dave Nettle. There was a showing of the internationally acclaimed and award winning Reel Rock Film Tour highlighting the film “The Sharp End”. Timmy O’Neil had the crowd roaring with laughter acting as a talk show host with selected climbers and members of the audience. Josh Ritter in partnership with ClifBar’s Music Matters program played a live acoustic set for the audience outdoors under a magical landscape. During the final evening Delaware North Parks and Resorts at Yosemite served Dinner to volunteers and after the final raffle people danced the rest of the evening to music by the extremely talented Jonathan McEuen Band.
Yosemite sparkles once again. Many different user groups came together this year to clean a national treasure. Families, school groups, foreign visitors, hikers, first time Park visitors, and climbers all volunteered. It was obvious by the enthusiasm, smiles, and energy that these volunteers received more than they gave. The Facelift is a shining example of how people from all over the world can work together for a common cause.
Thank you,
Ken Yager
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rlf
Trad climber
Josh, CA
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A HUGE THANKS TO YOU KEN, FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK ON THE FACELIFT AND THE CLIMBERS MUSEUM.
I'll be there next year, I promise.
Robert
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Chicken Skinner
Trad climber
Yosemite
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 4, 2008 - 09:47pm PT
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Hey Robert,
That would be awesome to see you again. I will be down that way next summer as the exhibit is going to be in the Gene Autry Museum for the summer months (June-August) Might see you then.
Ken
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Double D
climber
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Impressive Ken...thanks for the update and all of your hard work!
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Jerry Dodrill
climber
Sebastopol, CA
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Great work, and wow, impressive amount of stuff taken away. Wish I could have been there to help out.
Congratulations!
-Jerry
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Nohea
Trad climber
Aiea,Hi
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Thank You to everyone involved! Amazing!
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Nutcracker Sweet
Social climber
az
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many thanks to ken, katie, and the YCA for organizing this amazing event. it was my first facelift but it won't be my last. picking up trash is fun!!!
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rlf
Trad climber
Josh, CA
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"Hey Robert,
That would be awesome to see you again. I will be down that way next summer as the exhibit is going to be in the Gene Autry Museum for the summer months (June-August) Might see you then.
Ken"
Definately look me up. We have a 120 acres of prime real estate to camp out on in Josh, not too mention plenty of climbing on the property. You're more than welcome to stay with us!
Robert
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
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Just an incredible event. So well organized. So MUCH fun. What a great way to mix work and play....to meet many new friends and experience the Valley of Wow and all the great people that keep it the special place it is.
Katiebird and Ken, you go the huge mile and a half to make everything happen and accomplish it with such grace, composure and professionalism.
We all were so impressed with your family and co workers that we interacted with!
Camping in Yellow Pine and having the private, beautiful Sentinel Beach just a jump away was so very special. Having people like Peter, his beautiful wife and son Finn from Switzerland and Peter's Mom, Meg, from Tasmania camping next to us was just icing on the cake.
Ken and Katie, have had many great life time fun adventures...this was just awesome. Big Smiles and Love from Sun Diego, Lynne Leichtfuss
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Chicken Skinner
Trad climber
Yosemite
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 4, 2008 - 11:33pm PT
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Thank you Robert,
Prime real estate is hard to come by these days. Sounds nice. Congratulations!
Ken
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ron gomez
Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
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You're God sent for Yosemite Ken, a great event and a greater cause. Was glad to do my small part and small things can make a difference in the larger scheme of things, and I hope to spend many more birthdays helping this cause. Actually, I REALLY hope I can't do this too many more times, in hopes the park is a clean place someday, thanks to events like this.
Thanks Ken
Peace
Ron
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jstan
climber
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Hard pressed to say something that has not already been said(better than can I).
Anyway I think, what with the popularity of hacky sac here abouts, we have a chance to create a new olympic sport. Butt grabber relays. A 100 yard relay race where a cigarette butt serves as the baton and it is passed grabber stick to grabber stick. Mid air tosses allowed.
Killer.
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norvack
climber
ca
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The display of 3 gallons of cigarette remnants picked up by ONE person in just 6 hours!... all in Yosemite. From small to big, it all adds up. Thank you everyone, especially Ken, for caring and making a difference. Thank you for giving back to OUR Yosemite.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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hey there ken.. say, way to do... and many a good cheer to you... thanks for loving yosemite, and teaching other to, too... :)
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Jingy
Social climber
Flatland, Ca
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Chicken Skinner - Thank you for the invite and the opportunity to help make the park a little better and have a good time doing it.
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captain chaos
climber
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Congratulations on another successful Facelift Kenny. I can't say enough as to how fortunate everyone is for your selfless caring and love for the valley too keep it clean, and making sure its history is remembered and recorded. Your a good man Kenny, keep the good work up... tu hermano- Craig
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BrassNuts
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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A huge THANK YOU to Ken, the Grand Puba of the Facelift and the climbing museum! It was fun to participate in such a great event and also to meet so many of the infamous SuperTopian personalities! Cheers!
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Ken
My congratulations to you for setting up this incredible
event. It was a privilege to work among some of the best
people around.
Looking forward to next year's Facelift!
Steve
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MisterE
Trad climber
My Inner Nut
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Ken and Katie:
Thanks again for all of your hard work - there wasn't too much prep this year, that says volumes about your readiness.
Also, a big shout out to all 2000 participants, it wouldn't be the same without your volunteer efforts!
You both are doing an awesome job, and the museum was great! Hope you get to take it on the road soon.
See you next year, Erik
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Fish Finder
Social climber
THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART
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GOD BLESS AMERICA
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