Three thousand feet of granite, and a skin budget that has to last the whole wall.

The Valley.

Glaciers carved Yosemite Valley out of Sierra granite and left walls like El Capitan and Half Dome standing over it. Climbers living in Camp 4 through the 1950s and 60s worked out big wall climbing here, and the Valley is still where people go to learn it. Spring and fall are the seasons. The cracks are endless, the slabs are polished, and the walls take days.

A big wall asks more of the hands than any crag. Jamming takes skin from the backs of the hands. Jugging and hauling grind the palms. Days without a proper wash let small cuts get dirty. The plan is a skin budget: tape before the damage, clean every cut, close something every night, even on a ledge. Everything below fits in the haul bag.