It’s that time of year again. Time to clean up one of the world’s greatest national parks. Yosemite Valley sees significant impact through the year from visitors and park users. For the past nine years, Ken Yaeger and the Yosemite Climbing Assosciation have organized the Yosemite Facelift, a great opportunity for climbers to come and be stewards of the crags.
Alison Ousis reported at Rock and Ice.Com, “Last year’s 8th Annual Yosemite Facelift only netted 4,000 pounds of “small trash,” as opposed to the typical 30,000 in the event’s early years. Meanwhile, the Facelift is only growing.
Ken Yager, event founder, reported 1,345 volunteers last year, logging nearly 9,000 hours.
“I expect the turnout will be a little bigger this year,” he says, “because I purchased camping in the Valley for an additional 240 people.” Last year camping space in the Valley was provided for 104 people, with additional camping at Crane Flat, Tamarack and Tuolumne.”
The Facelift organizers will provide trashbags, safety vests, and litter sticks. The Valley check in will be in front of the Visitor Center daily from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. starting on Wednesday Sept 26 through Sunday Sept 30. The Tuolumne check-in will be at the Wilderness Center and open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. All volunteers will recieve a ticket for the daily 5 p.m. raffle.
The will be daily shows at the East Auditorium, located behind the visitor center.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and close at 10:30 p.m. For a $25 donation, you can purchase a signature Facelift mug that will be refilled by New Belgium Brewery beer or wine for each evening’s event.
Tuesday, September 25
Reel Rock Tour 7
Wednesday, September 26
Ben Lespeant, Michael Schaefer, and Conrad Anker will be presenting slideshows.
Thursday, September 27
Greg Stock, Sean Leary, and Mark Wellman will be presenting slideshows
Friday, September 28
Cheyne Lempe, Touchstone Blogger James Lucas, and some guy named Alex Honnold will be presenting slideshows
Saturday, September 29
Live Music on the grass of the Yosemite Elementary School from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Sunday, September 30
Food, Raffle, and Dancing from 6:00pm until midnight
