Valley Girl Jenny, Yosemite, 1985.

There’s a long story behind this photo. Here’s the short version: I was soloing on Glacier Point Apron one afternoon and passed an all-girl team on some 5.9 crack pitch. A conversation ensued, I suggested something foolish, and the next morning I found myself bicycling up the Valley before dawn to climb Royal Arches and Crest Jewel with Jenny. (“Like, oh my God!”) We were the first on the route that morning, but got passed after a couple of pitches because Jenny was really slow, then got off route (finding a nice 5.9 hand crack and a meandering creek of all things), and reached the rim hours behind schedule. (“Cool action,” as Jenny must have said 200 times that day.) Unaware of the descent route, we wandered straight up toward North Dome, up easy granite slabs. At the top of the slabs, Jenny sat down and struck this pose gazing down into Yosemite Valley. It was completely spontaneous. (“Fer sure.”) After this whimsical moment, we spent another hour fighting through manzanita hell to get to North Dome, which we summited at dusk, unprepared for a bivouac. We hiked as far as we could in the dark, then gathered some wood and built a fire with our only match and spent a fairly miserable but very memorable night. In the morning we hiked many lonely miles down to Camp 4, only to be accosted by Jenny’s boyfriend, who thought there was more to our night under the stars than there was. Pulleez! Like, I was totally glad to get rid of her.