We met Chris on a video call. He’s an avid rock climber living in Yosemite, where he leads e-biking and climbing tours. He is also an amazing writer for outdoor and adventure magazines.
It is November now, and he’s in good spirits, despite 2022 being a tragically rough year.
Burned out
Early reports said the blaze charred ten homes, which was later updated to 41. The flames took out every inch of terrain I’d e-biked this year. My Strava report says I spent 150 hours since January in that area, covering some 218,000 vertical feet and 1,800 miles in the process.
I was absolutely in love with that region, which climbs into Jerseydale and the Sierra National Forest. You can see into Yosemite at one spot and directly at El Capitan. Now, everything is gone.
Chris Van Leuven, Outside Online Magazine
In July, the Oak Fire near Yosemite National Park burned down his house and burned up his home. We hear about fires all the time in the news. Up and down the west coast, fire season gets worse every year.
Natural disasters affect millions of people every year. They are a mainstay for the news. So when we hear about 41 homes destroyed in a fire, we think, Oh, that awful, but at least it’s not too many. We are simultaneously zoomed in to the events but zoomed out on the people affected.
Reading Chris’ story puts into perspective the changes in our weather patterns. The crisis that sweeps over people’s homes leaving only when they can pack at a moment’s notice.
Yosemite
Yosemite National Park and the surrounding area has been home to Chris for 30 years. It is a stunning area, and a dream for rock climbers.
El Capitan is a vertical rock face on the western edge of Yosemite. It is 3000 feet from bottom to top, and a rite of passage for elite climbers from all over the world.
The mere thought of climbing it gives me vertigo, but I’d imagine scaling up to its summit would be an incredible feeling of accomplishment and perseverance.
And few more of Chris and his rock climbing friends.
Going home
Chris is a writer for outdoor adventure and sport magazines. Being part of the rock climbing community, he’s met many fellow adventurers and made friends along the way.
It is a tight knit community, because it is relatively small, but also because they all share an overwhelming urge to push themselves to the limit. A limit that brings with it dangers and risk. That can be tragic.
Here is a piece he wrote about 3 friends:
One after the other, their toes compress then release from the cliff's edge. Shoulders hunch forward, chins are tucked in. Toes are pointed. Legs are spread apart, holding their wingsuits open. Streaked granite surrounds them: El Capitan, the 3,000-foot wall they've climbed for years, its golden polish framed by ponderosa pines. Rushing air fills their ears. They thread a channel that opens toward the Cathedral Spires across the valley floor. The orange sky feels thick, heavy.
Because their activity is illegal in Yosemite, they often flew during first and last light, when the atmosphere's static blues mixed with grey, shrouding them from sight. The last time I saw Dean jump, I watched his figure, wrapped in black, leap from the rim of El Cap, then fall as if endlessly, his charcoal chute popping open against the sky. He landed, gently, in the meadow by us. And then he disappeared.
Read the full article on the Alpinist.
Every time you stand on the edge of a cliff and then step off," she says, "you know that if you don't pull your chute you will die. Right before that is when the fear hits. The second you hit the air, it's just smooth. You know what needs to happen. It's like going home."
Chris, Going Home, 2016
E-bike & Climbing Tours
A couple years ago, e-bikes became part of Chris’ routine. Rock climbing is physically exhausting. Most people would prefer to drive as close as possible to their climb and hike up the last bit. Reserve their energy.
Getting tired riding up to a climb isn’t ideal… even though you’d get to enjoy the beautiful ride up and back down.
So it was easy to get addicted to e-bikes. Chris could ride up without wearing himself out, climb, and ride back home. 5 hours completely in nature.
It wasn’t too long before he decided to give e-bike tours to show others around the area who also aren’t big into mountain biking… you get the best of both worlds.
If you are in Yosemite and see a group riding around. Look for the guy with unicorn helmet…
That’s Chris.
Next Up
There is another rock face on the horizon for Chris. Makatea, Polynesia:
This March, professional U.S. climbers Brette Harrington and Sasha DiGiulian followed rumors of world-class first ascents to the paradise island of Makatea, a four-mile atoll of bullet-hard limestone deep in the South Pacific. Here, butted against long-abandoned phosphate mines that once housed thousands of workers, walls tower over the sea. For a week, they bolted routes up to 5.13 on the perfect white, gray and black stone that wraps the entirety of the island.
Chris, Redbull.com, 2022
Whether is on the face on a cliff, or rolling down a bike path, we all want to go on an adventure from time to time. It can reinvigorate the soul and prop us up for the next challenge ahead on the course.
Chris has had many, and will have many more, and it is a great inspiration to do try new things and push ourselves to do more.
A Life of Adventure