Yosemite’s Camp 4 Memorializes Rock Climber Raffi Bedayn

Credit: Suzette Sherman

Until now, Camp 4 was the only camp in Yosemite National Park that didn’t require reservations. Instead, the camp operated on a first come, first served basis, with some lining up all day, and sometimes the night before, for a spot. Camp 4 is the hotbed of climbing culture in Yosemite Valley, with the world’s most famous bouldering problem, “Midnight Lightning,” at its center. The boulder is rated at V8 on the Hueco scale of difficulty, the most widely used scale for rating bouldering problems in the United States.

To the left of the lightning bolt chalked onto “Midnight Lightning” is a memorial bench dedicated to Raffi Bedayn, a Yosemite climbing legend credited with many first ascents in the valley.  Bedayn was an active climber in the 1930s and 1940s, most famous for inventing one of the first lightweight aluminum carabiners, an invaluable piece of climbing equipment.  

Bedayn was also active in the push to preserve Camp 4 for all future generations of rock climbers. At a time when the Park Service looked down on climbers as low-life vagabonds and petty thieves, Bedayn championed them, often showing up to mediate disputes when tensions were high between climbers and rangers.  

Rock climbing encourages engagement with the life cycle, as the sport entails the execution of death-defying acts. And some of those acts do not end up defying death. Every year rock climbers lose their lives in pursuit of climbs. 

“Rock and Ice” magazine keeps a tally of these accidents. Whether they result from avalanches, broken carabiners, falling boulders or frayed ropes, the sport is dangerous. At the same time, climbing encourages a mental and emotional state of equanimity. It’s a meditative activity, and in order to climb successfully, a climber must be focused on the rock, not on their fear of impending death. Raffi Bedayn’s memorial offers a place for climbers to reflect on this amidst the grandeur of the mountains. 

Credit: Suzette Sherman

In April, Yosemite announced a new pilot lottery system for camping at Camp 4. It is effective May 21, 2019. The lottery system hopes to mitigate some of the harm caused by the popularity of the camp.

Too many campers wanting too few camping spaces meant the lines that formed under the first come, first served system were getting out of control. There were conflicts between campers, and out-of-bounds camping, which affected the surrounding wildlife. The lottery pilot program will run through the summer and be evaluated in the fall of 2019.