> Yosemite Valley, California

I ask Jason if he's become numbed to the beauty of the valley.

He laughs at this. "Every time I go home to Fresno, the city life drives me nuts. I just hate it, and every time I come back from Oakhurst, you come through the tunnel and you get your first views of El Cap and Half Dome. There are times I come around that bend and there is weather and light I've never seen before. The lighting in the Valley, it's just...different. How green everything is. I consider myself one of the luckiest people in the world."

About the climbers in the Valley, Jason says, "There is a collective consciousness to the group. Its like a fraternity of climbers, you don’t need to be the best in the world, but its just an aura. In the climbing world the best are considered like Gods. Legendary Climber Ron Kauk has an aura and I remember the gaga effect when I met him. Like all those climbers, he is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met and he is genuinely interested in what you’ve been up to that day."

I tell him about how the surfing community in Los Angeles is known to sometimes act violently towards each other. I told him about having my tires slashed for surfing on someone else's territory.

To this he says, "In Yosemite, you can leave your gear and everything will be there when you get back down. The climbing community is very trustworthy. We look like dirtbags and monkeys but climbers are trustworthy, are intelligent and have a good head on their shoulders."

Jason climbs five days a week. Just a few weeks ago, he ascended El Capitan, the classic climbing face, in twenty-two hours. Technically, that makes him one of the top climbers in the world. Generally, climbers will sleep overnight on the the cliff face for four to six days before making the top.

I ask him how he manages to stay alert for that long. "You know," he says, "You're constantly moving, always doing something. At one point, I pulled up on the ledge and I’m sitting there for a few seconds catching my breath, and my climbing partner says, "What are you doing! I didn’t clip you into the powerpoint so you can sit there and rest!"