Zivia, Sof, and Rosemary on the Summit of Matthes Crest. PC: Miya Tsudome
By: Zivia Berkowitz
In August of 2021, I did a three-week backpacking trip on the Sierra High Route. Over the course of the expedition, we went up and down countless passes, and I stared in wonder at the sheer granite peaks of the Sierra Nevada. I had never led a trad climb or done any alpine climbing. On the trip, I made a promise to myself that my return to the Sierra High Country would be for a rock climbing trip.
Sof and Zivia on the summit of Cathedral Peak. PC: Emmie Snead
My name is Zivia Berkowitz. I’m a climber and outdoor educator based in central Wyoming, and for the past two years, I’ve been working with a handful of close friends on a passion project—a documentary film called Rooting Souls. Rooting Souls is an expression of my desire, as a Black queer woman climber, to explore themes of community, connection, and sense of place through the trials and tribulations of expedition rock climbing. To achieve this goal, I am leading an expedition with Sof Petros and Rosemary Saal to climb the North Face Standard Route of Batian Peak (17,054 ft) on Mt. Kenya in September 2026, as a self-sufficient team of Black womxn climbers.
Climbing a 22-pitch, 2,600ft technical rock route at altitude requires us to train individually but also to gain experience climbing together as a team. This August, the Rooting Souls climbing team received a Catalyst Grant from the American Alpine Club to go on a training trip in Tuolumne Meadows to sharpen our trad/alpine multi-pitch skills. I’m excited to share what we did on our training trip in the trip report below.
Day 1 (8/30/25): After 12 hours of driving from my home in Lander, WY, I finally arrived in Bishop, California, buzzing with excitement to see my friends and climbing partners for the week. We all trickled into Bishop from various parts of the country. I drove from Wyoming, Sof flew from Seattle to Sacramento to meet Rosemary, and together they drove down to Bishop. Chey flew from Denver to Vegas and then rented a car and drove the rest of the way to Bishop.
Between the giggles and gossip that come with friends reuniting after many months, we spent the evening grocery shopping, going over final logistics and plans with Jazz and Miya (who joined to help us document this trip), and making sure we had everything we needed to drive into Tuolumne Meadows the following morning.
Day 2 (8/31/25): We departed Bishop around 8 a.m. and drove to Tioga Lake just outside of the Yosemite National Park entrance. We set up camp at the Tioga Lake Campground, fortuitously securing a spot in the campground just as the previous campers were packing up to leave. After camp was set up, we took time to recuperate from our extended travels, basking in the sun, jumping in the lake, and filming interviews. Restored by the downtime, we drove to Puppy Dome for the afternoon. At Puppy Dome, we experimented and refined our systems for traveling in low 5th-class terrain as a team (in anticipation of the following day's objectives). We caught a beautiful sunset at Puppy Dome before heading back to camp for dinner. The rest of the evening was spent preparing for our ascent of Matthes Crest the following day.
Sof leading on Matthes Crest. PC: Zivia Berkowitz
Day 3 (9/1/25): By 5:15 a.m, wheels were rolling, and we were on our way to the Cathedral Lakes Trailhead. We met up with Miya Tsudome and Gerry Egbalic, who were going to climb the objective ahead of us and help us document our time on the Crest. By 6:30 a.m., after some minor parking lot chaos, we began the approach to Matthes Crest. Approaching Matthes requires approximately three miles of hiking on trails, followed by another three miles off-trail with 1,700 ft of elevation gain. We reached the southern terminus of Matthes Crest just after 9:30 a.m. and began racking up in anticipation of our climb. There was one party ahead of us, and once they completed the first pitch, we began climbing. We pitched out the steeper terrain until we gained the ridge of Matthes. Once on the ridge, we simul-climbed most of the way. Sof and I took turns leading in blocks. This was my first time simul climbing, it was super valuable for me to practice simul-climbing in real time since it is a technique we are planning to use on Mt. Kenya. We reached our high point of the day on the North summit of Matthes (10,923 ft) around 3 p.m. At approximately 7 p.m, nearly nine hours after we started climbing, we completed our final downclimb of the day–we scrambled down off the ridge of Matthes back to the ground in the last light of the day. The apocalyptically vibrant and smoky sunset offered us a moment of reverence and awe for the beauty and power of the natural world. Once we were all on the ground, we took a beat to eat some food, reset, and begin our long walk back to the trailhead. We reached the trailhead just after 10 p.m., exhausted and elated by such a long and rewarding day in the High Sierra.
Day 4 (9/2/25): We had a slow morning after our 16+ hour moving day on Matthes. We carved out time to debrief and process our ascent. In our debrief, we discussed what went well, what challenged us, and how we can apply our learnings on Matthes Crest to Mt. Kenya and other future objectives. Rain was forecasted for the afternoon and evening, so we thought it best to use the day as a rest day.
Rosemary on lead. PC: Russell Woo
Day 5 (9/3/25): The forecast remained poor (significant afternoon precipitation). While we would’ve liked to climb another longer multipitch, the threat of aforementioned rain forced us to be flexible. As our time together is both precious and limited, we decided to see what we could climb. We compromised by choosing to attempt some lower-commitment routes at Stately Pleasure Dome. We went up Jabberwalky (5.5, 2 pitches) and Aoxomoxoa (5.5, 2 pitches), which proved more complex thanks to some chopped bolts. For me, the highlight of the day was when Rosemary came out of a lead climbing hiatus as she glided up Turkey Trot (5.8). Rosemary climbed with confidence and precision on the delicate slab, Tenaya Lake sparkling behind her. We all cheered with joy as Rosemary reached the anchor.
Day 6 (9/4/25): The weather cleared, and we were able to fit in one more day in the alpine. We chose to climb another Eastern Sierra classic, the Southeast Buttress of Cathedral Peak and Eichhorn Pinnacle. We began our approach at the Cathedral Lakes Trailhead around 7:15 a.m and reached the base of Cathedral Peak to begin our ascent around 9 a.m. We were familiar with most of the approach from our day on Matthes (although somehow that didn’t prevent us from walking in the wrong direction for a number of minutes). We simul-climbed most of Cathedral Peak, swapping leads, and summiting around 1 p.m. After descending the summit of Cathedral Peak, we traversed our way to the base of Eichorn Pinnacle for our last pitch and final summit of the trip. From the summit of Eichorn, we rappelled to the base of the pinnacle, then hiked to the Cathedral Peak walk-off. Once we were back at the base of Cathedral Peak, we started hiking back to the parking lot (with no misnavigations!). We were back to our vehicles before sunset, around 6 p.m.
Day 7(9/5/25): We packed up camp in the morning and departed Tuolumne Meadows. On our drive to Bishop, we savored our final moments of the trip, exchanging music recommendations and reminiscing on our time together. At the Bishop Airport, we said our goodbyes, marking the end of a fruitful and memorable trip. Rosemary and I continued driving back to our respective homes thereafter.
Rosemary and Sof at an anchor on Stately Pleasure Dome. PC: Zivia Berkowitz.
This grant was quite literally the catalyst for an incredible climbing trip. There are so few Black women climbing traditional alpine style routes, and we come from and live in so many different places! Finding the resources and time to come together is often a challenge. It was a gift to climb historic routes like Matthes Crest and Cathedral Peak as a team. This group of people, the intentions we set to build our skills as alpinists, push ourselves, support each other, and have a blast while doing so, was soul-filling and inspiring.
On a practical level, we practiced new systems on lower 5th-class terrain and gained valuable experience and insights into how we can move as efficiently as possible in exposed, technical terrain.
Descending Matthes Crest while the sunset glowed red on the horizon, with a team of fellow Black women climber baddies and the friends supporting us, instilled in me a deep sense of gratitude.
As Black women alpinists, we are often isolated in our experiences. Through the Catalyst Grant, we grew and learned together. On this trip, community and affinity were sources of boundless motivation and inspiration. Our time together in the High Sierra offered opportunities for growth as a climbing team with an abundance of dreams and bigger objectives ahead.
Learn more about Rooting Souls, support the project, and stay up to date with our antics at rootingsouls.net and @rootingsouls on Instagram. Thanks to the American Alpine Club and The Catalyst Grant for the support!
The Catalyst Grant is supported by:
