United in Yosemite (UiY) is a climbing festival for climbers from backgrounds including queer and gender expansive, People of the Global Majority, and climbers with disabilities. A collaboration between the American Alpine Club and the Yosemite Conservancy, UiY aims to be active in the evolution of global climbing culture through the lenses of representation, Tribal engagement, stewardship, and celebration.

Are you an individual with a historically marginalized identity or a multiple marginalized identities?

Are you looking to learn about outdoor rock climbing or gain skills to help you access more complex climbing goals?

Are you working for outdoor equity for yourself or in your community?

Are you willing to be in a space with a diverse group of people, willing to listen and learn from their experiences, willing to be seen, and willing to show up for a transformation in climbing culture?

If YES, then this is for you!

Some experience climbing will be helpful! Programming is aimed at folks who are comfortable gym climbing and excited to branch into the outdoors, or intermediate outdoor climbers who are looking to level up their skills in Multi-Pitch Efficiency, Safety, and Aid Climbing.

We are looking for community members to volunteer in several roles throughout the festival! Check our volunteer page for more information.

Registration is limited at 100 participants. To ensure fairness and accommodate high demand, we conduct a two-week lottery registration process. Once the registration period concludes, we randomly select and extend invitations to 100 individuals.

We save about 15% of spots for members of the seven traditionally associated Tribes of Yosemite.

We save about 10% of spots for self-identified disabled or adaptive climbers.

Four nights of camping, 1 clinic and 1 workshop / participant, and dinner Friday and Saturday nights; access to intimate Vendor Village and affinity group spaces; and access to demo gear.

During clinics with Yosemite Mountaineering School, shoes, helmets, and harnesses will be provided.

Transportation and food are not included.

The free Yosemite Valley shuttle system operates with service around Yosemite Valley. The shuttle bus is wheelchair accessible. For more information and a map of the shuttle stops, visit this page.

Especially on a weekend in the summer, driving and finding parking can be stressful. If you can bring a bike and helmet, do it! Yosemite Hospitality rents bikes daily. Yosemite Conservancy offers a free bike share. There is not a bike lane for the entirety of the Valley loop road, but there is a bike path from Camp 4 to the Valley Visitor Center to Curry Village.

It sure is! United in Yosemite will take place regardless of weather, though rain, excess heat, or smoke could change programming.Be prepared for changing weather, inclement weather, and be open to things changing due to weather conditions!

We ask you to please leave your pet at home.

Service animals (dogs and miniature horses) are animals who have been trained to perform a specific task related to a physical or neurological disability. They are allowed wherever a person can go and will of course be welcome at Yellow Pines campground. They must be under control (leash 6 feet or less or verbal command) at all times.

Under Department of Justice guidelines, emotional support, therapy animals, or companion animals are not considered service animals and are subject to the same regulations as pets (Yosemite National Park Pet Guidelines page). Additionally, service animals in training are not considered service animals under ADA and are subject to same regulations as pets.

For more information, visit the National Park Service page on service animals.

Eight tickets will be reserved for folks with disabilities. Additional companion spots will be available for attendees with disabilities who would benefit from that assistance. If you require a companion to assist with your disability, you are responsible for finding that person. They do not need to be a member of one of the communities UiY serves, but rather someone who you feel comfortable with.

For full details on accessibility in Yosemite National Park, please reference the Yosemite National Park Accessibility Guide.

Instead of a specific adaptive climbing clinic, adaptive climbers are invited to join any clinic, and we will work with individuals to make sure we are preparing for their specific accommodations. There will be community members identified to support climbers at clinics if needed. Yosemite Mountaineering School guides are experienced with adaptive climbing accommodations and are psyched to help you get out there!

Yosemite National Park is home to about 500 black bears. They can appear brown, cinnamon, honey, tan, and even black. The American black bear is curious, intelligent, and loves snacks. Their favorite snacks are grubs, berries, and roots — but their keen sense of smell leads them to human food. It is our responsibility as their neighbors to not allow them to get food or other scented products. A bear that has gotten human food can become aggressive in their hunt for calories, which can lead to their relocation or their unnecessary death.

In the campground, there will be bear boxes where all scented items must be stored if they are not being used. If it goes in or on your body, it goes in the bear box. This includes food, bottles, drinks, cosmetics, soap, and ice chests (even if there’s no food in it!), and unwashed items used to prepare or eat food.

For more information, visit the Yosemite bear safety page. Help keep bears wild!

People can generate up to 50% more trash when traveling — small things like extra granola bars, a cup of coffee, to-go food containers add up! We aim to be a zero-waste event, and we all need to do our part by planning ahead and preparing to decrease our own footprint. We will have an organic waste dumpster in the campground, along with recycling and trash. We can reduce our impact by bringing reusable items whenever possible, and being mindful of the waste generated by food wrappers, gear, etc.

Stewardship projects are optional. Many individuals from non-dominant identities have spent much of their time and labor in contexts that were underpaid, overworked, and undernourishing. We do not offer stewardship projects with the expectation of garnering labor from individuals who are new to the space. Instead, we offer these service projects as a meaningful way of giving back if we have the capacity.

Outdoor recreation and climbing can be seen as extractive – taking from land and original occupants without returning anything. We want to explore what does it look like to be a climber who tries to build a reciprocal relationship with land and original inhabitants.