The Rockfall

In 1986, Dave Shultz and Ken Yager were a third of the way up their first ascent, Karma, when rocks began to fall from above. Shultz was on lead—he led the entire climb—aid climbing off a hook move with Yager belaying when they heard cracking and grinding sounds from above. (Jim Campbell, also part of the FA team, wasn’t on the wall that day.)

“We got our bellies and heads in as close to the wall as we could, and I looked at him hunkered down on that hook,” Yager recalls.

“All these shadows went over us, and you could feel the breeze, and it was noisy. It came within maybe two feet of hitting my back—same with Dave. At least eight chunks came down—maybe one big rock broke up, or several rocks fell at once. If we’d been anywhere else on the route, we probably would have gotten taken out by that rockfall, but that ended up being the steepest section.”

Now terrified, the team paused to consider their next move. Bailing was an option since they still had fixed ropes leading to the ground, but before the climb, Yager had dreamed they’d succeed on the wall. Together, they agreed to continue, especially now that the rockfall had passed.

“I talked myself into it after a dream, and I did it. But it could have gone horribly wrong, for sure,” Yager says.

The Route and its Evolution

Established as a 5.11+ A1 with nauseating runouts, Karma could have faded into obscurity had it not been resurrected between 2016 and 2021 by Shultz and Brooke Sandahl, who nearly freed the line and replaced aging hardware.

This included “homemade 1/4 inch machine bolts crudely pounded into the holes,” wrote Tobias Wolf in the American Alpine Journal. “The original bolts were so sparsely placed that just thinking of the potential falls was terrifying.”

“By the end of their efforts in 2021, Brooke, now 62, and Dave, now 63, realized that, strong as they were, some of the pitches were beyond them,” continued Wolf. After throwing in the towel, Sandahl passed the project off to Wolf. In 2023, Wolf and Oliver Schmidt freed the 15-pitch route at 5.13d.

The Challenge of Climbing Karma

When Shultz and Sandahl went up Karma, they added bolts and replaced others. But back in ’86, Yager says, “We had up to maybe 80-foot runouts in places on 5.9, 5.10. Yeah, it was scary. Like real serious climbing. I was terrified, dude.”

Increasing the difficulty of the experience, Yager was still recovering from knee surgery and had several screws still in place. Trekking up and down from the Valley floor, no small feat in itself, and making powerful and tenuous moves on the route only made his knee swell even more.

Adding to the seriousness, the line followed a serrated dike that stretched from left to right and threatened to cut the rope. In places, they extended slings from the bolt hangers to ensure the bottom carabiner cleared the dike, preventing the rope from shredding over the edge, but the risk often remained for the leader or follower.

The teams’ commitment was also high. Because Karma traversed across a slab above overhanging rock, retreating straight down was not an option—a rappelling climber would dangle in space. Yager says the only alternative was to reverse the horrendously runout route, which came with its own challenge.

“There’s something weird about climbing diagonally and runout, especially over a dike with a lot of exposure under you. It was terrifying.”

The Beauty of the Route

Despite the danger, the beauty of the line and the possibility of freeing it in its entirety tempted future teams. Sandahl told Wolf that Karma left him “absolutely blown away by this mind-blowing dike, which stretched across the face like the writhing backbone of a dragon. It was one of the most amazing features I had ever seen in climbing.”

Thinking back to the rockfall he survived on Half Dome’86, Yager recalls, “I’ve seen other big rockfalls before, in fact, huge ones, but I’ve never been quite that close to one.”

As for his knee, which has long since healed from surgery despite the beating he gave it on Karma. Yager says, “There’s a picture of us on top of Half Dome, and you can tell my knee is huge.”

A climber of 54 years with hundreds of first ascents in Yosemite and the surrounding areas, Ken Yager is the founder of the Yosemite Climbing Association. To become a member, click here, and to donate to the 501(c)(3), click here.

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