Everyday, large crowds gather at El Capitan Meadow because they know something significant is happening up there, and that there is something there for them. For me, the longer I look and the more I see, the more I believe that learning to be a team player with nature is very, very big.

Robbins had a big effect on me. He believed how you climb something is crucial. I believe: “How you do anything is how you do everything.” Climbing can put us on a good path.

I believe it is essential to have a spiritual base — whatever it is — to help you deal with the larger difficulties in your life. People can’t tell people what to do. It is relevant to figure out why we are here and what we ought to be doing about it the best we can. Those who have risen to the top, they have an ingredient of inner strength that comes from having connected to the greater nature. Ricardo Cassin comes to mind, and John Bachar. Decades later we meet them and feel their energy, their spirit, their connection with the cosmos. They understood all that stuff.

In the 1960s, looking up at El Cap, there was only one line. Harding and his guys put it up. I was about 24, sitting with Robbins in the Meadow and thinking about the second ascent of the Nose. Royal had said no to Harding on the FA. Harding’s style was not the style he wanted to do it in.

The Golden Age was really very interesting. Epochal, but very basic. You could distill it to Robbins and Harding. Two men looked at the same problem and saw opposite solutions. This is one reason the Golden Age holds interest. Harding’s values were external: big epics and big media results. It had a downside. Robbins climbed for internal reasons, such as to remember and to become who he wanted to be.

I loved climbing with Robbins. We tried to show by our actions, in the climbs we did, something that would benefit the community, but it was absolutely essential to us to demonstrate the style to ourselves. We wanted to adhere to the highest standards of exploration, to leave no trace, leaving the climb for the next party in the same condition we found it, and returning our appreciation. I liked being on Robbins’ team.

When we had the fight to save Camp 4, Bruce Babbit made an analogy in his speech that the original Camp 4 climbers were like the Founding Fathers and Independence Hall. At the time, I thought it was overstated, but then realized he understood Camp 4 better than I did. The Founding Fathers had tried to set a standard we could live by, and the pioneers of the Yosemite had a similar vision for the climbing community.