The Stone Masters

In the 1970s, when Yosemite Valley was both a sanctuary and a proving ground for America’s most devoted climbers, a small tribe of dirtbags known as the Stonemasters began to rewrite the rules of possibility on granite. They climbed harder, lived wilder, and carried themselves with a mixture of athleticism, rebellion, and romantic idealism that would shape the identity of modern climbing. Yet without the quiet presence of Dean Fidelman - climber, artist, and chronicler of the era - the Stonemasters might have remained a legend told only around campfires. Through his photographs, the story became something larger: a visual mythology that continues to define climbing’s Golden Age.

Fidelman was no outsider with a camera; he was one of the tribe. Nicknamed “Bullwinkle,” he shared the same thin budgets, dusty sleeping pads, stolen cafeteria condiments, and sunburnt days on Yosemite’s walls. Because he lived the life he documented, his images possess an intimacy that cannot be staged. They capture tender in-between momentsthe pause before a crux, the laughter in Camp 4, the sunlit swagger of a climber walking barefoot to the base of a route - as well as the raw athleticism that made the Stonemasters both famous and notorious. His lens revealed not just climbers but characters: the fearless soloist, the visionary route pioneer, the charismatic wild child, the stoic master of technique. In doing so, Fidelman helped crystallize the Stonemasters’ identity as more than athletes; they became cultural icons of a countercultural movement built on freedom and granite.

What made the Stonemasters extraordinary was not simply the difficulty of their climbs but the ethos behind them. They embraced purity of style, pushing for free ascents where others relied on aid. They chased bold lines across the great walls of Yosemite with a blend of idealism and recklessness that bordered on spiritual practice. Their achievements were often dangerous, always ambitious, and deeply intertwined with the social revolution of the era - rock climbing as an act of personal liberation. Fidelman’s photography elevated this philosophy, turning fleeting acts of bravery into lasting symbols of youthful defiance. In his images, Yosemite becomes a cathedral, the climbers its pilgrims.

Decades later, when Fidelman joined forces with fellow Stonemaster and writer John Long to produce The Stonemasters: California Rock Climbers in the Seventies, the result was more than a book. It was a time capsule - part diary, part art piece - preserving the feverish creativity of a subculture that lived intensely and briefly before climbing entered the modern era of sponsorships, competitions, and indoor gyms. The book’s photographs, curated from Fidelman’s archives, feel like artifacts from another world: gritty, luminous, and utterly honest. They show a community that existed before climbing was mainstream, a tribe motivated not by fame but by an all-consuming love of stone.

Today, as climbing becomes increasingly polished and commercial, Fidelman’s work resonates with even greater force. His images remind us that the roots of the sport lie in a wild mixture of courage, camaraderie, experimentation, and rebellion. The Stonemasters were not just pushing grades - they were building a lifestyle, a philosophy, a myth. And Fidelman, with his camera slung over his shoulder, was the one who gave that myth its face. His photographs endure because they capture the essence of a moment when freedom felt limitless and the granite walls of Yosemite were not yet a backdrop for sport, but a stage for dreams.