When nature photographer Kirk Keeler was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer two and a half years ago, he made a promise to himself: To climb Yosemite’s notoriously challenging Half Dome while he still could.
Nearly 5,000 feet above Yosemite Valley and 8,800 feet above sea level, this iconic climb took Keeler, 54, two years of training.
Training that punctuated the arduous cancer journey that motivated the hike in the first place.
Keeler didn’t just climb the cable route most well known to hikers, but instead opted for a roped climb up Snake Dike on the edge of the rock formation.
His goal on the flip side of the awe-inspiring feat? To raise awareness for cancer screenings.
“Hopefully people will get enthusiastic through this climb and think, ‘Hey, this guy did this for a reason,’” Keeler told The Press Democrat. “Whether it's for colon cancer, breast cancer, or prostate cancer, go get screened.”
Keeler was diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer in late 2021 and endured a number of chemotherapy rounds. After facing debilitating side effects and ongoing cancer symptoms, he decided to halt the treatments in February of 2023.
His doctor told him he could live for approximately a year after stopping the treatments — but at the beginning of August, Keeler summited the Half Dome after five and a half hours of strenuous climbing.
“For me personally, it's a great accomplishment,” Keeler said to the Press-Democrat. “Even two years ago, when I thought up this thing, or three years ago when I wasn't even diagnosed, I had no idea that I’d even try to climb something like this. So to accomplish it is awesome.”
Keeler was joined by famed climber Kevin Jorgeson, who is known for his pioneering climb of El Capitan's Dawn Wall.
“It was awesome — he just embodies why we climb,” Jorgeson told the Press-Democrat.
The duo was also joined by filmmaker Kaare Iverson, who plans to turn the journey into a short film — sharing Keeler’s goal to raise awareness for cancer screenings.
The Centers for Disease Control recommend colon and breast cancer screenings to start at age 45 (though, those who are at heightened risk for these ailments should talk to their providers about getting screened sooner).
Keeler’s doctor had recommended a colonoscopy around the time he turned 50, but he said he felt strong and healthy, so he put off the procedure.
Had he gotten screened when his doctor recommended it, Keeler may have been able to detect his cancer earlier.
He said he hopes this climb is especially resonant with other athletes or people near his age who believe they’re healthy, for whom “cancer may be the last thing on their mind.”
“Kirk’s goal, ultimately, is to climb Half Dome with Kevin, but more get the word out about how critical pre-screening is to discovering if you have colon cancer or not,” Jen Miramontes of Cancer Champions said in a trailer for the short film. “That’s what he wants people to know.”
The climb also represents a deliberate choice to make his life as full and as meaningful as possible — regardless of how much of it he has left.
“What am I going to do with the rest of my time here? What do I want to accomplish?” He posed in the trailer. “I want to climb Half Dome.”
The location — which is special to many national park lovers and climbing enthusiasts — holds a particularly special place in Keeler’s heart. In 2010, he moved to Yosemite, where he spent nearly a decade working as a photographer. In 2019, he met his wife, Anna, during a hike in Yosemite’s Cathedral Range, and later proposed to her at 10,000 feet.
Less than eight months after their wedding, he was diagnosed with cancer.
Anna and some of the couple’s friends hiked up the “easier” cable route on Half Dome, meeting her husband and his crew at the Sub Dome part of the formation.
“Seeing him come down, I felt full of joy and pride,” Anna told the Press-Democrat. “Kirk lived here for so long and knows this place so well. I felt, through this trip, that his soul really remembered him at his best.”
His best — according to Jorgeson — is the ability to face some of the world’s greatest challenges (literally, an 8,000-foot mountain) head-on.
“Most people shy away from suffering,” Jorgeson said in the short film trailer. “Kirk does not.”
Despite his resilience, Keeler is firmest on one thing: His desire to prevent the same pain in others.
“It’s really loud and clear to me that I don’t want people to go through what I’ve had to go through,” he adds at the end of the short film trailer. “It’s not just a climb that I want to do and accomplish. I want it to be for something bigger.”
Header images courtesy of Johan Viirok (CC BY-SA 3.0) and Kirk Keeler
