John Long is perhaps most famous for claiming the first one-day ascent of the Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, with Jim Bridwell and Billy Westbay, on Memorial Day 1975. But even during his heavily chronicled years as an acid-dropping, free-climbing member of Yosemite Valleyâs âStone Masters,â his primary interest was storytelling. âItâs always been writing,â he told the News&Guide. âI was incidentally a climber.â Although it was impossible to get any writing done during his winters at Camp 4, the notorious Yosemite campground that had been taken over by the climbing community, his focus on the written word never strayed.