West Coast Rendez-Vous 2024 Report

This year’s West Coast Rendez-Vous was hosted from Oct. 18 – 20 by the San Francisco Regional Citroën Car Club (SFRCCC) in Merced, CA – the gateway to Yosemite National Park. Almost 80 attendees enjoyed the comforts of the historic 114-room El Capitan boutique hotel, which served as the base for a weekend of activities.

The top floor of a neighboring municipal garage, reserved for exclusively for event, served as a great show area for the cars and the place to do some last minute tinkering on Saturday before the scenic drive to a luncheon at Henderson Park, on the banks of the Merced River.

After making their way back to the El Capitan Hotel for a 6 pm cocktail hour, dinner was provided while SFRCCC member Mike Zampiceni serenaded the group with his expert accordion playing.

Dinner was followed by a talk from legendary climbing expert Ken Yager, who runs the Yosemite Climbing Museum in Mariposa. Ken has climbed El Capitan more times than he can remember, and he regaled the group with tales of crashed airplanes full of marijuana, the often fraught relationship between climbers and park authorities, and efforts to clean up and take better care of our wildlands.

While there was no official programme on Sunday, attendees were encouraged to visit some of the many nearby attractions, whether it be seeing tens of thousands of migratory birds at the Merced River National Wildlife Refuge, or the more static “birds” at the Castle Air Force Base museum.

Everyone had a great time and are now looking forward to Rendez-Vous in 2025.

View a photo gallery of the weekend here: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBQuGv