A boring question, possibly, but do you know the type of tree this is? He (or she) looks born of struggle, but hanging in there like a champ.

It's a juniper, probably a Sierra juniper, stunted by the conditions near timberline--what botanists call "krummholz". Under less extreme conditions Sierra junipers can be impressive indeed; I have a whole album on them:
www.ipernity.com/doc/289859/album/735131
One of my favorite trees! ;)