This is a period of my life that has shaped the way I am now. I have been shaped by the friends that I had, the places I visited and the adventures that I experienced. It was a period from my late teens through my twenties, that is, around 1987-1997. I look back on this time often and with great fondness and memories. If I could go back in time and live it over there is now way I would do anything differently.
I had many a good friend and we shared some pretty crazy adventures and experiences together. Good climbing partners are special: you have to trust them with your life, you have to be able to live with them for several days in cramped quarters, you have to be able to get along and work through issues and come to consensus in a very stressful environment and you have to enjoy being with that person for extended periods of time. It is sort of like having a spouse. When you have a good climbing partner you do great things. I had great climbing partners and I still think of them often.
Sifting through some old photos I came across several that brought back specific memories, I can remember everything that was going on at the time the photo was taken. Here is a handful:
Brett Dodds and I on Tangerine Trip, El Capitan, Yosemite. It took us 4 days to climb it. I will never forget looking down at him while dangling on a small fish hook 1,000 feet above the deck and thinking “what a goof in that Hawaiian shirt”.
After 6hrs of belaying on the first pitch of the Trip I was getting pretty bored. I started pulverizing granite chunks into powder with my hammer.
Brett high up on the wall, eyes swollen shut, getting ready for another day of work. I used to call him “Dr. Dodds”. Why? I do not know why, perhaps it was because he was the aid-climbing master. Doesn’t matter…but when I think of Brett, I think of Dr. Dodds. What amazed me the most about him is that he had nerves of steel and could calmly work through delicate moves while being very run out with little or marginal protection. What you don’t see or hear is my duct taped boom box cranking out the Talking Heads and Bopp Harvey.
My old buddy Justin Baily…passed out. We had just climbed Ancient Art in the Fisher Towers and Jah Man on the Sister Superior in Castle Valley. I miss that duct taped boom box. Living the life: Natural Light, a bottle of barbecue sauce, cheap whiskey and tobacco, a dirty camp pot stained with Mac n’ Cheese, a hobo mattress and a of course, a rock for a pillow.
Justin rappelling off of Sister Superior Tower after climbing the route Jah Man.
Me on top of the Rectory, Castle Valley after duke-ing it out on Fine Jade, one of my all time favorite climbs.
The Rectory from Castleton Tower. The Fine Jade route follows the crack system on the buttress face that is facing the camera.
Brett on the Moonlight Buttress in Zion, “think we have enough pro, bro?”
Moonlight Buttress, Zion, Utah.
Cam and Brett, early moring on the Nose, El Cap.
Cam, Brett, Me and the Pig after climbing the Nose.
Brett and the Pig standing next to my old Nissan. Man, I put a lot of miles on that old truck.
My old buddy Mel Brown, we went to grade school together. He is the guy that showed me what climbing was all about. In high school gym class, Mel would train specifically for climbing…he’d do pull ups and curls, and finger pull ups on door trim. He even built contraptions such as the “Bachar Ladder” and a crack machine – two 2″x8″x16′ board bolted together and hung horizontally, this was to practice hand and fist jams for crack climbing.
Mel and I really had a lot of good adventures together: Wind Rivers, Tetons, Bugaboos, Rockies, Yosemite, Southern Utah towers and walls, The Needles, Joshua Tree, Devils Tower, ice, sport, you name it. Mel was an extremely capable climber, very bold but not reckless and always full of adventure. Below is a picture of Mel on the Salathe Wall, El Capitan.
Mel on Space Shot, Zion, Utah.
Mel leading up to the Hourglass on Mount Athabasca, Canada.
Mel on the North Face of Castleton Tower, Castle Valley, Utah.
My old friend Cam Lawson in Alaska on the West Ridge of Mt Hunter with Denali in the background. Cam and I did a lot of climbing together and we shared a few close calls. Cam was a true adventurer and visionary, he always had a plan and a big route to climb. He was very bold, energetic and sometimes a little too ambitious. He had the keen ability to talk me into things above my/our ability…like attempting the Keeler Needle in the winter. Nonetheless, Cam and I did some pretty cool routes together and we are still here to tell the tale.
The West Ridge.
Bivy on the West Ridge, this was our first attempt at the route. We bailed back to base camp shortly after this point due to to very poor ice, snow and rock conditions. A few days later, we found an alternate route that allowed us to quickly and safely make it to the summit. We really lucked out on the weather!
Me on top of Sheep Rock in Arches National Park.
Cam and I on a first accent of a route that we unofficially called “p-whipped”, one of us had a girl friend and was spending more time with her than on the rocks. The route is up Bell’s Canyon in the Wasatch, 5 pitches, small cruxes of A4 and some 5.10, but mostly A3.
Justin rappelling off of Ancient Art, Fisher Towers, Utah.
Me on El Cap, fixing the first two pitches of Tangerine Trip.
Cam and I in the Tetons after climbing the Black Ice Couloir. Yeah, that is right no helmets and we had just climbed up a bowling alley…we were young and invincible. The climb took longer than planned and the sun started warming the snow and ice on the upper portions of the portions of the Grand, freeing up rock that funneled down towards us. While on lead, a chunk of ice and snow the size of a VW bus broke off and landed behind me. I dug my axes in and held on for dear life – hoping that Cam would not get hit and flushed down the couloir. He had a crappy belay in lose rock and thin ice. Fortunately, the small avalanche just missed him and we quickly simo-climbed the rest of the route to the lower saddle.
James Garret, the man, the myth, the legend, on the Finger of Fate, The Titan. The stories I could tell about this guy…but I will refrain.
Fisher Tower is the prominent tower in the background, you can see the “Finger” on the left skyline of Fisher Tower. Echo Tower is the closer tower with the classic Jim Beyer route “Phantom Spirit” on the left edge. This photo was taken from top of King Fisher Tower.
King Fisher, Fisher Towers, Utah.
Me, hungry, somewhere in Wyoming.
Me on the last pitch of the Nose, El Capitan, Yosemite.
Josh, Mr. Pika Mountaineering, monkeying around, on Primrose Dihedrals, Moses Tower, Canyonlands.
Josh and Kent on the first pitch of Primrose Dihedrals.
Brett just after climbing Fine Jade. The North Face of Castleton Tower is in the background.
Troy on the second pitch of the Kor, Dalk, Shafer Route on Monster Tower, Canyonlands.
Troy high up on the very remote and classic Fred Becky route on the West Face of Mount Helen, Wind Rivers, Wyoming. We were one pitch from the summit when got hit by a thunderstorm…talk about a scary descent. We had to rappel most of the route while being pummeled by rain and hail with lightning blasting all around us.
The next day we climbed the Mt Helen Ice Couloir.
The West face of Mount Helen, Wind River Mountain Range, Wyoming.
Cam waiting for our pilot to fly us the the Talkeetna Glacier. I still love Dr. Peppers.
Cam on the summit of Mt Hunter, Alaska. We climbed the West Ridge and I believe we did it in under 24hrs from our tent on Talkeetna Glacier and back.
Me cleaning up after Brett on the Tangerine Trip, El Capitan, Yosemite.
Cam on the first ascent of the so called P-Whipped route, Bell’s Canyon, Wasatach Mtns.
Cam and I cragging on the Cookie Cliff, Yosemite Valley, California.
Stacey B. climbing out of Fremont Canyon during a month long climbing trip to Wyoming and South Dakota. We did the trip in a freshly rebuilt 1970 VW bus. By freshly rebuilt, I mean the week before the trip, Mel and I were bolting the engine to the transaxel just after a do-it-yourself, 100% total engine rebuild.
Stacey B. climbing on Devil’s Tower, Wyoming.
James on the Finger of Fate, The Titan, Utah.
Troy leading the last pitch of Fine Jade, The Rectory, Castle Valley, Utah.
Cam high up on the Nose, El Capitan.
On the Nose, Brett in Blue, Cam down on the ledge.
Cam on the lower ice field of the Black Ice Couloir, Teton Range, Wyoming.
Cam on the Valhalla Traverse heading to the Black Ice Couloir, Teton Range.
Cam on the first pitch of the Keeler Needle, Sierra Nevada Mtns, California.
Me on the first ascent of an unnamed route near Triangle Wall in Little Cottonwood Canyon. Note the angle that my tag line is taking. Four pitches, A3+, overhanging all the way…it is still a secret as far as I know.
Dave cleaning unnamed route.
Me climbing the Snaz, Tetons, Wyoming.
Brett at the base of the Keeler Needle, Sierra Nevadas.
Keeler Needle, Mount Whitney, Sierra Nevadas.
A perspective from up high on the Keeler Needle, note the obvious triangular shaped summit shadow.
Mel in the Bugaboos, Canada.
Snow Patch Spire, Bugaboos.
On the Fuzzy Pink Route, Snowpatch Spire, Bugaboos.
Brett high up on a wall in Zion National Park, Utah.
Brett on Moonlight Buttress, Zion.
Kent belaying, Primrose Dihedrals, Moses, Canyonlands.
Me on the Primrose Dihedrals.
The Primrose Dihedral Route, Moses Tower, Canyonlands.
Me in the Needles of South Dakota.
Me after climbing Mt Hunter.
Brett climbing King Fisher, Fisher Towers, Utah.
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