Six degrees of separation - climbing partner edition

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SnowAlien
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Re: Six degrees of separation - climbing partner edition

Post by SnowAlien »

dwemp6 wrote: Fri Nov 20, 2020 2:38 pm An old ski partner of mine when I lived in Jackson was a guy named Ted Hesser who is an accomplished climber in his own right. But Ted has climbed with Conrad Anker, Alex Honnold, Jimmy Chin, Tommy Caldwell, the late Brad Gobright among others. I've skied with Mikaela Shiffrin, Resi Stiegler and Tommy Moe inbounds.
I ran into Ted and his gf Martina climbing in Indian Creek. He let me TR his warmup climb. Didn't know he was also a skier, but he's a fantastic photographer and videographer. Of course he climbs with all these celebrities because he shoots them on expeditions!
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DArcyS
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Re: Six degrees of separation - climbing partner edition

Post by DArcyS »

My friend and I are returning to camp in the late afternoon after a climb in the Weminuche when a gentleman asks us if his llamas could make it up the Sunlight Creek drainage. I give him my opinion and we continue to talk. After a little more talking he introduces himself -- "By the way, I'm John Fielder." The llamas were obviously for his camera gear.

Before the early '00s and the emergence of the Internet, the Colorado Mountain Club published their trips every half year in their Activity Schedule. There was one women who led these incredibly long trips of 20+ miles that bagged plenty of peaks. I was always intimidated by the mileage and elevation stats, so I only went on one or two of her CMC trips. Her name was Jennifer Sears, later to become Jennifer Roach.
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nyker
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Re: Six degrees of separation - climbing partner edition

Post by nyker »

greenonion wrote: Fri Nov 20, 2020 1:26 pm
Dave B wrote: Fri Nov 20, 2020 7:22 am I got drunk as f*ck with Simon Yates.
I wonder if Joe Simpson ever did after crawling out of that mess.
I met Simon Yates when I was lived in Sydney, was either late 2003/early 2004. - he was giving a presentation at an Outdoor store in the city and did a slideshow with a lot of photos from that imperiled trip up Siula Grande. Pretty low key and mellow guy.
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DanRiley
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Re: Six degrees of separation - climbing partner edition

Post by DanRiley »

I've never been more than a casual hiker/climber but have had some fortunate experiences with some of the greats.
Back in 1991 the night before a Rainier climb, I met Phil Ershler and some other RMI guides at dinner. He not only loaned me some gear to supplement what I had brought
from Houston but also wound up guiding me to the summit in some fairly bad weather. Then, post climb, I stopped at an Inn called The Bunkhouse. Lou Whittaker was just opening
for business and my son and I were his only customers- we got to sit on the porch and listen to his stories that evening.
That same year we spent 3 days at Enchanted Rock in Central Texas climbing with the late Scott Harris . He was a Texas legend at the time.
ltlFish99
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Re: Six degrees of separation - climbing partner edition

Post by ltlFish99 »

greenonion wrote: Fri Nov 20, 2020 1:26 pm
Dave B wrote: Fri Nov 20, 2020 7:22 am I got drunk as f*ck with Simon Yates.
I wonder if Joe Simpson ever did after crawling out of that mess.
I met Joe Simpson at Neptune mountaineering after he gave a slide show about crawling out of that mess. Very pleasant gentleman.
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Re: Six degrees of separation - climbing partner edition

Post by ltlFish99 »

I had the pleasure of meeting James Whittaker at the CMC in Golden after a slide show. He asked me what did for a living, and when I informed him I was a cubicle bound technology worker, he looked at me and very kindly said:
You need to get out of there, and out into the world.
That comment was one of my inspirations to quit my job a while later and spend more time outside .
I hiked jones and Niagara in my early days in the CMC with Jennifer Sears.
I enjoyed that hike so much that when she lead a hike to mt. Alice a year later, I signed up to go on that one. A lot of fun.
Of course, she is now Jennifer Roach.
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greenonion
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Re: Six degrees of separation - climbing partner edition

Post by greenonion »

ltlFish99 wrote: Sun Nov 22, 2020 1:25 pm
greenonion wrote: Fri Nov 20, 2020 1:26 pm
Dave B wrote: Fri Nov 20, 2020 7:22 am I got drunk as f*ck with Simon Yates.
I wonder if Joe Simpson ever did after crawling out of that mess.
I met Joe Simpson at Neptune mountaineering after he gave a slide show about crawling out of that mess. Very pleasant gentleman.
That’s cool. It was a hell of a mess he crawled away from. What a story.
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RhodoRose
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Re: Six degrees of separation - climbing partner edition

Post by RhodoRose »

Growing up in Fargo, ND, my neighbors several houses down were the Staehelis, as in Dave Staeheli, first to do a solo winter ascent of Denali's West Rib. Dave was always very nice, and he loved my mom's German cookies. He doesn't know the number of times he summitted Denali over his 30 years as an Alaskan guide. He says he stopped counting after 20 because he never wanted numbers to become a greater obsession than his love of the mountains. From him, I learned to forget about summit signs and selfies. It's about the mountain.

And had a nice chat with Lou Whitaker who knows.... probably everyone. :)
But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3: 13-14
Notbaggingpeaks
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Re: Six degrees of separation - climbing partner edition

Post by Notbaggingpeaks »

susanjoypaul wrote: Fri Nov 20, 2020 10:47 am By the way, you ever notice how the best climbers never talk about how they're the best climbers? Humblest guys I ever met.
The ones who dont do it for the attention really are the best climbers and mountaineers out there. That holds true for many aspects in life. Its pathetic when one doesnt feel accomplished because the whole world (and 14ers.com) doesn't know they did something.
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nyker
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Re: Six degrees of separation - climbing partner edition

Post by nyker »

True...

I climbed Mt Rainier with Brent Okita who led us, and I didn't realize his climbing resume until later that week, he was nearing 500 summits of Rainier at the time, now believe he is well over that mark, not to mention 23 straight summits of Denali, Everest, etc..
Granted he does this full time, but still, pretty amazing.
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rijaca
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Re: Six degrees of separation - climbing partner edition

Post by rijaca »

I climbed Rainier and Gannett (and others) with John Schmuck (first known winter ascent of Little Bear). John and I became friends when we worked together in the late 1980s.

I climbed Ouray, Horseshoe, and Squaw Mountain (many times) with Phil Schmuck (John's father). Phil has the first winter ascents of Windom, Sunlight, and Mt Wilson. Phil also coauthored this book....
Schmuck-Eberhart 14ers.jpg
Schmuck-Eberhart 14ers.jpg (13.95 KiB) Viewed 2507 times
All the black and white pictures in the book were taken by Phil (Perry wrote the narrative). On page 73, there is a picture of Crestone Peak taken from the Bears Playground. I have the original color version of that photo hanging on my wall....(thanks John!)
color Schmuck Crestone Peak.JPG
color Schmuck Crestone Peak.JPG (47.04 KiB) Viewed 2507 times
Phil knew a lot of people and was a great story teller. In Patagonia, Phil and John got drunk with Eric Jones (first Brit to climb the north face of the Eiger solo among other amazing feats). Phil also corresponded with Galen Rowell about trekking in Pakistan in the 1970s. Unfortunately Phil passed away a couple years ago.
"A couple more shots of whiskey,
the women 'round here start looking good"
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Re: Six degrees of separation - climbing partner edition

Post by Oman »

I was banned from the 14ers.com Facebook page by mods Mary O'Malley and Brad McQueen this summer after I brought up COVID when out-of-state hikers posted pix of themselves and their groups without distance and / or masks at crowded 14ers trailheads and summits.

258,000 Americans, including several friends, have died of COVID.

No separation!
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