14ers.com

I logged in today after a long hiatus hoping to find some witty April Fool's stuff on the site but instead, I was greeted by this...

Like many others here, I too have enjoyed Jim's prose and photography through this site and had the great pleasure of meeting him during the 2013 winter welcome hike. I remember telling Britt that I couldn't believe how young Jim looked for his age. Only the good die young...

My sincere condolences to his family and friends.

I never met Dancesatmoonrise, so I guess I don't know him. But I loved his photography, his trip reports, and his forum posts. A fun, friendly person that was always positive and helpful.

Actually (now that I think about it) I think I did meet him on Quandary Peak for the winter welcomer, and he took some photos that he shared with me.

Condeolences to his friends and family, someone great has been lost.

First time on this site in months and this is what I see! Wow. Never knew him but exchanged some funny PMs with him a few times and I tried to coax some photography tips from him. I could tell by those exchanges he was someone I would have enjoyed spending a day out on the rock with. Did someone write he was a 5.12 trad leader? Wow! RIP. Sorry I never got out with you, my loss.

A great loss of a great man. You will be missed.

Farewell. Happy climbing.

Very sad to hear. I never met Jim, but he would occasionally PM me with info when I would have questions about specific hikes on the forum. He always had encouraging words and great advice. I always have looked at him as being one of this site's "rockstars". Thoughts and prayers go out to his family, including all those who knew him from the hiking and climbing community.

So sad to see this. I only spoke to Jim twice but I will never forget his passion for the mountains. His presence will surely be missed on this forum. Prayers go out to his family and friends.

I am struck and saddened that Jim didn't want to post an update about his condition with worry that no one would care..... 117 posts so far.

So sad.. what a huge loss for this community. I enjoyed reading his posts and was happy when someone (Jim) recognizedd my avatar for once. Sounds like he was an interesting guy.. Fare thee well.

I'm saddened and will remember him in prayers!

The 3-4 times I've met Jim in the mountains, I've never seen him walk. Always sprinting with a big smile, even at the end of a big day! He used to always encourage others to take good photographs, write trip reports! He and his winter TRs will be missed Rest in peace Jim.

I kind of thought someone was going to put on a memorial, but it doesn't seem like that is going to happen. But of course we have this thread here. I thought I would share a funny story about Jim that I wanted to pass along.

Now if I knew more of Jim's backstory it would help, but I'm guessing that he may have been married at one time or at least had some significant relationships that went sour at some point. He lived alone, I do know that. I don't even know if he had a cat. But in any case, we all feel the weight of the years and see our attractiveness begin to fade and the fairer sex grow bored with our stories. I know that as well as anyone. But Jim seemed to find a solution to this problem of being too finicky to interact with women his own age.

At Shelf Road one weekend last summer we had a group outing in the Meetup climbing club and reserved some campsites at the Bank. All day long that Saturday small groups of us went climbing at the varioius crags and then we congregated at one site around the campfire. We cooked dinner and then started to break out the wine, beer, and whiskey. Jim settled down by the fire and strummed an acoustic guitar he brought. The group was about half men and half women. Some of the women were in their 40s and single or divorced. I knew most of them.

We got on the subject of dating and of course there was enough cynicism to go around, although we all tried not to step on the toes of the opposite sex by saying something outright inflamatory. Then Jim started to smile, "Oh, but those women in their 20s!" I looked over at one of the 40-something women and saw a smirk forming. Jim then started to wax nostalgically about some girl he had dated who was in this age range and listed off many of the obvious benefits of such a union. Thoughts of a mentor-student sort of exchange entered my mind. All I remember was seeing one of the other women just shaking her head. Ha ha ha!