themayfamily

A couple of reflections from friends and family of Rob: By Rob Roseen: Good Bye to Rob May---You Will Be Missed. My great lifelong friend Rob May died recently. Rob was a great soul and the world is much less without him. Rob introduced me to so many great things and I always looked up to him. I have known Rob since 2nd grade when I first moved to WA , he was my first friend in the area and I remember climbing apple trees in the fields behind his house. Rob was a fearless adventurer and introduced me to many of my greatest experiences: building tree forts insanely high up was only the beginning of my many experiences scared to death with Rob way off the ground; my first Pink Floyd concert; traveling by microbus from Seattle to Palo Alto to the first of many Grateful Dead concerts with Rob and camping in the redwoods and on the coast; my first really hard lead climb at Index Town Wall on Godzilla (5.9+++) (never ever ever been so pumped out in my life and Rob talked me through it); my first big backcountry peak climb on Mt Stuart and a near miss with a helicopter search and rescue when we did not come out on time (after an 18 hour day of climbing and hiking to get back to beat the rescue we stopped to find a hard cider that I had left in a alpine lake 3 months before...well chilled); my first time to Boulder CO and "the hill" for Spring break visiting Rob in college on a 30 hour drive from MA; first multi-pitch ice climb with Rob in Rocky Mtn National Park in some very big deep dark cold mountains; canyoneering with our buddy Steve leading us on numerous "firsts" of previously untrodden canyons as Young Turks during "sheer terror" gatherings of climbers in southern Utah; and with my love Heidi, Rob, and I travelling through Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize for 5 months with adventures in the dark corridors inside a pyramid in Mayan ruins of Palenque, camping in hamocks in the rainforest, drinking tequila and eating fish tacos on the beaches of the southern Baja penninsula; and spending Christmas as guests on a ranch of a crazy 83 year old US expatriot killing chickens and rolling chicken tamales until the early AM. Rob, you will be missed. I am so sorry for you and your family. We Lived Life -for Rob May, from his twin sister We take risks in our lives to experience life We take risks in our lives to transcend freedom We take risks in our lives to understand love We take risks in our lives to stretch past our limits We take risks in our lives to find our own power power over life, over love, over ourselves We take risks climbing mountains with towering rock faces Finding hand holds at the limits of our reach in diminutive spaces Balancing our lives by a fingertip or a toe Stretching past our limits to find the next hold We take risks climbing in silence silence shared with a partner Climbing for hours without speaking in a bond of trust beyond measure In tune with each other climbing alone but together Suspended far above earth filled with passion and power We take risks hiking in the wilderness far off the trail Finding quiet in the places where there is no room to fail Deep into the woods and the snow where no one has tread Trekking alone in the silence the only voices in our heads We take risks forging our own path when no one knows where we are Going deeper into the mountains then we have ever gone before Respecting the silence and peace that exists In a world far from people we take our biggest risks We take risks every day when we push past our limits Ignoring life’s pressures and our place within it We take risks in our lives when we give someone our heart And pray that our love keeps us from falling apart We take risks every day when we just live our lives But sometimes things don’t work out quite right We stretch as far as we can but can’t find the next hold We try to find our way back but our trail has gone cold We take risks all the time knowing at some point we’ll fail We can’t stretch that far we can’t blaze a new trail When the risk proves too much and we can’t find our way through the strife We take solace, because we lived life

Thanks to those we have been in touch with, and thanks for the photos of Rob out enjoying what he liked to do! Rob was also pictured on the north face of Mt Shuksan in the local guidebook "Selected Climbs in the Cascades Volume 1 Second Addition" in a photo by Andreas Schmidt, a long-time friend and climbing/skiing partner, as well as in a technical canyoneering guidebook by Steve Allen. http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/unnamedhttp://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/medium/unnamed-'>http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/medium/unnamed-http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/medium/unnamed-

It is with great sadness that we are informing those that may have climbed or skied with him, that our beloved family member, Rob May, has recently passed away. There will be a Celebration of Rob's life held on December 7th. Below are the details: Sunday, Dec 7th @ 2 pm, Beaver Lake Lodge, 25101 S.E. 24th Street, Sammamish. Dress is casual. http://parkstrails.myparksandrecreation.com/Details.aspx?pid=110 Rob had been a very active climber and backcountry skier since he was fairly young, both here in the Northwest and in Colorado where he lived for 10 years or so before returning to the Seattle area. Our family has no way to possibly know all of the different people that Rob shared all of his many adventures with, and do not know if he ever participated in any online community outdoor forums. We are posting a couple of notices on community forums with the hope that some who may have climbed or skied with Rob over the years will see this posting and come to his celebration of life and share a reflection or story about Rob with his family and friends. Rob will be dearly missed. "Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as the sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves." — John Muir