Fathers and Sons as Climbing Partners

[Dru]

i still go hiking with my dad. he will be turning 66 soon. i hold fred beckey up as an example for him and we plan what trails we will hike when i'm 50 and he's 85 see the way he is bending down here - he's feeding peanuts to a snaffle to train it up so it attacks campers

 

 

at joffre a few weeks ago

[ketch]

I started climbing with my son when he was 12. No epics no challenges. I do think that for a teen boy and a dad it was by far the best way to stay connected during those challenges. We both had a great time doin stuff.

 

We started sailing when he was younger. One humorous epic, he was 10 we were sailing with a large genoa up. The wind started to pick up quick and we talked through again getting it down. I went up to bag it as he lowered. Suddenly it all was on my head. I saw the next part comin and grabed hold. As the sail filled on the deck it pitched me right off the bow. I drug for a moment off the pulpit and then pulled myself back aboard. The kid was still holding the rope eyes big as butter plates sayin it just slipped. All was good and we got over it. Maybe that's why there we havn't yet had any climbin epics.

[highclimb]

My dad taught me to climb when i seven. i hated climbing when i was seven and never did it until i turned 12. anyway enough of the backround. today i love craggin with my dad i have introduced him to some alpine climbing like ingalls and da tooth he enjoys it but mostly craggin for him. When we climb he makes me nevervous sometimes when he runs it out and stuff. i am always the one telling him never to unclip from this and never to tie off like that etc. and etc. but i love climbing with him. and i think he does too

 

Aidan

[Bug]

I think my dad was hoping one of my brothers or I would not return. He was always taking us to remote areas, way off trails and into country that no one else often went. There was always some climbing involved although we never took ropes or harnesses. Sometimes we ran out of food. It seemed like he always planned for one less day or one less mouth than it turned out being. We had to eat fresh trout and berries, and glacier lilies and many other wild aaand semi edible substances that would make a good FEAR FACTOR. Sometimes, we didn't find anything else to eat. I think that's why we always took the dog. I remember one trip where the dog lost 15% of his weight. It was the only time I remember being truely skinny.

Then we started climbing bigger mountains and using water ski ropes and seatbelts as harnesses. Scary stuff but he still didn't get rid of any of us. So he took us into a big cave. We squirmed down thru a corkscrew tunnel and into a small room where there was a hole in the floor. We had a goldline by then but the seat belts still worked fine. We raplled down forty feet hanging free from any walls into total darkness. This was our first ever rapell. It was also our first prussick out. After that, we started top roping everything we could find. We were in mountain boots or tennis shoes but probably did some 5.9 here and there. It was about then that I started going out on my own and with friends to free solo whatever seemed to make sense. After several years of climbing seriously, I went out with my dad again. We had Fires and real gear. He flashed 5.9 at age 67. He even talked casually as he climbed. We moved him to some 10a cracks and he stopped talking but made it up with no falls.

[mr.radon]

I raised my boy since he was about 4 months old. He started doing outdoor stuff as soon as he was potty trained. When we camped the first time I dug a pit and told him it was alright to poo outside in a hole. Well that Monday the babysitter had a few words with me. My boy told her I said it was okay to take a crap in the sandbox!

Well, he summited his first 14'er at the age of 7 in winter no less. Learned to ski the double blacks with me at 10 and lead his first rock climb at 14. He's been to all the high camps all over the US, and up a few technical peaks. Typically he's the camp manager on summit day and we stay in touch via 2-way radio. Sometimes we joke how if he ever went to military boot camp he would be laughing all the time. "Well this is nothing compared to the time my dad made me haul my ass up...."

Anyway I hope when we sit down later in life he will aprechiate some of the memories. I grew up with my dad hauling me around in Austria, I figure on returning the favor with my son. See the link to his first summit!