News about Mead Hargis

[JosephH]

From http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=403649

 

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I am forwarding portions of a message I received today about Mead Hargis. Many of you probably remember him. The author of the below note is George Durkee. If you would like contact info for Mead and his wife Connie, please send me a private email.

 

Anne-Marie

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Campers:

 

Some of you may have heard that Mead Hargis' health has not been

good. I'm writing to update those of you I've got addresses for on how he's doing. Please pass this on to others I may have missed.

 

A few years ago, Mead was having memory problems and was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. For a couple of years, he was doing really well, though he had to retire from his Forest Service job. He was still active and involved with his kids and (now) grandkids. At the very early stages he and I took a couple of ski trips and there were few signs of memory problems. Last spring he and his wife, Connie, took a trip down the east side of the Sierra and through Yosemite so he could show her his former hangouts. It was a good trip for both of them.

 

Late last fall, Mead showed a marked and rapid decline in both his mental and physical abilities such that it was impossible for him to be home alone. Connie found a really nice care home in nearby Kamas, Utah. It has great views of the valley and mountains and a caring staff. Unfortunately, he was only there a few months before his continued decline forced another move to a home that could take better medical care of him. He's now in Salt Lake and under Hospice care.

 

Although there's little obvious recognition of friends or even,

sometimes, family at this point, there's indications that,

internally, he's reliving some of his past. Tina (aka Christina

Vojta), Heather and Laurel (aka George) have all been to visit

several times in the last few months. The whole thing is pretty grim but there's some comfort that he's in relative peace. Connie sees him every day and there's photos of his Yosemite days and family in his room.

 

So. So.... .

 

I was thinking that, if some of you have time, a short note to Connie with a shared memory of past times she could read to Mead would be a welcome. Connie didn't know Mead in his Yosemite days, so a few stories from then would be nice to fill in a past as well as maybe perk some memories for Mead, distant though he may be from the rest of us.

 

I'm sure the same would be appreciated by his daughters, Heather and Laurel, telling them what a fine person their father is and maybe a story about the grand old Yosemite days, which they were too young to remember.

 

[ivan]

i don't him or of him either, so sharing those stories here would be interesting...

[ScottP]

"Climbers have been immortalized as adventurers and described with

time-worn phrases. They have been neatly catagorized as 'masochists'

and said to be 'possessors of a death wish.' While these descriptives

may in fact be accurate, they miss the point entirely. "

-- Mead Hargis

[pindude]

I've heard Mead Hargis described as a very gifted climber. I was always impressed with his and Tom Hargis' FFA of Iconoclast in 1971. Raindawg will be heartened (as I was) to read his quote, as provided by Fred Beckey who reported the following for the 1972 AAJ:

 

Snow Creek Wall, Iconoclast. This route lies between Galaxy and Outer Space, beginning with the first pitch of Remorse and ending with the last pitch of the Outer Space crack. It was climbed June 13 by Mead and Tom Hargis. Mead writes, “Unfortunately it was my onus to remove a bolt ladder placed by several intermediate parties attempting to finish the climb in this manner, a malefaction that showed they weren’t up to the standard of climbing.” NCCS III, FlO.

 

[Alex]

I met Mead briefly while I worked for Tina in Utah many years ago, while Tina was still doing her PhD. I respected both of them not because of their storied history in climbing, but because even though they were unable to make their relationship work long-term with each other, they were both trying to keep some sense of family with Laurel and Heather. They both loved the outdoors in a huge variety of ways, climbing was just one element of that. Sad to hear the news, Alex

[Bug]

Best wishes to Tina. This is such a difficult thing to go through for her and such a loss for the climbing community.

 

I would just like to encourage all of you to write things down. Stories that stick in your mind will someday be jewels to pass around a campfire or read on a rainy day at base camp. Write them here, journal, submit to magazines.

Even though we see ourselves as so evolved and incredible, the generations to follow will look back and wonder what it was like to be so limited by gear etc.. We are each a rich resource for these future generations....

[ivan]

anyone repeating my stories generations from now will likely be passing down a big steaming pile of bullshit guess that's kinda the fun of it though....

 

"then he had this one summer, at band camp..."