Measure of "the man"...

[JosephH]

I'd been meaning to get back to Ben, the young, new BRSP ranger, about taking him up YW after he floated the Corner when I took him up it, but I was sick for a bunch of weeks and totally forgot to call him to let him know that. So yesterday I finally remember to do it and explain why I never got back to him and he says that's fine and he's been climbing anyway on his own.

 

Huh? Recall that, when I took him out, he'd been to a gym twice and our trip up the Corner was his third time climbing and his first time outside. He proceeds to tell me when he didn't hear back from me he drove down to PDX and bought a rope, some biners, and a set of nuts (I only use a single set of six nuts for the Corner), called his brother, and headed back up the Corner leading all the pitches (chalk-less). He said it went fine and did it again with a friend a week or two later.

 

So - lead all the pitches on the corner on your fourth time climbing and second time outside on real rock? He's ok in my book regardless of the fact he's chosen a career path we all might not have taken. I for one am looking forward to climbing with Ben again and personally think it will be a very good thing for climbing at Beacon to have a ranger there who loves climbing and Beacon as much as we do.

[denalidave]

2 words - Rope Gun.

 

Maybe Ivan needs a new parnter?

[ivan]

"the bear's gonna be walking the road today boys"

 

sounds like he'll ready for simul-free soloing w/ me then, eh, dave?

 

hopefully he can compartmentalize his existence - i assume he's not climbing in uniform?

[denalidave]

Still shak'n boss, still shak'n...

 

Seems like a nice enough guy to me.

[JosephH]

Another thing to keep in mind is, once Ben is as deep into climbing as all of us, he's also going to be bummed about the place being closed half the year and will likely pitch in to do the monitoring on the Peregrines to provide data and local WSP oversight on the closure for early opens and the possibility of lifting it as we accrue nesting data (we have to document a verifiable nest change off the South face - which we [David and I] haven't managed to-date, and not for lack of trying...).

[JosephH]

Called Ben up this morning to try to sort out when we could hit YW and again he says, "oh, I was out climbing this morning..."

 

OK, says I...

 

Turns out he took Vivian, his fellow [relatively] new BRSP ranger up the Corner. He made it up p2 - she couldn't pull the crux. Hmmmm.

 

But check it out. He ends up smart enough not to try to rap back to her from the tree and instead down leads the pitch. He's then smart enough to go back over to the top of p1 rather then do the shitty rap off the p2 anchor.

 

Downlead the corner on your third day on rock. This kid gets my vote - he's a climber in my book. Vivian didn't make it up the Corner this go, but she did have a great time nonetheless and still, the view from the p2 anchor is well-worth the price of admission and you know you've been somewhere different in the park that day.

[111]

sounds like he could use a little instruction on getting himself out of hard places, but still, wow. That kid is good.

[JosephH]

Yeah, Bill was saying the same thing last night - probably need to get together with him and get ahead of the curve before he gets in over his head on something.

 

I think that was both their first rappels as well...

[billcoe]

Glad the bug bit him. I can remember those days and the feelings pretty vividly, despite being so many years back. If he is reading this forum, I would advise this by way of an extreme heads up.

 

"Ben, welcome to the tribe. I love to see it when the bug strikes someone as hard as it did me those many years ago. However, climbing takes years to master good enough to not kill yourself. Often, it is only in retrospect that one learns they stepped over that line of safety, and it is often learned via a tragedy. It can be done in a (relatively) safe manner, but only after an extensive mentorship or quality classes like the Mazamas programs. Your first 2 years are the most dangerous, so remember this - and stick around experienced folks and learn all you can so as to not get yourself killed."

 

Later, once you truly learn where the line is, you can often do what appears to an outside as absurdly dangerous things much more safely than what a beginner on easy ground encounters. You won't learn that till much later, but starting out is the most dangerous time for you. Hang around someone like Joseph and you'll be doing it a long time.

 

So have fun, but be careful out there:-)

[ivan]

good words there bill

 

the cool thing about climbing is the nature of the "apprenticeship" when you have to pretty much work to find a mentor to teach you the art - he's def got the requisite sense of adventure and i remember doing exactly the same stuff, leading on gear we found at a garage sale w/o a iota of instruction

[justinp]

you have to pretty much work to find a mentor to teach you the art

I certainly have found it difficult to find a mentor that is willing to take the time to teach. It’s perhaps difficult to climb down to someone’s level long enough to pass on the “art”. As a result, ignorance leads to sticky situations for the inexperienced climber.