John Crock

[pup_on_the_mountain]

Several folks here know John Crock, so I thought I'd post this info. Mods, please move the post to Central/Eastern WA forum if you think that's a more appropriate place (or, may be copy/link it there as well).

 

John Crock lost the battle to cancer last Monday. Here's a note from Laureen.

 

John departed on his last adventure on Monday, April 28, shortly after noon. He was

traveling light, but carried a smile. We'll be celebrating his life on Sunday, May

18, from noon to 4 p.m. at the Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute, 1040

Rodeo Drive, Moscow, Idaho. We'll start with a potluck lunch and then have an

informal outdoor memorial service. Please bring a dish to share, a picnic blanket,

and your stories and pictures.

 

If you are traveling from out of town, you are welcome to camp on the PCEI grounds

or at my farm. The nearest airports are Pullman (7 miles

away) and Lewiston (35 miles away); you can also fly into Spokane, but that's about

80 miles from Moscow.

 

We'll be setting up from 3-5 p.m. on Saturday, May 17th, and there'll be a barbecue

and beer for anyone who'd like to help.

 

Please accept/decline by email to laurenesorensen AT gmail D0t com,

or to Lauretta Campbell at hyperspud2 AT yahoo doT com.

[ivan]

wise sir do not grieve

it is always better to avenge dear ones

than to indulge in mourning

for every one of us living in this world

means waiting for our end

let he who can achieve glory before death

when a warrior is gone

that will be his best and only bulwark

[Jake_Gano]

John was a good one

[ivan]

let's hear some stories here - i never knew old boy - how'd he distinguish himself from the godawfuldull typical hairless monkey?

[pup_on_the_mountain]

I knew him only for the past ~10 years. He did a lot of outdoor stuff (including climbing) before I met him. I've heard a lot of stories from other old timers who knew him better.

 

John got a PhD in biochemistry from WSU (back in the 70s), but was well into climbing already. He used to live out of a van (or a trailer), and used to sell climbing gear from his van. He didn't use his PhD for anything, and got full time into selling gear at some point. He has climbed all over the world, including Himalayas, South America, and Alaska. He has also done a fair bit of kayaking, and several other outdoor sports.

 

He owned Hyperspud Sports, which had two stores until a few years back - one in Yakima, and the main one in Moscow, ID, which is still open. It has been hard for him to keep the store afloat, make a decent living out of it, while still go on all sorts of trips. He was a walking encyclopedia of knowledge about anything outdoors, and he was indeed an expert on all the gear he sold in his store. He helped develop some of the local climbing areas (including Lightning Dome in ID). He was the best beta source for current conditions in the local area.

 

Even after he learned that the cancer was terminal, he traveled to India for a 3-week trip a few months back(didn't do any climbing, though).

 

I'll try to post some more curious tales later. You'll be missed john!

 

[pup_on_the_mountain]

Here's a sweet little article about John that appeared in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News. One might need a subscription to access the content, though, and hence I'm pasting the text below.

 

His View: A fond farewell to friend John Crock

By William Brock | Posted: Monday, May 5, 2014 1:00 am

 

Everyone who enjoys self-propelled fun in the outdoors lost a good friend last Monday with the death of John Crock, owner and founder of Hyperspud Sports in Moscow.

 

Yep, that John Crock. The man with a full-bellied laugh and an endless supply of adventure stories, many of them culled from distant corners of the globe. John was only 58 when he lost a tough fight with melanoma, a particularly nasty form of skin cancer. Rather than dwell on his death, I prefer to focus on his life, which was well-lived.

 

Did you know he ran a successful business in Moscow for 25 years? Maybe you did, but did you know he once earned his living as a potter? And as an arborist? Did you know he earned a doctorate in biochemistry at Washington State University?

 

Did you know he was the longtime ropes and zip-line master for the Pullman School District's fifth-grade camp? Over the years, thousands of Pullman kids put their lives in his hands.

 

Most folks don't know any of that.

 

Good old John. A very capable guy, he didn't take himself too seriously. He was gentle, humble and willing to laugh at his mistakes. Lots of people knew John better than I did, but what stood out for me was the life he led, the things he accomplished and his obvious enthusiasm for steering people in the right direction. No matter who came through the doors at Hyperspud Sports, John had time for everyone.

 

I drove him to Lewiston for radiation treatment several times in the past couple of months, and those outings probably benefitted me more than him. We talked about his childhood on a small farm in Mechanicsville, Iowa, where he took charge of the family garden at the age of 10.

 

We talked about his thirst for off-beat adventure, which once found him slashing through the jungle in Ecuador with a machete en route to a remarkable, if little-known, volcano. Then there was the time, just last year, when he saved a badly injured man from dying in a Utah slot canyon. If the measure of a man is the depth of his commitments, then it's obvious John Crock measured up.

 

First, and most important, he recently married Moscow attorney Laurene Sorensen. They'd been partners for a long time until one day, without any fanfare, they legally tied into the same rope.

 

Elsewhere in his commitment portfolio, John gave generously to causes he supported. His will includes a five-figure donation for the Palouse Divide Nordic Ski Club to build a warming hut for its network of cross-country ski trails - a "Crock House," if you will. He also set money aside for a mural on the north side of his store - directly facing Friendship Square. Farther afield, his will spells out substantial charitable bequests to:

• Friends of the Clearwater Friends of the Clearwater
  
• Selway-Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation
  
• Hells Canyon Preservation Council
  
• Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
  
• Palouse Prairie Foundation
  
• Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute
  

When it came to pledging his support, John Crock didn't simply talk a good game. He delivered.

 

The last time we communicated was two weeks ago, as I urged him to join me and some other friends for an easy overnight canoe trip. "I've declined a lot since you last saw me," he wrote in an email, a mere nine days after I'd driven him to Lewiston, "so there is no way I could do (the canoe trip). Too bad, I would have liked to do it one last time."

 

True to form, he went on to share details of another canoe trip in the same general vicinity. He concluded with these words, which shimmer with previously unforeseen possibilities: "There is a big island near the end. I went right. I don't know what happens on the left."

 

Perhaps we'll meet again, John, this time on the left side of the island.

 

Until then, farewell my friend.

Farewell.

______________________________________

William Brock lives in Pullman.

[Jake_Gano]

Thanks for posting that Pup. I didn't know John as well as you or many others on here, but I always made a point of stopping in to Hyperspud when I was back in town.

 

What the article didn't mention was the John climbed a number of first ascents of rock routes in Idaho, particularly on Lightning Dome. He had a reputation, despite being a gear shop owner, of climbing with a rack that looked like it belonged in a museum!

 

He also had an encyclopedic knowledge of climbing routes and Hyperspud was the hub of the local climbing/outdoor scene. Way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and MountainProject hadn't been dreamed of yet, I'd come into the shop and pick his brain and pick through the copies of hand-drawn topos behind the counter. At one time there was a collection of 80s VHS climbing tapes he'd loan out. Maybe it's still there. I donated one or two to that collection when I left town.

 

Yeah, and he had one hell of a laugh.

[kevin]

Glad to see this thread. John was a rare bird who will be missed by more people that I will ever even meet.

[pu]

Nice fella and responsible for, although indirectly, my love for the lightning dome. RIP