Zorro

[John_Scurlock]

Now that it's been climbed, here's a bit of the backstory about how it came to be called the Zorro Face. It wasn't long after I began obsessively photographing the North Cascades in winter that I met John Roper through an introduction from Austin Post. I'd been down to Vashon to visit Austin and Roberta, our first meeting, and he'd said to me, There's a fellow in Seattle who'd like to see your photographs, and his name is John Roper. Well, I'd heard of him of course from my readings of the CAG, and so through Austin, I sent him a CD of photographs, leading to our acquaintance and friendship. On that visit to Vashon, I'd seen a large map of Mount Baker on the table in Austin's study, a USGS map of sorts, but all the named features on it were labeled with little pieces of paper taped to its surface. I'd asked Austin why the labels were simply taped there, and he laughed and said, Well, if you need to change something from one spot to another, you just pick off the label and move it over here... !!, and he proceeded to pick up a label and tape it to another part of the map... And I thought, that's all it takes?? He explained that, for example, the Chromatic Moraine on Baker's north side was formerly a feature of the Roosevelt Glacier, but when it receded, the name was moved over to the moraine on the north side of the valley. It's really that easy? I was amazed. I asked him how he got to name so many things, and he replied, I guess I just had more guts! And here I'd thought it depended on some mythical Board of Naming Stuff and an act of congress... boy was I wrong..! Anyway, that attitude leads us to Zorro and John Roper. My website was young and new, things were moving along rather slowly, and JR started suggesting things to photograph. I'd photographed N Hozomeen's W face in December of 2003, but I didn't have the technique or the camera at the time, and the images were blurry. But JR wanted good images of the great faces of the North Cascades, such as the EF of SE Mox, the NF of Bonanza, the NF of South Hozomeen, and of course the W face of N Hozomeen. That led to this photograph - http://www.pbase.com/nolock/image/37117149 - taken in February of 2004, and when JR saw it, he mentioned right away that it looked like Zorro had cut it with sword swishes. So as more or less of a joke, I put the word "Zorro" on that photograph when I loaded it into the website, where it was noticed by climbers right away, particularly after JR sent the link out in an email to his friends. The name took hold and is of course known by that now, likely for good I'd say. I think it started on a light note in retrospect, but over the years I've concluded that it somehow captures the rather mysterious and evil nature of the face, but also embodies the daring and panache required to climb it, demonstrated clearly by recent events. And I still think of Austin and those taped labels and that afternoon visit on Vashon, believe me.

[Lowell_Skoog]

I asked him how he got to name so many things, and he replied, I guess I just had more guts!

 

I think the key to giving names that stick today is to evoke the history or character of the area without attaching too much personal baggage. The Bill and Peg Stark names for the Enchantment Lakes provide examples, but they haven't been universally accepted.

 

The really early namers had more latitude.

 

People like Sylvester, Wernstedt, Post and Beckey were able to apply a lot more names because they were filling a vacuum. For example, Vasiliki Ridge was named by Beckey for a woman who got away.

 

The Roper names that have stuck have generally been descriptive, like the ones along Backbone Ridge. Zorro Face is a good descriptive name.

 

I've been happy to see a few names that I've given stick. The Watson Traverse of Mt Baker honors Dwight Watson, who first did it on skis. Like the Ptarmigan Traverse, this name honors the pioneers.

 

[Kraken]

Beautiful. Not being as much of a Cascades aficianado...when was the Zorro face first climbed? Ever? And then in the Winter?

 

 

[Kraken]

nevermind, found the TR. Beautiful mountain...glad to say i'll take their advice and never ever ever ever climb it! I have that same shitty choss in the Chugach.

[rat]

great story. thanks.