Joe:

Not being from the west coast, many of the places/routes that you mention are not familiar to me. Are there any easy peaks in the Northern Cascades? smile I remember looking east from near the top of Liberty Ridge and thinking that there was nothing easy over there.

Are you still climbing? There was a time when I was leading 5.10 pretty reliably and pushing 5.11. But now I've worn out my body and have multiple health issues to show for decades of wear and tear and abuse. Now I'm just a has been who relives his adventures buy telling stories.

One of my neighbors owns a second home in Estes Park. He invited us up for a weekend. While there he mentioned that Thomas Hornbein was a neighbor. He invited him over to talk to me. He spent almost four hours talking about his first ascent of the West Ridge of Everest, and many other climbs. He also talked about all the famous climbers of that era; the Lowe brothers, Rienhold Messner, Jim Wickwire, and more that I can't recall right now. What a gentleman he was.

Once I met Fred Becky in the climbers hut at Talkeetna and I prevailed upon him to autograph my daypack with a magic Marker. I still have that pack.

KC


Wind in my hair, Sun on my face, I gazed at the wide open spaces, And I was at home.