Six degrees of separation - climbing partner edition

[John Prater]

The six degrees of separation idea has crossed my mind on a few occasions related to climbing/hiking/peakbagging/adventuring partners. Hoping others might share some fun connections. Here's a few from me to get started:

I've climbed with Gerry Roach (woo-hoo!).

I've climbed with Kiefer Thomas who climbed with Brad McQueen (I did cross paths with Brad in Frenchman Creek a couple of winters ago - might've been Brad's recent TR that reminded me of this idea).

I've climbed with Bill Wright who climbed with Alex Honnold who climbed with Ueli Steck (just using that Alex guy to get to Ueli, you know - I did meet Alex at Bill's that one time, and Bill and I shared the summit of the Schreckhorn with Ueli and his wife).

I've climbed with Bill W who climbed with Conrad Anker who climbed with Alex Lowe (I could probably work through Bill's connections for a while).

I've climbed with Bill W who climbed with OldTrad (see!).

I've climbed with George Bell Jr. who climbed with George I. Bell who climbed with Fred Beckey (which, I understand, connects me to every other climber ever).

[Eli Boardman]

I've climbed with* Nirmal Purja (Nims) and Mingma David Sherpa, who made some headlines recently for their 8000m ascents. Nims was the first to climb all 14 8000ers in one year, and I met him the winter before he started that project.

*I met them both on Aconcagua; they were guiding their own team, and we were independent, so not exactly "climbing partners." However, we frequently camped next to each other, hiked sections nearby each other, etc. Not sure if this technically counts...

I've climbed with Max Manson, who's climbed with most of the famous Boulder climbers (pick one).

[Scott P]

I backpacked with Steve Allen who climbed with Eric Bjornstad who seems to have climbed with all of the most famous American mountaineers of the time period.

https://publications.americanalpineclub ... d-19342014

Outside the US, the most famous mountaineer I have climbed with (or perhaps more accurately invited to dinner and games when at camps on the mountain) was Alex Abrabov. He's probably the most famous climber in Russia and one of the most famous Himalayan climbers.

I have been to Messner's home, but decided not to knock on the door. Maybe I should have. Or maybe I shouldn't have. I don't know. It would have been cool to meet him.

[Monster5]

Ha! Nice, John.

Climbing with Bill Wright places someone within 3 degrees from any recognizable climber. He's even climbed with Danny Gilbert! So I'll go with Bill too.

[AnnaG22]

Not climbed, but I sold Neil Beidleman a pair of cross-country skis several years back, shortly after I read Into Thin Air.

[bergsteigen]

At first I thought maybe Steve Gladbach and all his connections, but then I remembered I skied Culebra with Chris Davenport and the Mahons. So I also have Neil Beidleman, along with a bunch of ski mountaineers.

[bmcqueen]

I bumped into Alan Arnette on Crestone Peak’s summit, then our groups did the traverse fairly close together and chatted again atop the Needle. That opens up a good chunk of the 8,000 meter folks. I’ve also had coffee with Jim Davidson as we worked on having him come give one of his great Resilience keynotes to my company.

And I had lunch with Boggy, Kylie, Jomah and Monster after they dry tooled a bit the day after their winter Dallas climb - that was cool.

[Teresa Gergen]

Well, I've climbed with John Prater, so - there you go.

And thank you, John.

[desertdog]

I have met on different mountains Vern Tejas, Russel Brice, Peter Whitaker, and Kenton Cool (actually played cards with him at base camp, he won.)

[Dave B]

I got drunk as f*ck with Simon Yates.

[GregMiller]

Got to belay Conrad Anker at Ouray Ice Fest once. Pretty sure Dave wins, though.

[oldschool]

In the middle 90's I was climbing at Lover's Leap in the S Lake Tahoe area with Paul, my climbing partner of 23+ years. We were on a moderate route called East Wall..a 3 pitch 5.6 or 5.7 I think.

We had reached the belay at the top of the second pitch when we noticed a free solo climber poke his head out at the top of the 1st pitch. We had not noticed him as we ascended the first or 2nd pitch. As Paul and I hung out for just a bit on the top pf the 2nd pitch belay, we glanced down at the climber. I noticed the climber was moving a bit slow, seemed to be confused or uncertain as where to go next, but what struck me most was the webbing this climber had around his waist. It was old school 3" wide ass webbing, the stuff of days gone by...and bright red. Seemed odd to me. Paul and I decided to hang even longer at the 2nd belay to see how things went down below us. The climber below us started off the top of the 1st pitch and wandered a bit, backtracked, started off again and stopped. He was looking around and noticed us above him. The 2nd pitch of East Wall is a wandering, face climb with not much pro and an unobvious line. The climber called up to us and asked us for directions to the 2nd belay. We told him the route and he set off. He climbed well and was making good progress. As he got closer we noticed he was "older"..what ever the hell that means.....looking to be in his 60's maybe. At this time I was in my 30's. When the climber got about 10 or so feet below us I looked at Paul and looked at the climber and looked at Paul again. Really? No way! The climber got up to our belay and we offered him space on the large and comfy belay ledge (more like a belay family room...nice and large) We offered him a tie-off, which he declined and kind of settled in on the belay ledge. He was gracious and thankful for our help in guiding him the right way up the face of the 2nd pitch. He mentioned top us he had climbed this route many many times but just kind of got lost this time up.

After a minute or two I looked at Paul then the climber and asked him if he was Royal Robbins. He said yes, as I knew he was. I recognized him as he was approaching us. Goose bumps!

Paul, Royal, and I spent the next hour on that belay ledge, chatting about this and that. Kind and gracious, a legend to be sure. The conversation was not hero worship but the kind you have with a friend...someone you know or have known for years. The talk was easy and personal, it was varied and elegant. Finally the time came to cast off the top of the 2nd pitch. We offered him a belay up to the top of the last pitch...he declined. We went off first with Royal behind us.

All was well on Planet Earth that day.

Mike