Ask Gerry (Roach)

[HikerBox]

Some great questions in here!

Here's mine: How many non-standard routes in your 14er and 13er books have you gotten second hand (without personally climbing)?

[seannunn]

hey gerry! big fan- i am constantly rotating one of your books on my nightstand- the 14ers, IPW, and lost creek wilderness are my personal favorites and have guided me through many, many adventures.

i have been referring to your sometimes inaccurate route statistics or overly-optimistic descriptions as getting #roached for a number of years now- personally, i consider it to be a rite of passage for any colorado mountaineer to wallow through a route that is more difficult than you've sometimes romantacized in text. and frankly, that's part of the charm- it keeps us humble and fosters a sort of "misery loves company" comradery in this community.

these days we have downloadable beta at the push of a button and apps that buzz if you miss a turn, but somehow many of us are still stuffing a dog-eared Roach guidebook into our packs to read by headlamp at camp or snapping smartphone pictures of pages before we head out into the wilderness. did you ever imagine that your works would keep pace with the gadgets? i'd love to hear how you think the role of the guidebook has changed since you started writing, and where you think it might still be going.

thank you!!

My guess is that it is easy to downplay a route when it is easy for you. For example, I would say the standard route to the summit of Gray's Peak is a cakewalk, but that is coming from someone who is fairly fit and has 50+ 14ers climbed.
In a similar vein, I would guess that Gerry would probably say that every standard route to the summit of a 14er is a cakewalk, to him. Just my take.

Sean Nunn
Peculiar, MO

[Marmot72]

Mountaineering is as much about the natural beauty of the wilderness areas as it is about the peaks themselves. I'd like to hear Gerry's top few favorite regions in the US and one or two from abroad. Also, was the ancedote of "Moccasin Man" on Dallas Peak a real encounter? What other eccentric encounters has Gerry experienced?

In closing, I'll use a Roach-ism: the introduction is over.

Thanks,
Steve

[PJ88]

What is your least favorite 14er and least favorite 13er and why?

[KentonB]

Kind of a general question, but I'm curious about his recovery process back in Aug 2023 after the tumble he took on that 13er in San Juan County. I understand he had 5 broken ribs, a collapsed lung, concussion, and a broken nose... at 79 years old! Yet according to his Lists of John page, he was out climbing mountains again just 19 days later! What did he do to recover so quickly? What was the process like and how long was it before he felt "recovered"? Does he have any lingering injuries from that fall?

[XterraRob]

Gerry, have you ever seen a UFO while on your adventures?

[two lunches]

i have been referring to your sometimes inaccurate route statistics or overly-optimistic descriptions as getting #roached for a number of years now- personally, i consider it to be a rite of passage for any colorado mountaineer to wallow through a route that is more difficult than you've sometimes romantacized in text. and frankly, that's part of the charm- it keeps us humble and fosters a sort of "misery loves company" comradery in this community.

My guess is that it is easy to downplay a route when it is easy for you. For example, I would say the standard route to the summit of Gray's Peak is a cakewalk, but that is coming from someone who is fairly fit and has 50+ 14ers climbed.
In a similar vein, I would guess that Gerry would probably say that every standard route to the summit of a 14er is a cakewalk, to him. Just my take.

Sean Nunn
Peculiar, MO

ah, sorry for the confusion, sean. this is referring to distance and vert statistics, not technical difficulties (and FWIW i think it's a fair assessment to say our ability to estimate these figures has improved markedly since some of these routes were published)

[Scott P]

Define surfer girl.
And, was that written before you met Jennifer?! She seems pretty (mountain) surfer to me!

The latter could be a sensitive question since it was definitely written before Jennifer. His former wife passed away.

I've always been curious about the surfer girl quote though.

[FireOnTheMountain]

Gerry, have you ever seen a UFO while on your adventures?

And how did you make contact with them? Were they pleasant?

[Eli Boardman]

Define surfer girl.
And, was that written before you met Jennifer?! She seems pretty (mountain) surfer to me!

The latter could be a sensitive question since it was definitely written before Jennifer. His former wife passed away.

I've always been curious about the surfer girl quote though.

I always figured he meant "don't do mountaineering for the sake of trying to pick up girls like a surfer dude trying to act cool at the beach." Sort of along the lines of taking it seriously and not climbing for show or something. Idk though, that's just my interpretation--I'd definitely be curious to hear what he actually meant.

[HikesInGeologicTime]

Re: Surfer Girl, I remembered this comment offering an explanation from a thread a few years ago (yes, I too wish I could store more useful information in the depths of my memory banks):

Surfer Girl is a song from the Beach Boys about pining for the perfect love. Don't fall in love with the mountains more than a real love.

Mountains can't love you back.

But it wasn’t from Gerry himself, so I’d also be interested in his confirmation/denial!

…was the ancedote of "Moccasin Man" on Dallas Peak a real encounter?

I’ve wondered about Moccasin Man myself.

My own question for Gerry is, is there anything left on your mountaineering “wish list” - any peaks, routes, methods of reaching a summit (e.g., biking where allowed, skiing if with snow) you haven’t done yet? (Edited to add:) Also, any “revenge summits” where you either didn’t get the summit and still have yet to make another attempt or didn’t get the summit in the way you hoped to do so?

[Chicago Transplant]

I agree, would love to hear more about Moccasin Man! We had our own Moccasin Man experience on Coffeepot years ago, Kiefer might remember this one?

So we're on Coffeepot after Teakettle and this guy scrambles up to the summit and asks if he can take a picture holding our rope because his friend isn't going to believe him that he climbed it. Then says something like he just did Jagged yesterday (which would be a heck of long day if he's on Coffeepot today), then he goes to descend and we're like "whoa whoa whoa, that's not how you came up its a vertical cliff" and he looks over it and goes "that would have been bad", scrambles down the chimney and starts scree surfing off down the slopes.