Patrick Oliver



Boulder climber Fruita, Colorado Sep 11, 2011 - 10:36pm PT The Ear. Probably not the difficulty so much as the exposure.

Imagine going up on that route for the first time, no beta, no

knowledge, bad manky old shoes, weird gear, Columbia or

goldline ropes that weren't all that strong, really. I mean, now

someone could probably walk a big Friend right up the

whole way.... But that factor of the unknown, that

"adventure" which was their joy to know.... Who cares about

any difficulty? That was 1961, and the light had its own

special richness back in those rare days of so few

climbers. I love the way Royal describes the Sierra,

its splendor, and the quiet sense we get of both Pratt

and Frost. Not much was known about the big walls. I dream

about those times. It would have been the best thing you

could ever do in life, practically, to be a membor of that

Salathe Wall team. How could you ever

forget being up there with those true friends? How did anyone

know how far climbing would progress in the coming decades?

I admire those men, those

pioneers, the example they set of integrity. How did

I know they each would become my friend. If ever I

was jealous of anything, it's that time, the feel of those

holds in afternoon sun, in cool morning, the grip on the

rope, the ring of a piton driven, amid the silence of those

resplendent lonely heights.... I was a boy then, but I

knew how powerful that ascent was. I never want those

visions to leave my memory....