Jan



Mountain climber Okinawa, Japan Jul 31, 2011 - 08:51pm PT I think on this issue as so many, Paul was way ahead of most of us, with much more courage to face the inevitable than we are. I do have some experience of honoring a climber's remains however, since just last year my husband's ashes were placed high on a ledge above Yosemite where tourists will never go and overlooking his favorite climb. They will be reabsorbed into the roots of a tree there and nourish life in a place that he loved.



Given my experience, I'm thinking it might be easier for Paul's friends and still in the spirit of things, to have be a pinch of Paul's ashes mailed to different climbers, including maybe some tree climbers on the coast, and the ashes sprinkled, or buried on a belay ledge on different climbs around the country. His vision was vast and it's fitting that we pay tribute to it out of doors in places far away, including places that he never climbed.



I live in Japan but am making an unexpected trip to Wyoming this summer and I'm sure I can place some of the ashes on one or several of the wonderful climbing areas there. Since I'm a really old trad climber, I don't anticipate using chalk and I'll also admit I'm squeamish about the idea of ashes mixed with chalk. I'll be happy to volunteer however, to take some of Paul's ashes some place interesting in that state where he's probably never climbed before.



After I'm done, I'll post up photos. If everyone does the same, we can think of it as the tribe sharing Pauls's final climb.