AMGA Rock Guide
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I started climbing in the fall of 1958 when a friend took me up Cussin’ Crack (5.6) on Castle Rock in Boulder Canyon in Colorado. I liked the sport in part because it required no special equipment… I climbed in tennis shoes! No one I knew used a harness or helmet. My friend, Prince Wilmon, owned a rope, pitons, and two hammers. We were set!
By the fall of 1959 I was experienced enough to teach climbing for the Colorado Mt. Club and the Rocky Mt. Rescue Group. Since then I have taught and guided rock and ice climbers for different organizations. Even when I was an English teacher for eleven years, I guided during school vacations. When Jean (my wife) and I taught in Uganda for two and a half years, I was the faculty sponsor for the Namilyango College Climbing Club. On my days off I took students to local cliffs and to Kilimanjaro!
In 1974 I dropped out of classroom English teaching and became a full-time mountain guide and climbing instructor. In 2007 I received a life-time achievement award from the American Mountain Guides Association. Since August 1998, I have worked part-time for the EMS Climbing School and, for fun, I continue to look for—and find—new routes on local cliffs.
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