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BrassNuts
Trad climber
Save your a_s, reach for the brass...
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Feb 20, 2012 - 10:12pm PT
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Jack and I on top of Half Dome after RNWF - a great day!
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drlin
Trad climber
planet earth
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Apr 15, 2012 - 09:29pm PT
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OK, so it's April and I'm still going back through the long list of tributes, Pam's replies, great photos. I think it is the best way to connect, especially being so far away, with the spirit of a friend who managed to bring so many people together in his honor... and also of Pam's honor. I believe that their kind of love is rare, inspiring to know that it is possible between two people, shared like sunlight for the rest of us to marvel at. Somehow I believe that you will continue to make it shine, Pam. After all, the twinkle in Jack's eye was a reflection of you.
Love the 50th birthday shotgun marguarita. :)
Ima
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Apr 15, 2012 - 09:45pm PT
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Today is the three month anniversary. Thinking a lot of Pam and Jack and all affected by his untimely departure.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Apr 15, 2012 - 09:57pm PT
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I hope you're doing okay, Pam.
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Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
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Apr 18, 2012 - 07:04pm PT
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Sometime after September 1968, probably in the spring of '69, a young group of three or four high school students walked into West Ridge Mountaineering, a large mountaineering retail store in West Los Angeles. They announced that they would like to speak to the owner. The owner happened to be me.
They were representing a larger group of maybe 8 to 10 students from Santa Monica High School, all of whom were Boy Scouts, and all of whom were very interested in rock climbing. They were aware that Dennis Hennek and I had put together a slide show depicting our recent scent of the NA Wall in Yosemite Valley and they wished that we might show it to their group at the high school. I was delighted to do be asked by such a serious group of young aspiring rock climbers. The show was scheduled.
As I remember it, all these guys were seniors and after graduation they all frequented West Ridge. Some of them took summer jobs at West Ridge. They made me an honorary member of the G&E Buff Club – their climbing cabal that always got naked on the summit. Those that went on to college would always come back to visit or even work for the summer.
So it was that Alan Bartlett, Dave and Jim Black, Rob Dellinger, Mike Graber, Dave Hanbury, Greg Jennings, and Jack Roberts all became friends of mine. I was 20 years their senior- old enough to be their father, but when we were together we were brothers. Dave Hanbury ended up selling me his VW van. I helped crew Jennings’ sailboat down and back from Ensenada. Graber sent me photos for years from all his mountaineering expeditions – all with him in the buff. During the 70s, I climbed the south face of Mt Watkins with Rob Dellinger. About 4 or 5 pitches up we noticed another party was on the route below us. Lo and behold, Dave and Jim Black were on our tail. Jack Roberts and I went up to do the Steck-Salathe on Sentinel early one summer. We sat down at the base to snack and Jack fainted. To this day I have no idea whether it was the heat or what, but I decided it would be best to postpone our plan. We never did climb together.
I managed to keep in touch with Graber, Bartlett, and Dellinger (RIP) over all these years, but I lost track of Jack after that fainting episode. Dave Hanbury just popped up on Facebook this year. Hadn’t heard from him in over 35 years. As for Jack, I must admit that not only had I lost track, but I was completely unaware of his range of achievements in mountaineering until now. I am ashamed that someone as accomplished as he somehow slid under my radar. I’m also saddened that we never climbed Sentinel. I’m sure that had we succeeded, we would have been closer friends - lifelong friends.
My condolences to Pam.
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Bldrjac
Ice climber
Boulder
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Came upon this thread....am trying to write jack's mom a mother's day card. How to gracefully do this for a lovely, loving woman who is far enough into dementia that she can't remember that he is gone. Breaks my heart...can't see her having a mother's day without hearing from one or the other of us. But if it's only me........what will she think/remember? Ugh.....all this sadness is overwhelming sometimes. thanks to all who loved him............
pam
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steve shea
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - May 10, 2012 - 09:46am PT
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Pam, been thinking about Jack a lot lately. Recalling our time in the mountains. Peace
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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May 10, 2012 - 11:41am PT
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A gentle soul with two lifetime affairs; his wife and climbing, it doesn't get much better than that.
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Bldrjac
Ice climber
Boulder
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May 10, 2012 - 03:47pm PT
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Jim, that's SO sweet! :-)thanks..................to Steve also!
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Iwelsted
Trad climber
Nfa
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May 27, 2012 - 04:07pm PT
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Quoting Mark Westman, and in respect to Jack Roberts
In an interview posted somewhere higher, Jack listed his FA of the southwest face of Denali as his proudest achievement.
With good reason...at the time he and Simon McCartney climbed it (1980), it was not only by far the hardest route that had been done on the mountain to date, it was years ahead of its time. Over 30 years later it remains unrepeated,although Canadians Ian Welsted and Chris Brazeau, in avoiding the spindrifting upper corner of the Denali Diamond may have finished on this line.
Never did meet Jack but emailed him after climbing the Diamond, one of the top three routes I ever got on. For clarity' sake for the history, we finished up the gully system heading left from the huge Diamond shaped block to end below the big serac viewable in Mark's second photo. Jack made the distinction that they did not head over to the known entity of the upper Cassin Ridge but broke trail straight up to the summit, definitely a more adventuresome approach than we took at that point in a big climb. He must have been quote the strong spirit to have chosen that line!
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Steven Eddy
climber
Manhattan Beach, CA
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Dec 29, 2012 - 07:12pm PT
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Was this the Jack Roberts who was in the Buff Mountaineers out of Santa Monica? How did he die? Many regrets, Steve Eddy
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Dec 29, 2012 - 09:49pm PT
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Too many RIP posts lately. We are getting old. Condolences to family and friends.
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ron gomez
Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
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Dec 29, 2012 - 11:25pm PT
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Never been to Ouray Festival, but gonna make the trip this year in honor...or better said, to honor my old friend Jack! His spirit will be there for me to visit with! One of the nicest guys I've ever had the pleasure to know. Got a bum knee so won't be able to climb, but he's worth the trip.
Peace
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Dec 29, 2012 - 11:34pm PT
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Ron, this year there will be a special award issued....the first annual Jeff Lowe Award given to the person who has contributed greatly to the success of the Ouray Ice Park and Festival. Many there will also be remembering Jack and his contributions to American ice climbing and alpinism.
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Bldrjac
Ice climber
Boulder
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Feb 17, 2013 - 01:42pm PT
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Looking for a picture of Jack's feet, and stumbled upon this thread again. Soooo great to read in its entirety! I happened to catch the last day of the Ouray Ice Festival on my way to Telluride. On January 15, a group of us met in the Bridalveil parking area, and hiked up to the base. Jon and I climbed most of the first pitch to the ledge that Jack died on. I brought up some ashes and flowers, and we all gave tribute to Jack. (I would include pictures, but don't know how the photobucket thing works!). We drank some scotch and tequila......when we returned to to our cars and were milling around, a large eagle flew over us and began slowly circling us for what seemed like 5 minutes, all the while spindrift avalanches were coming off the walls above us.
It's hard for me to believe it has been a year and a month now. Seems so much shorter. I can't really articulate what this year has been for me. Besides the obvious sadness and pain, it has also been filled with amazing love and joy. I feel things more acutely now. Sometimes I miss Jack with a pain that feels almost insurmountable. Sometimes I feel him so closely I know he is never far away. I do know that he wasn't ready to leave this earth, and for that I feel great sorrow for him. So I try extra hard to enjoy each moment, because there is still so much joy to be had. Carrying his ashes across Spain this summer on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela was an incredible experience...I had a lot of time to think and reflect on the 600 mile walk. I know I was and still am truly blessed. I tattooed the "way sign" of the Camino on my right ankle, mixed the ink with his ashes. When I ever lose my way, all I need to do is look down to find my path forward. I will carry him with me always. Anyway, just lying on the couch on a breezy Sunday, recovering from back surgery a week ago, reading the amazing tale of his and Simon's ascent of Huntington, written by my new friend Simon McCartney. Life takes many interesting twists and turns....certainly not for the meak!
Anyway.....always fills my heart to read all that you wrote. Much love.....
Pam
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Feb 17, 2013 - 02:03pm PT
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Right back at you Pam!
I am learning a lot about the power of love and respect these days in my historical work. Both flowed so beautifully together in your pairing that it is truly inspiring and a comfort to you moving forward.
Thanks for checking in.
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Bldrjac
Ice climber
Boulder
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Feb 18, 2013 - 05:58pm PT
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Thanks Steve......:-)
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Gagner
climber
Boulder
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Jan 15, 2014 - 02:18am PT
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Hard to believe it's been two years tomorrow - RIP buddy.....
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Jan 15, 2014 - 10:22am PT
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We had a memorial with Pam at the Ouray Ice Park on Sunday evening. She, and others, are going up to Bridalveil Falls today.
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