Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Aug 18, 2012 - 09:04pm PT
|
Let's see if I can get Paul to chime in...
|
|
o-man
Social climber
Paia,Maui,HI
|
|
|
Aug 19, 2012 - 03:17pm PT
|
I feel the need to bump this thread along because it stirs up images of Catherine during the period that we climbed together.
Catherine was a very deep and open person with me.
I feel that she used our drives down to the South Platte to air some bottled up demons. She was quite candid in sharing her stories and her feelings about them.
She was heart broken over her failed relationship with Tod.
She was frustrated over the political hurdles and barriers she was constantly
up against trying to brake into a male dominated arena.
She spoke about what it was like to being a woman on a long alpine style, big mountain, expedition and the effect that it had on the team members living in very close quarters for long periods of time.
She was considered by some team leaders to be a liability. Not because of her strength or climbing ability but due to her SEX and the effect that it could have on the other team members.
The last time I saw Catherine was at a Halloween party at Dan Hare's trailer in Boulder not long before her passing. She was in great spirits and stoked about life.
|
|
Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
|
|
|
Aug 19, 2012 - 03:32pm PT
|
I met her the following March.
We had a long and interesting talk. She failed to heed my advice about Earl Redfern.
I already mentioned what advice I wish she had failed to follow.
Seeing how some of the heroes of my younger years have fared I will always be given pause to wonder.
|
|
Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 6, 2013 - 02:03pm PT
|
Thinking about the glory days in Tucson this morning and Todd and Catherine are right there on the screen.
|
|
mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
|
|
Catherine and the Captain.
Ahab.
|
|
Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
|
|
Catherine had a vital presence. She was an itinerant member of the hard rock circuit out West in the late 70s. In Yosemite I remember her sitting astride the side opening of her mustard colored van with the double doors flung wide as she intently sorted a substantial gear rack in her lap and I could see the van doors were tidily lined with complete spice racks.
First time I'd ever seen a hard-core climber chick out on her own "in the wild" with full kit; everything all grubby and war worn like most guys but with the feminine touch of a complete kitchen neatly organized. Her modest panel van rig, though spartanly appointed as was de rigueur at the time, was generally a bit homier than most guys would've fitted it.
I enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner with Catherine, Todd, Dan Michael, Don Wilson and a few others November of 1980. Can't say that I got to know her well; acquaintances at best, but we all shared that perennial meal together and this forms a simple bond as you all know.
After dinner and in confidence, Wilson recalled that her high cheekbones and strong frame along with a resolute bearing qualified her, in distinction to her vagabond climber status, as a prime example of old world matronly strength and he further remarked that this was the kind of woman a smart man would look to for raising children and running a home.
|
|
Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - May 31, 2015 - 11:58am PT
|
Bump for my friend Catherine who has been on my mind lately as I have been thinking about the Hummingbird Ridge where she and Dave left us.
|
|
Gregg Cronn
Mountain climber
Bellingham
|
|
|
May 31, 2015 - 11:32pm PT
|
A wonderful person and a great character to be around. We spent a lot of time at basecamp waiting out the weather and conditions telling stories. She held her own in a crowd of great story tellers. Missed by all those that knew her.
|
|
FRUMY
Trad climber
Bishop,CA
|
|
bump
|
|
Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
|
|
Greg, great shot of Catherine's impish smile!
|
|
steve shea
climber
|
|
I was on that '86 Everest Expedition. Not as the talent but I was hired to be on the high altitude film team.
The goals were confusing and sometimes at odds squandering good climbing weather. The funding was clearly a mammoth task and took years. This was the classic Himalayan extravaganza. The main goal was the search for Mallory and Irvine and second to have the first American woman summit.
After we got situated on the North Col higher altitude camps were put in but at an alarmingly slow rate due to the early arrival and descent of the jet stream. Post monsoon wind is fierce. Perhaps the largest wind venturi in the world is the North Col. Changtse at 25000' and Everest on the other side of the Col at 29000'. The Col is not that wide and really accelerates the wind speed as it necks down. We were there for quite a while in crystal clear but extremely windy conditions. No climbing. This loaded the lee cornices on the Col and even an equipment carry to that camp became very dangerous.
We had been up at ABC, 21000' for three weeks and really well acclimated. We knew Cheesmond and Freer we joining us. There was a certain amount of angst among the women on the team. They had put in the work. I'm sure some were a little concerned with the situation but I was removed and had other things to worry about. Catherine and Cheese made camp. I know Cheesmond made one carry to the Col. I don't think Catherine did.
Our sirdar and great companion Dawa Nuru Sherpa was killed shortly after their arrival.Serac/cornice collapse on the North Col. With this sad turn of events and the wind situation, the expedition was basically abandoned. Neither Catherine nor anyone else really had a shot at the summit.
I found out later about all the politics with the women. I remember her as being very keen and enjoyable to be around. It must have been as tough on her as the established women's team and she was gracious in that regard.
|
|
ericz
climber
Ogden, UT
|
|
Catherine,... I wish you were still here, in the body and mind that you once journeyed in,.. sharing the beauty and power that emanated from your wondrous soul. I miss you. 1980. I believe that was the first year our paths overlapped,... and, my friend,... the shared times and energies of days past,... I will always hold dear in my heart,... and your memory will always light my tomorrows. Happy trails,... wherever you are now.....
|
|
Kalimon
Social climber
Ridgway, CO
|
|
Catherine the Great!
Always in our hearts,
|
|
JRoskelley
Ice climber
Spokane, WA
|
|
I was thinking of Catherine today, looked on-line and saw the article and these postings. I first met Catherine in 1967. She and Del Young were climbing 5.9 cracks on Castle Rock near Leavenworth. A few years later, around 1976, I was in Seattle looking for a place to crash for the night, so I called Catherine. She said come over. I knocked on the door and she peeked around a window curtain, recognized me and let me in. She seemed really spooked and I asked her if she was alright. It's then that she told me she was frightened of a lot of things now. As we sat on the floor with a candle between us because the power was out, she told me about an incident she recently had at the psychotherapy facility where she was working. She was living at the facility in the employees dorm. The room was tiny, barely big enough for a small nightstand and a twin bed. As she was preparing to go to bed, there was a knock on the door. She figured it was another employee, so she opened the door to find a man standing in the doorway with a gun pointed at her face. She instantly moved her head to the side just as he pulled the trigger. The bullet went through her ear and embedded into the wall. This is where the small room plays a key role in her survival. Catherine fell back onto the bed. The man cocked the gun for another shot and took aim. Catherine grabbed the door, swung it shut and slammed her feet up against it. The door locked. The man tried to open it, but failed. She called 9-1-1 and was taken to the hospital. They never found the guy who did it, as far as I know.
The last time I saw her was on Tibet's north side Everest base camp in 1986. I was leading a trek and our last stop was on the Rongbuk side. I found Catherine and we had a good talk about the dynamics of the expedition she was about to join. She was in tears at times trying to understand why she was being treated unfairly. Having been in one of the expedition's kitchen tents with some Sherpa friends of mine who were working there and encountering one of the women climbers on the trip, I could certainly sympathize with her. I was a guest of the Sherpas for tea and the other woman wouldn't speak to me or introduce herself. I told Catherine to let her strength and performance do the talking and ignore the team dynamics. Unfortunately, she didn't quite get a chance to prove her herself on that trip.
Climb on, Catherine, you were the best of us.
|
|
Hawkeye
climber
State of Mine
|
|
thanks John and others.
|
|
mastadon
Trad climber
crack addict
|
|
Roskelley,
That house you met her at was the "Greenwood House" in north Seattle. Many a climber/wanderer lived or stayed there at one time or another (myself included). I remember Catherine's room as kind of a converted closet with no windows but it was perfect for her.
She was a complicated person and I don't think anyone really understood her. Julie Brugger probably came the closest-they were "besties" long before the term was coined. Julie still has a hard time reconciling her death.
Catherine would question everything you said and you needed to be ready to defend whatever it was you let slip in your moment of weakness or stupidity. She was hard to be around at times but other times she could be an absolute joy. To see her smile and laugh was always worth the wait.
I remember camping with her behind the gas station in Tuolumne one fall long after the store and campground had closed and everyone had left. We had a pullup contest one evening. She would go and go and go till she couldn't possibly do another pullup, then she would start doing the frog-kick and laugh hysterically and manage to do a couple more then fall off the bar and lay down unable to breathe from laughing so hard.
She would have been a great partner to do an A5 El Cap route with.
That was the last time I ever saw her.
|
|
the goat
climber
north central WA
|
|
Bump for Catherine in her RD's. Damn she could climb.
|
|
Off White
climber
Tenino, WA
|
|
And nice to see Carla Firey get a nod, another strong NW alpine climber.
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!