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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jan 26, 2015 - 10:58am PT
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I last saw Cito at Copper Mountain CO. in August of 2000 at Billy's Memorial. He recalled each of the things he and Billy and I had done together; Cito has a terrific memory and a strong sense of meaning about his time with Billy Westbay.
Last I heard Cito was still in Summit County doing carpentry & climbing.
At Westbay's Memorial, Angela was airlifted straight to the podium via helicopter by the ski patrol. The patrollers loved Billy too: he was a fixture there for many winters & lived in Silverthorne.
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Tarbuster
climber
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Jan 26, 2015 - 11:58am PT
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The neatest thing about Billy was his can-do attitude and ever-present grin.
He knew how to get what he wanted out of life and he was generous in sharing those skills. There was a period in the 90s when I was seriously overworked. Billy liked to explore and espouse shaman stuff. His inclinations toward those traditions were less airy fairy and he cleaved to the practical. "Just visualize Roy, that your shoulders are rounded and that your whole exterior is smooth, so that when shite rains down ... it will slide off of you".
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Tarbuster
climber
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Jan 26, 2015 - 06:52pm PT
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Dark Territory
Dark Territory was a Steven Seagal action film produced in 1994. Michael Paul, Cito Kirkpatrick, Billy Westbay, a fellow climber whose name I've forgotten and I all worked for Paul Borne on the rigging crew in support of the production.
Aside from Seagal, one could argue the central character in the film was a passenger train! The whole production company had all of their gear stowed on the train 24/7. (Some of the film crew may have even lived on the train for a time). A lot of the footage was shot among the gravelly ramparts west of Boulder Colorado.
Paul Borne was a talented climber and went on to work quite a bit in Hollywood. He was our square jawed leader … In truth, at this stage Paul was in his youth as a commander of men and matériel. He acted brashly on the set. Each morning Borne would take the wheel of a big studio lot suburban, order all of us to pile in with all of our gear and he'd roar off to our next location, lurching up twisty canyon roads at breakneck speeds yelling "hang on men!"
Up in the rugged canyons and alongside the tracks we stuffed (and anchored) prefabricated platforms into the sides of decaying cliffs. Quelling their adrenaline with sips of bottled water and crouched on these "ledges", stunt men would commit leaps down onto the top of the rolling train. (Adventure schemes à la Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid). We “Men” cleared 45° slopes of heavy boulders so Steven Seagal look-alikes could jump out of the moving train, smashing together onto the “comfortized” slope. They'd rocket downward in padded jackets, grappling each other in a tangled embrace, only to be stopped by nets we'd strung across the abyss.
One day Billy and I were setting anchors and stringing hand lines up the shoulder of Boulder Canyon's Castle Rock. Borne soon scrambled up to critique our work. Okay … my hand line wasn't taught. Mea culpa. Paul then turned to his left, wagged his finger at Billy's anchor and told Billy that he didn't know how to make "the best possible solid anchor”! He would teach us the way. I had the feeling Borne, in those bootstrapping early years of his rigging career, never knew who he was really talking to when confronting Bill Westbay.
Borne clutched his radio to his chest and rapped off. Billy and I were "on standby" during a film change, enjoying our hanging positions above Castle Rock's overhangs. We talked about our lives as pro-climbers in various capacities; guiding, search & rescue, rigging and so forth. He'd recently had a good stretch doing $500 days out in the sticks for the phone company in a rigging capacity. I'd guided plenty yet only had a couple of jobs like Dark Territory to my credit; Billy had more technical experience behind him. He looked out over the twisted pines and assured me that I "had the stuff". He could be avuncular and was a worthy team player who also knew when to be humble.
Westbay was not without guile! The next year he came up to me grinning widely and said: "I heard through the grapevine your buddy Paul had anchor failure (nobody died and no animals were harmed) ... on a film shoot out in the desert!"
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, CA
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Jan 26, 2015 - 08:10pm PT
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When I look back forty-four years to find him, I see Billy….I am in front of one of the early “new guys”. They were gentle, smart, great climbers, witty, friendly to a fault and quite real and beautiful. We can’t change a thing of course, but when we have to leave our friends along the trail, the quandary of living worsens for awhile and longing and despair will be campfire partners.
ee cummings said, “Unless you love someone, nothing else seems to make any sense”. His observation here carries us to how fugitive each of our worlds is and hints at the debris of earlier ones we cherished.
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Jeff G
Trad climber
Fort Collins
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Jan 27, 2015 - 06:07pm PT
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I met Billy Westbay while he was helping to rescue me after a climbing accident. I took a huge ground fall at Lumpy Ridge and had two broken legs and needed a rescue. He was part of the team and had me cracking up the whole time I was being lowered down a terrible talus slope in a stretcher. He was amazing and had things running smooth and calm and he was just funny! His first question when he got to me was "did you have any friends?! (the camming devices) "I'll solo up there and get them for you if you did!" Friends had just come out on the market and were a hot item at the time. I did not have any friends, so I didn't get to watch him solo up the route. That's the only time I met him, but he was always a hero to me, even before the rescue.
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Tarbuster
climber
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Jan 27, 2015 - 06:15pm PT
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Was Doug Snively with him on your rescue?
He and Snively were tight. There's a guy who could tell some Westbay stories.
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Tarbuster
climber
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Jan 30, 2015 - 02:11pm PT
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Billy Westbay Climbing Timeline (partial)
1971 Ascent of Washington Column
1971 FA West Face Castleton Tower w/ Jimmy Dunn, Stewart Green
1971 Early ascent NA Wall, El Capitan, VI, 5.8, A5 w/Jimmy Dunn (spring)
1972 FA Arching Jam Crack, Pericle, Pikes Peak, III 5.10 w/Dan McClure
1972 FA Dunn-Westbay, The Diamond, V 5.8 A3 w/ Jimmy Dunn
1972 rides bicycle to Yosemite Valley w/Dan McClure & Mark Hesse, (Doug Snively drives w/ climbing gear)(autumn)
1973 FA Don't Think Twice, Pericle, Pikes Peak, III 5.10 w/Cito Kirkpatrick
1973 2nd ascent Butterballs, Nabisco Wall, 5.11C w/Dan McClure (autumn)
1974 FA Heavenly Journey, Lumpy Ridge, 5.10B X w/George Hurley
1974 FA Globs of Blobs, Lumpy Ridge, 5.8 w/Mike Covington
1974 FFA J-Crack, RMNP, 5.11 w/Michael Covington & Dan McClure
(~~) FA Mig's Arete, Black Canyon, III 5.10 w/ partner
(~~) FA Just Another Jam, Zion, 5.8 w/ Larry Derby
1975 FA Squeeze Play, Zion, 5.10A w/ Mike Weis, Larry Derby (March)
1975 FA Hung Like a Horse, Vedauwoo, 5.11B w/Dan McClure (July 14)
1975 FA (double overhang left of PO Pinnacle), Nautilus, Vedauwoo, 5.11 w/Dan McClure (July 14)
(~~) FA 2 climbs in Horsethief Park, Pikes Peak
1975 FA Sidetrack, Lumpy Ridge, 5.9 w/Michael Covington, Doug Snively
1975 FA The Hooker, Black Canyon, V 5.9 A3, w/Mike Covington
1975 FA NIAD, El Capitan w/John Long, Jim Bridwell
1975 FA PO Wall, El Capitan, VI 5.9 A5 w/Jim Bridwell, Jay Fiske, Fred East
1975 FA Easy Wind, Manure Pile Buttress, 5.9 w/Kevin Worrall
1975 2nd ascent Diagonal Direct, The Diamond, V 5.11+ w/Mike Covington
1975 FFA & 2nd ascent NW Face Chiefshead, RMNP, 5.10 w/Dan McClure
1975 FA Colorado Crack, Joshua Tree, 5.9 w/John Long, Hugh Burton (September)
1975 FA Lost Lid, Joshua Tree, A0 w/ John Long, Hugh Burton, Fred East (December)
1978 FA Ramses, Lumpy Ridge, 5.10C w/Doug Snively
1978 FA Close Encounters, Lumpy Ridge, 5.11A w/Doug Snively
1979 FFA D1, The Diamond, 5.11D w/ John Bachar
1981 FA Altar Boy, Cathedral Wall, RMNP 5.9 w/Doug Snively
1981 FA Latch Hand, Lumpy Ridge, 5.11C w/Scott Kimball
1983 FA Storm Peak Central Buttress, RMNP, 5.11 w/Doug Snively
1989 FA Shadows, Half Dome, VI 5.10 A5 w/ Jim Bridwell, Charlie Rowe, Cito Kirkpatric
*Please suggest any additions!
Cheers,
Roy
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jan 30, 2015 - 02:22pm PT
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Some climbers whom we haven't heard from who did a lot with Westbay:
Cito Kirkpatrick
Doug Snively
Jimmy Dunn
Dan McClure
Michael Covington
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Daniel McClure
Trad climber
Beulah,CO
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More information for the Westbay timeline
Billy did 6 fist ascents on Pericle Rock Pikes Peak. All the climbs were done in the early 70's without bolts or pitons and before cams. Still to this day the climbs are much like doing a first ascent. Two of Westbay routes on Pericle that will be on any crack climbers to do list.
-1972 FA Arching Jam Crack,Pericle(Pikes Peak)III 5.10 w/Dan McClure
-1973 FA Don't Think Twice,Pericle(Pikes Peak)III 5.10 w/Cito Kirkpatrick
-1974 FFA J-Crack,RMNP 5.11 w/Michael Covington,Dan McClure
-1975 July 14,Hung Like a Horse(Vedauwoo)5.11 w/Dan McClure
-1975 July 14,??name of climb(Nautilus Vedauwoo)5.11 w/Dan McClure
double overhang left of PO Pinnacle
-Billy did at least 2 FA climbs in Horsethief Park(Pikes Peak)
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steveA
Trad climber
Wolfeboro, NH
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Looking at that last picture, taken in 1971, in the Valley brings back fond memories.
I was in Camp 4 from April to July in 1971, and probably ran into Billy, but don't remember. Everyone had their own crowd they hung out with, and I assume the Colorado guys including Jimmy Dunn, Snively, Westbay, and others,
stuck close together. I don't remember meeting Jimmy Dunn either, in 1971, but I am a close friend now, and we talk often.
Jimmy Dunn was with Billy, at the end, when he passed in the hospital.
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Tarbuster
climber
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Dan the Man McClure!
"Billy was a young punk teenage kid on his first trip to Yosemite doing what was then considered the hardest big wall in the world" Wonderful & priceless photos: Washington Column shot is so, so good.
Thanks much. Good call on the Pericle stuff. (Please leave your posts as they are, even though I've edited the timeline)
FYI: I looked through Hubbel's South Platte guide & found nothing (surprising?)
"double overhang left of PO Pinnacle" = Friday the 13th perhaps?
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Happen to know which issue # Walleye?
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Katie_I
Mountain climber
Wyoming
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Thanks! Just saw this thread. The article was already live--someone posted it back in 2007--but it was buried in the depths of our archive, as a link within another article. Anyway, here's the link, since it's otherwise hard to find:
http://www.alpinist.com/doc/ALP19/sidebar-D1-FFA
(Katie from Alpinist)
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SuperTopo on the Web
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1971 spring early ascent NA wall El Cap w/Jim Dunn( Billy was a young punk teenage kid on 
Let us know!