Jeff Batten (Juan de Fuca) Memorial Thread

I first met Jeff at Boulder 2 at Stoney Point in 1986. I was 14 years old and had been climbing for about two months....obsessively. Jeff could hike the Crowd Pleaser problem like it was nothing....something few Stoneyites ever really got wired. He was at his prime, and knew Yosemite was the sh#t. So he got interested in climbing the Regular Route on Half Dome. We talked a few times, and he was open to going up there with this skinny 14-year-old kid who had barely a few months of climbing under his belt. So he came over to meet my parents and the trip was on.

We hiked all day up the tourist trail and arrived at the gloriously intimidating base of Half Dome around dusk. There we ran into four other parties all preparing to blast in the morning. They sorta laughed at us and told us we were fifth in line. Well, Jeff didn't like the sound of that, and so he declared that we would start climbing right then. This one dude named Mike was on SAR and got pretty huffy about this, telling him that it wasn't cool with him, like it was against the rules to climb at night and he was the the rule enforcer. Batten didn't give a f!!!! He kinda brushed him off and up we went. On the third pitch ledge we rested for a half an hour and watched this wall rat chew on some old sardine cans. It was cold so we slowly continued on. We hit the slopey pitch 6 ledge at dawn. We climbed all day the next day without any rest or sleep. All four other parties bailed, the highest one around that slopey pitch 6 ledge. I jumared every pitch and Batten led, occasionally he'd haul and give me a break from jugging with the 20 pound pack. The chimneys sucked ass. At dusk we arrived on the giant foot-thick flake a pitch below Big Sandy. We draped ourselves over it, arms and legs dangling on either side of the flake, and rested for a couple of hours. We pushed on to Big Sandy by about 3 am. Finally a bivy ledge. We opened our pack to discover that Jeff's two beers we had hauled up (both for him 'cause I was only 14) had exploded and all of our warm clothes were beer-soaked and stinky. We spent the next few hours cuddling to stay warm, the only time in my climbing career that I have needed to spoon with a partner. The next morning Batten led us to the top, sunny and glorious summit of Half Dome. We hiked down casual style, and in the end it was a 65-hour push with about 4 hours of sleep.

The whole experience made me feel invincible, and soon I would return to link Half Dome with the West Face of the Captain. Last year, 25 years later, as I was completing a life's dream of doing the Nose/Half Dome link-up, I reflected on my first ascent with Jeff Batten: his openness, his brash and raw attitude, his belief in a 14-year-old boy. Thank you, Jeff. It was only one route, but it was as pure as the giant glacier that swept us all away down this granite stream. Thanks for the love.

Andy Puhvel

I never knew you
But then who really did?
If you were at all like me
You managed to keep yourself hid
A patchwork quilt of a life
Memories embroidered
On your soul

Warren Haynes

I still think about Batten. I miss him.

DMT