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RDB
Social climber
wa
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Jan 18, 2012 - 08:48pm PT
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Nick
climber
portland, Oregon
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Jan 18, 2012 - 09:18pm PT
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I met Jack In 77'. For our first climb Jack took me ice/ mixed climbing for the first time on my 19th birthday. We did a couple of climbs on Tahquitz that day and and I learned what it was to be an Alpinist. One of the best days ever. Over the next few years we did many trips together and even had a trip all set to go to Alaska. Jack broke his wrist at Stoney Point a couple of days prior to departure, after that Jack moved to Colorado and we never climbed together again. Jack was a great guy and I will miss our conversations and his friendship. RIP, my friend.
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Bldrjac
Ice climber
Boulder
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Jan 18, 2012 - 09:57pm PT
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Pam here. I just got in late last night after a long journey back from Cuba, where I finally got the news late Monday afternoon. Not sure I'm ready yet to articulate how I feel. I can say that Jack gave me the best 25 years of my life...he was my best friend in all ways. We did an amazing amount together in such a relatively short time. I'll post again later, but I want you all to know how very much I appreciate reading your words. I am soooo glad to read memories of his smile, his passion, his pure, raw enthusiasm for life that at nearly 60 years old showed no signs of flagging. He was really at a place where he was very happy in all aspects of his life...anyway, he loved all of you, and you all made such a positive impact on his life.
Thank you is too small of a word...........I'll write again.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jan 18, 2012 - 10:33pm PT
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Jack Roberts was well-known by the usual suspects hanging around Southern California crags in the 70s. In the mid/late 70s, I'd often see him out at Stony Point and I enjoyed chatting him up because he was fun to talk with. He had a hardened-experience sort of way about him ... but nicely tempered by an easy-going, mellow enthusiasm. While most of my buddies were jovial, raucous out-of-control kids with an unbridled lust for all things climbing, Jack, about seven years our senior, had a more mature bearing: much like that of a well-tempered educator and a seasoned warrior rolled into one package. At one point he worked with autistic kids (which may explain the educator part) ... Talking with him in that casual bouldering setting felt really communal; already the experienced alpinist, he was perfectly willing to take us kids seriously and grant an even playing field in conversation. He brought something of himself forward quite easily. There was a refreshing and inclusive feeling about those little chats we shared and those are my early impressions of Jack.
Here in Boulder I'd find him sometimes at Neptune's, other times at the health club/gym which we both belonged to and it was fun to hear about his continued exploits; some big Alpine face in Alaska with Jack Tackle, a steady career guiding ice, a passion for writing and so forth. This was a member of our tribe with real staying power who, regardless of the frayed physicality we all endure, had found his way and sustained the elusive path of the career climber. Jack was a guiding light in that sense and somebody to root for as most of us wobbled into middle-age.
A couple years ago at our gym I asked him how things were going, asked him, "How is Pam doing?". He paused, took note, and I felt this warmth and gratitude glowing from deep within the man. He thanked me for asking about you Pam and not just in a casual or passing way; but with a genuine bearing and a sincerity that let me know your relationship together was absolutely the most important thing in his life.
We'll miss you Jack. We are thinking of you Pam.
-Roy
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unimog
climber
windy corner in the west
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Jan 18, 2012 - 10:51pm PT
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Pam thinking about you up here in the north as you know he was a gem of a person that will be sorrily missed by all.
sasha
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Bob D'A
Trad climber
Taos, NM
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Jan 18, 2012 - 11:03pm PT
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Pam... you are one of the most beautiful and strongest woman I have ever been around. We love you.
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tarek
climber
berkeley
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Jan 18, 2012 - 11:22pm PT
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Once in a rare while you read about someone who brought such dignity to his climbing as to make it an admirable life. On top of real skills and experience, these rare types usually seem to do that in the way they buoy people around them. There are the usual narcissistic high achievers, and then the rare climbing doers whose generous spirit seems to open a path in front of them. Just an impression from reading this thread. Condolences to family and friends of Jack Roberts.
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Clyde
Mountain climber
Boulder
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Jan 19, 2012 - 12:07am PT
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Part of a Jack post here on the Taco. C'mon folks, more stories and photos!
"One of the ways we had managed to keep the costs of the trip down was by getting a deal on food. This was with S & R food distributors in Los Angeles. They sold us all we wanted at wholesale. One of the major food groups we had at the end of the trip was canned beans. Like LOTS and LOTS of canned beans. We had had an long period of bad weather before our Mt. Lewis attempt and that kept us tent-bound for an entire week. Afterwards we hiked over the col and began our climb. Both of us being dehydrated and filled with beans but not much else. I established the hanging belay for the first pitch just above the glacier on the rock and you began leading the first pitch. After about 80 feet you got major lower intestine pains and had to drop your pants and take a dump which, because I was directly below you, landed completely ON me. There was nothing I could do to get out of the way......Not a great start to the climb. The rest of the time on Lewis was uneventful. "
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shipoopoi
Big Wall climber
oakland
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Jan 19, 2012 - 12:52am PT
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so sorry that this happened. really disturbing to lose a great climber who is known for always coming back. total fukin bummer. steve
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jan 19, 2012 - 01:23am PT
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no stories...
but here are some references
Yosemite Valley FAs
October Country 1971 Darwin Alonso, Jack Roberts
Milk Dud 1971 Jack Roberts
Pulpit Pooper 1972 Jim Orey, Jack Roberts
Revenge of the Nerds 1988 Dave Yerian, Jack Roberts
Mountain
letter Is Dawn Wall Valid? 27-45, 38-10, 50-12, 53-14, 58-16, 63-12, 133-11
Climbing
"Fakin' It," Mt. Lewis, AK, Feature (39) 16
"Far From the Madding Crowd," Mount Huntington, AK, Feature (51) 8
"Reflections in a Golden Stream--The Second Ascent of the Cosmos," El Capitan, Yosemite, Feature (41) 14
Hot Flashes (162) 45
American Alpine Journal
1973: 419, 1974: 145, 146, 147, 1976: 445, 447, 1979: 70-80, 185-86, 1981: 17, 1996: 287, 361, 1997: 80-90, 367, 2002: 82-83, 391
http://c498469.r69.cf2.rackcdn.com/1981/01_kandiko_denali_aaj1981.pdf
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Gilroy
Social climber
Boulderado
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Jan 19, 2012 - 01:50am PT
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Stood outside my office at McGuckin Hardware and chatted with Jack at length about how to rig a better point to clip his tools to his harness clippers just two weeks ago. First time I'd met him, though I'd read most of those AAJ entries Ed listed upthread and wondered for decades who this man might be and could I ever be in the same world as Jack.
We chatted on for 20 minutes about thermometers and other bits of gear and climbing. I never thought it might be my last chance. We never do, but it was good. Condolences to Pam and all his myriad friends and aquaintances. Goodbye to a man of substance, persistence and imagination.
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MarkWestman
Trad climber
Talkeetna, Alaska
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Jan 19, 2012 - 02:09am PT
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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.
Here's some shots of it. The thing I find most astonishing, and which I had to clarify with Jack himself, is that their line through the rock wall (which is almost 4000 feet tall by the way, with another 4000 feet of steep snow and ice above that) did not take the more obvious line of least resistance to the right (which is the line of the 1983 Denali Diamond route, another testpiece).
Standing at the base of a completely unclimbed wall, I would imagine most climbers would have taken the exceedingly obvious ice ramps but Jack and Simon went straight up the steep rock to the left instead. They were evidently not looking for the easiest way up! Proud.
An authentic and enduring legacy will lie not nearly so much in long faded footsteps on walls such as these, but in the depth and outreaching effect of the relationships forged in one's life. It's clear from the quality and quantity of the memories being posted here, and from my own too-brief encounters with the man, that Jack Roberts went out of here a true winner. Cheers, Jack.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jan 19, 2012 - 10:07am PT
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Small snippets & interactions with Jack:
Right about 1977 or 78, Jeff Sewell, John Frericks and I were bouldering out at Stony when John fell to the ground on his arm and fractured something. Jack threw us all in his skimpy yellow Datsun B210 and off we went to the local clinic. As it turns out, the attending nurse was Tony Yaniro's mom. She more or less knew what Tony was up to but amongst the three of us still standing, glances were exchanged and reports toned down, calibrated if you will, in terms of the typical teenager’s antics out there on the stone.
Somewhere in the 90s I asked Jack how his climbing was going, to which he demurred, "I have a thin veil of soft tissue health between me and not climbing at all." … "Just not that talented a rock climber anyhow, never have been, I guess". I left that last bit alone and thought maybe he was referring to the effects of his missing toes or, given his standard in the mountains I figured he was probably making some reference to his equivalency on rock, like perhaps he wasn't doing 5.12 back when Tobin Sorensen was hitting it. If you look at Brass Nut’s photos up thread, you can deduce he was just … uh, just a ho-hum average rock climber at the time of my question.
Jack was a designer/sponsored climber for Osprey. He once came to my sewing shop outside of Eldorado Springs looking for some custom reworks to one of their packs: namely vertical ice ax tubes and waist belt gear loops. I made some, um, "executive decisions” concerning the placement and design of said items and pretty much screwed the pooch all the way around. He paid me anyway, but that was the last time he came to my shop!
After that, he took a turn in his choice of personal tailor:
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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Jan 19, 2012 - 11:51am PT
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did'nt get the chance to meet jack but he was one of the first to comment on the Stoney thread.
sorry to hear about his accident.
RIP Jack
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running on MT
Mountain climber
Winthrop, WA
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Jan 19, 2012 - 01:57pm PT
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I'm feeling awfully gut shot this week. I just got the word of Jack's passing after Peter Minksy's memorial on Sunday.
I grew up climbing with Jack during the old Stoney Point days.
Jack was the gent that I did most of my hard aid work in the Valley. He had 2nd ascents of Tangerine Trip, Mescalito, the Shield, Zodiac, Tis-sa-ack and Cosmos. I left the Valley for Peru in '80, and he headed north to the North Cascades, Canada, and Alaska. We reunited to spend the fall and winter season of 83-84 climbing in the Solo Khumbu, and the Annapurna ranges. He went on to write Colorado Ice in 2005, and was a great friend. Between him and John Bachar who I climbed with since '71, I felt like I was one of the luckiest guys in Valley, and the world.
Now they are both gone, and I feel lost. We never know when our last meeting with our friends will be.
My deepest condolences to Pam, Jack's family, and all his friends. I'll say a puja for all at sunset in remembrance of his shining light.
I wish Jack all the best on his new Adventure in the Next Realm, and I'll look for the sparkle in his eye when I cross the final bergshrund.
Peace of Mind, Body and Soul to All.
Marcus Taylor
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Brunosafari
Boulder climber
OR
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Jan 19, 2012 - 03:04pm PT
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[photoid=234218]
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AKDOG
Mountain climber
Anchorage, AK
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Jan 19, 2012 - 03:18pm PT
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Condolences to all his family and friends
Jack was already a southern cal legend when I started climbing in the late seventies and we would run into him at Stoney Point and JT. Was there for the “you’re a hard man Jack” gobbie, along with the goobie, Reinhart Karl was introducing some of us to the Munter hitch and to prove how great it was, if you fell off or wanted to lower off the top, Reinhart would ask you how many “meters” you wanted and then drop you free fall that distance before the belay caught. Reinhart unfortunately died later in the Himalayas.
Many years later I ran into Jack again at the Kahiltna base while waiting to fly out of the Alaska range. He and his partner has just had to bail off the Moonflower because the weather was too hot and water was running down the route in places. He had a fire inside and was chomping at the bit, to get on another climb before he had to head back to Colorado.
One of his many great Alaska climbs was the Timeless Face route on the North Face of Mt. Huntington, which he climbed in 1978. This summer I had a camp on the West Fork of the Ruth across the north face. Scary and beautiful for a putz like me just to look at.
RIP
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Hellie
climber
Oceanside
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Jan 19, 2012 - 04:14pm PT
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I met Jack in 1982. I have shed many tears since I heard the news, and a huge flood of memories came back. He taught me to climb, and brought to me nature, the mountains and many adventures - Santa Monica, the Sierras, Baja, Joshua Tree, Tahquitz, Canyonlands, Canada, the Northwest, Southeast Asia, England, and Boulder. The climbing, backpacking, hiking, camping, backcountry skiing, cycling, and travelling we did all became passions of mine. These are travels and adventures I will never forget and thank you Jack for opening up this world to me. My heart goes out to you Pam.
-Heather Cohen
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TYeary
Social climber
State of decay
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Jan 19, 2012 - 04:40pm PT
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RIP Jack. We hadn't crossed paths since those early years, Dean spoke of above. But I remember you. I remember the twinkle in your eyes. Safe travels my friend.
TY
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