Lou’s News #12 — New Independence Pass Rock Climbing Guidebook
It was a long time ago, maybe too long. But truth be told, I did have a somewhat agro career as a rock climber. It spanned from around 1971 to 1978, something like seven years. Over that time I spent about nine accumulated months in Yosemite, and hundreds of days on the granite crags above Aspen, on Independence Pass. It was there I made lifelong friends of both the rocks and my climbing partners, and developed a love of the central Colorado mountains that’s never diminished.
The nostalgia for those days is palpable, a hurt in my chest, longing for the carefree brush of a pricker bush on an approach, the excitement of making a new route, the angst of youthful days without direction — other than the direction of the rope.
The memories flood back because I hold in my hands the new guidebook for Indy Pass. Titled simply “The Pass,” authored by Jason Brown and Mike Schneiter, the new tome is exactly that, a tome, 320 pages of rich color, essential history, and beauteous routes.
_The Pass_ guidebook, Colorado.
Not only did the authors and their production cohorts at Wolverine Press expend umpteen time and calories on a seemingly endless collection of route photos (with route-lines and reference numbers) but they worked diligently on documenting the area’s history. To that end, they included first ascent credits for nearly every route (yours truly is represented), as well as soliciting ten essays ranging from more recent Pass climbers such as Cam Burns, to ancient history harkening all the way back to Harvey Carter, the man who in the late 1960s began his life-defining project of making Independence Pass a premier climbing area of the West.
They gave me two pages. Here’s an excerpt:
“How about a few barstool tales of those antiquarian times, when the only batteries we carried were in our flashlights, chalk was a new thing, acid wasn’t always lactic, and cams were years away? … A few years rolled. The dark fissures on the right side of Upper Grotto were the perfect place to up our levels. A crack system out of a cave was our first twist of the dial…”
For more, see page 62 of “The Pass.”
Yours truly in 1974, on Independence Pass, no leg loops, upgraded rope, a chalk bag! Thanks Michael Kennedy for the photo.
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META
“Avalanche Dreams” memoir progress report: Revisions and copyediting are moving along, albeit slow. The cover needs a few font tweaks, and I’ve figured out an effective interior design. Stay tuned for the full cover reveal. As for publication: we are shooting for sometime in 2023.
