Who is the most famous climber you have ever met? What circumstances?

I was just starting school at Western State College and my climbing mentor Chuck Tolton took me over to meet Jeff Lowe at the little place he had in Gunnison. The place looked like the storage backroom of a climbing store. We sat and talked and he showed us pictures of some crazy stuff he had been doing up in the Tetons. Later, I ended up with his Pentax Spotmatic, it supposedly was the one that he used to take the famous pictures of the Black Ice Couloir on the Grand.

Those climbing festivals are a ton of fun and you get to chat with some of the big names. I took some kids to the one at Rumney, NH this fall. It poured all day Friday so they canceled all the events. We went to the crag anyway and found dry stuff to throw ourselves at all day. In the evening we chatted with the big dogs and they were upset that everyone told them it would be wet and they could have climbed with us on dry stuff if they wanted. The kids were pumped to get signatures from all the guys they see in their videos.

They were all very cool and stuff, but you've got to remember, they're just people like you and me who excel at their profession. I'm sure they've got their flaws and failures. I try not to idolize sports figures too much. I mean, look at Michael Phelps. Everyone can fall with one stupid mistake. People who change the world for the better, those are the folks I want to emulate. If I never send a 5.hard, I'm okay with that.

Guy Lacelle

some guy named dean, we ran a couple laps on some arch in utard.

Maybe not as well known, but I met Harvey Carter @ Independance Pass one summer. It was pretty neat. I was rapping down from the Grotto Wall Traverse and saw this "old timer" walking around the base. We got to talking and some of the things he was saying lead me to believe he knew a lot more about climbing. Some of the stories were famliar to me. I then asked his name and low and behold. We chatted for about 2 hours. I listened more like it. Then it was off to climb another one of his climbs Twin Cracks.

I'm with Adam Catalano. I don't idealize sports people. I don't really watch any sports! I've met with, trained with, worked with people who either put their lives on the line everyday or those that make a difference in some other way such as teachers. That's not to say their aren't sports figures out there who have helped make a difference.

It was neat meeting a guy who claims roughly 5000 first ascents, has fingers like sausages, thinks chalk is aid, and in his 70's or 80's still climbs hard.

Harvey Carter once tried to get me to marry his daughter...on her wedding day no less!

Randy Puro and its a funny story, climbing at main cliff on underdog in rumney when someone approached us and asked to see the guide book, we chatted for a while i point him in the direction of good .10s and .11s and off he went. the next day saw him and Courtney his girlfriend(?) at the pound where me and my buddy were working this V2 so we chatted with them again, and his girlfriend actually didn't flash the problem which is shocking because i have seen video parts of her sending hard boulder problems, and the took off again... now fast forward a couple days and we throw on dosage 4 the swizzy part and guess who we see sending hard... randy puro... it makes sense now that he wasn't all that interested in .10s and ..11s but that's my encounter with a famous climbing...

I've met and climbed with lots of famous climbers but was truly in awe when I met Cesare Maestri in Italy a couple years ago.

Just hang out at the Boulder Rock Club. I've seen, but not necessarily talked with: Roger Briggs, Lynn Hill, Robyn Erbesfeld, Emily Harrington, Katie Brown, Tommy Caldwell, Beth Rodden, Mike Caldwell, Jim Erickson, Jim Logan, John Krakauer, Chip Chase, Paul Sibley. And that was just this week ;-)

One day in Boulder,
Royal Robbins nearly hit me on my bike in downtown Boulder, we exchanged looks.
Later that afternoon, we soloed the First Flatiron and kept the same pace.
Later that night, I was his wine steward at a Boulder Restaurant, he enjoyed a nice Rioja.

Mark Nelson wrote:some guy named dean,

Similar to previous sightings in BRC, Spot, etc.

I did meet Michael Reardon in Eldo shortly before he passed away.

Sue Nott
Pete Takeda
Jack Tackle, who taught my wife to climb.
Ines Papert

I met katie brown in the atl airpory about twelve years ago just after she had crushed the xgames. I was with my parents heading to colo for the first time to climb. I had a draw hanging from my pack and katies mom asked me whether I was a climber. I replied yes, I mostly climb trad. Katie and her mom were really interested in this because at the time they were pretty much solid sportos. We chatted for a long time and then my dad asks katie, did you watch the xgames? She shyly replied 'I won at them'. Being the arrogant 16 year old that I was I took this comment with a grain of salt. After boarding the plane I open up my issue of climbing to a la sportiva ad. Lo and behold there is a pic of katie climbing at rrg. I was blown away. We had some brief correspondences after. She actualy sent me a postcard from arco italy one year. Pretty cool. I'd love to run into her sometime, she's turned into a beautiful woman and seriously badass trad climber.

"celebrities" in the climbing world are a bit more accessible that in other sports. I had one encounter that was hilarious, though.

A friend and I had just topped out Fine Jade, and were relaxing at the top, when a helicopter dropped by and unloaded a guy and a bunch of gear. We chatted with him for a while, he was really friendly, obviously a climber. Eventually we realized it was Jay Smith.

Anyway, I asked him what he was doing up there, and he just said "rigging for a music video." I asked for whom, he said "Rolling Stones." I'm a Stones fan, and was totally psyched. For the next week, I sat on my porch up the road in Castleton with binoculars, waiting to catch a glimpse of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards on top of the Rectory; it never happened.

Turns out that he was rigging for an adventure race, Primal Quest or something. The location and course of the race was supposed to be top secret; so he had told us the music video fib. Funny.

I've got to fall off the "non-posting" wagon for this one; does it make me insecure? Kor, Fowler,Skinner, Wald, Bridwell, Osius, Erickson,Briggs,Logan,Lowe(Alex),Kauk,Shneider,Collins,Horan(don't tell him he's on this list),John Gill(the Other one )Guerin,Garribotti,Miller,Long,Frost,Hill,Erbesfeld-Raboutou,Sibley,Copeland,Griffith,Psycho Kenny,Bensman,Whitehouse,Hare,Rosholt,Hersey,Ruckgaber,Barber,Webster...the ones that come to mind.Oh wait-Hershoff,Dieckhoff,Rolofson,Roberts,Sharp,Rossiter,Osman,Herbertx2,Middendorf,don't want any feelings hurt. Caylor, yeah you too.Edlinger,Moffet,Gore,Coyne,Dunn,Franklin..I'm doing paperwork, and names keep coming,Patenaude,Decker,Herr...(grouped together!)Wagner,Levine,Campbell,Sciolino,Daly,Lantz. Man, it goes on and on; what do I have to do to become famous?!? But finally, the biggest honor of my life was dissing Anal Raper on this very web site.

Not the most famous climber I have met but I enjoy the story.

A friend and I were climbing a Taquitz having a great day doing some of the classic moderates. We then decided to do some shorter cragging type routes. That day I had my dog with me and she is usually a good crag dog, but I decided to tie her up so as not to worry about her while I was belaying my partner on a climb. When my dog is tied up she tends to get startled if people are approaching in a very fast pace. As I'm belaying my partner my dog lets out a couple of barks and I look towards her direction and I see a long blond haired rocker looking fellow trotting down the trail at a fast and brisk pace. As the this climber came running down next to my dog, my dog then preceded to nip at his feet as he quickly passed by. This climber then turned to face my dog and stated to her face "If you bite me I will bite you back" in a very loud and humorous way. This climber was in fact Micheal Reardon out for a day of soloing at Taquitz. My partner and then began to have some friendly conversation with Micheal. He was super friendly and so full of energy and excited to share stories and conversation. He went on to tell us about how excited he was to be traveling to Ireland in a week or two to do some climbing. Unfortunately that is the same trip that he did not return from. I guess I can say that I'm glad to have met such a positive soul who shared his enthusiasm for climbing with anyone that he met.

Had the privilege of meeting Warren Harding after a slideshow at Wilson's back in '01 I think. super-good guy. Gotta say i was a bit star-struck.

Met Chris Sharma and Lisa Rands out at the Bardini Boulders in Bishop. Peter Mortimer was filming Rands on 'This side of Paradise'. She didn't send the day I was there, but she gave it some impressive go's. Sharma was working beta on the huge v13 on the other side of the boulder. He wasn't climbing much, just wandering around. Both of them were real nice, very mellow, just hangin out.

I met Michael Reardon in J-Tree, also at Intersection Rock, also after free-soloing 'Right Ski Track'- about 4 times in a row. I could tell it was him right away, wearing his ever-present red shirt and long blonde hair. I sat on my truck's tailgate and watched in awe as he floated up and down, time after time. We were the only two parked in the parking lot, late afternoon. I strolled over and shook his hand after he was finished. He asked me what my climbing plans were for the week and he hit the road.

Ran into Dave Graham a bunch of times back east back in the day. Back when he was putting up the hard stuff at Pawtuckaway and Rumney.

I see Croft and Bachar around town a bunch, met them each. Good guys.

Stood in line right behind Britney Griffiths at the market in Yosemite Valley. Didn't dare say anything, all I could do was stare straight ahead (and slightly down) and play it cool. Damn she is fine.

Ran into Fred Beckey at the Gunks. At that point I didn't even know he was famous.

I ran into John Korfmacher once. He was the coolest.