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

Yeah, The Larry, You're one of them! It's been awhile. Still in Moab?

I've climbed with these guys.

Bill Price.

Fred Beckey.

Warren Harding.

Dave Yerian.

Al Swanson.

Todd Gordon.

Paul Crawford.

Dan Osman.

Rick Cashner.
It would take days to list them all.

Had the pleasure of meeting Alex Honnold while climbing Directissima at the Gunks yesterday, 4/9/11. I believe he was there with a film crew from 60 minutes. I was seconding the arete pitch of Directissima while Alex was soloing the first pitch of High Exposure. He, my climbing partner and I hung out at the party ledge for 10 minutes or so, shooting the breeze about his travels and the Gunks. He then went ahead and soloed the final pitch of High Exposure and then downclimbed it. On my suggestion, he downclimbed Directissima- with the final words of "if I peel off, I'm blaming you!" Obviously, he made it down just fine.

Seemed like a really cool guy. Witnessing him solo the last pitch of High E was amazing and has certainly been the highlight of my climbing career.

I had the pleasure of chatting with Dr. Tom Hornbein last night
at the Mountaineering Hall of Excellence Gala in Golden, and also
with Royal Robbins there. Oh, I've also chatted with Caylor at
one of the MP happy hours. Now that was special!!!!

The quickdraw thief at Smith, asshole HAHA

I met Waren Harding at the Mountain Room Bar in Yosemite in the early 70's and I had a drink with him. I also watch Ron Kauk climbing solo Walk on the Wild Side at Joshua Tree, CA. I use to watch Lynn Hill climb at Lake Parris in Southern California when she was young.

I think I saw Ron Kauk at mt Woodson once and Christian Griffith gave me a spot on three star arete at Heuco. One time at Tuolomne, while sitting at the belay after the open book pitch on Stately Pleasure Dome, these two guys soloed past us, literally walking up the dome. One was none other than TM Herbert, the Yosemite legend.
Also got meet John Sherman in Flagstaff. My friends and I showed him around Lake Mary while he was researching for Stone Crusade.

Jonny Copp took my profile pic. I had no idea it was him until he emailed me the photo months later. I'm wearing his bright red vest because he said it would make the photo pop more:) Very nice guy...proceeded to cruise Crack of Doom shortly after.

Derek Hersey climbed past me, free solo, way up on the Yellow Spur. I was crapping in my pants, he was completely calm and all smiles. We drank Sheaf Stout that night, lots of it.

I met Colonel Sanders from Kentucky Fried Chicken at the Charlotte airport. He was wearing that crazy white suit and hanging out with his agent. I was like 5 and sitting there trying to work out this Rubix Cube when my mom said, "Go talk to that guy Jeff." So I walked right up to him and said, "Hey Mister help me out with this thing will yeah?" So we hung out for a while trying to figure that Rubix Cube out.

What's he got to do with climbing? Nothing, but I love fried chicken and could care less about a famous climber. He was far more interesting than Peter Croft's slide show at Foster Falls, TN. I'm far more interested in meeting the man that revolutionized fried chicken and buscuits and turning it into a fast-food chain. Plus I'm sure he used to crush out at the Red River Gorge before it became so popular.

I was relaxing on a rock right next to the entrance to a wall at Rifle one day, about a month into a road trip, when an older woman and a younger girl walked up. I'm pretty sure I heard the woman comment that something smelled bad. I realized I had my arms above my head, unleashing my smelly pits upon the world. I quickly tucked them away and didn't say anything (I don't think they'd located the source yet...)

Turns out it was Lynn Hill.

Ran onto Ed Viesturs on Everest as I was heading up the Western CWM and he was heading down.

Prior to that on the same trip Chris Bonnington wandered into our base camp. Pretty cool.

Hi Allen Hill, I just caught that remark page 9. Okay.

My husband is the most famous climber I know.

He left home when he was 16 and built trail in Yosemite in the mid seventies and that was the start of that.

They are not easy to live with and do not take well to civilization.

Allen Hill wrote:Jean, what are you talking about? Your married to Doug! Talk about famous. Tell him the blue house in Gunnison is for sale! I think of him often.

Hey Allen, is the blue house also the rainbow house? Because we live in a blue house in Gunnison but it gets called the rainbow house for some reason.

I've run into a few big names here and there...but after last weekend's AAC induction dinner, I've now had the opportunity to shake hands with Royal Robbins and Tom Hornbein. Dr. Tom, as I expected, gave a funny and enjoyable presentation; Royal, to my surprise, was also funny and even kinda modest. They are both very sharp characters despite their age.

IMO one of the great things about climbing, and one of the things that differentiates our pursuit from other, more popular sports, is that our heroes are accessible. Even the most famous spend a lot of time rubbing elbows with us punters, either on the mountain or in the pub afterwards. If you're a ball-sports aficionado, you're never going to play ball with Alex Rodriguez or Michael Jordan or Barry Sanders, and you're not going to run into them at the bar either...

I'm far more interested in meeting the man that revolutionized fried chicken and buscuits and turning it into a fast-food chain. Plus I'm sure he used to crush out at the Red River Gorge before it became so popular.

That's funny right there. Don't forget the chihuahua from Taco bell, I'd bet he could give a squirrel a run for his money in Animal kingdom of Climbing. Seriously though, met Paul Piana and Todd Skinner at wild Iris in Lander while climbing next to them. Todd of course was working his 5.14a 'Throwing the Houlihan' project. Real guys you could chew the fat with. Rest his soul...

I met Harvey Carter once. I was rapping off of one of his climbs (Twin Cracks). I noticed this ole timer walking around the base looking up at me. When I got down he started talking to me and asking me questions. I knew he knew more than he let on. He then started telling me some stories about training the Army. I then asked him his name and he told me.
Spent about 2 hours talking to him after that. Well he spent 2 hours talking, I pretty much listened. He's got big sausage fingers. Told when he first led twin crack he placed 1 piton on the first pitch. I told him with fingers like his I probably would have done the same! According to him he's got 5,000 first ascents! Says he's got the book at his house to prove it.

Living in CO you never know who you will run into. I always tell my kids to not spray how good they are (or think they are) because you never know who is climbing next to you. We have run into a lot of folks and every single one has been very nice and encouraging. We have run into Carlo Traversi, Alex Puccio and some guys who bolted a good bit of Clear Creek Canyon. All have been way cool.

When I first moved out to Ft. Collins and didn't know anybody, I signed up for a climbing class through CSU. Since nobody else signed up I got a day of private guiding by Craig Lueben for $25.00. I was more scared on the drive to Combat Rock than on the actual climb.

Tenzing Norgay.
Darjeeling, West Bengal, India
1957

On family vacation in Darjeeling, my mother wanted to meet Tenzing. We were invited to visit him at his home in Darjeeling. A favorite family memento is our picture of Tenzing and his wife with our family standing on his porch. Though six years old at the time, I have a distinct memory of my mother talking to Tenzing in his living room. I stood beside mother as she asked him, "What did it feel like to stand on the top of the world?" He froze in awkward silence, unsure what to say. I'm not sure he actually answered. I sensed he did not know what to say that would make sense, be real and be understandable. He knew the significance of Tenzing when we made the visit. My mother was drawn as an armchair mountaineer to seek out her interview with Tenzing and to bask in vicarious glory, trying to take in some sense of the feelings of mountaineering. Whatever curiosity she had about moutaineering and climbing translated in my lifetime into actual practice. Did this meeting have anything to do with my attraction to the sport? I can't say for sure.

I wonder how many MPers will know who Tenzing is without looking him up on Wikipedia. Fess up it you had to do the research. It will add to the fun.