Janette Heung

The purpose of this writing is to try to pry some levity out of the trip to the Winds that took Janette's life. I want to remember her as a badass woman who was doing what she loved.

Janette and I met one late afternoon inside of Neptune Mountaineering in Boulder, CO. I had responded to her Mountain Project post about looking for a partner for the Wind River Range in Wyoming. Neither of us had been there before so we were giddy at the thought of finally getting out there and seeing what all of the fuss was about. She was inside looking at some new approach shoes and I needed to get some 2m cord for my new approach shoes coincidentally. From the get go I could tell Janette was passionate and driven about the mountains. She told me she was more into ice than rock climbing and, being that rock climbing is 90% mental and ice climbers are 100% mental, I thought that'd be just fine. We talked routes, logisitics, food prep, how many days, move camp once to get to Haystack or just stay in the cirque, et cetera. I am an avid talker and a jittery conversationalist but Janette seemed to be the bubblier of the two of us. We settled on the far off date of the very next day to leave for a six day long trip to the Cirque of the Towers in the Wind River Range in Wyoming. Boyfriend Carl would be joining for the trip but not climbing and, being that my van only had two seat belts (but plenty of seating), we would be taking his Subaru. Janette's charm would soon be known by the fact that I had agreed to getting a hotel room for the three of us, something a low-life van person such as myself is not easily convinced to do.

Janette flew off as fast as she came to try to fit a bike ride in before sunset and I turned my van upside down for all of the accoutrements of camping. Travel life makes long-lasting friendship difficult so I take great joy in the beginning of a new friendship. I could already tell that Janette was no stranger to making fast friends. We texted a few more details and I spent the next morning packing. My rope, her tagline. My totems, her ultralights. How big of a pack do I need? How big of a pack you got?

That afternoon I drove over to Janette's place to pick her up. I parked in the street and walked into a full-blown yardsale junk show hilarity. We are living in an age of interdisclplinary sports but that girl had a finger in every pie. Packed for glacier travel, muddy trail slogs, micro camming, bike shorts, summit scramble (a breakfast food), and everything in between, it was the sugar snap peas and baby carrots that impressed me most. It took us both to get one roll in the dyneema before clipping it closed, the plastic buckle groaning in protest.

We made for Carl's, our dedicated hiking guide, being that he had been in the cirque some years before. I didn't know what to expect of a man who dates an Ice climber chick but doesn't ice climb himself. I parallel parked my van between two vans of greater value and jumped out. The wizardly and charming Carl appeared and greeted me wholesomely with a great smile perched within a wiry beard like a bird in a bush. I could tell all three of our enthusiasms would make for a good trip. Bags packed and we're off like a bat out of hell. Sorta.

Carl's Subie chastises you in a beeping language if you veer out of the lanes. We took turns driving carefully, the way bats really do navigate, with sounds warning of nearby boundaries. Janette told me of her work in the outdoor community and how its intersection with Public Health could really change the world. Carl explained some of the sorcery of satelites to us. I gabbed about absolutely nothing for far too long. Later, we feasted on thai food. Janette got tofu so then Carl and I got tofu. None of us are vegetarians and, in fact, were each smuggling a separate salami into the cirque for later nibbling. Janette managed to find a hotel for us while naming off dozens of water ice 5s she'd cranked up. I told her that where I'm from around Philadelphia, Water Ice is a nice summertime treat also known as Italian Ice. We rolled into a hotel in a different time zone and set our alarms unknowingly.

The next morning we rattled on and reached the trailhead. We moved our toothbrushes from our small packs to our big packs and walked exactly six miles before stopping. The trail became a slough as we guessed whether or not we were at the high point yet before dropping into the cirque. Conversation turned from Janette's worldly travel to panting while we gained Jackass Pass. Another lake invented itself as, I could swear, the Earth before us grew an extra mile that wasn't on the map before and soon we were on the upslope of the saddle that accesses the cirque. When we crested over and looked at the Cirque of the Towers there were no words. In the cradle of a granite cathedral we stomped vaguely downhill towards some tents to find a temporary home.

We set up camp and ate astronaut dinners out of aluminum-lined bags and talked about books. Carl would be reading a primer on philosophy the next day while Janette and I would climb the Northeast Face of Pingora. Carl would also hike to Texas Pass, as he did some years ago, and try to spot us on the sky line from the north. Soon the sun set and we watched the least shy stars poke through the firmament before the greedy full moon rose and washed it all out. Janette coyly whipped out her phone and identified Saturn and Jupiter to the south, right between Warrior I and Warrior II. Over the next few days it was always time for dessert when those two planets became visible between those towers. We laid our heads on our makeshift pillows and drifted off, not to sleep but to restless limbo, as atitude would dictate on night one.

Dawn's buttcrack. We marched off to Pingora, eager. Janette, the type of climber who, if ever felt any stress, presented on the surface as a smooth operator during the pitch 1 traverse. I followed that pitch thinking she was fearless. "A little interesting downclimb here," she chirps from the relative safety of the anchor, as I friction down to join her wondering what grade we're really climbing. We made some friends at the bottom, and, being than Janette and I were lickity split, didn't see them until some hours later when we were already down eating dinner. Janette was a confident leader but what impressed me more was how fast she followed my pitches. The only time I saw her think twice was when a hobnobbing swoop of swifts enjoyed their morning dive right past us at mach speed. We scampered up Pingora, swinging leads, and topped out on Sept. 3rd around 1:30pm. For about an hour we were up there enjoying the summit with absolutely no one around, an absolutely transcendent feeling on such a popular peak. Pingora is the Shoshone word for inacessible peak. In more ways than one that day felt outside the mortal realm of man. On the summit, ironically, we were grounded again and appeased our egos by taking selfies with her better phone and my slightly longer arm. We worked our way down and had campfire revelry without the fire and got a run down from Carl of the world's earliest philosophers. I made rice pudding with dried coconut milk. Carl and Janette ate it, probably out of pure charity, and we were soon joined by Saturn and Jupiter. Tonight, real sleep. Tomorrow, Wolfshead.

(Continued from above)

Dawn's majestic buttcrack, again. We pitied some early morning headlamps already high on Pingora, built ourselves up with caffeine and oats, and headed north to Tiger tower, our way up to the East Ridge of Wolfshead. Carl would join us this morning and see what Cirque lake had to offer and, godwilling, gain the pass between Wolfshead and Overhanging tower and give us a report on the next valley over. We split up at the gully up Tiger tower and were off. Janette's specialty is Ice. Mine is Rock shenanigans. But the East ridge of Wolfshead is, simply put, adventuring. People compare it to Matthes Crest in California but, in retrospect, I'd liken it to something out of The Magic Schoolbus. Imagine you are shrunken down to the size of an ant and your task is to meander, counterweight, and tunnel this way and that way, the way an ant crawls without apparent respect for gravity, along fins making up the ridge, chimneys going through the ridge, clever downclimbs circumnavigating the rounded towers, and delicate traverses along blocky ledges. There are route finding challenges and the unique choice of whether to hand-traverse or foot-traverse some of the incipient cracks leading through the maze. Its like a jungle gym more than a rock climb and its every bit aventure the whole day. Its titillating the whole way but its never dangerous or too difficult so we spent the day like daredevil kids walking a known path but feeling like real explorers. On the way down we ran into someone Janette knew. She knew a lot of people who were in the cirque that time, a testament to the vast constellation that is that woman. We walked the planks of the descent trails and finally gained the pass Carl had quested for many hours ago. My platypus had broken early on in the day so all day long Janette had been giving me sips from her Nalgene. Together we each only had about a litre of water that day so we held a great celebration at cirque lake and I repaid the day's favor by treating water for us until we were whole again. We clammored down to camp and sung the mountain's praise to Carl who listened intently. Sleep came naturally. 

Day three, rage time. We settled on East face of Pingora, Left Side Cracks. I was tired as shoe leather and Janette showed no signs of slowing down. We took independent crack lines up and past a party of three that were moving at the pace of a party of three for a table at Applebee's. We lost track of which pitch we were climbing and Janette styled the wide crack crux, something reserved usually for beefeaters such as myself. We swung massive pitch lengths and simulclimbed and chomped down 1,600ft of vertical in about 8 large bites. We topped out at 1:30 and no one was behind us. We joined some friends we made along the way at the top. I was surprised, as this was the first day we did not see someone at the top of a climb that Janette knew and had shared some fun with in some far off land before. We were on the ledges leading to the descent when she refused to unrope. There was a 25 foot, low angle hand crack leading just higher. It was superfluous because we'd have to reverse the gain in order to rap. Doesn't matter, we're climbing the East side Cracks right? And if that's wasn't enough, when she got to the top of that mountain she just kept on climbing. 

Josh Digs wrote:

party of three that were moving at the pace of a party of three for a table at Applebee's

Part of the Applebee's crew here - we were 100% chilling, snacking, and enjoying our time on the mountain. 

While I didn't know Janette personally, I have several friends who were friends with Janette. I started climbing in 2014 after moving to Colorado and my co-worker, who knew Janette professionally, had mentioned Janette's ice and rock climbing accomplishments. I followed along as she traveled the world and put up new ice routes. She was so awe-inspiring both in the mountains and in her career. It made perfect sense that she was selected to be the Deputy Director of the newly formed Colorado Office of Outdoor Recreation back in the day. Janette truly knew how to "work hard, play hard". This is a devastating loss for her family, friends, and the climbing community. If anyone needs resources to help process this loss, please check out the Climbing Grief Fund. 

Thank you for starting this thread. I look forward to reading the stories of Janette and all the quirky and fun situations that seemed to follow her.

I will never forget our trip to Hyalite in 2015... more the return trip, when I was awoken while soundly sleeping in the passenger seat, to the sounds of a slightly panicked J, lamenting not stopping for gas at the last spot shown on the navigation system. The suspense of watching, as the "Range To Empty" counted down and the miles slowly ticked by. 17 miles north of Sheridan, WY, we crossed into unknown territory, as to our mutual horror, the number finally landed at "0".

"At least we were on an ice climbing trip, right? We have all the puffies and gloves and headlamps, so we can make the walk, right?." we chuckled, both secretly dreading the idea of hiking for however many miles it would be, on I-25, late at night, in late December, in f***ing Nowhereville Wyoming.

I remember almost falling out of the car laughing, when she nervously leaned forward and turned the radio off, as if it would extend the mileage for one final uphill section of highway, but I also had given in to the theory of "anything that gets us closer!". We drove the next handful of miles, for what seemed like hours, willing the digital "0" to suddenly tick back up to "3", heck! we'd even settle for a 2 or 1! until somehow the lights of Sheridan, miraculously appeared on the horizon. "Do NOT miss this exit, J!" we both cracked up, as we coasted down the off-ramp and into the gas station.

We had briefly met before, but that trip was the first time we really spent any time together, and I will always be grateful for the ~20 hours of 1-on-1 time we spent on the drive up and back. We connected through hours of deep and intentional conversation, and she was an amazing and supportive friend, from day 1.

Thank you, Janette, for being the light you were. I will always carry a piece of that light when I'm in the hills.

I'm heartsick after hearing the news.

I met Janette on the MIT outing club email list when she was looking for a climbing partner for a cold three day weekend in November. Janette was based in Boulder Colorado those days. She was just passing through the northeast for some job training and she wanted to make the most of the time. Both myself and Mark Simon took her up on the offer.

Hello climbing community, 

I am not a climber, I'm a conservationist and have worked with Janette over the last five years.  She was a super volunteer, a super networker and a super committed conservationist.  Janette represented The Nature Conservancy's Young Professionals 13ers Advisory Council on our Chapter Board of Trustees on the Urban Conservation Committee.  She showed up in a way that I have not seen before in my years of managing volunteer relationships.  Her enthusiasm to connect conservationists and the outdoor rec community, especially the climbing world was so powerful.  If feels so strange to be writing this note.  I'll miss Janette dearly and her unwavering commitment to living life to the fullest.  Rest easy, Janette, you will be so missed. I will light my candle for you, sweet friend and feel your light burn bright.

There will be a Memorial Service held for Janette in Boulder on September 16th. Please find more information here: facebook.com/events/1461754…

Katie, thank you for sharing with the climbing community. Your thoughts mean a lot! I met Janette this past December. When I was climbing late at BRC per usual, I ran into our mutual friend Sam, and he said, "you should met my friend Janette!" I look up to see this bad-ass Asian girl in her classic purple tank being lowered after crushing an overhung route. She was glowing, she was always glowing, even after a hard climb where I'd be red with exhaustion, she would still be smiling that big smile of hers, and staring into your soul with those dark, expressive, twinkling eyes that were always lined perfectly. She extended her hand, and we sealed our friendship.

I was actually an hour late to our first climbing date. After a few failed attempts to align our schedule for skiing, we made plans to climb after work a few weeks later. Somehow, I completely spaced it on December 18th. I was supposed to meet her at 6:30pm, but I went home and lounged around feeling like it was my usual post-work evening--lounge, food, food coma, then get to the gym at 9/9:30. I get her text at 6:45, "hey, you here? I'm climbing now" I apologized over text and changed and rushed over as quickly as I could. Janette, who seems to know every climber in Boulder was climbing with another group of her friends from Golden. I joined in, and she stayed with me to finish our session after her friends left for Rayback. Ever the people connector, she invited me to join her friends at rayback after climbing. I thought this girl is so awesome, I wanna meet all her cool friends!

A lot happened this crazy year, but I was fortunate to have Janette as a friend. As COVID restrictions eased up over the summer, we started climbing regularly in the evenings after I got off work, which is usually 6 or 6:30 at night. We've often over estimated our speed and the amount of sunlight we have left, and would usually finish up after our headlamps come on. It was great that we would get 4-5 pitches/climbs in each. Janette loves trad, she always wanted to take me to Eldo. I'm a sports climber by training so I've managed to bring her out to BoCan more. I remember every time we go to Eldo, she would say hi to at least 4 or 5 different parties during our approach, but she always wanted to climb one on one for some reason. I remember one evening both Sam and Janette reached out to me for climbing, I thought we could all go together, but she was adamant about me picking one of them, so I ended up with Janette that evening and Sam the next. 

I remember asking Janette how she got into climbing. She told me she was lonely when she first moved out to Colorado, and she was searching for a community she can belong to. She joined an alpine/mountaineering club and the rest was history. So it was mountaineering first, then ice climbing, and then climbing came naturally after that. She's definitely built up an incredible community around her and created an impressive network of friends. She and I wondered if Boulder would be our permanent base, we both love the easy access to nature, everything is convenient here minus the pathetic food scene, but at least we have some Asian grocers to satisfy our appetites. 

Janette is one of those people who pursues something with 110% of herself, whether it's forming friendships, building community, developing new programs at work, pushing herself in her athletic endeavors. Janette didn't talk about herself too much, she's only mentioned that she climbs ice. I feel so dumb that I wasn't familiar with her all her achievements in ice climbing. I only knew she taught an ice climbing clinic at the Ouray ice fest this past winter and that she's sponsored by Bobos and Arc'teryx, so she must be super legit. Now I learned she's put up first ascents across the world: Thales at Mt. Aspiring in NZ. Clearly, she's an overachiever, a humble, genuine, warm, friendly, caring, unpretentious overachiever. She's even achieved perfectly flawless skin, I don't know how her face always look so delicate like a baby's even though she's always out in the harsh environments.

I wish she didn't leave us so soon. She still needed to write her memoir that she wanted. We were supposed to make plans for this month since I have all this PTO saved up, and we were going to plan an adventure in October too. There were so many things we hadn't done yet. I know it was a freak accident, but I wish for so many if onlys. I am very thankful that I got to know Janette, I am grateful that she made time to hang out with me when she had so many people she's close to. Although I've only known her for nine months, she's become a big part of my life in Boulder. I miss her dearly. I am so sorry for her family in HK, I can't imagine how much more this all hurts, but I know she didn't want you guys to worry, she wanted you all to know that she was doing great, that she missed you all and loved you all. She was always very careful on her adventures, she's very responsible, diligent in her safety checks, she's a very, very safe climbing partner. This was a total freak accident, it was totally uncalled-for. She gave so much to this life and so much more to the world. She's lived her life 110%, but she had a whole lot more to contribute to our world. There's a saying in Chinese, 天妒英才, which means the Gods were jealous of great talents so they take them away at a young age. This must be Janette's case, she was so good at being an amazing human being that the gods wanted her for themselves. Gosh, I miss her so, so much:(

I clearly remember the first time I met Janette. It was in a crowded one-bedroom apartment in the Italian Alps, where seven people were staying to save some money on accommodation with gear and backpacks everywhere. She introduced herself with this big and joyful smile that everyone is now remembering. 

It was August 2019 and we had organized, with the Harvard Mountaineering Club, a one-week-trip in the Italian Alps with the final aim of climbing the Matterhorn. Throughout the week, I got to know Janette and all the features that I am reading in this thread: her enthusiasm, her warmth, her being bad-ass, her positivity, really speak to her, and to her authenticity. I also want to highlight the connection with her family. At the end of the trip, she had to reunite with her family, which was in the French Alps. Her family was only a few miles away in air distance, but when you have 4000 m peaks in between the logistics are not easy. I could see how she really went out of her way to reunite as soon as possible with her family prioritizing it above everything.

During the trip to the Italian Alps, we did not manage to summit the Matterhorn due to bad weather. So, this year, I decided to go back summiting it the morning of September 5th and sending her photos and videos from the top remembering good times... She never responded. I just hoped she at least saw them triggering that joyful smile on her face. She will deeply be missed.

At the Capannna Carell on our descent from the Matterhorn 

Finding ourselves with the same gear and laughing at our Arc'teryx rainbow

Just being awesome in the mountains (Breithorn)

My deepest condolences to Janette's family, friends, and climbing community (of which many were her friends). Janette was such a positive person and inspiration to all. Although I didn't know her long, I climbed with her at BRC and I remember her story of getting into climbing through ice climbing and alpinism blowing my mind. She was humble about everything she had done despite being accomplished academically, professionally, and in her outdoor pursuits. Her stories have inspired me to push myself to be a better climber, mountaineer, and conservationist. Rest in peace Janette.

I was there too at the trip to the Matterhorn that Carlo described, and I also wanted to share the positive impact that Janette had on me.

Personally, the most striking thing was how quickly her presence made you feel comfortable and welcome to be seen for who you are. It was clear that she was rocking that attitude of ‘I have never met you, but we’re here to have a good time and yeah, we’re gonna do just that’. It seemed unlikely to have so much positivity and stoke packed into one person like that.

Even though perhaps she belongs to multiple underrepresented minorities in the outdoor-world, her confidence did not show signs of that. Her memory still serves as an inspiration to these groups - like she certainly has for me, being of Asian descent myself: A feeling that we can and do belong in this space. An optimism that we too can rock, and pull off the previously unthinkable.

 As Carlo mentioned, it was also clear on our Matterhorn trip that she was deeply appreciative of spending time with her family. The rest of the climbing group postponed the hike from the Orionde hut to the Carrell hut for another 2 days, which would’ve caused her to miss part of the planned time with her family afterwards - which had flown in extra to meet her. So, the two of us decided that we would go and scope out whether it was possible for us to do the hike earlier. The route conditions and weather did indeed not comply, and we played it safe by turning around and joining the following day’s summit push of the rest of the team. I think this also goes to show that she was someone willing to put in the work to exhaust the possibilities.

As the shock of this event subsides into grief, she will obviously be deeply missed. My deepest condolences go to her family, boyfriend, friends, SAR and others that knew her.

somewhere in the italian alps.

Truly heartbreaking. My condolences and thoughts are with her friends and family. I did not know her; however, based on all I've read, it is obvious she was an amazing person. I wish I had the words. . . .

SO so sorry to hear this. Janette was a wonderful spirit, and a warm friend. She had such an ambition and passion for climbing and adventure, and was a truly deep person. I'll remember our friendship fondly. 

RIP Janette. 

I took a look at Janette's climb on Notchtop from her friend's Facebook page and loved it. They never found the chimney in the route description. Ha ha ha. Incredibly, they managed to rappel off the top without issues.  My partner and I had many issues years ago. It would have been nice to run into her sometime in the mountains. <3

Article about Janette from Rock and Ice:

https://rockandice.com/climbing-accidents/freak-accident-in-wind-rivers-rockfall-severs-anchor-slings/

You guys rock for building this living memorial for her.

I met Janette at Mountainfilm in about 2010 and would run into her every year after. I never knew her super well but we always kept in touch. In 2017 we ended up climbing bridal vail falls together and I just remember her being so amazingly solid as she led the crux pitches. What a boss. She was quite an amazing woman. Much love to you Janette!!!