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

Long, long ago I was racking up at the base of some climb some where, and this guy was prancing around like a peacock... chest stuck out and everything. I thought I recognized him, but didn't know why. His name escapes me now, Gart-something. Bryanland- something, I forget, but anyway, later my partner tells me that this guy thinks he's hot shit, and he is always spraying around town about his exploits. Anyway... I guess he was sort of famous. I think he claimed to do first ascents with Alex Lowe? I'm not sure...

Most memorable famous climbers I've ever met have to be Jay Smith and Kitty (Smith?).

I was working at the Ouray ice park in '01 and I looked a little less than decked out as far as clothes go. I wore blue jeans and old ratty stuff to work and climb in at the park. I was turning the water on one night and saw Kitty and Jay, stopped and they asked if I'd want to climb tomorrow? Just one pitch or something while Jay shot some pictures of Kitty leading some route under the upper bridge. Sure. We did the pitch the next day, and I'll never forget Kitty asking me about my blue jeans... A day later I was doing some prep work for the Ice fest and Kitty came up and handed me a bottle of Captain Morgan!!! Super nice folks.

I met Tom Hanson in a gutter somewhere; his face was stuck to the bottom of my shoe. We have been good friends ever since.

I met Tommy Caldwell at Rockn & Jamn. nice guy

I met Chris Sharma about three times when I was working at a climbing gym in Stamford, CT. He was very nice and spoke to me for what seemed like a long time. Got to watch him dominate the bouldering wall, and set a few routes in the gym. He was pretty cool.

I met Dave Graham in Rumney when I was bouldering at the blackjack boulders. I had just gotten into bouldering and was working on a V3 with some friends. Dave came up to us and asked how we were doing. We told him about the problem and its rating. He acted very shocked at the grade and said the problem was much harder. Obviously he could hike the problem in his sleep, but he was just being a nice guy. When he began showing his girlfriend all the problems he set 8 years ago, we realized who it was. Dave was awesome and came off as very humble, the type of guy you would love to climb with.

I met Charlie Fowler in Naturita one day. ; )

I remember when I was just starting to ice climb and we were top-roping in the Schoolroom in Ouray. There was this skinny old guy hanging around, smoking a cigar, soloing a bunch of stuff and offering advice to everyone. "Who the heck is this guy, and I wish the heck he'd put that cigar out." Yep, it was Donnini. Met him a few other times down there too; always friendly and nice.

Met Wil Gadd while having breakfast at the Summit Cafe in Canmore a few years ago. I understand when he was younger he had a bit of a rep, but that day, he was *very* nice and seemed interested (or put on a very polite act) in what we were climbing despite the fact that I'm sure he could have climbed it all in a day without tools.

I also met, hired for some guiding actually, Vince Anderson before he was The Vince Anderson - genuinely nice guy, then and since - always has time to talk and willing to offer advice. He's even walked up and said "hi" to me at events before I even saw him. He also introduced me to "Charlie" and "Christine" one day in the ice park when they were walking by. They were friendly and we had a nice chat. Took me a few minutes after they left to realize it was *that* Charlie and Christine. Doh!

met royal once at a slide show in the valley. i think he might have done something major once.

Alex Lowe...at the Teton Climber's Ranch a few months before his death. He (and family) rolled in for a couple days with the goal of taking his oldest son up the Grand for the first time, which he did. Looked to be pretty much a family-oriented trip. With all the cabins full, they camped in a tent, and cooked "hearty food" on a double-burner Coleman stove under the shelter.

He was very approachable and handled the "celebrity" attention with confidence, grace, and modesty.

Who knew what lie ahead?....

CHUCK PRATT!!!

I believe it was 1994. He was assigned as our teacher and guide @ Exum in the Tetons. Spent two days with this legend. Climbed Baxter's Pinnacle with Chuck on the sharp end.

Chuck was treated as the "Wise Sage" by the other Exum Guides. I recall Chuck being approached by a couple guides and with just a touch of playful sarcasm Chuck asked "What the Knot of the Day was?".

He introduced himself to us and indicated that "He was from the so called GOLDEN AGE of climbing, when SEX was SAFE and CLIMBING was DANGEROUS".

He was such a fine teacher and so human. We hooked up with Chuck at Dornan's for beers. It was so much fun.

My climbing buddy and I can reminisce for hours about those two glorious days. It was so early in my so called climbing career yet it still remains the highlight.

If one is interested in the history of American climbing one just has to research Chuck Pratt.

Tony Yaniro after a slideshow
Todd Skinner at a crag
Bobbie Bensman at a crag
Alison Osius at a crag
Annie (last name? mountain climber) shared our campfire once
Peter Croft after a slide show...............

Just how famous are these people anyway? I think some modicum of recognition outside of our little inbred world should be the standard. So I can't really say I've met a famous climber.

Oh, and I know Tom Hanson.

Mike Lane wrote:Just how famous are these people anyway? I think some modicum of recognition outside of our little inbred world should be the standard.

Good point. A couple of years ago, I saw Obama speak at a high school gym in northern New Hampshire. He was gearing up for the primary. I was about thirty feet from both him and Michelle.

On the way out, I noticed that Henry Barber was there as well. He seemed like a regular guy in that context and in comparison to Barack. If I would have seen Hot Henry at the crag, my perspective would have been much different.

Only met one, Alfred E. Neuman, way up at the head of the S. Fork of Bull Lake Creek, above Deadman Lake. I'll never forget it.

One of my most memorable climbs was a day where everything went amazingly smooth. It was during our annual summer road trip from Minnesota out to The Tetons back in the late seventies.
My partner, Dave Halls, and I were at the Jenny Lake boat dock waiting to take the ride across the lake to the mouth of Cascade Canyon. Dave nudged me, pointing at a fellow who was also awaiting the ferry, and asked, "Is that who I think it is?" I looked to where Dave was pointing and said with a shaky voice, "Yeah, it's Chouinard."
We all got on the boat, Chouinard, the clients he was guiding that day, and Dave and I, the two teenagers from Minnesota.
The boat was not large and we were sitting knee to knee next to Yvon, who was a demigod to us. We were starstruck and amazed when he leaned over and asked us, "What are you guys climbing today?"
We proudly said, "Durrance Ridge on Symmetry Spire, how about you?"
He mentioned a route on Cube Point that he would be guiding his clients on, and gave us an approving nod.
Oh my god, this was our day in the sun. We had made it. We were real climbers, hanging with Yvon Chouinard, even if it was only for the duration of the boat ride.
We ended up cruising Durrance Ridge, only placing pro at the belays.
On top we had lunch with a spectacular view of the Cathedral group of Teewinot, Owen, and the Grand. We could see Crooked Thumb on the north side of Teewinot and recalled the story of Yvon's three hundred foot fall from that feature.
We experienced a strange occurrence. It must have been the effect of wind sweeping through some formation across the canyon, but it sounded like the Sirens of Titan. It was eerie and magical. We descended the north side of the spire into a hanging valley of snow where our piolets came in handy when I plunged though a crevasse up to my armpits. We continued down and rounded a switchback where we ran into a huge moose. The moose wasn't angry that day and let us pass. We made it back in time to catch the last boat back to the dock.

I met Buck Rogers once and I could hardly speak. It was Awesome!

John Holms...and boy could he send!

Andy Laakmann wrote: BIG ROCK! One of my old stomping grounds when I was learning to climb... now you are bringing back the memories. I remember being terrified leading those 5.7 lieback pitches up and left... and feeling quite proud went I sent "NW Passage".

I inserted a great little blog about some of the "legends" in so cal (including you Andy) climbing at this crag. Check it out

Last October at the RRG, I walked up with some friends to the Motherload (after already passing Lisa Rands on the way out), and there sitting casually on the rocks were: Emily Harrington talking to Daniel Woods and Alex Puccio (with John Cardwell in the background), Tommy Caldwell chatting with Micah Dash, and Sonny Trotter kicking it a little ways up. We set our packs down, acted like 5.14 climbers, secretly gawked for awhile, then proceeded to flail horrendously on climbs they were warming down on, which promptly scared off the super-flock. Like Shrek to a bunch of school kids.

A few years ago I was climbing at the gym on a very quiet night and took a rather large fall (for gym climbing). When i got back to the ground I noticed Chris Sharma walking over my direction. He introduces himself and says I made a good effort for the move i just fell on. I got to climb a couple routes with him that evening and it was really cool. He was very cool, helpful and totally down to earth. Highlight of my Gym climbing life.

Got to meet Royal Robbins as well when he gave a talk at the REI a few months ago. I was not one of the lucky ones that got to climb the flatiron with him that day. Stupid work.

Many years ago I met Jamling Tenzing Norway the son of Tenzing Norway. He was at a local shop i worked at getting ready to give a talk and all.

I have also meet most of the I-max climbing and film crew from the Everest tradgedy back in May a few years ago.

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.