This picture of some climbers sitting out the rain brought back fond memories ... In the mid to late 1970s I had several extended stays in The Valley with Mark. The first came in the Fall after we had met and climbed together briefly in Chamonix. I was climbing with Richard Wilmott from South Africa. Mark eventually did a Grade VI on the North Face of Half Dome, Richard and I did a Grade V on Middle Cathedral. The next excursion was a few years later with Michael Franklin, when we had an ill-fated attempt on Washington Column. A few years after that Mark and I were again on the South Face of the Column, all was cruisy, we had just about finished all the aid climbing and we bailed, because as I had talked him into going back to Denali, and he only had two weeks before he had to teach a course at Sierra College.
In all these cases, because I am hopeless with mechanical devices, I spent hours and hours, doing countless laps on the bolt ladder on this boulder ... Hauling from a hanging stance, jumaring, stepping up into the top step of the etrier ... I learned it all here!
Before I hang up the rack, I am still hoping to do the West Face of Leaning Tower, and no doubt I will be back at LeConte Memorial Boulder to freshen up my technique.
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