Occupation:
Director, Human Resources; climber, committee member, and grandmother of 2
Climbing History:
Began hiking in 1984 on Mt. Rainier; Scramble and Climb Leader since
Favorite Type of Climbing:
Anything involving rock, the more the better, preferably scrambles or crag climbing without requiring toting a full pack
Favorite Climb:
Prusik Peak
Most Memorable Climb:
"Bootless on Chair"
Occupation:
The quick, literal answer is to say that I continue a 20+ year career directing human resource functions in a wide variety of organizations. Happily, I've now completed the full circle, and spend only three days a week doing this stuff for a law firm. The rest of the week my occupation is climbing (outdoors and indoors), maintaining my home, being granny to two young grandsons, trying to stay in shape to get to the base of the climbs and, oh yeah, working on Mountaineer committees.

Climbing History:
My climbing history started in '84 when friends asked me to go on a hike from Paradise to Alta Vista on Mt. Rainier. That day turned out to be a turning point in my life. I had not been on a hike since my Girl Scout days some years before in Pennsylvania. I had a great deal of difficulty on that short hike, and had to hand off my light, 10-pound pack to a friend.

When I saw climbers returning to Paradise, a spark ignited my heart. I gave up my 1+ pack a day of Camels, started aerobic classes and hiking. The next year I took the Mountaineer Scrambling Course and the year following that, the Basic Climbing, Winter Travel and Back Country Ski Courses. Then, I spent the next 8 years or so scrambling and climbing non-technical routes on as many mountains as possible in the Pacific Northwest and some bigger mountains in Nepal, Mexico, Ecuador and Africa. I also became a member of the Alpine Scrambling Committee as well as Scramble Leader in the early 90's.

The next turning point changed my focus to more technical climbing. That happened in the middle 90's when I was leading a scramble of Kaleetan. On the approach over the boulder field just north of Melakwa Lake, a boulder fell on my right leg causing what appeared to be just a scary laceration. The laceration needed some attention so the trip was off, and we returned to Seattle. It turned out that I also had a broken fibula and I was on crutches for several weeks. During this time a friend took me to Vertical World to start self-designed rehab. Walking with crutches was not fun but climbing up the walls was REALLY FUN. This led to a desire for more training to climb technical rock outside. So, I started the Intermediate Course the following season, became a climb leader in 2000, and joined the Climbing Committee in 2001. I'm chairing the Crag Course Sub-Committee this year.

So, now I spend as much time as possible on the rocks. Any kind of rocks -- even plastic ones (since I am somewhat of a weather "wuss" and retreat to plastic when the rock is cold or wet).

Favorite Kind of Climbing is anything that includes a lot of rock. I don't like to schlep around a lot of heavy gear long distances to climb a few rock pitches. In the more remote alpine environments, I generally prefer scramble routes up the mountains so I can enjoy their presence unencumbered by a heavy load of climbing gear. I like crag and sport climbing with short approaches anywhere that has good weather; gear or bolted routes; single or multi pitches; the more routes or pitches the better.

Favorite Climb to date was Prusik for a couple of reasons. First, the Enchantments are one of my all time favorite places, and I lusted for Prusik on many trips before I schlepped in the gear to do it. It was also my first Intermediate rope lead and it provided me, at the time, with some easy pitches and one that definitely took care of my needs to be scared for a quite a while after.

Most Memorable Climb to date is known to me and a few friends as "bootless on Chair". A couple of friends (JG and RC) and I needed the peak to complete the Snoqualmie First 10. The easiest, quickest way to do it was a summer ascent of the 3rd/4th class route on the NE Buttress. We completed two rope leads and scrambled other parts. After the last rope lead it was getting cool so before starting up the last 200 feet of scrambling, I decided to put on tights. Somehow my right boot fell off the mountain. It went down like a rock. It took about 1 second to decide to go for the summit rather than look for a boot that was probably in the moat! I got out the 11th essential (duct tape) and used it to wrap mole foam on the bottom of my foot and then put on four pairs of socks. Yeah, we got the summit, as well as a minor epic. The rappels (in the dark) banged up my bootless foot. RC chopped steps so I could climb out of the moat into which we had rappelled. The snowfield was too hard for me to get purchase with a bootless foot, so my two partners created human anchors at each end of a full rope length and I sorta walked, sorta slid clinging to the rope as they "leap frogged" it down the snowfield.

The moon was full and we were navigating via Snoqualmie Peak. About 1:00 a.m., a dense fog blocked out the moon and we had only a few feet of visibility. Fortunately JG had taken bearings and he got us right on track to Snow Lake Trail. We got to the trailhead at 4:00 a.m. My foot was banged/swollen and my ego was destroyed because I turned an easy climb into an all night event. But we got our pins!