Dangler

I have come to learn that the most important thing to bring on trips with Steve Fischer is extra batteries for my headlamp. Steve likes to sleep late, get started late, and finish the day late. This is not a problem if you are going out to dinner or the movies, but it gets tricky when you are rock climbing or going on a winter mountaineering trip. I can honestly say that I have never been on any trip with Steve that did not end in putting my pack down before midnight, and usually without a working headlamp.


Steve on Lead at the 'Gunks


In May of 1999, Steve asked me to go climbing with two of his longtime climbing partners, Paul Pan and Alex Marx. It was a 2 hour drive to the Shawangunks, and we arrived in the nearby town for some pastry at noon. I recall starting the first climb by around 2 in the afternoon. Steve lead the first climb with just me on the rope, as Paul and Alex were off to another route nearby. We climbed a route called "High Exposure" for about two hours, up and down. "High Exposure" is probably the most classic climb at the Gunks, for good reason. Afterward, we climbed a route called "Something Interesting". I should have asked what the "Something Interesting" might be, as I now know, and it will be the subject of another post.

After we were back on the ground at the base of the cliffs, we radioed Paul and Alex to meet us. Steve and Paul immediately began searching a guidebook for another climb which all four of us could do together, me being the least experienced. All I remember is that I was noticing the sun going down while the three of them disappeared high onto a ledge on the cliff face above me. They eventually yelled down for me to "climb", and after a short and not-too-difficult effort, I arrived safely on the ledge. I was tired, and Steve tied me off tightly so I could rest while he worked.


Steve, Paul & Alex

The first thing I noticed was that Alex was gone. Paul Pan was belaying him on the route above, which evidently extended to near the top of the cliff. I decided that I had had enough, but staying on the ledge was not an option, since the others were going to need all of the climbing rope available to belay down from the top. They explained to me that there was a slight right traverse, meaning that they would not be coming back down this way. Continued ascent became a requirement for going home.

Within a half hour I found myself on another small ledge, this one smaller than the first. Again, Steve tied me off tightly so I could rest while he worked. It was dusk, and I knew I was in deep when a Cessna flew by in the adjacent Hudson River Valley at eye level. Steve told me that we would rappel down from this spot, but that Paul Pan and Alex wanted to make a try for the top by way of an overhanging ledge. When I turned around, Paul was already well underway. I watched for thirty minutes as Paul and Alex, two spidery rock climbers, worked the overhang with hands and feet. No one made it past the overhang's end, as it was far too dark too see the hand holds.


Dangler

I was one of the middle climbers rappelled down in pitch blackness so as to have someone control the rope at the top and bottom for me. It was only at this point I realized that the only reason we came down is that they ran out of headlamp batteries.