Developers

Peter 1964

Climbing in Pinnacles National Monument

Shortly after RHS Hourglass

Left Hand Side Hourglass

Right Hand Side Hourglass

My first climb with Peter was the first ascent of the west face of Mt. Lyell with Dennis Schmitt and Tim Gerson on a YMCA ten day hike in 1963. He became fascinated and started climbing frequently in Yosemite. My current project was the right hand side of the Hourglass, a difficult off width first climbed by Bob Kamps and Frank Sacherer. I was developing the crackjack, and this seemed a worthy test. During that ascent, Peter became aware of the fantastic crack system on the left hand side of the Hourglass. It bothered him.

Peter 1971

Tuolumne Meadows

El Capitan 1971

Salathe Wall

Solo Ascent

Hourglass 1971

Left Hand Side

First Free Ascent

Peter 2000

At Base of Hourglass

28 Years After Ascents

In the following years Peter climbed extensively in the Valley, becoming known as "the King of the Offwidths". In 1971 Peter made a solo ascent of the Salathe Wall on El Capitan. Later that year Peter returned to the Hourglass to make the first free ascent of the left hand side.

Satisfied at last, Peter turned his attention to his construction business and training and boarding horses at his facility in Watsonville.

Les Wilson

Les 1932

Modeling Snowsuit

Les 1949

Exeter Graduation

Les 1952

Princeton Wrestling

After attending various schools and colleges in the east, serving in the Navy for two years, and attending graduate school, I moved to Berkeley and taught and studied at the University of California. One Sunday I attended the Sierra Club Sunday climb at Miraloma Rock in San Francisco, and met Steve Roper and Al Macdonald. Trips to Yosemite and the Sierra began. I learned aid climbing and piton craft, and made a number of first ascents in Yosemite.

After climbing out of Camp 4 for a number of years, I met Wolfgang Heinritz, an artist and Berkeley house painter. We began to do first ascents. Shortly Andrzej Ehrenfeucht and Leif Patterson joined our group, affectionately known as "the Old Man's Outing Club". OMOC was noted for engineering ability and persistence, rather than skill and speed. The emphasis was on enjoyment of being on the high cliffs. However, the group accomplished eight first ascents in 1962-63.

Les 1965

Jirishanca Norte, Peru

First Ascent

Les 1969

Mt Waddington, Canada

First Winter Ascent

Les 2009

Grandfather

Berkeley

I later made a number of expeditions to the Cordillera Huayhuash in Peru as well as climbs in Alaska and Canada, participating in the first ascent of Jirishanca Norte, the second ascent of Yerupaja, and the first winter ascent of Mt. Waddington. I returned to Peru in 1998 on a family trip. Son David hoped to climb Yerupaja with Andy Selters, but the mountain had changed greatly over the years. The east ice face had broken into a crumbling cascade of ice blocks, totally unsafe. The soaring snow ridge to the south summit, a stairway to heaven in my time, was now split by crevasses and would require some rock climbing.

Allen Steck

Allen 1966

Modelling Hat

Allen 2009

Iron CrackJack