Here is a description of all my recent climbing partners. These are also my best friends and an incredible collection of diverse people with two consistent qualities: they love climbing and are great people. I'm honored to be their friend and occasional climbing partner.

I met English from rec.climbing and out of the blue he offered me a tour of some desert climbing. He was an associate professor at Utah State University in Logan, Utah and was a very experienced desert climber. He led 5.12 desert crack routes along with putting up 5.12 sport routes in Logan Canyon.

English has since moved to Salt Lake City and, along with more desert climbs, we've climbed in Eldorado and Yosemite. Our most significant climbs together have been the Dunn Route on Moses Spire, Supercrack, Sundial Dihedral on Independence Monument, Lightning Bolt Cracks on North Six Shooter, Fine Jade on the Rectory, and Astroman in Yosemite.

I met Dr. Offwidth via rec.climbing. I was and am interested in climbing offwidth cracks (mainly so that I can do the Salathe Wall on El Cap) and he was the resident expert on rec.climbing. He moved to Colorado from the Bay Area a couple of years before I did. He grew up in Boulder and had all the local hard climbs wired. We met for a bouldering session and despite his far greater ability, hit it off as partners. Mostly because he loved torturing me on hard routes. With him I followed my hardest climbs: Vertigo, the Naked Edge, Northwest Corner of the Bastille, Rincon, Diving Board, Wunsch's Dihedral, Mississippi Half Step, the Malestrom, Crack of Fear, Left Side of Reeds Pinnacle, etc. The last three being hard offwidths.

The good doctor convinced me that maybe I could raise my standard of climbing. He opened my eyes to the possibility that 5.11 may be within reach.

Dr. OW is six foot three, over 200 hundred pounds, loud, confident, imposing. Everything on him is big. He doesn't look like he can delicately stem his way up tricky 5.11 or that he'd like overhanging endurance climbs. He is blessed with incredible hand strength, great footwork, and no quit attitude. The Trashman thinks he has big hands (and he does), but compared to Dr. OW's, they look puny. Dr. OW's hands are half again as wide as Trashman's hands. This feature allows him to gobble up fist cracks and offwidths like they were hand cracks.

The Doctor's biggest claim to fame are the photos of him leading Twlight Zone (classic 5.10d offwidth in Yosemite) taken by John Sherman. These photos appear anywhere there is an article or book on how to climb offwidth. One has also been used as the table of contents photo in Climbing magazine.

The doctor now has two daughters and his climbing activities have been seriously curtailed. I only climbed with him once last year, but fittingly, it was a butt-kicking day: Super Squeeze on the Dome (10d), Decade Dance (11a) and Aging Time (11c) on Blob Rock.

Eric Winkelman (AKA Tinky Winky)

Eric is another rec.climbing association and even more famous than Dr. OW. I hesitate to say that Eric is a "world-class alpinist", but he isn't far short. His biggest claim to fame is the first free ascent of Cerro Torre, probably the hardest mountain in the world to climb. Eric leads 5.12+ on rock, MI7, WI 6+, A?, etc. He's put up numerous routes including almost all the routes on the Northeast Face of Chiefshead in RMNP. With him, I did the second ascent of his route Ten Little Indians (5.11a) on this face.

The big question is: why does he climb with me? Well, to tell the truth, we don't climb together that often. But occasionally he's more interested in climbing with a good friend, then in pushing his limits. That's where I come in. Eric is a great partner for doing the scary 5.10 routes in Eldo. Routes that I can climb, but am not solid enough to lead. Routes like King's X, Le Toit, XM, Windy, etc.

Wayne Trzyna

I also met Wayne via rec.climbing. Wayne is a very talented and brave ice climber and has done most of the classic hard ice climbs in Colorado. Wayne's other passions are powder skiing and fishing. All three of these pursuits take him on long road trips throughout the year. He has done some first descents of rivers in Alaska in pursuit of a true wilderness fishing expedition. Wayne is also a gifted rock climber and when in shapes leads 5.11.

Ken Leiden

I met Ken via rec.climbing when I was living in California, though the only time we got together out there was mountain biking. He taught me how to do an "endo" on my mountain bike. I was so grateful.

A couple years after I moved back to Colorado, so did Ken. Obviously following me around, he called me up and we've managed to hook up for a few adventures. Ken used to lead 5.11. He took a sabbatical from hard rock climbing for many years and is now getting back into it. Last year he climbed Denali and I did a couple of winter 14ers with him for his training.

I've only climbed with Ken a few times. We did the Organ Pipes/Central Chimney route on the Twin Owls and we mistakenly did the first free ascent of a route on Lighthouse Tower in Utah.

Hardly Manson's better half and a fine climber in her own right. She leads 5.10 in the gym and is starting to lead 5.9 trad.

John Blackberries

Another rec.climbing friend that I met via my trip reports. John and I corresponded for weeks before actually meeting. Our first meeting was heading down to the Pinnacles in California. Since then we've climbed a lot together mainly at the Pinnacles and at Yosemite. I pride myself in that I've been around for four of the five scariest moments in John's life.

John is very fit and a true adventurer. Our biggest claim to fame was doing the Royal Arches (5.7) route in Yosemite in one hour and eight minutes! We continued up to do Crest Jewel (10a) on North Dome and topped out before noon: 25 pitches of climbing and 3000 vertical feet in five hours. We've also done Braille Book, West Face of Rixon's Pinnacle, Goodrich Pinnacle, and The Vision. One of our biggest adventures was doing Serentity Crack/Sons of Yesterday/Ahwanee Buttress linkup. This is a 13 pitch route where six of the pitches are 5.10. We did this in February with two other climbers and made the rim just before dark. The descent down with a winter storm on the way was long and tedious - especially when two out of four headlamps failed.

I've also done a lot of biking, running, and hiking with John. I took him on his first (and last?) backcountry ski trip. We skied ten miles into Mt. Starr King to do a winter ascent of this 5.5 slab climb.

John lives in Davis, California and I have only done a few routes with him since leaving California (all in Yosemite).

Eric Coomer

Hilarious aid climber. He thinks he's bad, he looks bad, but he ain't bad. He's a nice teddy bear. This overly tattooed radical has pierces in his ears so big you hold a cigar in them. He's known for hard, scary aid climbs, but is a 5.10+ free climber also. He's climbed El Cap countless times. He has also recently relocated to Colorado and is devouring the rock and ski slopes at a fantastic rate.

Eric's another rec.climbing friend.

Mark Oveson

Another rec.climbing association that I met when responding to his plea for partners. Mark had graduated from Columbia Law School and was moving to the Boulder area. I replied and the rest is history. Mark is an extremely fit adventurer. He has never really done any training, yet he can drop everyone he climbs with on the approach. He is a former bike racer and a fast runner.

Mark mainly likes alpine adventures (the longer the better), but also enjoys rock climbing and is the foremost expert on moderate Flatiron routes. He leads 5.8/9 rock.

With Mark I've biked the White Rim Trail, done the Mohling Traverse including the North Face of Lone Eagle Peak, the Spiral Route on Notchtop, the North Face of Navajo, Dicker's Peck, etc.

Lord Slime

John Brynes is yet another rec.climbing friend. We first climbed together at Lumpy Ridge, but since we've also climbed at Vedauwoo, Eldorado Springs Canyon, and RMNP. John also took me on my first trip to the Black Canyon. Since then I've only been back twice and have only completed one other route. In RMNP, we did Birds of Fire on Chiefshead.

Another Brit. I met Android via Dr. Offwidth. Leads 5.11 on rock and likes pounding pins!

I met Injun via rec.climbing also. He loves to regal partners with talk of the Gunks and his proficiency in placing Tricams. I've done a number of moderate routes with Injun in Eldorado and two winter 14er ascents (Longs and Bierstadt). His favorite climb is the first pitch of Guenese (11a) and he has it wired. He also loves Allosaur (5.9) and never tires of doing these routes.

A new comer to the climbing world and the main partner for Homie. I've climbed with Mike mainly at Golden Cliffs, but also took a trip with him and many others to the Tetons.

What LB lacks in stature he makes for with ...? Hmmm? I'm not sure, but he is a fun climbing partner. He just started leading and has led three 5.6 routes. He follows 5.9. All my climbing with LB has been at Golden Cliffs.