LETTERS The Old and the New In spite of not having accomplished any major climbing achievements as of late, I am inspired to write to the CCAJ after attending the annual slide shows by this year’s Ritt Kellogg Memorial Fund grant recipients. In considering a submission, I realized that not all alumni might know about the Ritt Fund and what an incredible opportunity it provides CC students. If you don’t, please visit the website (rittkelloggfund. org) to learn about how the next generation of CC climbers are being enabled to embark on adventures all around North America. For me, this year’s slide shows were fun and rewarding to see. There was a nice diversity of trips ranging from a women’s only backpacking trip in Alaska, ski-mountaineering in Alaska, fishing in the Tetons, lightweight backpacking the Pacific Crest Trail, canoeing the Yukon River, rafting the Green River, and climbing in the Bugaboos and the Cirque of the Unclimbables, among others. Hopefully, you will enjoy reading about some of the climbing trips in this issue of the CCAJ. As a Ritt Fund recipient in ’95, to my participation with the Advisory Committee since ’03, and now as Chair of the Committee, I am continually rewarded by the work I contribute and the connection to the adventures of the next generation of CC climbers. It is equally rewarding to help fund and generally support the efforts that have gone into this publication, which allows me to live vicariously and experience some of the radness that I have had to leave behind, due to age and parenting responsibilities. One thing that I am especially grateful for is the continued inspiration that I get from the Old and the New – the amazing achievements, both past and present, from a climbing community that is both famous and yet unknown 6
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at the same time. I am also grateful for the connections in my early days at CC that helped me start climbing, and also to the new parnerships and relationships that keep me going. My newest partner is John Thomson (‘07), a Ritt recipient in ’05 and ’06, and a new participant to the Advisory Committee. After a single climb warmup on West Point Crack in the Garden this fall, we were off to the Black for two different weekends this past October. Our trips were successful on many different levels, though not without some typical Black Canyon fear, route-finding challenges, and dehydration.We followed this trip up with a humbling but beautiful fall day at Turkey Rocks, and then a perfectly warm day on Garden sandstone on the day of the Ritt Fund slideshows, climbing pitches that I’ve always wanted to do but have never done. This new partnership has already provided memories I’ll enjoy well into the future, and is sure to continue. So I encourage everyone to keep in touch, to reach out to someone old or new, and to keep the motivation and inspiration alive: for mid-rangers like me, still wanting a push the limits and always in need of a partner, and to newcomers who want to be guided on the secret granite stashes of Pikes Peak, or who are willing to drag some old-timers along on some hard climbing that one day used to be a walk-in-the-park. I know that I for one appreciate anyway that I can give or get it. So here’s to the Colorado College climbing community, to the Ritt Kellogg Memorial Fund, and the CCAJ for helping to keep us all connected! Cheers! -Bosier Parsons (‘95)
Safety and Consequence The drive from Washington D.C. to New Haven, CT takes roughly 6.5 hours without traffic. Somehow, I found
myself grinding out the last miles almost two hours ahead of schedule. Feeling stiff from the drive and the stresses of work, combined with fast drive, I decided that I would drive straight to the gym and catch an hour session before closing time. After warming up and dispatching with a few boulder problems, my spirits were improving. It was late and most of the other climbers had already called it a night. For the last few minutes of my session I felt like climbing a few easy routes just to move around and soloed a few 5.7 routes in our sad excuse for a gym. Just before closing I opted for one last route, a new 5.8 on the slightly overhanging wall: a fun jug haul with a bunch of giant side pulls. The climb went without incident and moments after leaving the ground I was holding onto the steel I-beam some 30 or so feet off the ground. I chalked up my right hand and started back down. A move or two from the top of the wall I stopped on a right hand side pull to chalk my left hand. With one hand in the bag the side pull I was gripping suddenly spun and I was off the wall. The rest happened so fast I could hardly process it, and the next thing I knew I was lying on my back some 25 feet lower. It turns out that as I fell my right foot hung-up on a hold, breaking my ankle and causing me to sag backward, landing directly on my back. The next 6 hours were a blur; partly do to the lack of communication in the trauma room and the rest from an ample morphine drip. Three days later I left Yale-New Haven Hospital with a broken ankle and a shattered L2 vertebrae; luckily I escaped un-paralyzed with a three to five month recovery ahead. At this point you have all undoubtedly formulated your own opinions about what transpired and everyone is entitled to their judgment. The funny thing is that I, currently and historically, have always considered myself a very safe