Dick didn’t mention that when I interviewed him.
Well, he’s modest. The thing that got me about Dick was that he’d always climb in tennis shoes, which I would never want to do because of the type of stuff that we worked out on. But he was very agile, very knowledgeable, knew his knots, and knew safety technique. He was a stalwart on that rescue team, and I think any degree of success I’ve had was largely due to his interest and his help. I look upon that experience as being one of the highlights of the seasons I spent at Crater Lake because you really learn teamwork and faith in your fellow man. In that respect, it was certainly a great learning experience.
Dick didn’t mention that when I interviewed him.
Well, he’s modest. The thing that got me about Dick was that he’d always climb in tennis shoes, which I would never want to do because of the type of stuff that we worked out on. But he was very agile, very knowledgeable, knew his knots, and knew safety technique. He was a stalwart on that rescue team, and I think any degree of success I’ve had was largely due to his interest and his help. I look upon that experience as being one of the highlights of the seasons I spent at Crater Lake because you really learn teamwork and faith in your fellow man. In that respect, it was certainly a great learning experience.
As far as where people acquired the skills to be on the rescue team, were they from other parks or had they been part of climbing groups like the Mazamas or Sierra Club?
Well, that’s a good question. I must say that the people who were instrumental in determining who got on the team were primarily, I think, Len Williamson and Slim Mayberry. It was under their “watchful eye” that they operated. And I think it was just a feeling that they picked up from the way a person handled himself on the rock. By that I mean free climbing and this sort of thing. Did they have confidence, did they show a certain degree of, affinity to the rock face and this sort of thing. I think it was just something that they had within them that said, “Hey, this guy can make it and this guy, I don’t know about him.” Most of the fellows that were on it were North westerners, I think, as I look back on the people that I work with. Dick of course, was from California, and as far as I know his total park experience was Crater Lake. I could be wrong there…
Yes, he said he’d been at Crater Lake a total of three times.
It that right? Throughout his park career?
