SHIPROCK FIRST ASCENT

Ormes’ fall, described in lurid detail in an article he wrote for the Saturday Evening Post, caught the attention of Dick Leonard of the Sierra Club. Leonard at that time had been training fellow Sierra Clubbers in the fine art of belaying and even holding lead falls. He understood immediately that Ormes and his Colorado teammates were far behind in such skills. Leonard wasted no time in recruiting partners for an attempt on Shiprock.

October 1939 saw four Bay Area climbers, David Brower, Bestor Robinson, Raffi Bedayn, and John Dyer (Leonard had to drop out at the last minute), driving a carload of ropes (totaling 1,800 feet), pitons, carabiners, and, as a last resort stand-by—four expansion bolts. They spent four days (one day making just 12 feet of progress!) on their climb to Shiprock’s summit.

Shiprock turned out to be a technically difficult climb, involving—for the era—cutting edge direct aid and protection techniques that were being developed for ascending the vast, vertical cliffs of Yosemite Valley, cliffs that were impossible to climb without new tools and new attitudes toward using gear.