This thread has been needed for some time....
How odd that you would post this now. I've been trying to find time to start a similar thread about Rob. My thread was going to center on "anniversaries" though.
I recall the exact date I first started climbing with him, our "anniversary" as climbing friends. If this seems odd, a little explanation might help.
Vicki and I were married on Saturday, September 12, 1992 (our 25th anniversary was two weeks ago). She and I went on a week-long honeymoon which lasted through the following Sunday. We then returned to work. The very next weekend I resumed my normal "schedule" of climbing almost every weekend, very often in Yosemite Valley. That "very next weekend" would have been September 26 and 27, 1992. On Saturday the 26th we climbed in the Yosemite Falls amphitheater with our friends Doug and Janet, and, oh yeah, this young kid who was going to come live with them while he attended college in the central valley.
The "young kid" was our own Mungeclimber. And Tuesday of this week was his and my "25th anniversary" too. Where the hell did the time go?
Some of my favorite Munge photos include this series from Reeds Pinnacle Direct (the hardest 5.9 you'll ever lead):
Circa 1993, on the North Ridge of Mount Conness:
A little older now, he's leading Hell Nino at Potter's Rock on Sonora Pass Highway:
With Tom Frost at Gianelli Edges, not too many years ago:
Leading Root Canal at Frankensteins on Sonora Pass Highway:
Soloing a route he established free solo No Bolt Insurance (5.8 clean, clean slab):
And another early one, a photo of a photo, from a road trip to the Santa Barbara/Ventura area (Katie's first climbing/camping road trip - she was six months old):
So how many degrees of separation does all this add up to?