[Granville-Hough] 3 Dec 2009 - Climbing the Rock

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Date: Thu, 03 Dec 2009 08:08:48 -0800
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: Climbing the Rock - 2 Dec 2009

    As I was thinking about Thule experiences, I recalled that at one
point I organized a climbing expedition out to an almost island in our
harbor.  In the winter we made an ice road on the ocean and it was
almost within walking distance.  In the summer, we had to drive about
ten to 15 miles to get to the base of it.  It started out as a low-key
operation when I asked if someone was interested in coming with me to
climb this rocky place, which looked to be 500 to 1000 feet high and it
was a mile or so in length.  Soon I had volunteers, far more than needed
or expected.  By the time the day arrived, either Saturday or Sunday, we
had over ten people all ready to get to the top and see what was on the
other side.
    Our executive officer, Lt Col Vroom, was an old-maidish sort of
Princeton graduate who learned of our plans and got very concerned that
we would
have an accident and our artillery group would be held responsible.  He
wanted to send an ambulance along just in case.  Why were we doing such
a stupid thing, anyway?  He had me prepare a list and personally take
responsibility for each person's safety.  Of course, I had to report
when we departed and when we returned.
    We drove around to the base of this rock and started climbing the part
we could see from the air base.  It turns out this was a shale broken up
into pieces four to five inches each.  Each step we took upward, we
would slide downward at least half the way.   (The only similar
situation  I was ever in was in the desert with David, Kendrick, and
Susanna, when we climbed a volcanic cone.)  I was afraid we would
trigger a rock slide, but I managed to keep my fears under control.
After about an hour and a half, we were close to the top, but it was a
sheer cliff about 20 feet above the debris.  We worked our way around
that top until we finally spied a knotted steel cable which some
previous climber had placed there to help people get to the top.  We had
no idea how it was anchored, but one adventuresome fellow said he would
try it.  We watched breathlessly as he made his way to the top.  He
called down it was thoroughly anchored and we could come up it one at
the time.  So that is what we did.  Once on top, we could explore the
whole thing.  We found that the mother rock had cracked open from top to
bottom, and that there were actually several rocks, with crevasses down
into total darkness, perhaps down below the water line.  Several
fellows, all of us eventually, found places where the crevasses were
only two to three feet wide, and jumped across so we could get to the
far side.  Everybody took all the pictures we wanted and we began our
journey back.  From our vantage point on top of the rock, we could see
that we had taken the worst possible route going up, and about a quarter
of a mile around, we could go down on huge boulders.  So in twenty
minutes or so, we were back down at the ocean level.  We made our way
back to our headquarters, and I reported we were all safe.
    Well, when you are young, you do risky things just for the thrill of
it.  I was 40 years old and the oldest one in the group.
Thanks be to God that we made it safely.  With love to all, Grampa.