FourteenerWorld Interview with Bob Martin September 2004
I confess that before this interview I knew very little about Bob Martin
except that he and Mike Garratt wrote "the book" on the Colorado
Bicentennials.That book became my good friend from 1992-1996 when I was working on the Highest 100. In fact I own two copies. One is a field-copy which I tore the pages out of and took with me on the hikes. The other is my library-copy that I keep in mint condition on my climbing bookshelf.
In preparation for the interview, I asked Bob if he could send me his climbing resume. Little did I know how much he has done and how much has previously been written by and about Bob. I needed almost a full day in the library to read all the Trail & Timberline articles written about him and his accomplishments.
As I read through the literature, I became more and more impressed with all the amazing things that he has done. Then came the kicker that blew me away. For some reason I thought that Bob was around my age (53). Now I realized that at my age he was just getting started! He didn't climb Lizard Head until he was 68, Turret Ridge at 70, and Twin Peaks at age 72!
Bob Martin has truly inspired me. After reading about all the mountaineering he has done, starting in mid-life, for some crazy reason I feel younger myself. He has given me hope that my best climbing may still lie ahead. Thanks Bob. Congratulations on all your accomplishments and thanks for all you have done for our sport.
We composed the following questions for Bob:
Bob: I don't have any particular favorite routes.
Bob: I really didn't expect to finish all the 13ers. I had not done any significant technical climbing and didn't think I could climb Lizard Head. After I finished climbing the 4,000-meter mountains, the 550 highest, in July, 1987, I thought that was a good final goal. I still think that makes a good goal for someone who doesn't want to do technical climbing, but the metric goals just haven't caught on in Colorado.
I did a good bit of technical climbing in Arizona that was needed to complete the Southern Arizona Hiking Club list of 315 mountains. Then in September, 1989, Jon Lawyer invited Art Tauchen and me to follow his lead up Lizard Head, which he had climbed before. I readily accepted. I became confident I was going to climb all of the 13ers when I reached the top of Lizard Head.
Bob: From 1964, when I climbed my first mountain, until 1978, we were only hiking in Colorado on vacations, when we lived in Tulsa and in Chicago. After we made Buena Vista our half year home in 1978, we were only interested in doing day hikes from home. I didn't get caught up in the 14er craze, just wanting to climb any mountain, named or unnamed. Even so, just doing day hikes from home, Dotty and I managed to get to about half the 14ers. I wasn't even sure I could climb the harder 14ers. Besides, in those years I was more interested in running than in hiking.
After I met Art Tauchen, the leader on my first car camp trip, he tried to talk me into going for the rest of the 14ers. I wasn't too interested. Then Art, who had climbed all the 14ers, said he would go with me to the hardest ones. I agreed. We did the traverses of the Maroons, Little Bear-Blanca, and El Diente-Mount Wilson. The latter two remain my favorite ridges
Bob: My goal after finishing the 11s was to get to the highest 2,000, which I reached in August, 2001. After that I became less interested in getting to the highest 2,100, and became more interested in other lists. These include getting to all of the mountains in a mountainous Colorado county, climbing the more prominent lower Colorado mountains, and visiting county high points in other states. So far I have climbed all the mountains in seven mountainous Colorado counties, and have been trying to get others to do the same in other counties. So far no one except Gerry Roach has reported any such completions.
Bob: I believe that we should always respect private property, ask permission for access, and don't go on the property if access is not granted.
The Colorado Mountain Club does not advocate, promote, condone, nor reward trespassing. With respect to the high peaks, private property was not a problem on the 14ers or 13ers before sale of the Taylor Ranch. Private property becomes an increasingly greater problem as you move down through the 12ers, 11ers, and so forth.
With respect to the listings of those completing the highest 100, 200, and so on, the proper procedure is to ask permission for access to any mountain on private property. Sometimes it is difficult to find the proper person to ask. It is best to contact the owner, not just the resident manager. Mail, phone, or personal contact should be used. If all this results in access being denied, the CMC procedure is to assume that mountain is eliminated from the list and the next lower mountain should be climbed to finish that hundred. For example, if access to two mountains in the 800s is denied, it would be necessary to do numbers 801 and 802 to complete the highest 800.
The listings of people who have completed the 100-mountain increments, as published in Trail and Timberline, may include those who have trespassed. Under the CMC procedures, climbers who have not tresspassed are rewarded equally.
Bob: I don't like the term "first ascents." Who knows who may have been there before? I have kept track of the mountains I have climbed which have no evidence of previous ascent. That is, no cairn, register, footprint, trash, log cutting, mining, or other evidence was found. I believe I gave Bill Bueler a figure of 177 when he was gathering information for the third edition of his book, "Roof of the Rockies." Since then the figure is up to about 220.
Bob: Everyone should have the opportunity to know about and go to mountains where access is open to the public.
Bob: It was when a thunderstorm hit just after I reached the top of a mountain in the San Juans. I moved down quickly and hid out in a gully until the weather cleared.
Bob: No. Sometimes I've slowed down on some lists while devoting my efforts to others.
Bob: No, I don't go in for these. A handshake from my companions is the extent of my celebrations when reaching a milestone.
Bob: Mike Garratt and Art Tauchen. Then there were Jon Lawyer in Colorado and Mike Coltrin in Arizona on technical climbing.
For the record-keeping fanatics out there: Do you have a special system to record your trips, summits, comments, etc.? Is it all from memory, or do you have a mountain log to reference?
Bob: I keep a chronological log book of my hikes and climbs. Sometimes I record a lot of detail and sometimes very little. Then I keep another list of the mountains and named high points that I have reached. Then for some lists I record the date of completion on each item on the list.
What would you say is the predominant characteristic, talent, and/or or skill that has helped you achieve your mountaineering goals?
Bob: Love of the mountains, enjoyment of hiking and climbing, persistence, and stamina.
What is your favorite USGS quadrangle?
Bob: Mount Yale. This is the mountain on which we live. Some years ago I followed eight different routes to Mount Yale to research an article for Trail and Timberline.
Bob: I mostly climb with others. First I ask my wife Dotty to accompany me. If she doesn't want to go, I ask others. If I can't find anyone to accompany me, and if the objectives aren't too hard, I would climb solo.
Bob: No.
How do you view your relationship with the mountains after so many years of climbing them?
Bob: It is quite different from Colorado. There is very little interest in climbing the highest mountains in the state. Only a few people have climbed the highest fifty or highest hundred mountains in the state. There is more interest in climbing the high points of counties or the high points of mountain ranges. But the most interest in lists is for the selective-type lists such as the various lists of the Southern Arizona Hiking Club. And some people like to climb all the mountains they can on the four big lists.
Mark Nichols and I have made the four lists that include most of the mountains of Arizona. There is a total of something over 8,000 mountains on the four lists.
In contrast to Colorado, the mountains of Arizona are scattered over the entire state. Only a few hikers do things statewide, and most are content to just hike in their own area. While I do a lot of things statewide, most of my hiking has been closer to home. For example, at last report, I had climbed 1628 of the 1663 mountains on the Southeastern Arizona Peak List, my home area. In contrast, I had only climbed 216 of 2127 mountains on the Northwestern Arizona Peak List.
Bob: Actually, we have turned back many times due to bad weather, lack of time, sickness, wrong route, or other reasons. What Dotty and I said in the August, 2003 interview, was that while we were climbing the ridge of unnamed 13,626 near Mount Princeton, we turned back because of the very strong wind, and for no other reason. We had plenty of time, the weather was clear, we felt fine, and the route was good. We said this was the only time we turned back only on account of wind.
As for Twin Peaks, Dotty and I first went there in deep snow. I went back later to see if it was technical. It was. On the first try the leader didn't have the proper hardware. The next time we didn't make it. On the fifth visit Tom Maceyka managed to to get his father, Dave, and me to the top.
Bob: About 300.
Bob: No, but I have encouraged the Colorado Mountain Club to do so. I think a name suggested by an organization, rather than by an individual, has a better chance of being accepted. I have suggested that they submit names for real mountains, not just ridge points.
Bob: No, because I never started out fast enough to have a chance of breaking 3 hours. As I recall, my two fastest marathons were 3:08 at age 59 and 3:09 at age 60. The one at age 60 may have been my best. Only a few men age 60+ had been under 3:10 at that time.
I started running marathons at age 48 in 1969, because there were no other races anywhere near our Tulsa home that were open to slower runners like me. After running several other marathons, two friends and I started the Tulsa Running Club. We then had races from short distances to the marathon in Tulsa, open to all runners regardless of ability.