Bentley: Just happy to belay him

Monday’s Aspen Times had a page A1 cover photo of a rock-climber standing next to the white shag rug effigy of a yeti on the Grey Ghost formation 500 feet above the corner of S. 3rd St. and West Hyman Ave. 

Inside on page A2 is a two-column news item by Beau Toepfer who writes that the Grey Ghost was first climbed (and named) by Harvey Carter, who was on the Aspen Mountain Ski Patrol from 1955-1977. Harvey was a hard-core first-ascent level rock climber who founded CLIMBING MAGAZINE, of which I was the editor in 1973 and 1974. 

In August 1964, I climbed two routes with Harvey on the Grey Ghost — one was on the white slab facing north on which the Yeti is nailed. The other was on the dark east side that faces downtown. Mr. Hinchliffe, cited in the article, is correct in saying the rock quality is rotten. 

In 1964, Harvey was the foreman of a crew cutting the North Star trail near the top of Aspen Mountain. When I told him that I had climbed two routes on Grand Teton, I became an answer to his need for a local partner to belay his obsessive training climbs. We did short climbs after work until dark four weekdays and on Saturdays from late June into October. Harvey was brutally competitive for first ascents but almost nurturing towards those who weren’t at his level. I was happy to just belay him.

David Bentley

Aspen