AR Climbing Stories Page:

This page is going to be dedicated to stories about climbing in AR. If you have any great stories or know a little AR climbing history send it this way. They'll be put on just like the first story by Jim Brown of Boulder, CO.
Thanks again Jim for the great story.


Memories of the Early Days of Climbing in Arkansas
By Jim Brown

The Times

It is important to remember that this all happened about 23 years ago, and I have a poor memory to begin with. There are, consequently, very few details I would absolutely swear to. It is also important to remember the times. It was around 1973-1977, and as far as we could tell, we were the first to do any actual climbing there in NW Arkansas. Rappelling was considered a sport in its own right back then, but there were very few people rock climbing. Most of us had never really even seen a rock climber. We had only read books and we were making it up as we went along. As a rule, at least in the beginning, we merely tied into the rope with a bowline on a coil and went for it. Later we got fancier and used webbing to fashion swami belts. One fellow actually had a macramé harness. There were only two harnesses on the market, the Whillians harness and the one by Forest Mountaineering. There were only a few climbing shoes on the market. Many of us initially climbed in hiking boots. Later I bought a pair of RRs, (Royal Robins, blue suede shoes) while in Atlanta, on my way to climb in North Carolina. A few folks had PA’s and EB’s. Most of our initial ascents were top roped, but as we gained little confidence, and some small racks, (Chounaird hexcentrics and stoppers were pretty much all we were aware of); we began to do more leads. Some of the very first stuff we did we were using pitons. The rocks were generally only 30-40 feet and we protected very heavily, there was little room for falls as we were close to the deck anyway.

Equipment was not real easy to come by. The closest place, until a store opened up there in Fayetteville, (which I believe was called Ozark Mountain Sports), and I believe was run by fellows named Alf and Tim, was in Tulsa which had a shop.

The People

There was Mike Cooper. He had climbed a bit in Yosemite, and had done one of the Mexican Volcanoes, had a first ascent of the Tooth of Time at Philmont Scout Ranch, had climbed the Bastille in Eldorado and had done the Third Flatiron outside of Boulder, CO. He actually had equipment, an ice ax, and a pair of Ebs, a Whillians harness, and other great toys. The rest of us were not nearly so impressive. There was Jim Sager, who was very strong and did some leads that still give me pause after all these years. He had lost several fingers on one hand and one was permanently crooked, so he trouble with thin jams but used it for a mean hook with which to hang on. There was Roger, his roommate, and a fellow named Dave who rode his Harley down to Tierra del Fuego, and a guy named Galen. There was Carl Cummings who had some experience, having done an Outward Bound course and a good deal of mountaineering in the San Juan’s in Colorado. He was a very strong, but eschewed many items of comfort such as harness and often ropes and protection. One fellow who came on a few trips I was on was a guy named Bill Justice. He also had experience. He had done Country Club Crack outside Boulder Colorado. And of course there was me. I was a geology major at the time. I never was a very good geologist. I divided rocks in to two categories: those you could climb and those you couldn’t, and I didn’t have much use for the latter. I was neither very bold, nor very strong, nor very good, but did have a good eye for potential climbs.

The Places We Climbed

We were all students a the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, so we naturally gravitated to a place south of town near West Fork, which had two sections just a few hundred feet off highway 71. The more northern one, closer to town had far and away the best climbing, some which, if they had been longer or in England, where I understand some of the classics are very short, would be considered classics. The rock was limestone, and was generally smooth but had some wonderful features. This section was also more or less two sections; the left was a smooth cliff and a favorite of rappellers. People always talked about the 200-foot cliffs south of town. It was actually measured at 41 feet. It had a crack that went up about 10 feet and ended in a blank wall, more about that later. The right side, more in the trees was where the best climbing was.

About half a mile down the road was the other part, which was a quarry. Its main feature was the limestone slab turned up at about 50 degrees. It had wonderful texture, including fossil crinoid stems, which looked like poker chips stacked up, and a corkscrew shaped fossil called “Archimedes,” and the challenge was to climb it with no hands. Mike Cooper assured us that if you could do that, you could do the 3rd Flatiron in Boulder. It was everyone’s dream to get to go to Boulder. There were some other rocks around and behind this slab, which in later years yielded some climbs, but as I recall they were pretty crumbly.

There was Devil’s Den State Park, nearby which also had some climbs, but nothing very memorable. Further away was White Rock, in the National Forest. We did several climbs there, mainly off the “nose” area near the parking lot. I almost fell off there once when I stepped down off a step on top and my shoe caught. It would have been about 70 feet down. I remember going out with Mike once to some place along the White River and doing a climb, but I could not begin to tell where it was except that I was not too far from town. Galen was from down around Little Rock and told of climbing on Pinnacle Mountain. I never got down there. There were rumors of climbs down around Russellville, Dardanelle Rock. I went and scoped it out once and found a few possibilities. We later went back and tried one of the routes, but were unsuccessful. There are cliffs on the north side of the interstate down there in Russellville (Crow Hill Bluffs), but I have no idea if there is anything to be had. We were aware of Mt. Magazine and Mt. Petit Jean, but never did get to check them out. I have seen in relatively recent magazines, references to Devil’s Den and Magazine climbing areas.

One of the most fun trips we ever did was over to a place called Pedestal Rocks, (I believe it may be the place referred to as Sugar Loaf that I saw in another website) way over in the eastern part of the state. We were going to go and hike in and try to hook up with some guy that one of our group knew vaguely. Apparently this guy we were looking for had climbed a good bit at Pedestal Rocks. We left one evening, stopped by the Pack Rat on the way out of town. There we met Carl Cummings and a friend of his who were visiting from out of town and were on their motorcycles. They decided on the spot to join us. We drove until late and to the middle of nowhere, parked the cars and hiked into this guy’s cabin deep in the woods. At some point we heard a dog barking and a voice called out, “Stay where you are and don’t move!” We didn’t. I have the feeling we were on the wrong end of a rifle. He came out and when he recognized the person with us he calmed down a bit. It turned out that he was the guardian of a place called Beauty Cave, or I believe Fitton’s Cave. It is one of the most beautiful caves in the world with formations not seen anywhere else and it has a locked gate. He said he had many arguments with cavers trying to get in and was therefore a little leery with folks. We told him our plans and asked if he wanted to go with us the next morning, he said yes. We learned later that his in-laws were coming to visit that day. I have a feeling we created a bit of familial disharmony.

We got there early the next day and indeed the rocks were pedestal shaped and stood about 5 to 10 feet from the main cliff. We climbed all day. We used up all our water and by the time we got back to the car we were so thirsty we were licking the bottom of the ice chest. I believe it was on the same trip that we stopped and did some climbing along the cliffs of the White River, (maybe it wasn’t the White, but some river over that way). We also did a cave, I don’t remember the name, but the entrance was such that you could have driven a truck into it. The “ante-room” if you will, was a huge room with a clay floor so slippery with that even on a very low angle slope we had to resort to walking up backwards while kicking in our heels. We spent hours in the cave, which thank goodness, wasn’t too technical. I prefer climbing in the light so I can see where I’m going to fall. Oh yeah, I also noticed some very large claw marks on the floor of the anteroom. All in all, it was a wonderful trip.

I also remember a trip down to the Ouachitas. I was with a fellow named Tom Webb who was truly one of the most interesting people I have ever met. He was able to spin a yarn and tell tales of places he’d been and things he had down that left me mesmerized and in stitches. He was not a climber himself, but he understood the breed and so he took me to a place called Flatside Pinnacle down around Perryville, in the wilderness area. As I recall, it was mostly very easy or the technical parts were too short to really make it worth the approach, but I would recommend checking it out more. It had the best rock I had ever seen in Arkansas. It was a very hard, sugary quartzite and would be wonderful for climbing. We lost our packs on that trip. We set them down to go check something out, and only later did we realize that the place was a maze of logging roads. We searched for hours before we found them.

Miscellaneous Memory

I met Mike Cooper when my younger brother and I were at Devil’s Den State Park. We were out there teaching ourselves to rappel. I had been there once and was pretty sure I remembered how to do it. I remember we were using a sisal rope! (The Lord looks after fools and rock climbers). Cooper was out on a hike with a group from his dorm and stopped to see what was going on. Lo and behold, he had a Sierra Designs pack and a Whillians harness. A real one! He climbed up what we were rappelling and we swapped phone numbers. He later called me up and one Saturday morning we went out to West Fork, to a climb that later came to be called simply the Dihedral (we were very original with our naming). We were the first to climb it, I’m sure. We actually used pitons that first time, but on subsequent visits he had a rack of nuts. I had read enough about climbing to have an idea of what was going on, but I was so green I would hate to have been the person who had me for a belayer that day.

Some of the Routes

With the exception of the West Fork area, I really don’t remember many particulars of the routes, but I’ll describe what I remember of the routes there.

As I stated earlier, on the left part of the face, the most northern part was a crack about 10 feet high. We, Mike Cooper and I tried to start a bolt ladder, so we could practice aid climbing. We aided up the crack and put in two bolts. I believe I was working on putting in the third when the lower bolt, the one I was standing on popped. Luckily I was clipped into the second with the rope, which had too much slack, so I only fell about two or three feet. I got a graphic and painful demonstration of the major drawback of the Whillians harness. It didn’t help that Mike’s wife was standing there as a witness to my discomfiture.

This was the days of the beginning of clean climbing and every thought themselves to be a budding Royal Robbins and before we knew it the bolts were chopped.

Up the slope a bit and to the right was a place where the rock overhung a bit and right on the shoulder, about chest high was a place where Mike had placed a bolt on his very first trip there. He was merely checking out the rock to see how it would take bolts. We were not encouraged to see numerous hairline cracks radiating out from it. It too was later chopped. The only reason I even mention it is because I later heard someone puzzle over why that bout was there, as it lead nowhere and served no purpose.

A few feet to the right was a dihedral, about 25 feet high. It was a 5.5 maybe, and a very nice climb, easy to protect and good fun. A few feet right o that was one that we referred to as the “J” crack. It had a bit of a hard start. The inside of the crack had some very rough, limestone sort of features, sort of like gripping a pinecone or something. It was a good climb. I believe the next one was a few feet to the right of that. It had good cracks at the bottom, but was easier towards the top. That was one of my first leads and I zippered on it and smashed a few vertebrae. Two or three chocks pulled out, I had two more that would have been bomber, but by that time I had too much rope out and landed on my butt. I am told the Earth shook when I hit.

Looking back I realize the enormity of our stupidity. I would not let anyone go call an ambulance. My concern was that the place would immediately get shut down. Instead I rode to town in the back of Sager’s old Mercedes to the school clinic and was later transferred to the hospital. I found out later that indeed the climbing community closed ranks and never did let it out where the accident happened, even after someone from the campus paper came around trying to do an article. The standard reply to “Where did Jim fall?” Was “on his butt.” I spent the next two weeks in the hospital, on Demerol most of the time. I have a few vague recollections such as one of my “friends” asking if I was going to be selling my climbing equipment. I remember the day I was released, having to get a ride home from the wife of the man in the next bed. All I had to wear was the clothes I had been climbing in, now a bit rank after two weeks sitting in the closet, and my climbing shoes. A few nights later I was invited over to Sager’s house where I was awarded with a chrome plated skyhook on a red ribbon.
Anyway, a few feet to the right of that was a route that started with a small ledge or foothold about two feet up, and a horizontal crack about a foot or two over your heard. We had placed an old malleable iron pin in the crack and we used it as aide or protection for the stuff above that.
A little to the right of that, up about 10 feet, was a crack/ledge angling up to the right. The first time it was climbed was by a girl, who just started climbing, named Carolyn. She gardened the hell out of it and only later did she find out that she had been digging out poison ivy. She quit climbing shortly after that.

Over to the far right of the crag was a cave of sorts, a quarry that had dug around the corner, leaving the actual corner post intact. There were a couple of routes put up over there, on the far right of the crag. Jim Sagar did most of those using his prodigious strength, (he used to go over to the sorority house right behind his house and do pull-ups on the ladder to their fire escape) and some skyhooks as primitive cams in the cracks. Scared the bejesus out of me. Jim had read a lot of books and was very into equalizing anchors and protection and using runners to route the rope, but what often happened, as did over there, was that by the time he put all those runners in place, his protections was so long that would have hit the ground anyway. As I said, we were inventing this as we went along.

There were a few rocks further over, away from the crag. I scrambled around on them a bit, but the only interesting thing to happen over there was when I topped out on one and came face to face with a bobcat. I don’t know who was more startled, but at least he was able to run away.

There is not a whole lot else I can remember. I hope you have enjoyed reading this as much as I have enjoyed remembering it.

Jim Brown

Jim and his crew back in the 70's. Jim is on the top right.

Have a story about climbing in Arkansas?

send to:
Gator211@msn.com

Thanks for visiting Gator's Arkansas Climbing Page.