As many of you know, Bill was an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed hiking and climbing in any season and any weather. But he was also a passionate cyclist and marathon runner. Here are some stories of those adventures from the White Mountains to the Grand Tetons and many places in between. We invite you to share experiences you had with Bill on our blog. And send us images to post with the details of where and when to memorialblog@gmail.com.
I have fond memories of the hikes Bill and I shared, he (and Ben) with me on my 46th peak and I with him (and Ben, I think) on his 46th. One particularly memorable hike was a night-hike to the top of Colvin, where we snoozed for a short while before awakening to see the sun rise. Later in the day we crossed over to the other side of Ausable Lakes and ascended Sawteeth before exiting, heavy-legged, via the Ausable Club. We never argued, we shared a similar pace and it was good for me to be with someone who felt more at ease in the mountains than me.
ReplyDeleteI felt a loss when Grace died and thought of her often when in the High Peaks. Now Grace and Bill both will be in my thoughts on future hikes that good fortune may allow me, for they were as much a part of my forty-sixer experience as were the mountains.
Thank you for telling us hikers about Bill's passing.
With warm regards and sharing in your loss,
Steve Gapp
Bill and I were fortunate to have hiked many, many miles injury-free. At worst, one of us would take a break as the other cared for his blister. If you saw us on the trail at the end of a long day, chances are that the guy with the bloodied shin was me and the guy not wearing a hat was Bill. I don't know what
ReplyDeletehe put in his canteen, but whatever it was, it kept him pretty warm. This difference in the ability to produce or retain body heat came into play on a winter ascent of Esther. I do not recall whether we hiked Whiteface before attempting Esther, but a couple of hours after departing from the summit of
Esther we still had not found the main trail, the one about a mile south of Esther that leads the hiker down to the weather research center. Wet , tired, puzzled and concerned about the time and temperature, we were exuberant when a desperate change in direction quickly delivered us onto the main trail. Minutes later we realized that we had bushwacked a long way parallel to the main trail, in the direction of Whiteface. Getting to the car was a struggle for me because I was shaking quite hard. I had never been happier to hear a car start. Bill drove to his mom's house in Elizabethtown, a warm place in the Adirondacks that had comforted me once before.
It was Bill and Ben who helped me reach my 46th summit, Hough, on a pretty August day in 1989 (already 20 years ago, I find that sad). It was Bill, Ben and Rachel who presented me with a lovely chocolate 46'er cake that evening. Soon thereafter, I had the pleasure to join Bill and Ben on Bill's 46'er hike to
Haystack, thereafter Bill's favorite peak.
As attested to by thousands of 46'ers in their questionnaires, the 46'er experience is as much about the people as it is about mountains. Sharing with a hiking buddy the handgrips, the air, the lead, the stumbles, the streams, the sightings of distant ridges, a lunch-rock, a map, a compass, a canteen, and
tales from off the trail is a big part of hiking, and for Bill, a bigger part of life than for most New Yorkers.
Bill, you fell off a rock, shocking me into a reality where life is yet more fragile than it had been. I can't say that I like the feeling, but what really shakes me is imagining you falling, aware and falling, falling and then abruptly fallen, my friend. You and I had recently been separated by ten years and thousands of miles. Can I imagine how much more you've shaken Rachel, Ben and
your recent hiking buddies? Rest in peace, Bill, if it's there.
Steve Gapp
I hiked with Bill several times, the first being an overnight trip to Cliff & Redfield in 1989 and as recently as a successful ascent of Gray Peak in January 2002. Gray was the 6th winter high peak we did together. Gray had stupmed us the previous year, so we were especially pleased to bag it finally. Bill was always very kind to me and stayed in my home a few times on nights before and after winter day hikes. He always took me and my family out to breakfast the morning after our winter hikes as "payment" for staying with us. I enjoyed Bill's stories about his rock climbing and training for the NY Marathon. I was shocked and saddened to learn of his death. He will be missed.
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