Mort Hempel has died

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Don Lauria

Trad climber

Bishop, CA

Nov 4, 2017 - 11:14am PT

Guido, Only photos of Mort I have are hardly photos of him, but he was at this party and if I remember correctly he did pick up his guitar that evening. Recognize any of the other characters? Find Mort?

Bruce Morris

Trad climber

Soulsbyville, California

Nov 4, 2017 - 11:25am PT

I remember Mort singing and playing guitar around the campfire when SAR was moved out of Soda Springs and relocated in the Tuolumne Meadows campground. He was also a frequent visitor at the old Soda Springs rescue site when Vern Clevenger and Bob Harrington were in residence there. Everyone from Berkeley seemed to know and like Mort. He did have beautiful singing voice. This would have been c. 1975 I'd guess.

mouse from merced

Trad climber

The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.

Nov 4, 2017 - 02:09pm PT

Whoever is that in the left margin of #2? It's Royal, I betcha.

And he's in the same relative spot in the other shot, as well.

For dozens of years Jeff Mathis drip-brewed his coffee using a Chemex brewer bequeathed to him by Mort when he left the hills behind. I can't recall having been fortunate enough to have met Mort. I'd have loved to have heard him perform.

Thanks for hunting those photos up, Don.

Ksolem

Trad climber

Monrovia, California

Nov 4, 2017 - 04:03pm PT

I never had the good luck to meet Mort, but I was impressed some time ago by a climb he and Mike Cohen (?) did in the Gorge of Despair in 1972. Their route, the North Buttress of the Silver Turret, was the biggest climb out there at the time. 5.8 III A1. The aid was a short pendulum. That place is rarely visited today, let alone then. A big adventure for sure.