Great article by Beth Rodden

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MH2

Boulder climber

Andy Cairns

Dec 19, 2017 - 06:04pm PT

I thank all the saints and lucky charms I never experienced what she did in Asia.

Amen to that.

When the kidnap made the news my interest in the story was low. Just recently a friend directed me to the Greg Child piece about it. I was quite surprised by how long the ordeal lasted. The cold, the danger, and the hunger went on for days.

It was extremely difficult psychologically for Tommy to push the guy off the cliff. He felt the complete opposite of a hero, and was crying and begging Beth to forgive him for what he had done.

Clint Cummins

Trad climber

SF Bay area, CA

Dec 20, 2017 - 05:39pm PT

An interesting, open and honest article.
I hope it helps bring her some peace of mind.

It seems that the main cause of the Beth-Tommy breakup was simply from marrying young and growing apart. They accomplished a lot as climbing partners and probably more, no doubt. But when climbing is not as fun due to injuries and feeling obligated to help be a partner on projects even when injured, plus your spouse is mainly motivated by climbing, it might not feel like the marriage you had possibly once imagined as a kid.

I hope Beth and Tommy continue to find happiness with their new spouses, kids, climbing and the other good things in life.

ontheedgeandscaredtodeath

Social climber

Wilds of New Mexico

Dec 20, 2017 - 08:58pm PT

I don’t recall Kyrgyzstan being considered particularly dangerous at that time, and pre-9/11 I don’t think westerners were regularly targets of kidnapping and violence. I know going to that part of the world isn’t exactly like visiting the Dolomites but it wasn’t always a guaranteed life or death encounter with the Taliban or whatever.

I enjoyed the article, she really put herself out there.

Kalimon

Social climber

Ridgway, CO

Dec 20, 2017 - 09:03pm PT

Thank you Beth Rodden for sharing your profoundly human story. You are a strong person to get to where you are . . . best wishes to you on your journey.

Mtnmun

Trad climber

Top of the Mountain Mun

Dec 21, 2017 - 07:21am PT

Well done Beth, this is as true and honest as it gets.

phylp

Trad climber

Upland, CA

Dec 21, 2017 - 10:52am PT

I admire her for putting out in public something so deeply felt and honest.
Best wishes for a happy life.

Medved

climber

Dec 21, 2017 - 06:56pm PT

Good article. Props to Rodden for her honest introspection.

The Karavshin in southern Kyrgyzstan in 2000 was a no go zone. Four Japanese geologists were taken hostage in the south the previous summer. The area was widely understood to be outside government control and overrun with militants. How Rodden and Caldwell could get all the beta on the Karavshin yet not know what everyone in the Kyrgyzstan climbing community knew at the time is a bit of a mystery.

Caldwell's discussion of the danger in The Push is puzzling: "Back home, the State Department had issued an advisory against travel in Kyrgyzstan, but that seemed so improbable that we felt right for having ignored it. It called conditions in the region "fluid and potentially dangerous." Like everywhere, right?"

... not like everywhere, and not like everywhere in Kyrgyzstan. The local climbing community headed to the northeast mountains that summer; as much as we wanted to go, we all steered clear of the Karavshin.

Bad Climber

Trad climber

The Lawless Border Regions

Topic Author's Reply - Dec 22, 2017 - 07:00am PT

Thanks, Medved. That was my recollection. Youthful denial and we're-immortal thinking, I'm sure, something we've all been guilty of. Let's hope that climbers now are paying attention to such warnings. I wonder if there were any warnings out before that terrible attack at Nanga Parbat. As a Westerner, and an American in particular, I would be extraordinarily careful about traveling in the Muslim world, especially the "stans."

BAd

JLP

Social climber

The internet

Dec 22, 2017 - 08:04am PT

Meh - it’s not like a bunch of guys lost their lives trying to rescue them. No harm, no foul.

Not sure how I would have reacted myself, but I think I would have been more aware that what happened was a consequence of my decision to go there.

Jason Smith and John Dickey seemed to have a lot less to say on the matter.

10b4me

Mountain climber

Retired

Dec 22, 2017 - 08:27am PT

This is an excellent article. A great job by Beth.
I hope she can continue to find a path that brings her happiness.

kunlun_shan

Mountain climber

SF, CA

Dec 22, 2017 - 09:23am PT

Jason Smith and John Dickey seemed to have a lot less to say on the matter.

In case you missed it, Singer's comment is upthread:

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=3041926&msg=3042677#msg3042677

chainsaw

Trad climber

Dec 23, 2017 - 06:28pm PT

I was at the press conference in Davis at Rocknasium a few days after Beth and Tommy returned home. Beth still had the goat cheese they had been living off during their captivity in her pocket. She scarfed some and offered me a taste. It was the nastiest goo Ive ever smelled. The poor girl was still in shock and suffering from post traumitic stress. Ive known Beth and Tommy almost twenty years. In that time Ive known them to be people of high moral standards. We are all human and its terribly difficult for people of their celebrity status to avoid criticism. Einstein wrote "Brilliant spirits will always be criticized by mediocre minds." Ive known Beth and Tommy to be brave and generous. They are also human and have their faults and shortcomings like everyone else. They are not "disposable heros." So I honor them and reflect with pride and gratitude that I have known them and call them friends.

crøtch

climber

Dec 24, 2017 - 04:25am PT

Great article by Beth R.

There’s a state department warning for any place that’s interesting to visit. And it’s easy to imagine incomplete information on local conflicts back in the dawn of the internet, before twitter and 9/11. Then add being an immortal young adult to the mix and most of us would have jumped at the chance to climb there.

Vitaliy M.

Mountain climber

San Francisco

Dec 24, 2017 - 09:51am PT

Great article. Well written. Maybe a bit TMI about their personal relationship with TC, but that's up to the author and hope he internally doesn't mind so much personal info shared.

Interesting to see people criticizing for throwing a killer and their kidnapper off the cliff. Hope no one here had to be in their shoes. I got shot at when I was younger after beating the sh#t out of someone, whose ego couldn't take the loss I guess...having a gun pointed in your direction is no fun.

JLP

Social climber

The internet

Dec 26, 2017 - 09:29am PT

Maybe a bit TMI about their personal relationship with TC

Way TMI. A woman exposing their partner’s sexual shortcomings is the oldest breakup coping mechanism.

I liked the control back story. Setting up some big send as a life passage gets old, heard it a million times. Beth seems to get beyond that a bit but then stops. It made me wonder what the shrink she mentioned had to say - she doesn’t expose that, or at least doesn’t put it together with anything.

Hardman Knott

Gym climber

Mill Valley, Ca

Dec 26, 2017 - 11:42pm PT

Way TMI. A woman exposing their partner’s sexual shortcomings is the oldest breakup coping mechanism

Knott sure how you interpreted “The lovers part rarely happened and never clicked” as anyone’s “sexual shortcomings”. For all we know it had as much (if knott more) to do with her.

Bottom line, for whatever reason (and most certainly none of our business) they didn’t really click in a passionate way, although they obviously loved each other. Nothing to see here, move along.

Seamstress

Trad climber

Yacolt, WA

Dec 27, 2017 - 08:55am PT

I haven't visited the forum in awhile. Interesting to see conversation about an article written by a woman.

It is never easy to live in the public eye. I am a small woman, and I love to venture in the wilderness. Those that love the women who have the skills and courage to spread their wings also face constant criticism and will feel a need to protect them. When I was overdue and my husband had reason to believe that I was in danger, he was stressed beyond any limits he ever expected to encounter. Though he is a devout Christian, I have no doubt that he would push someone off a cliff if my or our children's lives were threatened. When you and someone you love may be in grave danger, the fight or flight instinct is activated. It is incredibly powerful.

I would criticize the decision to go to that place as incredibly naïve, but the steps taken to escape - I would not fault them. They did not go out to intentionally kill someone. Because of their stature in the climbing community, they will find their actions carved up. It must be incredibly difficult to fully heal when those wounds are constantly picked at.

Many people will make unfortunate decisions that have unintended consequences. Some have to bear unintended consequences beyond their wildest dreams. I have compassion for that - so long as people learn. I have made mistakes and know how difficult it can be to live with the unexpected consequences.

Wishing all peace this holiday season.

Toe Jamb

Trad climber

Mar 4, 2019 - 09:21am PT

Beth’s article is well written and I believe her that it is the most open she has been especially about her marital affair. However she left out many details where in 2008 she went from bad girl, to worse, to slutty, to downright mean and cold hearted in regards to Tommy. As we know, Beth started bouldering with the Berkeley Crew in the fall of 2007 at the encouragement of Tommy since Beth was rather depressed about their house taking too long to build and they were running out money. The Berkeley Crew included Randy Puro, Courtney Hemphill, Paul and Lynn Barraza, plus others (read Beth Rodden Weekend Warriors). Beth quickly became good friends with the entire crew especially Randy and Courtney. After only a few months Beth fell in love with and was hitting on Randy with a passion (read Beth Rodden Story and Beth Rodden Local Hero). What Beth failed to mention was that in 2008 Randy was engaged to be married to his longtime girlfriend Courtney. So, little miss innocent was not only secretly dating and having the “lovers stuff” (as she puts it) with Randy while she was married to Tommy she was also dating and having a sexual affair with one of your closest girlfriend’s fiancé. Beth even wrote about it (read Beth Rodden Life, Death, and What We Worry About) where she is with Randy while he is crying about the guilt and separation from his ex-fiancé. If Beth is with Randy as she wrote, then this would likely have been one of her many 2008 secret rendezvous at Randy’s place in Berkeley. So why is Randy feeling guilty? I am guessing that Courtney found out that Randy was having a sexual affair with another women and not just any women but with one of her close girlfriends who is married to one of her other close friends Tommy Caldwell. This story only gets worse but that can wait for another day.

couchmaster

climber

Mar 4, 2019 - 10:10am PT

^^^She sounds like she's lived a full life Toe Jamb^^^. But you say it was a good article?

Toe jamb said, quote:

"Beth’s article is well written and I believe her that it is the most open she has been especially about her marital affair. However she left out many details where in 2008 she went from bad girl, to worse, to slutty, to downright mean and cold hearted in regards to Tommy. As we know, Beth started bouldering with the Berkeley Crew in the fall of 2007 at the encouragement of Tommy since Beth was rather depressed about their house taking too long to build and they were running out money. The Berkeley Crew included Randy Puro, Courtney Hemphill, Paul and Lynn Barraza, plus others (read Beth Rodden Weekend Warriors). Beth quickly became good friends with the entire crew especially Randy and Courtney. After only a few months Beth fell in love with and was hitting on Randy with a passion (read Beth Rodden Story and Beth Rodden Local Hero). What Beth failed to mention was that in 2008 Randy was engaged to be married to his longtime girlfriend Courtney. So, little miss innocent was not only secretly dating and having the “lovers stuff” (as she puts it) with Randy while she was married to Tommy she was also dating and having a sexual affair with one of your closest girlfriend’s fiancé. Beth even wrote about it (read Beth Rodden Life, Death, and What We Worry About) where she is with Randy while he is crying about the guilt and separation from his ex-fiancé. If Beth is with Randy as she wrote, then this would likely have been one of her many 2008 secret rendezvous at Randy’s place in Berkeley. So why is Randy feeling guilty? I am guessing that Courtney found out that Randy was having a sexual affair with another women and not just any women but with one of her close girlfriends who is married to one of her other close friends Tommy Caldwell. This story only gets worse but that can wait for another day. "