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Rtag
Boulder climber
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Mar 20, 2019 - 03:59pm PT
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So sorry to hear about Rodney. I had gotten to know Rodney over the many years climbing at Mortar Rock. I have such good memories of being up a Mortar working on Nats and chatting with him about our shared love for Tuolumne and Yosemite. I remember that after I sent Nats traverse the next time I saw him he was so happy and excited for me. He brought such great energy to Mortar Rock. He will be greatly missed. My condolences to his family and friends.
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FredC
Gym climber
Santa Cruz, CA
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Mar 21, 2019 - 09:46am PT
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Thank you Ahnsight!
I know he really loved hanging out with you guys up at Nat's. I tried to get him to come to the darn gym but he was so happy out there.
We got a pretty cool group together in the last few years and had some really fun dinners together. Rodney so loved these events. Here's a photo with Peter Haan, Tom Higgins, me, Rod, and Allen Steck one night. A super fun group of people.
This is my favorite photo I got of Rodney leading in the Meadows.
Time spent with good friends sharing what we love.
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rodneysdaughter
Boulder climber
Santa Barbara
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 21, 2019 - 11:34am PT
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It's really wonderful to hear from everyone <3
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scuffy b
climber
heading slowly NNW
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Mar 23, 2019 - 08:10pm PT
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He was so nice! I used to marvel at the way he camped out in the crux at Far Left waved and waved at the knob above, many inches away. It hurts so bad.
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ingar
Trad climber
Berkeley, CA
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Mar 24, 2019 - 06:51am PT
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Thank you for posting this!
We’ve climbed with Rodney (and even your sister I think) at Mortar and Indian Rock for many many years, and always looked forward to chatting with him during his sessions. His humility, self-deprecating humor, knowledge of climbing and light-hearted conversation were such a welcome counterpoint to some of the more “contemporary” interactions with other climbers there.
He will be dearly missed, and this is a quite a blow to oral tradition that exists at the Berkeley boulders.
-Ingar
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Mike P
Mountain climber
Berkeley, CA
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Mar 29, 2019 - 10:20am PT
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Melody and family, the first thing I want to say is: everyone loved your dad!
I won't be able to make it to the service tomorrow. My condolences to all.
I met Rodney in 1992, the year I moved to Berkeley and started visiting the local boulders. Rodney was usually there every time I went to Indian Rock, with his chalk bag slung over his shoulder like they did in the 1970s. He localized that place for decades! As others have noted, Rodney was friendly (not fake-friendly) and easygoing with everyone, whether you were a noob or a crusher. Those first few years I never saw him at Mortar Rock, one block up the street. Then all of a sudden, one year, there he was at Mortar, and his Nat’s Traverse project began. It’s worth noting that Rodney was not a young man when he started working on Nat's. For that alone: respect!
In case you’re reading or hearing this and you’re not a climber, or not familiar with the route, Nat’s Traverse is a famous boulder problem about 25 feet long, mostly climbed sideways close to the ground, ending with a heartbreaker finish on top of a house-size boulder. The moves are powerful and complicated. It was first climbed in the 1970s and is still considered difficult today.
Rodney's style on easier, lower-angle terrain at Indian Rock was classic old-school: careful and methodical, with precision footwork, the way you'd climb on big crags up in the mountains. His style on Nat's was totally different and highly individual: he was quick and punchy, charging through the hardest sections as fast as possible to conserve energy without making mistakes, a brilliant adaptation to the modern moves and strenuous nature of the route.
Rodney worked on Nat’s more or less weekly for more than a decade. Several times he was able to climb it in two sections, taking one short rest break standing on the ground midway. This is proud. Many good local climbers have never done Nat's Traverse, or even matched Rodney's efforts. But according to the rules of the game, Rodney never actually, officially succeeded on Nat’s.
What I really admire about Rodney is that he had no problem with this.
Whenever I asked him "how's it going on Nat's, dude?" he seemed unconcerned with the idea of progress. Not because he wasn't invested or wasn't trying hard — he was trying super hard! — but because "success" wasn't the reason he was keeping company with that boulder. In fact I got the impression that it seemed better to him, in some way, that he might never do it. It meant he was trying something truly hard for himself, without any expectations and without a need to win. He was climbing just to climb. He was climbing as a practice.
The practice was the reason to practice.
To a competitive boulderer hooked on achievement and status, this was eye-opening — if you noticed it. Rodney was a humble master and would never have conspicuously tried to teach this lesson, even though he was teaching this lesson every time you saw him. A true Jedi.
We hear a lot about climbing (or doing anything) "just for the love of it," for the sake of it. Rodney actually did this with his bouldering. This is rare. We will never forget him!
Mike Papciak
"Continuous practice is not necessarily something people in the world love, but it is the true place of return for everyone. The effect of such sustained practice is sometimes not hidden. Do not be hindered by old age and frailty. Do not consider whether you are in your prime or old and frail." -- Eihei Dogen, "Continuous Practice, Part One," 1243
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Mar 30, 2019 - 06:35am PT
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Nice remembrance.
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