... first time we ever laid eyes on "mountain climbing" gear was our first visit to the old 'Ligonier Mountain Outfitters' shop located along PA Route 30 at the base of 'Laurel Ridge' in Laughlintown, PA... handling a carabiner for the first time and staring at a wall of ropes and complicated looking gear, the imagination was immediately captivated and thoughts transported to images of dangling from sheer rock walls high above wilderness landscapes... sounds like fun!... but this is PA, not Colorado or Wyoming - where do ya' need or can even use this this stuff around here?... one of the guidebooks on the wall included information on a place called 'White Rocks', located high atop 'Chestnut Ridge' just outside the town of Fairchance, PA - hey, that's about a half hour from home!...
... returned a week or two later and purchased the basics - a rope, some nylon webbing, a few carabiners, a "figure-eight" device (for braking the rope) and two climbing harnesses (looks like a two man operation - don't know any climbers, so gonna' have to find someone to drag along)...
... eventually made our way up to White Rocks - upon first glance was a bit disheartened - a long low cliff and large boulders - expected a bit more, especially since the guidebook featured a photo of a gnarly looking guy on one of the routes dangling from pitons and aid climbing gear - and we've regularly climbed stone bridge piers along the Yough River taller and steeper than this stuff and without the need for ropes (although, there was a river below to break the fall)... oh well - a bit disappointed but not discouraged...
... there were two other climbers there who were pretty friendly and let us hang out and we quickly understood that the main attraction to all this was ascending the cliff and boulders by the most difficult way possible - and also that we were additionally gonna' need a pair of those special rubber-soled rock climbing shoes they both had, not bulky leather boots, if we were gonna' have any success (and fun) on anything that was considered the least bit difficult... was personally thrashin' around and frustrated on a route considered "moderate" per the then standards when one of the guys let me try a pair of his rubber soled 'EB's' - man, talk about magic - cruised right up that thing along with a few other routes a bit higher up the scale of difficulty... immediately hooked - went out the following Monday and purchased a pair of my own...
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... supposedly White Rocks is haunted by the ghost of a girl named 'Polly Williams' who long ago was either pushed or jumped to her death (depending upon whose side of the story you were on at the time) from the clifftop while arguing with her boyfriend - they even have the spot from which she tumbled highlighted in white paint...
... we subsequently got in the routine of traveling to White Rocks every Friday night after work to get in a few hours of climbing practice before dark - a lot of the stuff (the 'Beginners Wall', 'Ball Bearing' boulder, 'Norwegian' and some long, difficult, low to the ground traverses) was easy enough to climb unroped, so wasn't too concerned if a partner wasn't available - besides, looked forward to the evening solitude after working all week - climbers back then were between circus clowns and serial killers in number, so the place was usually empty...
... you'd think that a lone individual right in the middle of a ghost's sanctuary would be primed to be scared sh*tless by said spook, especially when hiking out long after dark, but sorry to say, no sightings - and quite a few evenings were spent there alone... at least neighbor ghost 'Betty Knox', who resides several miles to the north in the hollows of 'Dunbar Creek', has the "spirited" initiative to break a few twigs to get your attention...
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... over time, hadn't visited White Rocks for maybe two years, so one Friday decided to make an evening visit, just like times past... upon arrival, there was one vehicle in the parking lot, which looked familiar, so after arriving at the cliff following the long hike in, took a stroll about to see who was there, if anyone at all... had just rounded the large 'Norwegian' boulder block (think that is what it is called) and practically bumped heads with the (at the time) world renowned rock climber 'Henry Barber'... knew him right off the bat - was a familiar face in the magazines, and had just watched him a short time earlier on the TV show 'American Sportsman' climbing unroped on some large and difficult sea cliff in Britain... still, did a double take and am immediately thinking "what the f*k is this guy doin' at some totally obscure, small-ass cliff in PA on a Friday night" - all before saying hi... didn't take long to figure things out, though - noticed immediately that Henry was accompanied by RK Myers (Meyers?), owner of the aforementioned Ligonier Mountain Outfitters - Barber was at the time a rep for equipment manufacturer 'Chouinard Equipment Co.', and was in the area doin' his sales rep thing, so RK took 'em out climbing... pretty cool...
(internet image)
... Henry Barber...
... true to form he was climbing sans rope and barefoot (and no crashpads back then - probably wouldn't want one anyway, even if ya' stacked ten at his feet) - the boulders top out at maybe 30ft - watched him climb a route we recall as being named 'Orangutan' - a bit overhung, hard (for the time, rated 5.10) and a meatgrinder ta' boot (as recalled) - couldn't imagine doing it barefoot (again, as recalled) - he tapped the lip then downclimbed it - he moved to an adjacent block and repeated the performance on a moderate 5.8... by this time my feet were startin' to hurt watchin' this guy - as well, didn't want to keep hangin' around like some dick, so said nice to meet ya' and bid our farewell... master rock climber and a pretty nice guy...
... by the way, RK left this world years back, we were told, as the result of a farming accident - a belated Rest-in-Peace brother...
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... know a gal who claims that she came across some old rock piles in the woods up near 'Bear Run Nature Reserve' that were supposedly ground markers for some unnamed civil war military graves... so she starts rummaging about the stones, looking for any artifacts... she gets as far as moving two or three stones when someone from behind grabs her roughly by the shoulder and pulls her ass backward, away from the rock piles, and on to the ground... only problem is - she's alone...
[11/30/17 - had to re-edit content]
Interesting story about the gal who found the stone piles. Would you happen to know where at in Bear Run this is?
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