Matt: Did you guys do D1?

Jim: The second ascent of D7, and we didn’t take any bvvy gear. We didn’t have a plan. It never came up that you should have a plan and know if you are going to spend the night or not spend the night. It just didn’t register. We spent a very cold night hugging each other waiting for the dawn on that ledge a long time ago. So Roger and I have been climbing together since then.

Matt: And what year was that?

Jim: 1967 or 68.

Matt: And you still climb a lot with Roger?

Jim: Yeah, Roger and I are still good friends. I designed his house. Yeah, however many years that is, 40 years, we’re still climbing together.

Matt: And you’re also known for the first free ascent of the Diamond?

Jim: Yeah, Wayne Goss and I, what was then thought of as late in our climbing career, because we hadn’t really been doing much and people thought we were old has-beens because we were 30-somethings.

Matt: That’s tragic.

Jim: Yeah, we were in our 30s, and somehow we didn’t count anymore, so we decided to do the first free ascent of the Diamond. And, we did that in 1976. And what was cool was it was the first time the Diamond was ever climbed with no hammers, no bivvy gear, just the way it is climbed now. We bivvied on Broadway. We left our gear on Broadway. And just went for it, so we had a rope and a rack and a rain jacket, and that was it.

Matt: All clean gear?

Jim: All clean gear, all nuts. It was before cams were invented. It was all hexes and stoppers.

Matt: What year was that?

Jim: 76, I think. Probably 76, maybe 74 or 75.

Matt: And you guys did D7 into the Forrest Finish?

Jim: D7 into the Forrest Finish. I looked up what became the Casual Route later and declared it not free-climbable from the ledge. So, Wayne led a really hard pitch going left back into the top of Black Dagger. There was a crack there that is now completely cleaned out. At the time it was completely full of grass, mud, flowers, and stuff. So, Wayne face climbed in the rain on the right side in between the Black Dagger and the Casual Route.

Matt: So, much harder than the Casual Route?

Jim: Much harder than the Casual Route, and he managed to not fall off, and I followed and managed to not fall off. We were pretty excited.

Matt: Has anyone repeated that specific variation?

Jim: It’s hard to tell. It actually a pretty good route if you did that set of pitches into the Casual Route. It would be a really nice free climb actually. The Forrest Finish pitch, I looked it up, and I think it is like 11a or something maybe but, I just remember it was a very consistent, really good, pumpy crack climb. In that kind of complicated Diamond way where you jam, then you layback, then you reach up on the ledge and stem for a move.