Oral History Program Kent Westergaard Interviewed by Colby Wayment 15 April 2009 i Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Kent Westergaard Interviewed by Colby Wayment 15 April 2009 Copyright © 2014 by Weber State University, Stewart Library ii Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. Archival copies are placed in University Archives. The Stewart Library also houses the original recording so researchers can gain a sense of the interviewee's voice and intonations. Project Description The Weber State College/University Student Projects have been created by students working with several different professors on the Weber State campus. The topics are varied and based on the student's interest or task for a specific assignment. These oral history assignments were created to help Weber State students learn the value and importance of recording public history and to benefit the expansion of the Weber State oral history collections. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed Kelley Evans, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to the Stewart Library of Weber State University. No part of the manuscript may be published without the written permission of the University Librarian. Requests for permission to publish should be addressed to the Administration Office, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah, 84408. The request should include identification of the specific item and identification of the user. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Westergaard, Kent, an oral history by Colby Wayment, 15 April 2009, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Abstract: This is an oral interview with Kent Westergaard. It is being conducted on April 15, 2009 at his house concerning the Steinfel Club. CW: How did you get into climbing? KW: Well, it was a result of my older brother and his wife going on a trip to Europe. Their intent was two things: to see Europe and buy a Volkswagen and bring it back from Europe. They thought they could get a cheaper car over there. That was in the days before you had to meet pollution standards and that kind of stuff. While they were in Europe, my brother, in Austria, bought a pair of climbing boots and sent them to me. I got them in the mail. I looked at those and thought they were pretty cool so I went to try them out. I went up Ogden Canyon. My dad was a photographer and he photographed everything. So I told him I wanted to try out these climbing boots. So we went up to Ogden Canyon and climbed up in Cold Water Canyon. There is a house up there. I forgot who owned it at the time. We went around it. My dad was with me with a camera and I had no experience - no nothing, just this pair of boots that came in the mail. Upon showing me his scrapbook As you can see I'm dressed in jeans and a long-sleeve work shirt. I've got a stocking cap on. And I just headed up the cliff. I figured, "Hey, I got the shoes; I can do this." CW: It's pretty surprising your dad didn't mind. What if you fell? That's pretty technical. KW: Yeah. Now as I look at this, being a parent, having had kids, and watching them do stuff that put them at risk, I can't imagine my father just sitting their clicking pictures and not having his heart in his throat as he watched because I wasn't with anybody else. These 1 are brand-new boots. They had a Vibram sole on them and had rough-out type leather. They were really stiff and bulky. Later we had Klettershoes. They had a Norwegian welt, which is to say they had upper stitching and a big welt around. They didn't conform to your feet. They were like a big stiff platform - more like an Everest expedition boot than a technical climbing shoe. But that's what I had so there I went. CW: How does that translate into you going to Perkins and meeting some of those other climbers? KW: As you can see this was 1963, roughly, and I was working at the Spudnut shop on Kiesal Avenue between 23rd and 24th street. It was after school, I was in high school, I went in Friday after midnight and help bake all through the night so there would be fresh baked goods Saturday morning. Dean Perkins was the source of climbing equipment at the time. I think climbing equipment for him was a sideline, or a hobby. There were a couple of guys I palled around with that said, "Let's try this"— that kind of thing. "Where can I get climbing equipment?" Eventually, I essentially turned over my check to Perkins Ltd. for climbing equipment and climbing clothing. You had to be fashionable, which you'll see here in these pictures. You had to have the right stuff just like anything else. You'll recognize this one Waterfall Dihedral in Ogden Canyon . The waterfall's just right over here. Again I'm alone. This rope that I had, I bought at Lowes' Hardware. It was a sisal rope, hemp. It wasn't a climbing rope. It was off of a reel at a hardware store. I bought the rope and climbed up over the side. Secured it to the rock, tossed it over the side, and I rappelled down with a pair of gloves and that's it. The rope came between my legs and back up over my shoulder. I still have a scar on my shoulder because about that far half-way down, the rope burned through my sweater, my shirt, and it was 2 grinding into my collarbone. It was bleeding. There was nothing else I could do. I didn't have a carabineer, not a brake - nothing. I just had to continue down. CW: Where did you learn this? Had you seen other people rappel? KW: I got a book and there was a diagram. CW: Was the book from Perkins? KW: No, the Carnegie free library. I checked out a book. I think it was called Starlight and Storm. There was a French guy, Gaston Rebufat. I'm not sure, but I think that's where I got it. I'll never forget it because right there about where my shadow is, I knew I was in some serious trouble, because it had gone through my sweater and was into my shirt by then. But you can see I made it down. Here I am alive. Those two pictures bring back a significant memory there. It is kind of remarkable that I'm still alive, I think. That's how I got started. CW: And that just piqued your interest? You went out and checked out a book? KW: Yeah, I checked out a book and then began talking to people visiting Perkins as much as I did. I ran into some folks. CW: Were you one of the first members who started the club? KW: I don't know that for sure. As I recall, we organized the Steinfel's Climbing Club in Kent Christianson's living room on 21st street there. It was on the first block east of Harrison on the south side. Maybe it was 20th. And the reason I think that I was probably one of the first members is this the Steinfel patch . CW: Did you guys have these patches made up for a while or just for the first few members? 3 KW: As far as I know, after we formed the club, we thought we ought to have something that shows us. Patches were a big deal back then. I think today, pins are more of a big deal. There are a lot of pins available. We had that patch made somewhere in Ogden. I don't know who did it or where it was made, but that was it, a little piece of felt with some embroidery on it. CW: So you were part of the first meeting when there were only a few people? KW: I believe I was because I remember the discussion we had in Hack's living room saying that we ought get together and get something going and organize a group officially. And that came from that. We talked about what we name it. You know where this is by Perry's camp in Ogden . CW: You're just unroped? KW: Yeah, it's pretty amazing that I'm here alive talking to you. CW: It's not the most solid rock in the world. KW: No. I remember a couple pieces fell off and it was kind of like, "Oh well, okay." CW: You went out and climbed with the guys from Perkins a number of times a little before you organized the club? KW: Yeah, we did quite a bit together before we decided we needed an organization of some kind. It was kind of a freelance deal. People would come back and say, "I went here and I did this." CW: Do you have stories about bringing beginners in? 4 KW: I don't. I don't think we went out recruiting or anything like that. It all centered around who was at Perkins. CW: Did you know any of the older guys, Frank Cunningham, Pete Townsend, John Narcisean? KW: No. Here is some of the fashion. By then I had a Goldline. CW: Did you go on any of the City of Rocks trips? KW: I did. I looked and looked but I couldn't find any pictures. Here are a couple of other names: Jerald Swanson, Bill King. His grandpa was the cowboy mayor of Ogden and owned Rainbow Gardens. CW: Do you have any particular City of Rocks stories? KW: I don't know if it was obvious or not, but I was not a drinking hard-partier kind of guy. I was more of a wallflower. I didn't really get into the hard charging stuff. I don't have any exciting stories of raising hell or anything like that. CW: Did you go bouldering with them? KW: Not a lot. You know, City of Rocks, there was a lot of bouldering up there. But the bouldering between Taylor Canyon and Ogden Canyon, that got more popular later on. Steve's probably got a picture of this. I can't remember whether he took a movie camera or not. It was Mims Barker, Steve, and me. There's what we looked like heading in. I think Steve knew John Shaw. He was a Forest Ranger up there in the Wind Rivers . We spent one night going in with him; Big Sandy Lake over to Jackass Pass, and then we went into the Cirque of Towers. We thought we did a first ascent on Pingora. I don't know if we did or not. There is Steve headed up. We went up this crack right here and 5 out across this face then straight up the left extent of Pingora . Along with the stuff that we read about it, we couldn't find anything pitons, webbing, or otherwise of anybody doing that, but that was our route. August 26 of 1966. CW: You probably got a first ascent. Did you go on a few of these Wind River trips? KW: No, this was the only one. Shortly after that I went in the Navy. I went into the Navy in 1967 and got out of it in 1973. When I got out of the Navy, I came back and got my climbing gear out from my parents and went climbing with Bruce Roghaar. We went out on a piece of rock that's out there in Pleasant View. There's a gravel pit there now. We climbed on that; that was a little more than bouldering. Then we went back up in Ogden Canyon and got on the friction pitch. I was terrified and almost paralyzed with fear. I realized that you cannot be on a cliff like this and be that frightened. So I came down, sold everything, and I've never been since. CW: That's a big difference from your first experiences. KW: Yeah, and at that time it was like, "So what?" By this time I had a wife and two kids. My experience in the Navy made me realize I was mortal. CW: What was the makeup of the group like? KW: It was pretty close knit. There wasn't dozens of people. It was a small group; like you've probably had other people tell you, we all felt like we knew each other. It was fairly informal even though we had the patch and this and that. 6