Wednesday, October 29, 2014
I graduated from the Olympia Mountaineers Basic Climbing Class in June 1973, where I first met Bill when he was my instructor along with Fleet Ratliff & Peter Rodionff at Glacier Practice on Mt St Helens. I was surprised when he invited me on his Olympic Mountain Trip August 5-13,1973. The members were Bill (42'), his son, Paul (15'), Paul's friend, Mike McClanhan (14'), Fleet (31') & Ann Marie Ratliff, Gary Hoyenga, Mark Baker (25), Bart Burns, Hugh Favero (39’) & Phil Dickert (65'). We climbed Mt Christie, Seattle, Cougar, Noyes, Meany & Kimta Peaks. Four days of the trip were "off trail" over very rough and tiring terrain. Our climbing party of eleven exited the Olympic Mountains via the Skyline Trail. Bill was a very skilled mountaineer and a wise leader. He was fun to be with. Bill will be sorely missed by those who had the pleasure of knowing him.
If anyone has slides or negatives of this “ancient trip�, I would be glad to process them with my Nikon 9000 Scanner to a “Thumb Drive� for you. > (whlarson@q.com).
