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Show Russell Jacobs 9 December 2009 THE FOLLOWING IS AN INTERVIEW WITH RUSSELL JACOBS ON DECEMBER 9, 2009. THE INTERVIEWER IS MA TT DRISCOLL. TAPE # U2041. MD: Today is December 9. I'm Matt Driscoll, speaking with Russell Jacobs. Uh, and what I'd like to do to start off today is pick up, um, parts of our conversation from last time. Um, specifically, one of the things that we spent a good deal of the time talking about was, uh, your climb with Les Ellison, um, in the ... uh, the Arm and Hammer climb in Bells Canyon. Um and so, I'd like to follow on that by talking about other climbs during that period that you took with Les. And I understand that you took a trip to Peru together, so maybe that would be a good place to start today. RJ: Sure, yes. Uh, Les Ellison, as I've mentioned before, was a prominent figure in the climbing community. Uh, and he had transferred out here for graduate school from, um, back east, in New England, where he had, um, honed his skills in the Shawangunks. MD: Um-hum. RJ: Uh, in New York. And th~n when he came out here, uh, he just picked up where he'd left off. But Les and I met somehow, uh, through the climbing community and were comfortable with each other. And we had about the same skill level. Uh, so, uh, Les Ellison and I felt that it was time for us to do something big. MD: Um-hum. RJ: And there were a couple of other climbing partners that we, uh, fellowshipped with really close to the year of 1979, uh, that had gone to South America and climbed in the Andes. And Les Ellison and myself felt that we were ready for an adventure of that nature. So we did our research. Um, we had talked to a few climbers to see if they would, um, be able to come along with us. We wanted a group of four, primarily. Uh, 1 |
