In 1969 I was walking along the base of El Capitan in the lovely Yosemite with a couple of climbing buddies when we ran into Galen Rowell. I was new to climbing and not up on my Yosemite climbing history and had never heard Galen’s name, but we were introduced and I was immediately struck by the fierce intensity of his person. His handshake was firm, his smile sincere, and there was a gleeful, wild passion in his eyes that I liked and trusted from the very beginning. We climbed together part of that day and began a friendship that endured and immeasurably enriched and informed my life.
Galen Rowell immeasurably enriched and informed the lives of many, many people. I believe Galen’s work has enriched and made more secure the lives of all the creatures which inhabit the earth. I say this because that work has raised man’s awareness of the beauty, the inherent dignity, the fragility and the spiritual dimension of the wild places, the wild creatures, and the wild people of the world. As we all know, too many of the wild places are being polluted and destroyed, too many of the wild creatures are either domesticated or on the verge of extinction, and far too many of the wild people are becoming corporate executives. Only human awareness can save the wild, and we need the wild.
We need the wild in order to survive. Nature needs the wild in order to be nature. We need the wild as individuals, as a people (Americans in our case), as members of the biological community of the planet (Homo sapiens). Galen’s images, writings, activism and the path of his life are reminders to us of that need. There are others better qualified to comment on Galen’s contributions and accomplishments in the climbing world, and others still who know far more about the skill and beauty and ultimate value of his photography and writing. But as his friend I know that the essence and source of his success, accomplishment and vision was in that wild passion he brought to whatever he was doing. I have known very few people with the kind of energy and ability to focus in the moment as Galen Rowell. Whether he was climbing, taking photographs, giving a talk, discussing the ideas of Konrad Lorenz or the observations of John McPhee or the music of Villa Lobos, or taking one of his power runs in the Berkeley Hills, life was always an adventure for him. And, of course, anyone who was ever in an automobile with Galen at the wheel knows that driving with him was always a memorable adventure for his passengers.
It has been one of the great privileges of my life to have shared some of that adventure with Galen—-in his beloved Sierra, in the Rockies, in China and Tibet, and, of course, in Berkeley and Yosemite.
In the mid 1970s I was working as a ski coach in Squaw Valley. A woman named Barbara Cushman was involved in a small clothing company called SPACE COWBOY, and she wanted to make ski parkas for our coaches. I met her and her handshake was firm, her smile sincere (and beautiful), and there was a no bullshit honesty in her eyes that I liked and trusted immediately. She said she would make (and sell) us the best parkas we had ever seen. True to her word, as always, she did. All the coaches cherished and stayed warm in our SPACE COWBOY parkas. A couple of years later she had left behind her SPACE COWBOY phase of life and was working for the North Face when we met again and she became a good friend. Barbara was a rare and charming combination of toughness and vulnerability, personal ambition and concern for the world, playfulness and seriousness. Like Galen, she had a wild and deep source of energy and a great ability to focus on the task at hand. As a businesswoman she could drive a hard bargain, but she believed in what she was doing and she always delivered the best. Barbara strove for excellence with integrity in everything. Those two words—excellence and integrity—come easily to mind when thinking of Barbara Cushman Rowell. She was a loyal and wonderful friend to me, and we had a lot of good times and many laughs together.
When Galen and Barbara met in 1981 at the North Face, it was love at first sight. They immediately embarked on a phenomenal partnership. Like every relationship, theirs was not without difficult times, but I consider Barbara and Galen to be one of the true great love stories of our circle of friends. In so many ways they were a perfect match. The most obvious example is that while Galen provided the images that made Mountain Light what it is, it was Barbara who made the business of Mountain Light what it is. They supported, encouraged, prodded and pushed each other in the life long project of continuing to grow, continuing to learn, and continuing to expand their personal horizons and capabilities.
Sometime in the late 1980s I noticed that I seldom thought of Galen alone or of Barbara alone. I thought of them as Barbara and Galen, Galen and Barbara, a unit, an entity larger and more significant that the sum of the two of them. And to the end, that entity of those two beautiful people continued to grow and to explore and experience life with wild passion and no bullshit honesty.
We should all do as well.
And there is this: a few years ago the Yosemite Institute hosted an event in Galen’s honor. I was asked to say a few words. Though I had planned on saying something else, on the spur of the moment I took that opportunity to publicly thank Galen and Barbara for being my friends for many years, for their support and encouragement in some very bad times, and for sharing in the good ones. I told them I deeply valued their presence on this earth, and I thanked them for enriching and informing my life. I am so very glad and grateful that I did that when I had the chance, for there will never be another.
It seems to me that the most meaningful, living tribute each of us could offer to Galen and Barbara is to make the extra effort to keep in touch with those who have mattered in our lives and to make sure they know they matter. Keep in touch with old friends. Keep in touch with new friends. Keep in touch with adventure. Keep in touch with passion. Keep in touch with the wild. Keep in touch. Keep in touch. Keep in touch.
And say “thank you” for family, and “thank you” for friendship while you can.
Thank you.