Ray Northcutt

Ray Northcutt did the first ascent of Hallett's and the Diagonal in RMNP, routes in Eldo, all in that Golden Age:

https://www.estesparknews.com/local_obituaries/article_6078873d-13f0-48b4-b90a-442e9a9087c4.html

https://www.mountainproject.com/search?q=northcutt

RIP Ray.

I enjoyed the Northcutt/Carter route on Hallet.

Ray’s lead of the Northcutt Start might have been the first 5.10 in the US. Because some people think that it’s 5.11-, it might have been the first 5.11. I always thought that it was harder than some other 5.11s in Eldo.

Edit:  John Gill might have done harder routes by that time (1959).

Great interview with Ray from a couple years ago:  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GRoDTZ0vETM

A chapter from Layton Kor’s book “Beyond the Vertical”, describing climbing the Diagonal with Northcutt:

"When faced with the question, "Where shall we go climbing today," on those days when Eldorado was too hot, we would frequently head up to Rocky Mountain National Park. But that was only part of the decision, for this magnificent high mountain area offers endless possibilities. Longs Peak alone is an amphitheater of lovely granite offering a hundred lines. Then there are the buttresses of Hallet Peak, the Crags above Twin Sisters, the Twin Owls above Estes Park, Sundance Buttress, and countless other unnamed slabs and walls tucked into high mountain valleys. They were all readily accessible, waiting, and frequently unclimbed.

One thing was certain, the best experiences were usually first ascents, the feeling of heading up into unknown territory. More than anything else in my life up to that time, climbing, particularly first ascents, made me feel truly alive and it was always a letdown to descend and return to mundane day-to-day affairs.

In 1958 l met Ray Northcutt, who was certainly the most capable climber in the Boulder region at the time. Climbing with him in Eldorado Canyon that year, l accompanied him on an early attempt to free climb the direct start to the Bastille. Ray tried, and tried, but he just couldn't do the traverse at the top of the pitch free. Some time later, I heard that Stan Shepard fooled Northcutt by telling him that I had lead it free a few days earlier, which wasn't true. It was just Shepard's way of getting Ray going. It worked apparently. Climbing at his limit, Ray led the pitch free, saying to himself, "If Kor can do it, so can I." This ascent was generally regarded as the first 5.10 free lead in the Boulder region, and gives a good indication of what a capable climber Northcutt was.

Ray worked hard at being physically fit. He'd run and do pull-ups every day reaching a point where he could do a hundred pull-ups in three sets of thirty-three. I didn't know anybody else at the time who worked out as intensely.

Northcutt's big dream was the Diagonal route on the lower East Face of Longs Peak. In those days the Park Service had put the Diamond off limits, but the Diagonal was allowed. Ray had been working with George Lamb on the route before I met him. Lamb dropped out and I became Northcutt's partner. We made one attempt in October 1958, but then it became too cold, and we ended up leaving fixed ropes on the wall through the winter. When we returned in 1959, the fixed ropes had been abraded by the wind. Northcutt hiked up to Broadway, rappelled down, and replaced them prior to our next attempt. To do this he had to place a rappel bolt in the middle of the wall, which is going to mystify some future climber.

As soon as the weather improved in the spring we began work on the climb again.

Northcutt was a fast hiker, and would just kill me on the way up to the bottom of the wall. I'd pant after him, up the Longs Peak trail, past Chasm Lake, and arrive at the bottom of the Diagonal exhausted.

Previously Ray had fixed ropes up to a large narrow ledge called Gillette ledge and they hung straight down from it. The weather that spring was terrible. We made three or four attempts. Each time we'd get part way up the wall, and each time a storm would come in and blast us off. It rained a lot that summer and the water would wash rocks down from Broadway. We'd rappel down in high winds and snow and head back to Boulder to wait for the storm to clear. None of this deterred Northcutt in the least. He was totally committed to the climb and wanted it badly. 

Generally the aid climbing on the Diagonal was not terribly hard. We swung leads, though Northcutt ended up leading more pitches than me. He was by far the more experienced climber at the time and I always felt comfortable when he was leading. He would never do anything foolish. Even though he wasn't the fastest climber in the world, he knew exactly what he was doing and was very sound. He'd get the job done safely, and wasn't about to fall off.

Ray had certain interesting ways of doing things. For example, he would rappel off only two wraps of thin alpine cord. He claimed they were strong enough to rappel from but I didn't trust them. Not wanting to start an argument, everytime he would rappel down ahead of me l'd wait until he was off the ropes and then quickly put on three or four more wraps.

On the final day of the climb we cleared the overhangs about half way up the wall and then we took off going as fast as we could for the top. About half way up the face the nature of the rock changed. The cracks above looked foreboding. We reached a point where Northcutt spotted a line of holds and small ledges traversing right across the face. We discussed the two options and decided that the traverse looked more promising. We were part way across when another of the afternoon storms that had been plaguing us hit. Immediately the rock was awash with water and stones came bouncing down from Broadway. It was no place to be and we rappelled down and off the face just as fast as we could, leaving our ropes in place.

A couple of days later we returned and prusiked back up the ropes. Ray went first. However, rather than prusiking all the way back up to the high point he got off the fixed ropes about forty feet lower down, on a small ledge, and placed two bolts for belay anchors. I prusiked up to join him on the ledge and we started climbing from there. (Ed: this sequence of events was to confuse later parties. By rappelling the forty feet between the retreat point and this belay ledge, Northcutt and Kor had missed out a smooth holdless slab in the middle of the crucial traverse. Later parties, including Kamps and Rearick and Ament and Dalke had been unable to figure out how Northcutt and Kor had free climbed the smooth section).

Ray climbed out across the traverse. I looked up and I could clearly see the soles of his feet edging on tiny flakes. In those days he wore tight klettershoes, so tight you could see his toes bulging out at the front. Looking up, all I could see were his soles. They'd scurry for a couple of moves. Stop. Scurry again. Just like a little mouse zipping across the wall. Then he shouted down, "I got it! I got it!" and he was across. This traverse was the key part of the climb. It took us into the bottom of a big blocky corner which led all the way up to Broadway. In the corner we used direct aid in places including some bolts and some wooden wedges. There was a good deal of bad rock and we pulled a fair amount down as we climbed. We reached Broadway by late afternoon without further trouble and then made good time descending.

The Diagonal was the most difficult and most serious high mountain climb in Colorado at the time, and I counted myself fortunate to have been able to accompany Northcutt. I learned a great deal from him about technical rock climbing that was to stand me in good stead in the future. Had the Diamond not been off limits at that time, there is a good chance that Northcutt would have made the first ascent of it also. This was not to be and the Diagonal in 1959 was to be Northcutt's last major climb.

Northcutt, myself, and Dale Johnson actually had a long standing arrangement that we would try for the first ascent of the Diamond if the Park Service ever opened it to climbers. In 1960, the rangers announced at short notice that qualified climbers could make application for the Diamond and it transpired that Kamps and Rearick were in Colorado at the time ready to go. The announcement took myself, Northcutt and Johnson by surprise and we were not prepared. The first ascent permission was given to the Californians.”

Fair well, Climber. And thank you for the routes you shared.

Page from from Climb! 1st edition) describing the circumstances of the Northcutt Direct Start free ascent