In Memory of Mike Neu (the Rock)
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At the "Ironclads", May, 2001.
Rock had always read the newspaper before picking me up for climbing in the morning. No matter how early, he had an interesting news story on his mind for the drive. This particular day in the Ironclads happened to be Bob Dylan's 60th Birthday. May 24, 2001. Wandering around, trying to orient ourselves in the Ironclads, we stumbled across a route called "Subterranean Homesick Blues". We thought, "gotta do this one". It turned out wasn't the best route we did that day, but we both enjoyed the coincidence and a little celebration of Dylan's birthday. |
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Hey Matt |
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I been looking at this thread for the better part of two weeks thinking "Mike sounds like my kind of guy." Then a recent photo from this thread triggered my memory - Mike was an Eldo regular for years and I had seen him many times. |
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If you can judge a person by their friends. Mike was gold. |
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Matt |
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matt fetbrod wrote:Rock was an incredibly giving friend and the best climbing partner I've ever had. Rock worked hard, read heartily, loved a good story, and always had my back. I can't express how saddened I am to hear about his death.Mike lived in eldo before it became a park. I lived in eldo after it became a park. We bonded! We climbed (hard!!). Now I am sad... |
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August 2001- after the Vertigo rappels
Rock was always so incredibly efficient. I thought sometimes that he enjoyed the quest for perfection in efficiency of all things technical as much as he enjoyed the actual climbing. As a baker he was the same way. Every day he was a little faster than the day before as he'd constantly be finding more efficient ways to do the work. Here he is in this photo simultaneously pulling the rope through the anchor and meticulously coiling. |
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Matt, |
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Hello All! |
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bump to Matt's message. Hope to see you all out there tomorrow |
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Godfried wrote: On the subject of how careful Rock was about safety, let me add a missing piece. When I first met him Rock was only just starting to climb again after a serious accident. Yarding on a stuck rappel rope pulled down a large rock. Rock's partner was able to step aside, he had to bail from a ledge 20ft off the deck and broke both his feet. The only thing he said about the event was how humiliating it felt having to be rescued and that he never wanted to experience that again. |
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So, I was that partner - we were on Melvin’s Wheel on Lumpy Ridge in Estes Park. Rock and I had previously done the Petit Grepon in RMNP (my personal best and an amazing day). The worst thing about the accident was that his wedding was only a week away. We both worked at the Harvest Restaurant in Boulder which is how we met. I can still see the boulder coming down on us. I ran toward the chimney at the end of the ledge we were on and Mike jumped to the talus below. Thank goodness the boulder didn’t strike either of us directly. After the boulder broke up and passed I climbed down to check on him and assess his condition. He was very calm and since he did not seem to be going into shock I ran back to the parking lot and because the thunderstorm that drove us off the route also affected others I was able to muster a small group to return to Mike and we carried him out on a makeshift stretcher using a climbing rope. I then drove him to Boulder Community Hospital. Climb on Mike! |