Changing Perspective

When you’re old, your perspective changes, usually for the better. Fritz Wiessner was old in 1973 when he did a double-take while driving along Interstate 40 east of Cookeville, Tennessee. The sign said “Bee Rock” alongside a sign for the town of Monterey. Fritz promptly did a U-turn and sought out the rock. He found it, along with me and my buds who were exploring new routes at the crag. It was a serendipitous meeting that I’ve remembered all these years since.

Bee Rock is a newly protected crag thanks to the efforts of a private landowner, TennGreen Land Conservancy,  Access Fund, Southeastern Climbers Coalition (SCC), and the City of Monterey. We’ve been prepping the crag for your next visit. If you’re local, come take a look. If you’re not, like Fritz, then do a U-turn and sample some excellent sandstone sport and trad climbing. 

Fritz was known for discovering the Shawangunks (aka The Gunks) in 1935, an old historic climbing crag in New York. He was the first to free climb Devils Tower in 1931. He was on the first American expedition to K2 in the Himalayas in 1939 which almost summited, fifteen years before it was eventually climbed by an Italian party. 

We knew about Fritz; he was famous. And, here he was at this insignificant crag in the backwoods of Tennessee. But it’s not hard to figure out why he was there. He loved climbing and when he saw that sign with “Rock” on it, he responded with love by changing his trajectory and seeking it out. 

I don’t remember much of what Fritz said that fateful day, but I do remember one thing specifically, almost word-for-word. Like I said, Fritz was old and full of wisdom. Wisdom comes in unexpected expressions that you can’t forget. “I appreciate the grades better as I work my way back down through them,” he said. Fritz climbed some hard stuff in his youth, with his origins in Dresden Germany, the crucible for the most difficult and dangerous rock climbing in the world at the time. Now, as an old man, he still loved climbing, appreciating the grades as his ability diminished. 

Early Developments

Early developments at Bee Rock date back to the early 1970s. Some of the earliest known ascents were done by Frank Sanders and Mike Brown. Frank was a grad student at Tennessee Technological University in nearby Cookeville. He’d been to Yosemite Valley and Devils Tower. Frank was inspired by his heroes, like Galen Rowell and Warren Harding’s experience on the South Face of Half Dome in Yosemite, bat-hooking on blank granite. Frank told me they took turns trying to get themselves killed as they did Mother Wall, a desperately smooth wall on the lower right side of Bee, applying the same bat-hooking strategy.

My crew consisted of Steve Anderson, Kenny Parker, and my twin brother Berny. We all hailed from Manchester. Steve and Kenny introduced Berny and me to climbing. Climbing gave us a purpose, a direction. 

We began with an established route called Three Teeth. Kenny climbed up to the three projections of rock (the route’s namesake) and yelled that there were snakes in the crack. He carefully lifted out several baby copperheads and tossed them down toward us.  

We added routes of our own, like Belching Bitch led by Kenny in 1974. It climbs the arete up the left edge of Bee’s summit block, beginning at the top of the friction slab. Kenny was belching and bitching all the while because he couldn’t find much protection for his new Chouinard Stoppers and Hexentrics. We started climbing with pitons hammered into the rock. Climbing protection was in transition, though, from pitons to clean climbing. We felt obliged to also transition. No cams had yet been invented. I don’t know how Kenny stayed focused, and stayed on the rock, but he did, and finished the pitch. 

Another route that Berny and I did was Water Route. It’s not the sexiest name for a route, but it’s what we pined for while we dried out in the heat trying to finish it. My poor planning got us engaged on new terrain with no water. 

Then there was Summit Attempt. Its aim is just what the name suggests. Seeing ourselves as mountaineers, getting to the summit was important. We did that on Belching Bitch, but not from the base of the wall. Here, on the right side of Bee, we sought to start at the bottom and work our way to the summit. I led the first pitch up to the base of the summit block. Bee’s cracks are more like groves so hexes and wedges we placed were almost always suspect. At the top of the pitch, I was desperate as I pulled onto a rounded ledge and promptly fell off, ending up-side-down. Kenny led the summit block pitch, mostly on aid, swinging hexes on slings toward groves he hoped he could snag. Kenny is amazing in his creativity…and luck. 

Greener Pastures

In 1976 I left for greener pastures in Colorado while the next generation took over at Bee. New route development continued by the efforts of my brother Mark, Eddie Whittemore, and Mark Cartwright. The crew explored the surrounding area and found two new crags, which they called Hidden Rock and Spider Rock. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission was the tactic at the time. They put up a bunch of new routes. 

Upon my return in the mid-1980s, sport climbing had hit the climbing scene with intensity. And so did tight lycra pants. We donned the weirdest patterns we could find…except Mark Cartwright. Mark Ilgner thought this point was significant enough to name a new route in Cartwright’s honor: Mark Cartwright Never Wore Lycra. 

Difficulties skyrocketed. The 5.9s and 5.10s of the 70s turned into 5.11 and 5.12 first ascents in the 80s. The difficulties peaked with Eddie’s route Tuff Enuff (5.13). Mark Ilgner did Judy’s World (5.10) in honor of lost love. Eddie and Mark Cartwright did Brothers in Arms (5.12) to cement their strong partnership. Mark Ilgner and I did Death as a Challenger (5.11) in honor of the space shuttle disaster. Then Mark and I worked on Mother Wall (5.12), to see if we could free Frank’s old aid line. We added a few bolts in proper top-down sport climbing fashion. It went free after several days of working the blank face.

Asking for forgiveness after trespassing on private property doesn’t work. The landowners got a salty perspective on climbing and climbers, and promptly closed the areas. It can take a long time and a lot of effort to open crags back up. And this “opening up” happens through the efforts of organizations like Access Fund and Southeastern Climbers Coalition. They worked with the City of Monterey who wanted to bring tourism to the area. The city now owns Bee Rock and is working closely with us to create a great little crag for all types of visitors: climbers, hikers, and folks that just want to see a beautiful view. 

Changing Strategies

We’ve changed our strategy for exploring new crags and putting up new routes with the guidance of the SCC. Putting in the best hardware and cataloging what’s been done is essential for long-term maintenance of our crags. Organizations like the SCC help standardize our maintenance efforts so they’re managed and sustained. 

And, we have a new, better strategy: it’s better to ask for permission than forgiveness. Asking for permission honors landowners so we can find solutions that work for all vested parties. The SCC has been re-bolting routes at Bee to create a wonderful crag. I helped re-bolt Mother Wall a few months ago. I tried to do some of the moves as I hung on the rap line, but couldn’t figure it out. How in the world did I climb that back in the day? So I went over to Summit Attempt to give it a go with its newly installed bolts. It was tough and I fell in the same spot, pulling the mantle move, as I did on the first ascent. Wiessner’s words rang in my mind: “I appreciate the grades better as I work my way back down through them.” I can appreciate that. I’m old now and I still love to climb, even if I’m falling off of stuff that was easy for me in the past. 

The sport of climbing is growing. There are tons of people being introduced to the sport via climbing gyms. That’s awesome and it has consequences. Some of those folks want to climb outside. Outside crags are a limited resource. Managing their use will minimize accidents and enhance our enjoyment of them. Access Fund and Southeastern Climbers Coalition are doing us all a great service to help secure crags and manage them. Seek opportunities to support those organizations. Bee Rock is small, yes, but you’ll enjoy what it has to offer. Take Fritz’s advice and appreciate the place and the routes for what they offer. It’s a beautiful place to share a rope with someone.