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Layton Kor Fundraiser

• September 2009
• Simple Living Climb Travel

Layton Kor Fundraiser

When I first started climbing, after moving away from Maryland, I lived in Fort Collins, Colorado. Since I spent most of my time in the Colorado/Utah region, the name Layton Kor kept coming up every time I went climbing somewhere. It seemed like he had climbed EVERYTHING. I guess it seemed like that because he had.

When I started to climb up on the Diamond, I was absolutely in awe imagining the first climbers up there, when everything was unknown, and gear was just plain rudimentary compared to what we have now.

And when I moved to Moab, my favorite place on earth, yet again, every beautiful, adventurous route seemed to be a Kor route.

Being a book lover and a literature major, I had seen a copy of Beyond the Vertical, Layton Kor’s amazing book of climbs, photos and stories. But it was out of print, and way beyond my price range, so I never imagined owning one. One year I met a guy at Joshua Tree and apparently mentioned it, and was stunned a few months later, on my birthday, to receive a copy of Beyond the Vertical in my PO Box. He had tracked down a copy and sent it to me, as one of those beautiful, unexpected gestures that people are sometimes inspired to make. I truly couldn’t believe it. Not only did I covet that book more than almost anything, but at the time I knew the cost was about equivalent to my expenses for a couple of months of food and gas. It still stands as the most amazing, unexpected, fabulous present I’ve ever gotten. And it’s still one of my most treasured possessions.

Every time I climb the Kor Ingalls on Castleton, I enjoy the route twice as much because I imagine Layton Kor and Huntley Ingalls going up there in 1961, with no store-bought climbing gear, no certainty of anything and climbing that sheer-sided tower to the top for the first time. To me, more than any other type of climbing experience, the significance of that kind of pioneering adventure into the pure unknown is absolutely inspiring. And I always warn people, their route up Castleton may be rated 5.9, but it is nothing like easy!! Every time I climb the crux, I am awed imagining them up there, hand-drilling the few bolts on lead, and climbing those wide, slippery calcified cracks with boots and basically no gear. And of course, climbing the Salathe Wall, I always found it literally mind blowing to imagine those guys up on El Cap, back in the day, when setting off on that massive wall of rock was almost as out there as sailing around the world in a tiny boat. And these are just two of the countless impressive, pioneering climbs Layton made.

So anyway, Layton Kor has always held a special place of respect and gratitude in my heart, for all of the amazing climbing he did around the world, and for all the stories I’ve read from his many partners, who unanimously admired and loved him. I’d always kind of wondered where he was now. A month or two ago, I saw a Facebook page posted by Stewart Green, Layton’s friend and climbing partner, about a fundraiser he was organizing for Layton Kor. I learned that Layton needs a kidney transplant, and is getting buried by the non-Medicare covered costs of the dialysis, while he waits to see if he can receive the hoped-for surgery, which will also be incredibly costly. Meanwhile, he’s working on another book and dreaming of more first ascents and climbs he hopes to do.

I was really happy to see Stewart’s fundraiser, selling historic signed photos by Layton in order to raise money for him, and wanted to think of a way to help also. I had done a fundraiser with Mammut and Big City Mountaineers, where they raffled off climbing days with some of their climbers. I actually ended up climbing the Kor Ingalls with the girl who won me, Abby, and it was a great experience for both of us, and I thought it was one of the best fundraisers I’d heard of. I decided I could auction myself off on ebay, and donate the money to Layton. I have no doubt that if some of the financial burden can be eased for him, he will have a much easier time healing and regaining his health. I checked with Stewart first, to see if my idea would be okay with Layton and mentioned it to a few people….next thing I knew, Stewart and I were organizing a full blown fundraiser, with the help of Andrew Hyde, my amazing web designer/tech genius friend.

It has been truly heartwarming to see how much everyone wants to help, to support Layton, and help him get through this obstacle. It has become a much bigger idea than my original hope of auctioning myself off for a climbing day, and Stewart’s original photo fundraiser (which has raised a considerable amount already) and has become the start of a community initiative to help a climber who has the respect and love of everyone who knows him or knows of him.

Every gear company I talked to immediately offered to donate gear to make great gear giveaways to encourage people to donate, and Jimmie Dunn, Tommy Caldwell, Eric Horst and Conrad Anker jumped in to offer more climbing days, all of which will be on historic Kor routes. Cameron Burns, Layton’s biographer, offered to take over the blog portion of the website Andrew built for us, and is organizing trivia quizzes with prizes too.

I think what I like most about the fundraiser as it has developed so far, is that everyone who hears about it immediately wants to help Layton and to give whatever they have to offer. It’s community at its best, and it makes me feel proud to be a part of it.

Alison Osius wrote a great article in Rock and Ice to help galvanize us to get the site up and to get the fundraiser started, and we are now organized and ready to launch our fundraiser to help Layton Kor. Please check out the site, and pass it on to your friends!