All of our efforts were directed towards caving until I met Dieter Britz. I don't recall now how we met but, it was instant friendship.
Dieter had come to UK from Australia on a two year Visa. His degree was in Electro-Chemistry and his passion was climbing. He worked out doing gymnastics but was getting pretty bored doing that. He had brought his rack of climbing gear with him. The first time I saw it I was in awe! Chouniard chocks, big bongs, lots of runners and nuts. Up to this time I had procured some bolts and drilling equipment, a Few "Z" pitons, tied my own prussik slings, and was using my version of a Swami Belt; mainly for rappels.
The first time we went out I took him to, of course, Tower Rock, the Caver's Route. I could see right away that this was pretty elementary for him, so I started looking for new routes to climb.
I had been a member of the Sierra Club for a few years and was involved in fighting the Red River Dam. In dealing with the folks living in the area that would be flooded, we got to know some of them pretty well. One family, the Ledfords I believe, lived in the shadow of Chimney rock.
Now I had driven to Chimney Rock several times and gazed down over the railing to this huge crack running down almost halfway and thought, this could be climbed with the right equipment; equipment that Dieter had.
I proposed to Dieter that we gain permission to cross the Ledford's property, cross the Red R. over their swinging bridge, make our way to the base and climb Chimney if there was a way up. He agreed and we picked a day to try it.
