Jan Conn to talk in DC, October 10, 2012
Eastern climber/cavers near Washington DC may be interested to know that Jan Conn (of Jewel Cave Fame) will be giving a presentation on October 10, 2012, 7-9 PM at the National Cathedral School For Girls (Episcopal Cathedral). It is part of the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Mountaineering Section of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC)
Jan will focus on the early days of climbing at Carderock. During the war years Herb and Jan were living in DC and climbing with the PATC. Herb and Jan established some notable climbs on Carderock, such as Jan's Face and Herbie's Horror (one of the first 5.9 climbs in the country). Herb and Jan also founded “Up Rope” , the climbing newsletter for the PATC climbers, which continues to be published today.
They also climbed extensively on Seneca Rocks in West Virginia where several routes are named for them.
When I was trying to talk Herb and Jan into going into Jewel Cave with me, they admitted that they had been in a cave once before. During the same years that they were climbing with the PATC, the climbers had successfully reached the back of Schoolhouse Cave, the most difficult underground climbing challenge that existed in the world at that time. The route is up through the Inner Wells, which remains a very technically demanding rock climb today. Herb had accompanied the PATC climbers while Jan was still in college in Colorado. That summer, as soon as she returned to the DC area, Jan demanded that Herb take her there. So they did, just the two of them, and reached the end of Schoolhouse together.
This is a fairly large meeting, starting with 3-6 cocktail time at a cafe 2 blocks from the National Cathedral, continuing with climbing at Carderock on Oct 11th, and then at Seneca Rocks on the weekend. I would expect that a few caver/climbers would be more than welcome at Jan's evening talk. I have tried to contact Court Zabel zabelc@gmail.com or 571/228-4365 to inquire about this, but so far, Court has not responded. You should try to contact him if you are interested in attending.
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Herb and Jan on Seneca Rocks
Herb cleaning Lincoln's Nose