Cascadians Potluck and Monthly

Program:  Climbing Mount Stuart, Rod Nelson

Rod Nelson is a lawyer, spoken word poet, and climber who grew up and was educated in Selah. He completed his post high school education at UW, returning to Yakima Valley in 1979. He started climbing in 1967 at the age of 13, making an unsuccessful attempt on Glacier Peak, during a week long backpack trip across the Cascades. Since that time, he has climbed extensively in the Northwest. He has also climbed in the Pamirs, the Himalayas, the Cordillera Blanca in Peru, Canada, Alaska, the Alps, and Africa. He first climbed Mt Stuart at the age of 17.  This past summer he climbed the North Ridge with Mike Roy, a Yakima climber. They filmed the ascent, which included the Great Gendarme variation, as part of a Yakima Museum project which will establish a permanent climbing exhibit at the museum.   Rod was active in the Cascadians in the 1980s, serving as climbing chair, journaling for the club and helping teach the rock climbing section of the Mountaineering Course. He is currently a partner in High-Steppe Climbing LLC, which is establishing a climbing gym in Yakima which is expected to open in March.