AUGUST WELCH: THAT KID TAUGHT US
It must have been sometime around 1994 or so...maybe my dates are off it really doesn't matter. Jeff Robertson and I were at the UW Rock doing our usual terrorizing and this kid with burly, tough-looking, strong arms and a really rough looking face with a set jaw shows up. He came right up to us and started hanging out with us as if he belonged. He was just learning to rock climb at the time. He gravitated to Jeff and I because he immediately recognized that we were some crazy f*cks just like him. That kid was Chad Kellogg. We liked him to because there were so few tough kids that showed up down there and when a really crazy one would show up we loved it. He explained to us that he had been on the Olympic luge team and he blew our lids when he told us that yes, you absolutely could jump off the Montlake bridge. He had done it several times. He taught us how to cross your ankles and hold your arms when you jump so as to not break your bones when yo uhit the water. We loved this new kid.... he was ROUGH.
I gradually found my way out of climbing. Injuries took their toll and I started to lose trust in myself. I lost touch with many people along the way but still kept within the core circle the original kids that we used to climb with at the rock. The rock bound so many of us together and forged lifelong bonds. One day just a few years ago, I got a friend request on Facebook from none other than the world famous climber Chad Kellogg. He wrote a little note with his friend request that said something like "Hey August, it's Chad. I don't know if you remember me but I met you down at the rock with Jeff Robertson. I always admired you guys and how hard you guys were climbing and how crazy you guys were...." or something like that anyways. It made me smile. Here was Chad, world famous climber reaching out to me and paying some respect for some boulder problems I did at the climbing rock almost 20 years ago. That was Chad though. Always humble to his core. It had been forever since I had seen him and I looked at his Facebook profile and saw a picture of him and his rough looking face with the set jaw and my mind was transported back to that day when that kid taught us that yes, it was OK to jump off the Montlake bridge. You can do it. Sometimes I regret never having made that jump. I doubt I ever will but I am glad I have the memory of Chad's spirit in my head from that day at the UW Rock. I think about him often when I drive across that bridge on my way to somewhere else. I am very glad that I had a chance to exert some of my own influence on him when he was new to climbing. It doesn't matter what you do, just be in it fully. Cross your frickin arms like you are giving yourself a hug and hold on tight if you ever decide to jump off that damn Montlake bridge. Chad would go....
August Welch, UW Rock Rat
Photo of the adult Chad courtesy of the Tacoma News Tribune: