Alan Watts and Mike Volk go way back together, to a very special time in Smith Rock climbing history. When sport climbing challenged established traditional climbing ethics, and Alan Watts became the poster boy challenger at Smith Rock in 1982. Last night at the Bend Rock Gym, Watts and Volk were asked to speak about that time and to bring climbing “artifacts,” or as Watts put it, “Stuff as old as we are.” They were there to bring to life part of the historical climbing panel on Smith Rock of an art installation curated by Geneva Strauss-Wise.
The full title of the book says a lot. “Hangdog Days: Conflict, Change, and the Race for 5.14.” In it author Jeff Smoot weaves an intricate story around some of the characters he hung around during the period of arguments, fistfights, and even death threats that were part of the painful birth of modern sport climbing. At the center of the controversy, local Alan Watts, was one of the revolutionaries that pushed back against the climbing traditionalists of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s to use another approach to get American climbing routes up to the coveted 5.14 gade.
Alan Watts and Mike Volk didn't believe that having fun climbing at Smith Rock every day in the '80s would lead to the creation of an internationally famous rock climbing destination, but the secret of this special place got out.
