In 1999 I got serious and started my college career in Ephraim, Utah at Snow College. I was a pre-pharmacy major. For someone with limited success in math this was fairly ambitious. But the story of how I ended up with a BA from the University of Utah in Journalism isn’t the story I am telling. I merely mention it because it was at Snow College where I met Jeff. It was his fault I got into rock climbing, and this is where the story really begins.
The first day up Maple Canyon was an awe inspiring experience for me. I had been to many camping and hiking spots with my family, but never before had I seen anything as unique and stunning as Maple Canyon. Imagine if you will, the cobblestone roads of old Europe, (although not nearly as polished) as the canyon wall. Even if you have never been to Europe to see the cobblestone roads, you’ve seen pictures right? I said, “I’m supposed to climb this?” Slopers galore.
There were three of us out that day, my roommate and climbing “instructor” Jeff, our neighbor Jeremy and me. Both Jeff and Jeremy had been climbing for a few years, or at least had climbed somewhat regularly in the past.
So, we hopped in Jeff’s Celica and headed up the canyon stopping at the main parking area and walked a short five minutes to Orangutan wall, a wall of mild difficulty, with climbs ranging from 5.7 to 5.9. The climb we picked was a short ninety feet, straight up. As this was my first climb all the pressure was on me, although Jeff later admitted it was his first lead climb. Jeff lead the climb placing quickdraws at every bolt until he realized we were short on gear. I think he only skipped two bolts. There were two routes which shared the chains at the top, the 5.7 on the left and a 5.8 on the right. It was an easy 5.7, no big deal. Jeremy went next and climbed the seven as well.
My turn. Still a little nervous and not entirely sure what to expect I put on the harness, tied in to the rope and for lack of my own climbing gear threw on Jeff’s old wrestling shoes. I wasn’t familiar with route finding and went straight up the middle of the two routes, probably an eight. The first ten feet were more of a scramble than a climb. Jeff was belaying me and after another fifteen feet I was so pumped from pulling so hard I had to stop, have Jeff take, and let me take the choker necklace I was wearing off. Another thirty feet and I thought my arms were going to fall off, and I slipped. “Help, Help, Help!” I think I fell a whole two feet. When I finished the climb and was lowered down I couldn’t make my hands work enough to untie the knot in the rope, but I was hooked.
Several years later, after finishing school at Snow, I was climbing in the Kitchen, up Rock Canyon in Provo with Jeff and his brother Ben. Belching Walrus was born this day.
There is a small population of bighorn sheep living in and around Rock Canyon. They were the dominant big-game animal in Utah before the pioneers came. Through agricultural practices and domestic sheep grazing, the bighorn nearly died out. Their numbers are on the rise again, but they still struggle due to disease and habitat destruction.
It was one of these sheep which was the inspiration for Belching Walrus. I know that sounds a bit odd, a land animal such as a bighorn sheep inspiring Belching Walrus, but that is how it happened. There was a large bighorn across the canyon from us making sheep noises, braying, lowing, whatever it is bighorn sheep do. And as a group of guys is likely to do, Ben started trying to imitate the. I remember one of his attempts. Ben had a particular talent for sucking air and belching. It must have been something he practiced regularly. It was an impressive display. During one of these belches he shook his head so much his cheeks flapped about. The resulting noise could only be described as the noise a walrus might make. I said “hey, that sounds like a belching walrus.” And that was enough to plant an idea.
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