ABE SIEMENS
47 PRINCETON DRIVE
RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIFORNIA 99270
(819) 324-8087
In response to your letter of 4-11-91, I am submitting the following information on my tenure as DPS Chairman in 1967.
Although l967 is now a part of the dim and distant past, I do remember that we enjoyed many happy times and climbs in various scenic locations. During that year, my desert climbs included, among others, a roped climb of Paiute Monument, a rock pinnacle on the White Mountain crest, and Montezuma's Head, a fifth class climb of a volcanic plug in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.
The most notable climb of the year was a Thanksgiving week end trip to Big Picacho. On the third day of the trip, one of the participants died of an apparent heart attack about one thousand feet below the summit. Some continued on to the summit, while the rest of us returned to camp. We spent the fourth day, a rainy Sunday, backpacking out of the canyon to our cars, which we reached well after dark. On an overcast Monday morning, the local rancher informed us that the dry lake, which we had traversed on Wednesday, was now impassable but would once again be dry in a week. Undaunted, we Mounted tire chains on some vehicles and eventually reached home late Monday evening. In the spring of the following year, some of us returned to achieve the summit and bury the body.
Despite occasional difficulties, my DPS experience resulted in an abiding interest in one of God's most beautiful creations, the desert. Since 1967, I have continued to climb, in desserts of both sand and snow,in locations ranging from Africa to Antarctica.
I was with the DPS before we had the Chair Person title. The 1964 office was quite easy for me, as most of that year I was engaged in a job at Palo Alto. I was also DPS Newsletter Editor at the time. With crank in hand at a portable spirit duplicator machine, I put out more paper in a hotel room than I did hiking or peak bagging that year.
Generally, we did not schedule 2-peak weekends, as it was more of a camping trip--a Sat arrival and then the Sunday business part. But we usually got home just as late Sun nite (or Mon wee hours), as we do now! The classic peak at that time was Big Picacho, and I feel it still remains so, today. It is certainly an adventure that is never to be erased from the chapter in one's life, entitled Desert Peaking. I know I am proud to have done it. In contrast, its sister, Little Picacho, has been the scariest summit for me yet--but maybe I spook easily!
Though the effects of time have changed many scenes, the friendships I have made through the years in the DPS continue, and have certainly enhanced my life.
Best,
Robert 0. Greenawalt