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On July 4th, 1976 (the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence), I climbed a majestic flat topped mountain named Pedernal some 60+ miles north of Santa Fe NM. It was 25 years and 50 pounds ago. You can see more than 50 miles on the summit..red/brown mountainous desert to the east & national forest caked with green to the south, west, & north. It was a great experience, & I still remember beginning the hike at 8 AM, scaling the summit, and eating lunch "back at the ranch" at noon.

I returned to Pedernal on Labor Day Weekend 1998, but I did not have an accurate map or a quality guide. Charles Reed (ex Mayor of Waco was then living in Albuquerque) got within 500 feet of the summit, and were stopped by a vast field of unstable near vertical giant rocks and boulders. We decided not to continue. But the dream to tand on the Pedernal summit again still burned bright. During the last several years, I have become a chess fanatic. Chess has become a bedrock companion. I love the game. Lisa (my younger daughter) learned to play some 5 years ago, and is a fairly good player. It has been wonderful to share my chess hobby with her.  I had a vision of doing something that may have never been done on the Pedernal summit, playing a chess game.

Lisa graduated from Fort Worth Arlington Heights High School in June, and decided to enter the College of Santa Fe in Santa Fe, NM. She wanted to see the campus, so we took a five day trip to the Albuquerque/ Santa Fe/Pedernal area. I contacted a good friend who had climbed Pedernal 20+ times, and asked him to serve as our guide. Luckily for us, he agreed. We played a "warmup chess game" at Ghost Ranch Conference Center. Ghost Ranch is a "magic place" retreat center run by the Presbyterian Church USA that is some 30 miles east of Pedernal. I lived at Ghost Ranch during the summer of 1976. The game took place on the front porch of the Ghost Ranch Administration Building as the sun was going down, with a four square view of Pedernal. Lisa's heart wasn't completely in the game. After some 20+ moves, I had a very slim advantage, and she resigned prematurely..but the position was closer to a draw.

The sun rose the next morning and we excitedly left for Pedernal with our guide. We took a camera and Lisa's small hand carved chess set that was made in Poland + fruit + water etc. Our goal was to reach the summit and play chess on the summit.  We knew it would be tough. We were more used to altitude 500 feet than altitude 9864 feet (Pedernal's elevation), although we had spent 3-4 days in 5000 foot high Albuquerque and had spent the night at 6800 foot elevation Ghost Ranch. I had gone into "deep training"..I played racquetball about 20 times in May, hoping to build up my wind.

We got to the trailhead. The elevation was about 8300.  It was a five mile hike to the summit. The early part of the hike was on level ground through forest. I can do that. Then we started climbing..and I started gasping, and resting, and gasping, and resting. We started on the west side of the mountain, and curled around to the northside. The last 500 feet to the summit is incredibly steep and somewhat dangerous, without expert help. We came to the field of giant boulders that were not completely stable. With our guide's help and encouragement, showing us exactly where to go, we scrambled up the rocks (VERY slowly) cursing (under our breath) the danger, the thin air, but still posessed with an absolute determination to make the summit. Then we were about 100 feet from the summit, on a cliffside trail with a 400 foot vertical drop on the other side. The trail was not more than three feet wide. Lisa and I both had recurring cramps in our legs. And there was a 10-12 foot vertical wall (I didn't remember it as a great obstacle in 1976, but I was much younger, in better shape) that was the only way to get to the summit. Our guide, Willie, was splendid. He knew every inch of the mountain, was in superb shape, gave encouragement, and never showed any shortage of breath. But he did not help us at this moment when he mentioned the 5-10 people who had died climbing up or climbing down Pedernal near the summit. (1000+, perhaps 10000+ have climbed Pedernal in the last 40+ years). I said to myself, "This is it..I can't go any further". But then I said, "No, I've got to try". So Lisa (with similar trepidation and fear) carefully climbs up the wall, using the minimal toeholds and ledges. I get halfway up the wall, and it hits me..

LEG CRAMP!!! There I am..halfway up this vertical wall.. can't go up, and can't go down. Fighting the urge to panic, I stay calm, and wait, and wait, and wait. Ten minutes pass. The pain goes away. I continue..CAREFULLY. I make the ledge at the top of the wall, and there is a cliffside trail (with a steep dropoff) to the summit. I remember the Matterhorn tragedy in 1865, when the first climbers to reach the Matterhorn summit saw six of their number fall 2000+ feet to an icy glacier. I knew that I had no business on this mountain, but I was determined to conquer it. 

We reached the summit, exhausted but proud.  Climbing Pedernal was one of the toughest things that Lisa and I ever did. The summit is about 80 feet wide and 1/2 mile long. We looked at the view.. it was incredible. We ate some picnic snacks. Both of us were thinking one thing. "How are we going to get off this mountain alive?" We knew that we had to climb down the vertical wall with the narrow cliffside trail.

But we remembered that we had to play a chess game. Neither of us had our mind on chess. We played some 15 moves of a Blackmar Diemar Gambit (P-Q4 P-Q4 P - K4 P x P) speed chess game. I missed a chance to fork Lisa's queen and king with my knight. Hard to concentrate at 10,000 feet, wondering if leg cramps will hit you again...wondering if you can avoid disaster. I may have had the smallest of advantages, or perhaps Lisa did (we didn't record the moves..no paper), but we agreed to a draw. And so the "First  Pedernal Chess Championship" concluded, with cowinners.

The picture was taken just before the draw offer.  I've got my leg stretched out, in the hope of reducing cramp possibilities on the way down. We stayed on the summit 15-20 minutes. We got to the summit around 1 PM, after 4-5 hours of arduous effort. Pedernal has a tendency to attract afternoon thunderstorms and lightning, so we knew we had to start back. LUCKILY, the sky was mostly clear at the summit, and few clouds moved in during the descent. Then came the vertical wall. Going down this time. Looking at the cliffside trail and the 400 foot drop. I had to see where I was going. I could not climb down backwards. I swallowed my fear, and said, "I WILL survive this". Carefully, I inched my way down. When my feet landed on the trail, I shouted for joy! I was going to survive!!!

Lisa felt the same way.  We took an alternative way down. A bit steeper (I spent some considerable time just sliding on my backside), but after the vertical wall, not dangerous, if you exercised extreme caution. By 4:30 PM, we had reached our car. We were surrounded by green national forest and the Sangre de Cristo ("Blood of Christ" mountains) range just west of Pedernal. Again, Lisa and I roared sounds of triumph. We came, we saw, and we conquered. There's another mountain that I want to climb, and I will climb it..Wheeler Peak (the tallest mountain in New Mexico, elevation 13100+ feet). 

I climbed Wheeler Peak in August 1976..but Wheeler Peak lacks Pedernal's danger. The Wheeler Peak experience involves GASPING for air as you move up a tundra meadow 10000 to 13000 feet at a 30 degree angle, having just hiked some five miles at 9000-10000 feet on mostly level ground. Our expert Pedernal guide as climbed Wheeler Peak a couple times, but says "you really need to live in New Mexico for a while" or "stay ten days to two weeks to get acclimated to the altitude" to climb Wheeler Peak. Lisa and I have tentatively agreed to try it in May-June 2002 (she'll have a big advantage over me..youth + nine months of residence in 7000 feet elevation Santa Fe), and we'll take the chess board. 

John DeVries