The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

My hiking column feature on Misery Ridge at Smith Rock State Park (see The Nugget, May 13, page 21; "Misery Ridge: what's in a name") drew an interesting phone call from someone I hadn't spoken to in many years.

Gil Staender is a former Sisters schoolteacher who is now a resident of Camp Sherman. Back in the 1970s and '80s, however, Gil and his wife Vivian resided on a 160-acre homestead off Stevens Canyon Road, north of Indian Ford Ranch.

They named their place Wildhaven and hand-built and occupied a stone home on the property. Although the couple eventually separated several years later, Vivian continued to live there until shortly before her death in 1997. As the couple intended, Wildhaven now belongs to The Nature Conservancy.

How is all this related to Misery Ridge? Back to Gil's telephone call.

Gil said that, while he enjoyed the article, he kept wondering why I never said anything about how Misery Ridge got its name. Aside from the obvious character of this extremely steep trail, I didn't know the specifics. As it turns out, nobody else seemed to know, either.

I contacted Smith Rock State Park, and no one in the office knew. However, they put me in touch with their historical expert, Paul Patton, who didn't exactly know either but said he'd look into it.

"I don't know," he said, "it's been called that forever...at least as far back as 1980, anyway."

I told him Gil's story of how the ridge was named.

According to Gil, his wife, Vivian, was part of a three-member team of Mazama mountaineers who completed the first ascent of Monkey Face in 1960. The Mazamas is a mountaineering club, based in Portland, that was founded in 1894.

In a search for possible pioneering climbs, Gil recalls that Everett Darr, owner of a mountain shop at Government Camp, told them, "There's Monkey Face, and it's never been climbed. Somebody needs to make a first ascent."

It wasn't long before Vivian and two of her Mazama friends did just that. Gil said the other two climbers were college students at Lewis & Clark, and they wanted to make the climb during Christmas vacation. Of course, in those days there were no permanently installed belay points like there are now. The preparatory work took several days of exhausting effort, as they gradually worked their way up the stone column and returned to base camp each night.

Patton's research confirmed that the first ascent of Monkey Face was made on January 1, 1960 and the climbers were Vivian Staender, Dave Bohn and Jim Fraser.

"That was back before there was a footbridge (over the Crooked River)," said Patton. "They stayed at the old rock climbers' bivouac down near the bend in the river. The shortest route, then, was over the top of that ridge."

So, for several days at the very end of 1959, the climbers marched back and forth over the daunting ridge between the camp and Monkey Face; and the word they used to describe the ridge became the name that is still used today.

"It was bitterly cold during all this," Gil said, "below zero. I was down in Portland when they started, and I drove up for New Year's Eve. I remember bringing a bottle of wine with me, and I left it outside the tent. The next day it was frozen.

"Dave and Jim spent that night in the mouth cave on Monkey Face and pitoned themselves in place. Dave said he dreamt and hallucinated all night. When it was over, Dave was so tired he could hardly stand. I remember he had a tear in his pants, and his red long johns were showing through."

To commemorate the event, a photograph was taken of the three climbers atop Monkey Face.

"Vivian and I hiked back the next day to get the equipment, and we decided to go back on the trail along the river (rather than over the ridge). That seemed like a never-ending trip. Of course, in the end, we were tired, too."

Maps of the area show a ridge above the Burma Road called Staender Ridge. I asked Gil about that, too.

"Vivian and I climbed all the pinnacles on that ridge; and there wasn't any sign of anyone ever doing that," he said. "As far as we knew, we were the first. So, yeah, that ridge is named after us."

January 1, 2010, will mark the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of Monkey Face. It will also mark the anniversary of the circumstances that gave Misery Ridge its name.

To judge for yourself how much misery is involved, take Highway 97 through Redmond to Terrebonne, and turn right at the flashing light. Follow the state park signs for two left turns and 3.3 miles to the park; continue to the main parking lot beyond the group sites on the left. Trail options of varying difficulty are posted at the park. State park fees apply.