Believe me, I didn't know that I was going to turn into a rock climber.

And I don't really know how to explain that. Do you remember your first climb?

What was it?

Called I see O, Easy Overhang, a very simple grade.

And to me, on the last pitch, where I was standing on a ballet ledge that was probably about that big,

you know like your toes are hanging over the edge of it into space.

And as the fellow that I was climbing with at the time,

it was a beginner like me, and he was terrified.

I was saying, you know, oh my God, this is incredible.

It was the exposure that got him and thrilled me. This is Laura Waterman.

My name is Laura Waterman.

And that's it. I live in East Coast. My name is Laura Waterman.

And that's it. I live in East Corinth, Vermont.

For most of you, that name probably doesn't mean anything.

But for some, the Waterman name is like mountain royalty.

Laura was a pioneering rock and ice climber.

She was one of the first women and one of the first people

ever to ascend one of the Northeast's most

storied ice climbing roots, the Black Dyke, which Patagonia

founder Yvonne Chinnard called a black filthy horrendous icicle.

Well, it probably was, I'm sure, the hardest ice climb in the northeast at that time.

We had first generation Ice Access and Ice Hammers that were very advanced for that time, but our antiques today.

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