A Climber We Lost: Gene Vallee

You can read the full tribute to Climbers We Lost in 2023 here.

Gene Vallee, 73, November 10

Gene Vallee and the climbing community found each other in the early 1970s at Rock Rimmon near his home in Manchester, NH, and nurtured one another throughout his life, first in the White Mountains and on trips out West, then in California during the 1980s, and later in Utah, where he settled in 1991.

Manchester climber Gary Hunter recalls Gene as “an amazing local who led so many lives. Gene was a mentor to many and an early adopter of engineered safety in climbing. He lived the dream. It’s hard to appreciate the perceived limits on a local greater Manchester kid in Gene’s generation. He was so out there, against the wind, stepping past the constraints of expectations.”

Gene’s proficiency in engineering was launched during his time in the Marines (from which he was honorably discharged in 1970) and honed at Sanders Associates, where he was a member of the same group that developed the world’s first video game, Pong. While working and climbing, he earned a Master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Lowell (now UMass Lowell). This eventually led him to move to Southern California to work on nascent stealth technology at General Dynamics and to climb in Joshua Tree, Tahquitz, and Yosemite. His growing pacifism led him to change careers and earn a Master’s in Education with a Science teaching endorsement. On a trip to Utah in 1991, he was hired as a sixth grade science teacher by the Granite School District, where for the next twenty years “Mr. V” had a positive impact on many lives and was beloved and admired by students and colleagues alike. Gene’s insatiable pursuit of learning and new challenges continued through his retirement, when he built guitars, mastered fingerpicking style classics, and took up long-distance unicycling, among other notable examples.

I ran into Gene in 1991 in the original Salt Lake climbing gym, the Body Shop, inadvertently repeating an encounter we had in Yosemite shortly after we’d both moved from New England to California. Gene said, “Great to see you, Bob, how long are you here for?” I said, “I live here! How long are you here for?” He said, “I live here too!” Just days later we set out for the first of many memorable trips, with the classic north face of Castleton Tower as his first route on Utah’s sandstone.

Andy Ross, co-owner of a Salt Lake City climbing shop with roots in New Hampshire’s International Mountain Equipment, became Gene’s regular partner for climbing and other outdoor activities. “Gene was a great bloke, always up for an adventure,” Andy said. “We traveled all over the western US and UK, climbing, biking, and hiking. He was a great and solid partner. Though I would have to say the times I remember most were back in camp after a day out. We would play endless cribbage games until the wine ran dry or we passed out! A lovely guy who will be sorely missed. RIP mate.” Most of the 78 routes that Gene helped establish were done in the company of Andy and their friends.

Manchester natives Mark Hudon (better known for “long, hard, and free” ascents in Yosemite) and Jimmie Dunn (known for his routes in the canyons of Colorado and Utah) also conveyed their fond appreciation for their times with Gene.

Hudon wrote, “In the very early days of my climbing, before 1974, there was a group of us who used to climb at Rock Rimmon. The place was covered in graffiti and broken beer bottles but we used to climb there every day. Gene was a fixture in that group. We also made trips to Crow Hill in Massachusetts, Ragged Mountain in Connecticut, The Gunks, and of course Cathedral and Whitehorse in New Hampshire. It always involved a lot of good laughing. Gene was my friend and I’ll miss him.”

Lone Ranger (5.12a PG/R), one of Hudon’s test-pieces at Rock Rimmon, has reputedly not been led again since Gene’s repeat in 1982.

Dunn first met Gene and his regular climbing partner Paul “Base” Boissonneault in the North Conway scene: “Gene and Base: The Team. I’ll always remember these two great guys climbing the difficult routes on Cathedral and Whitehorse Ledges in the 70s. Even though they both had jobs in Manchester, they hardly missed a weekend in North Conway. When Gene retired from teaching school, I asked him what it was like to be retired. He answered: ‘I have so many things to do I don’t know how I had time to work.’ Gene will be missed.’’

Base observed that the intensity of those weekends led to exhausted drives home. After they did the 30+ pitch girdle traverse of Cathedral—Paul Ross and Henry Barber’s Big Plum—“Gene had to get out of his old Ford every 10 miles and run sprints to maintain blood flow to not fall asleep.” Their first big road trip in 1977 included a free ascent of Eldorado’s Naked Edge, done “before Friends, using hexes and no fortunately falls”; Yosemite’s the Rostrum, climbing the crux and most other pitches free; and Gene’s ascent of the Nose, despite enduring a deluge on the upper pitches.

On Nov. 10, following a valiant effort on the tough final pitch of dementia (even maintaining his lifelong workout schedule while in memory care), and surrounded by friends and caregivers playing sweet tunes by John Prine, Arlo Guthrie, and other favorites, Gene Vallee clipped the final anchors and let go.

For more photos and tributes to Gene, and to learn more about upcoming celebrations of Gene’s life, see: https://www.kudoboard.com/boards/qW11p1ra

—Bob Palais

You can read the full tribute to Climbers We Lost in 2023 here.

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