John Ohrenschall leads Crestone Needle (Crestones section of Sangre de Cristo range)                                                                                              photo:MF


John Ohrenschall and friends, camp above Colony Lakes (for Crestone Needle climb)                                                                                            photo:PG

Mike Fain and John did several climbs together in Colorado. This ascent of Crestone Needle in 1962 had enough good weather to finally complete the objective of the sleeted-out UCMC trip to the same area in June, 1955. But the scene above is familiar. (see  PHOTOS)


In his own words:
   

John Ohrenschall

I began climbing in the late 1940's when my father would take my brother and me to Camp Sacramento near the California side of Lake Tahoe for summer vacations.  He took us on various short hikes and we graduated to a longer hike up the nearby Pyramid Peak, elev. c. 10,000 feet.  The wonder of that ascent for a young teenager got me hooked on climbing.  I met up with the UCMC in the late 1950's when the US Army stationed me in the Chicago area.  As for my climbing history, rock climbing in Yosemite Valley and ascents in the California Sierra Range followed the earlier Pyramid Peak experience.  I also had the opportunity for snow climbs in the Oregon and Washington Cascades that included ascents of Mt. Rainier by two different routes.  With the UCMC came frequent trips to Devil's Lake, Wisconsin.  While living in Madison, Wisconsin, a winter trip to Mexico permitted ascents of the three high volcanoes in that region.  A move to Colorado in the early 1960's provided the opportunity to climb some of the fourteeners in that state including Crestone Needle, Long's Peak, and the Pyramid Peak near Aspen.  High points were two Alaska expeditions in the late 1960's and early 1970's that included the Denali (Mt. McKinley) West Buttress.  I last roped up about 30 years ago on one of the Boulder, Colorado Flatirons.  Since then, I've settled for occasional hikes up the easier Colorado Fourteeners.

Since the UCMC days, I practiced law in Colorado and Nevada for about 30 years.  Lately I've been doing something less stressful-teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) at a community college in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Every once in awhile, I'll do some legal work in Colorado to help justify a hiking trip to the high country.