When the final rays of the low winter sun glimmered off the West Face of El Capitan in Yosemite Valley last winter, another light, on the other side of the country, was nearly extinguished. That light belonged to Kathy Kyker-Snowman, who, at age 52, died after a four-year battle with ovarian cancer.
As many people knew her, Kathy was a rock climber whose ability seemed incongruous with her diminutive size. At 5 feet, 2 inches, Kathy climbed difficult routes; she was one of the first women to attempt the West Face of El Capitan when she climbed the monolith in a day in the mid-'80s.
Pat Horne, Kathy's friend and climbing partner on their ascent of the West Face, regards the climb as one of his capital achievements as a climber. The two were at the limit of their ability on the route, which had first been free-climbed just six years earlier—an ascent of the West Face was still an uncommon feat. But it's not the strenuous, full-body wallop of climbing the route's unforgiving cracks that Horne remembers. Instead, he recalls a feeling of lightness, the union of teamwork, and even the celebratory ice cream after the successful climb. "I've realized this is probably because Kathy made it all seem so effortless," he said at her funeral service.
At the Shawangunks—a favorite climbing area of Kathy's near New Paltz, N.Y.—a fellow climber mistook Kathy for climbing legend Lynn Hill. Kathy's impeccable climbing technique helped create that likeness to the similarly-built and bronzed climbing icon. "But the difference between Kathy and Lynn," remembers Bob Garmirian, Kathy's longtime friend and frequent climbing partner, "was that Kathy got 800s on her GREs." It was an anecdote that Kathy loved, though would never brag about, says her husband Thom.
Kathy was a dedicated downhill and cross-country skier and a whitewater paddler and cyclist. In 2003, after being diagnosed with cancer, Kathy, Thom and their daughters Emily and Kelly set off on the first leg of a transcontinental cycling trip. The family rode from Seattle to Minneapolis that year, and the next year they completed the trek by riding from Minneapolis back home to Amherst.
Kathy's career as an outdoor instructor was a natural one, considering her boundless love for the outdoors. She was an Outward Bound instructor in North Carolina, then an Outdoor Program instructor at Hampshire College (a position she held for as long as she was able to work). It was because of this that many people knew Kathy foremost as a teacher.
Her ability to inspire students is an enduring part of her memory. Outdoor Program Director Bob Garmirian, who worked with Kathy at Hampshire College for 26 years, remembers one particular night on a winter mountaineering trip to the White Mountains with Kathy and students. As Bob and the students finally zippered themselves into down sleeping bags to get away from the cold after a long day, he could hear Kathy in a neighboring tent. She was trying to persuade the students that doing their climb in the full moon that night, instead of the next day, would be more satisfying. Kathy was able to persuade the group out of their warm tents and into the freezing moonlight with little effort.
Kathy embodied what it was to be a strong woman in the male-dominated world of outdoor sports. "She was such a strong and likeable role model," says her husband Thom. "But she wasn't somebody who had an axe to grind. Her statement to the world was: 'There isn't any reason why anything should be different for men and women. And let me show you what women are capable of doing.'"
Throughout multiple rounds of chemotherapy and surgery, she remained as active as her body would allow. She continued to go rock climbing, take long road rides on her bicycle and go hiking.
About a mile from the family's home near the Amherst/Belchertown line is a favorite hike of Kathy's that winds steeply up Long Mountain and onto the Holyoke Range. It's a modest footpath for someone of Kathy's athletic prowess and experience, and one that she loved. Kathy hiked this trail often, and towards the end of her life it became a kind of test for her. She would use the hike as a measure of her recovery from the most recent chemotherapy treatment. As her strength began to fade, the steep, eroding trail, slick with fall leaves and wet tree roots, grew increasingly difficult and, finally, too challenging altogether.
Sixty-five of Kathy's friends and family members erected a monument in her honor on the trail. In just one day, they moved eight tons of rock, using a cable system to create a stone stairway leading up the trail Kathy so often trod.
As another part of her legacy, Kathy's friends and family created an endowment to support up-and-coming female leaders. Though Thom says that Kathy "was as supportive of male students getting into the outdoors as she was female students," he and others created the Kathy Kyker-Snowman Outdoor Leader Training Fund for Women to help ensure that women will continue to be inspired by the outdoors. Three grants will be awarded annually to recipients enrolled in the five-colleges who seek financial support for outdoor education skills training. Fundraising efforts are already approaching the initial goal of $30,000.
This year's recipient will be announced at the seventh Five College Outdoor Festival, before the Telluride Mountainfilm Festival, at Hampshire's Franklin Patterson main lecture hall, March 1, 7-10 p.m. All proceeds from the Five College Outdoor Festival will be donated to Ovarian Cancer Research in honor of Kathy.
The Five College Outdoor Festival commences Friday, Feb. 29 with a presentation from professional kayaker and founder of Girls at Play, Anna Levesque at 7 p.m., Converse Hall, Red Room, Amherst College.
Saturday includes a Climbing Clinic/Yoga-for-climbers class taught by Heather Reynolds, author of Climbing Your Best, 9 a.m.-noon; "Try a Kayak" open-pool session with Zoar Outdoor, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; and a Climbing Fun Competition to help raise money for Ovarian Cancer Research ($5 donation requested), noon-4 p.m. All of Saturday's events take place in the Robert Crown Center, Hampshire College.
The focal point of the lineup, Telluride Mountainfilm Festival, Best of Show from 2007, will conclude the festivities with three exhilarating hours of farflung environmental documentary and adventure. Amherst, Hampshire and Smith College students receive one free ticket with student ID.?
For additional information on the Five College Outdoor Festival contact Glenna or Earl Alderson at galderson@hampshire.edu or ealderson@hampshire.edu. Or log on to http://5cof.hampshire.edu for ticket information and further details.
