Jan and Herb Conn explained

Jan and Herb Conn
Jan Conn
Birth Date:April 22, 1924
Birth Place:Takoma Park, Maryland
Death Place:Custer, South Dakota
Known For:Rock climbing and caving
Herb Conn
Birth Name:Herbert William Conn
Birth Date:April 16, 1920
Birth Place:upstate New York
Death Place:Custer, South Dakota
Known For:Rock climbing and caving

Jan H. Conn (April 22, 1924 – May 13, 2023[1] [2]) and Herbert William Conn (April 16, 1920 – Feb 01, 2012) were climbing and caving pioneers. They are credited with establishing many classic climbs in areas like Carderock in Maryland, Seneca Rocks in West Virginia, Cannon Cliff in New Hampshire and Black Hills of South Dakota. They are also well known as cave explorers who in the 1960s and 1970s discovered and mapped over 60 miles of Jewel Cave, making it the world’s third-longest cave system.

Early life and education

Both Herb and Jan were born and raised on the East Coast. Jan grew up in Maryland, just outside Washington, DC in a household with two older sisters. Jan loved music and played flute, classical guitar and several other instruments. Herb grew up in upstate New York, and graduated from the University of Colorado. Herb and Jan married in 1944.[3] [4] [5]

During World War II, Herb served as an electrical engineer for the Navy Department in Washington, DC. Jan and Herb spent their spare time exploring the rocks surrounding Washington DC, most notably Carderock where they began climbing in 1942. They climbed and named many of the routes at Carderock, including Herbie’s Horror, Jan's Face, Spider Walk and Ronnie's Leap, which was named after their dog. Herbie’s Horror, first climbed by Herb, was one of the first 5.9 routes in the eastern United States.[6] They also made the first documented ascents of the routes Conn's East and Conn's West at Seneca Rocks,[7] following the pitons left by the mountain troops who trained there. In a letter to the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club Mountaineering Section the Conns describe a visit to Seneca with Don Hubbard: "Don and the two of us climbed the south peak on a gorgeous moonlit evening, carrying sleeping bags, and spent the night on the narrow summit ridge. Don woke up in the night to see the lower half of Jan’s bag flapping over the edge. But Jan was safely curled up in the top half, still anchored to a piton in the rock."[7] In 1944 they started publishing "Up Rope" magazine, which became the official newsletter of the Mountaineering Section of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC).[8] [9] [10]

Traveling climbers

In 1946, Herb was discharged from the US Army and the Conns began a five-year period of traveling and climbing around the US with short forays into Canada and Mexico. They became pioneers of what is now praisingly referred to as dirtbag climbing, which they described in the We work in our spare time article: "it is a simple matter of mathematics - two people working six months a year are just as good as one person working twelve months to support two people". They lived in a self-equipped camper converted from a ten-year-old "panel delivery truck".[11] For several years they worked odd jobs and climbed at many locations from Yosemite in California to Mount Katahdin in Maine, making scattered first ascents along the way in places like Cannon Cliff in New Hampshire, Santa Catalina Mountains and Monument Valley in Arizona, Zion National Park in Utah, and Big Bend National Park in Texas.

Herb and Jan usually sought the easiest and most direct routes to the top of the most striking rock formations. Before the development of specialized climbing shoes, harnesses, and protection, like nuts and cams, they climbed in smooth-soled tennis shoes with 80-foot laid nylon rope tied around their waists and used pitons for protection. In the early days, many pitons were US Army issue scavenged at Seneca Rocks after World War II.[12] They used body belays and down-climbed their routes instead of rappelling, if it was not possible to walk-off. In spite of this, they established many routes that would be challenging and often terrifying to today's climbers.

In 1947 on a trip to climb Devils Tower,[13] the Conns passed through the Black Hills of South Dakota. It was then that they discovered the Needles, with a seemingly unlimited quantity of excellent climbing. They settled in the Black Hills where they made around 220 first ascents in the Needles and published a climbing guidebook to the area. With no other climbers in the area they felt, as Herb put it, "like a couple of cats in an untended fish market."[14] [15] [16]

In 1949 they bought 20 acres in the Custer area and adjacent to the Needles.[3] [11] [13] A couple years after that they built a small, rustic stone home they called Conncave where they lived off the grid, without running water or electricity, for the next 60 years.[17] To help finance their climbing and later caving adventures they created customized leather[18] and wood products. In addition, each fall for 13 years Herb spent a week doing maintenance work filling in cracks on the four faces of Mount Rushmore,[3] [19] [7] [12] and Jan taught guitar and flute.

Caving years

In 1959, geologist, mountaineer and caver Dwight Deal had done some exploration in a small cave called Jewel Cave, a little known monument in the National Park System. He needed some companions who might help him continue his exploration trips there and turned to his friends, Herb and Jan. He asked if they would be interested in grubbing around underground and, after thinking it over, they replied they would try it "once". That one trip turned into a passion of exploring Jewel Cave that lasted for over 22 years, and took over 6,000 volunteer hours on 700 trips.[20] From 1959 to 1979, Herb and Jan mapped 62.36 miles of the interior of Jewel Cave.[21] The Conns discovered what is now the Scenic Cave Tour route in 1961. The National Park Service was intrigued by their reports of high, narrow passageways, huge rooms and unusual speleothems (cave decorations) and opened a new tour route. In addition to assisting with the construction of this trail, Herb also designed the lighting system and dramatic placement of lights still in use today. The cave winds that enticed the explorers further into the cave fascinated Herb, and in 1966 he produced an important scientific paper explaining reasons for these barometric winds. The Conn's book, "The Jewel Cave Adventure," serves not only as a record of their years of cave exploration here, but as an exciting tale of adventure even for non-cavers.

In years 1963-1965, when exploration trips into Jewel Cave were restricted, the Conns joined David Schnute exploring Wind Cave. In 1963 the trio found new passages breaking away from the known portion of the cave and allowing them to discover, name, and survey 15,740 feet of virgin passage.[22] [23] They largely retired from caving by the early 1980s.

Jan Conn as musician and artist

Jan's musical play, Run to Catch a Pine Cone, has been performed throughout the country.[3] She composed many songs and melodies,[24] [25] [26] was a founding member of the musical group "French Creek Folk" (Custer, SD), taught music in the Black Hills area, played flute and guitar[3] (and sometimes stand-up bass), and sang and yodeled — even underwater on occasion.[27] Jan also was an accomplished rubber stamp artist.[28] [29]

Legacy

In a 2008 interview for Climbing Magazine the Conns explained: "I know sometimes people think we had this high dream of living like this, in a place like this … it wasn’t that way. We just kept backing away from the things we didn’t like. This is where we landed."[1] In a 2008 talk, Jan said that they no longer climb rocks, but still enjoy the outdoors. She said, "Fortunately, the slower we move the more we see.[30]

In summer of 1985, Herb and Jan Conn were awarded the Conservation Service Award by the Secretary of the Interior, Don Hodel.[31]

On September 17, 2011, Herb and Jan were inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame in recognition of their pioneering exploration.[7] [12] [32] Soon afterward Herb's health failed and on February 1, 2012, he died in his sleep in his home near Custer, at the age of 91.[12] [20]

First ascents and significant climbs

Most of the climbs below were done using free climbing technique without aid climbing.

Sources

Publications by Conns:
Publications about Conns:

External links

Herb Conn, On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Brendan . Sometimes It Ain't Rocket Science . 23 January 2014 . semi-rad.com . 4 February 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20151125182139/http://semi-rad.com/2014/01/sometimes-it-aint-rocket-science/ . November 25, 2015 .
  2. Web site: Obituary for Jan H. Conn at Chamberlain McColley Funeral Home - Custer . 2023-05-16 . www.chamberlainmccolleys.com . en.
  3. News: Higbee. Paul. Explorers of an Unseen World. 18 January 2014. South Dakota Magazine.
  4. Web site: Jan Conn - SD Hall of Fame Programs . sdexcellence.org . 19 August 2020.
  5. Web site: Sinclair . Kelsey . The Caving, Climbing Couple . Black Hills Visitor . 19 August 2020 . 25 August 2017.
  6. Web site: Green. Stewart. Carderock Rock Climbing: Climbing Near Washington DC. About.com. 16 January 2014. 16 January 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140116183506/http://climbing.about.com/od/wheretoclimb/fr/Carderock-Rock-Climbing-Climbing-Near-Washington-Dc.htm. dead.
  7. Web site: Herb and Jan Conn Inducted Into South Dakota Hall of Fame. 17 January 2014.
  8. Web site: List of Officers. Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. 27 January 2014. (despite the page title Conns never belonged to PATC.)
  9. Web site: Deal. Dwight. Jan Conn to talk in DC, October 10, 2012. 6 October 2012. 27 January 2014.
  10. Up Rope! . 16 May 1945 . 1 . 14 . 1 . Up Rope!. 4 May 2021 . Jan and Herb Conn.
  11. Conn, Jan and Herb (November 1957). We work in our spare time - Summit (PDF)
  12. News: Blackwell. David. Herb Conn Dies at 91. 17 January 2014. Climbing. 9 February 2012.
  13. Andy Busse and Andy Burr, The Needles of Rushmore - A climbing guide to Mt. Rushmore National Monument, with a special tribute to Herb and Jan Conn in the section The Birth of Climbing in the Black Hills, Pages 104 and 105
  14. Web site: Green. Stewart. The Needles Rock Climbing: Climbing in South Dakota. About.com. 26 January 2014. 12 April 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140412171820/http://climbing.about.com/od/wheretoclimb/fr/The-Needles-Rock-Climbing-Climbing-In-South-Dakota.htm. dead.
  15. Conn, Herb (June 1953). The Needles in Review. Appalachia XXIX: 356-365. (PDF)
  16. Dewell. Dan. Conn Diagonal (5.7), Black Hills, South Dakota. Climbing. 30 May 2012. 19 January 2014.
  17. Web site: Pelczarski. Christopher. Jan Conn. Fall 2012. Faces. 18 January 2014.
  18. Conn. Jan and Herb. Climbing highlights of the Black Hills. Appalachia. June 1955. 17 January 2014. 1
  19. Pearson. Jaci Conrad. Hills couple makes hall of fame. Black Hills Pioneer. 10 September 2011. 19 January 2014.
  20. News: Garrigan. Mary. Jewel Cave pioneer Herb Conn dies. 17 January 2014. Rapid City Journal.. 4 February 2012.
  21. Web site: Cave Explorers: Herb & Jan Conn. 17 January 2014.
  22. Web site: Conn. Jan and Herb. Diaries of Wing Cave Trips. 17 January 2014. 1987.
  23. Web site: Cave Exploration - Herb and Jan Conn and Dave Schnute. National Park Service. 17 January 2014.
  24. Conn, Jan (2003?). "Farewell to the Village". CD by Hypothermia Productions (Dave Schnute)
  25. Conn, Jan (2003). "It's a Long, Long, Crawlway; Cave (& Climbing) Music by Jan Conn". CD by Hypothermia Productions (Dave Schnute)
  26. Conn, Jan (2004). "Spinning Blue Ball". CD by Hypothermia Productions (Dave Schnute)
  27. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRTfw8VpVRk/ Jan Conn playing guitar and yodeling
  28. Web site: Marriott. Hollis J.. Plants & Rocks: ferns and granite ... and climbers. 6 February 2012. 6 February 2012. 18 January 2014.
  29. Web site: Conn . Jan . Conifer (rubber stamp artwork) . 21 May 2023.
  30. Web site: Elders' Wisdom, Children's Song: South Dakota, Jan Conn. 17 January 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140117160827/http://ewcssouthdakota.weebly.com/jan-conn.html. 17 January 2014. dead.
  31. U.S. Government honors Section members. Up Rope. November 1985. 39. 11. 2. 29 August 2016.
  32. News: Holland. Deb. Fourteen South Dakotans added to state hall of fame. 17 January 2014. Rapid City Journal. 11 September 2011.
  33. Book: Gregory, John Forrest. Climber's Guide to Carderock. 1980. S and S Printing Inc.. Chester VT.
  34. News: Block. Melissa. Rock Climber Chris Sharma Chases Next 'King Line'. 4 February 2016. National Public Radio. August 5, 2015.
  35. Web site: John Gill (climber). Gill. John. Origins of Bouldering. johngill.net. 4 February 2016.
  36. Herbie's Horror. 106691071. 31 January 2016.
  37. Leonards Lunacy. 110689491. 31 January 2016.
  38. Cornice. 106763978. 31 January 2016.
  39. Conn's East. 106449616. 31 January 2016.
  40. Conn's West. 105977724. 31 January 2016.
  41. Book: Waterman. Laura. Waterman. Guy. Yankee Rock & Ice: A History of Climbing in the Northeastern United States. 2001. Stackpole Books. 9780811731034. registration. 16 June 2014. Waterman. 206.
  42. Moby Grape. 105884815. 31 January 2016.
  43. Book: Horne. David. Climbers Guide to Big Bend National Park. July 1999. (cited here)
  44. Finger Rock (Standard Route). 105738413. 31 January 2016.
  45. Book: Desert Rock I: Rock Climbs in the National Parks. Bjornstad, E.. 9780934641920. 96165053. Desert Rock Series. 1996. Globe Pequot Press.
  46. Book: Rock Climbing Arizona. Green, S.M.. 9781560448136. 99030358. Classic Rock Climbs Series. https://web.archive.org/web/20140723134017/https://books.google.com/books?id=jg0umI3r-j0C. 23 July 2014. 1999. Globe Pequot Press.
  47. Garner. Virginia. The First Ascent of Agathlan. Arizona Highways. August 1950. 26. 8. 4–9. (PDF)
  48. Roper. Steve. Four Corners. Ascent. 1970. 27.
  49. Garner. Ray. Agathlan. American Alpine Journal. 1950. 406–414.
  50. Web site: Soler. Mountain Project. 31 January 2016.
  51. Conn . Jan . December 15, 1952. Manless Ascent of Devils Tower . Appalachia . XXIX . 225–227 . 30 January 2016.
  52. Conn Diagonal. 105714734. 31 January 2016.
  53. South Tower Conn Route. 105715661. 31 January 2016.
  54. East Gruesome. 110964287. 31 January 2016.

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