{"id":20714,"date":"2017-12-22T13:49:37","date_gmt":"2017-12-22T20:49:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=20714"},"modified":"2017-12-22T13:49:37","modified_gmt":"2017-12-22T20:49:37","slug":"msu-prof-is-godfather-of-bozeman-area-climbing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2017\/12\/msu-prof-is-godfather-of-bozeman-area-climbing\/","title":{"rendered":"MSU prof is godfather of Bozeman-area climbing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Climb\"<\/a>

Kelly Gorham\/MSU Mountains and Minds<\/p>

Longtime chemistry professor Pat Callis is the godfather of area climbing.<\/p><\/div>\n

One winter day in 1970, Montana State University biophysical chemist Patrik Callis set out for a cross-country ski with a fellow professor when he inadvertently discovered cascades of ice floes lining the canyon beyond Hyalite Reservoir. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Callis, an avid climber, knew he had stumbled upon something special in the quiet, icy canyon. The area was ripe for ice climbing, which was just starting to gain footing thanks to innovations to the ice axe. He and a cadre of young climbing companions returned to the snowy, unplowed road numerous times, gear in hand, ticking off many first ascents in Hyalite, an area that\u2019s now celebrated as a North American mecca of ice climbing.<\/p>\n

The list of Callis\u2019 early and continued contributions to the climbing community is both lengthy and admirable, but perhaps lesser known is his commitment to research and teaching at MSU. Callis, who\u2019s been described as a \u201cgiant among us\u201d will celebrate his 50th year at MSU in 2018, making him the university\u2019s longest-tenured professor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe excitement of teaching has not gone away,\u201d said Callis, who turns 80 on March 17, St. Patrick\u2019s Day. \u201cI\u2019m still learning life sciences; I\u2019m still learning biochemistry. Every year I have more biochemical information to give that\u2019s directly associated with physical chemistry, and somehow that just keeps teaching interesting and fulfilling. This seems to be directly linked to my research activities, which steadily became more biophysical over the last 30 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Callis became hooked on climbing as a teenager after a high school teacher showed slides of climbs on volcanoes in his native Oregon. Callis, an eager outdoorsman and climber of trees from a young age, thought it looked more doable and less dangerous than he\u2019d previously imagined. He sought mentors and set out to learn how to move up the faces\u00a0of mountains.<\/p>\n

\"CapreAir_Variable\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>While nabbing first ascents up and down the West Coast, Callis was also spending a significant amount of time researching the quantum mechanics of molecules. After earning a doctorate at the University of Washington and completing postdoctoral research at Caltech, Callis accepted a professorship at MSU, which had impressed him with its commitment to research.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I (first) visited here, I was quite enchanted. That was my dream, to be in a place where you could do good science and be able to climb without spending too much time traveling,\u201d said Callis, who has well-known first ascents of ice and rock routes around Bozeman to his name, including \u201cCleopatra\u2019s Needle,\u201d a grade V multi-pitch icefall in Hyalite, and \u201cSpare Rib,\u201d one of Gallatin Canyon\u2019s classic rock climbs.<\/p>\n

Callis expanded upon his sense of early enchantment with the area in the introduction to \u201cBozeman Rock Climbs,\u201d the 1987 guidebook written by Bill Dockins and illustrated with hand-drawn maps that served as the first published guide to Bozeman\u2019s burgeoning climbing scene.<\/p>\n

\"Pat<\/a>

Pat Callis<\/p><\/div>\n

“It was an unforgettably brilliant afternoon in late July 1968,” he wrote, “with the Northern Rockies at their peak of lushness that marked my first encounter with the Gallatin Towers. Gayle (his wife) and I and two-year-old Kristina were literally high on the greens, golds and special incense of Gallatin Canyon. \u2026 It was more than love at first sight. There was immediate recognition that this oasis of hard rock crags in a region of crumbling limestone would be the site of many enjoyable hours of exploratory rock climbing I had grown to love during the previous decade on the West Coast.”<\/p>\n

In terms of risk, Callis equates climbing with driving: both are potentially dangerous activities that one can learn to negotiate intelligently. Callis\u2019 approach to risk has helped him to summit \u2014 and return from \u2014 big first ascents, like the north face of Mount Robson, the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. He also has first ascents of numerous routes on Suicide Rock, near Idyllwild, Calif.<\/p>\n

\u201cSurviving the first couple years \u2014 that\u2019s where the luck comes in,\u201d he said. \u201cI was lucky that my first regular climbing partner was a slightly older person who\u2019d done quite a bit of climbing. He really calibrated me from the outset on how to climb safely. I think everybody should strive for such mentorship if they feel that urge to climb.\u201d<\/p>\n

And where does that desire originate? Some climbers chalk it up to an \u201cinexplicable urge to ascend,\u201d but Callis has a slightly more scientific understanding: \u201cI think it\u2019s genetic, to some extent,\u201d he said, while also acknowledging that there\u2019s another, perhaps more mysterious, element. \u201cIt gets in your blood. \u2026\u00a0 To me, it was just that free climbing and hiking translated into the beautiful mountain environment, which is just something in itself. Unless you\u2019ve really gone up high on a mountain, it\u2019s hard to quite realize.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2001, Callis introduced Conrad Anker, possibly Montana\u2019s best-known mountaineer, to many of the area\u2019s 5.11 climbs. Rock climbs are rated on a scale from 5.6 to 5.15; a 5.11 route requires both technical proficiency and considerable strength.<\/p>\n

Callis and Anker had a mutual friend and climbing companion in the late Alex Lowe, an MSU graduate who remains legendary in mountaineering communities for his enthusiasm and stamina.<\/p>\n

\"Callis\"<\/a>

Kelly Gorham\/MSU Mountains and Minds<\/p>

Callis gets ready for another climb.<\/p><\/div>\n

Two years after Lowe\u2019s death in 1999 in an avalanche on Shishapangma, a 26,335-foot peak in Tibet, Anker moved to Bozeman to be closer to Lowe\u2019s widow Jenni (whom he married in 2001) and her three sons. Callis and Anker were aware of one another\u2019s climbing accomplishments and took advantage of their proximity to climb together \u2014 which they still do, two or three times a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cPat\u2019s a great example of the generational connectivity that climbing builds,\u201d Anker said, adding that Callis is the only climber he knows who has completed first ascents with both Yosemite icon Warren Harding and Fred Beckey, one of North America\u2019s most prolific mountaineers.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just loves climbing. That\u2019s the best part of Pat \u2014 any day that he can get out climbing is a good day,\u201d Anker said.<\/p>\n

Even Callis is surprised by his tenure on the crags and icefalls of southwestern Montana. \u201cI couldn\u2019t not do it,\u201d he said of his vertical pursuits.<\/p>\n

There was a period of Callis\u2019 fourth decade when he considered giving up climbing, buying into the notion that at a certain age he\u2019d no longer be fit enough to do it well. Instead, he discovered that the opposite was true.<\/p>\n

\u201cI finally woke up to the fact that I was deteriorating because I wasn\u2019t climbing enough,\u201d he said. \u201cThat was an epiphany.\u201d He started climbing more and continues to climb at the same difficulty level as 30 years ago, although the famously modest Callis also acknowledges that some of the grades may have softened a bit.<\/p>\n

In August, Callis completed his 23rd Bridger Ridge Run, a brutal 20-mile trail run along the spine of the Bridger Mountains.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething about it started to haunt me during the winter after [my first Ridge Run] and I found myself wanting to run it again, and again and again. It just keeps sort of luring me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The race was conceived by the late Ed Anacker, Callis\u2019 friend and fellow MSU chemistry professor. Anacker was instrumental in Callis\u2019 move to Bozeman, having taken a sabbatical from MSU to conduct research in a laboratory at the University of Oregon, where Callis was finishing his graduate studies.<\/p>\n

If challenge and high-alpine environments form the wellspring that keeps Callis on mountainsides, the process of discovery is what keeps him returning to the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in the College of Letters and Science to conduct research and teach courses on physical and quantum chemistry.<\/p>\n

Recently, Callis has become particularly interested in how enzymes accelerate biochemical reactions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been able to see that I have some ideas that are not out there in the literature, and I\u2019m very busily and excitedly exploring these ideas right now,\u201d Callis said. He added that he is particularly thankful for the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, which had funded his research for 29 straight years, for supporting the graduate and postdoctoral students he mentored during that time.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy many colleagues within the department carrying out similarly sponsored programs have contributed greatly to my learning experience,” he said.<\/p>\n

His colleagues note his scientific contributions are as significant as his athletic accomplishments.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a giant among us, and yet he has such a gentle, calm demeanor that many people in the Bozeman community know him only as an outdoorsman and a nice person, having no idea how scholarly he is or how deep his contributions to the advancement of photophysics truly are,\u201d wrote Mary Cloninger, the head of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, in her nomination letter for a creativity award Callis received in 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s quiet, he listens and he\u2019s thoughtful. There\u2019s great positive energy around him,\u201d said Nicol Rae, dean of the College of Letters and Science.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you meet Pat, it doesn\u2019t look like he\u2019s been at MSU almost 50 years,\u201d Rae added. \u201cLong may he continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

This fall, the Montana University System Board of Regents approved making Callis a Regents Professor, the highest honor in the system. Callis will present a Regents Symposium on his work on April 7.<\/p>\n

And Callis\u2019 students still appreciate both his patience and his ability to illuminate scientific processes.<\/p>\n

Jacob Remington, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry who has been working with Callis since he was an undergraduate, said Callis has a unique ability to explain difficult concepts in, say, quantum mechanics, while simultaneously revealing larger truths.<\/p>\n

\u201cI leave [Pat\u2019s] office thinking a little more deeply about what I went in there to ask, and it leaves me with a sense of wonder that the universe could possibly behave that way,\u201d Remington said.\u00a0\u201cPat has been a complete idol for me in terms of work-life balance\u2014to become a full-time professor and still go outdoors a bunch. It\u2019s pretty inspirational.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article first appeared in the fall 2017 issue of Mountains and Minds, MSU\u2019s award-winning magazine, which is now\u00a0online<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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