Michael Reardon, missing off the coast of Ireland

I don't know when you start referring to someone who's missing and feared dead in the past tense. "I'm lucky enough to call Michael Reardon my friend." or "I was lucky enough to call Michael Reardon my friend." I don't know...

Michael Reardon has spent the last month climbing in Ireland. This past February he was here in Philadelphia, and he kept talking about how great it was to climb in Ireland last year, how he longed to go back to the place of his ancestors, how amazing the terrain was, and how magical the views were. He was really looking forward to climbing there again. In his last installment of his Pro Blog on Climbing.com, Michael wrote about this year's trip to Ireland, you can hear the excitement in his words. As its been reported, Michael had just finished climbing along the cliffs of Ireland, when a wave struck him and washed him out to sea. Rescure boats were searching for him within 15 minutes. That was 3 days ago.

Michael Reardon posing with Sam, Colleen and a knitted womb at the HERA Women's Cancer Foundation's Climb4Life 2006 in Salt Lake City

I met Michael last year at Climb4Life in Salt Lake City. I actually had no idea who he was. At Climb4Life you and your group are assigned to a different pro to climb with you each day. On our first day out, we got put with Michael (along with his wife Marci, and daughter Nikki). I remember having to ask my friends a couple times who he was and why he was famous. It was raining that day, so we were all forced to climb inside. Despite the plasticized rock, we all had a great time. In the afternoon my sister and I went upstairs to the bouldering room at the gym. She'd never really bouldered before, so I was trying to help her climb a V0. A few minutes later Michael wandered upstairs and we started chatting, and then he started working with Diana on the bouldering problem. It was SO neat to watch him work with her. You could see he was enjoying it, too.

Michael was incredibly impressed with and inspired by my friend Samantha. She's courageous. She's strong. She's beautiful. Honestly, who wouldn't be impressed by her. While we were in Salt Lake, Michael mentioned to Sam and Colleen that he'd be doing a speaking tour in early 2007, and that maybe he'd come to Philadelphia so that we could hook up with his talk and raise some money for the HERA Foundation. We were thrilled.

We auctioned Michael off on eBay, and we held a raffle at his talks at the University of Pennsylvania and at Rutgers. I think we raised over $500 while he was in town. Plus we got to spread the news about the HERA foundation and Ovarian Cancer.

Michael poses with Sam and I at the climbing gym, after we auctioned him off to raise money for Ovarian Cancer Awareness through the HERA Foundation

It was great to spend a few days with Michael and his PR guy, Zach. To see Michael's talk at Penn and then to talk to him afterwards was really a treat. I'd be delivering a few workshops for JBoss the next week, so it was great to watch someone else deliver a technical (albeit non-software) presentation. To see how he reacted to the audience, how he engaged them, and how he transitioned form one topic to the next was great to learn from and observe.

I feel sorry for the climbing community if Michael is really gone. His personality, his enthusiasm, his humility, his energy... its irreplaceable. He has the persona to bring climbing into the mainstream: to be the extreme one who makes the headlines to bring awareness to climbing. From Michael, I've learned about mental strength, about climbing ethics, about endurance, and about training. He's made me a better climber, a more aware climber, and a stronger climber. I hope that everyone can find that person who can effect their passion like Michael has for me.

A bunch of us will be getting together to toast Michael on Wednesday night (9.18) - whiskey and beer all around. If you're in the Philadelphia area and would like to attend, let me know.

Michael, having fun with the camera.	Michael relaxes before his Soloquest talk at UPenn