Last Dec. 17, 85-year-old Steve Longenecker, legendary bird-man, snake-man, and Western North Carolina rock climbing pioneer, invited my husband, Graham Ramsey, and me, to join him and his ebullient rescue pup, ‘Honey,' on a hike into the base of Looking Glass Rock.

Looking Glass is Steve’s Rock, and Dec. 17 is the anniversary of the first ascent of Looking Glass, an ascent made by Robert John (Bob) Gillespie, Bob Watts, and Steve. In 1966, the 20-somethings could hardly have imagined that the route they finessed, ‘The Nose,’ wearing cumbersome motorcycle helmets and lugged sole boots, would one day become the lodestar of Southeast climbing it is today.

Looking Glass is WNC’s greatest granite monolith, a jaw-dropping phenom jutting straight up from the plush Pisgah National Forest, and d

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