Don Mellor Guiding, LLC
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I don’t know if anyone is keeping statistics, but it’s safe to say that I have had more learners and clients on my rope and in my care than anyone in the North Country, maybe anyone in the country. Over those many years and many partnerships, I have learned a lot about climbing and about teaching. I am learning still, and I’ll probably learn something from you.
In my first year, an older Austrian guide gave me some advice. “Work as hard as you can,” he told me. “Start early, stay out late. Pay attention even on the walk to the climbs. Learn the client’s pace. Give them the best day you can.” I hear his words every single day that I share with a client. It’s also why I am usually the last guide straggling in at the end of a day.
Bio
BA English Literature, University of New Hampshire
M Ed. Education/Counseling St. Lawrence University
Forty-seven years climbing
Educator
Northwood School. 43 years as teacher and climbing instructor at Northwood School, serving also as Dean of Students, School Counselor, and Assistant Head of School.
Adjunct faculty at SUNY Plattsburgh’s Expeditionary Studies Program
Guide
The Lake Placid Climbing School (founder, the region’s first climbing guide service)
Adirondack Rock and River Guide Service
Adirondack Mountain Guides
EMS Climbing School (North Conway)
High Peaks Mountain Adventures
Career Highlights:
Salathe Wall, El Capitan, Yosemite
NW Face Half Dome, Yosemite
Incredible Hulk (5.10) High Sierra, California
The Naked Edge (5.11) Eldorado Canyon, Colorado
Black Ice Couloir, Grand Teton, Wyoming
Comic Relief (5.11) Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Colorado
Third Pillar of Dana (5.10) Yosemite, California
First Ascents on Newfoundland ice
The Prow (5.11+) Cathedral Ledge, New Hampshire
White Eye (5.12) Cathedral ledge, New Hampshire
The Throne (5.12) Shawangunks, New York
Highlights of more than 100 Adirondack First Ascents:
First Free Ascent of Mental Blocks 5.12, Wallface
First Free Ascent of Sailor’s Dive 5.11, Poke-O-Moonshine
Aerie 5.12 Moss Cliff
Too Wet to Plow 5.12 Washbowl Cliff
Big Brother WI 5
Bombsicle WI 5
Chapel Pond Canyon (Lions, Hot Shot, Positive Reinforcement)
Books
Climbing in the Adirondacks (editions 1983, 1996, 2004)
Blue Lines and Blue Lines 2 (2006 and 2016)
Rock Climbing: A Trailside Guide
American Rock
Adirondacks Alive
Alpine Americas
Other writing
Alpinist
Climbing
Adirondack Life
Adirondack Explorer
Service
The Peregrine Fund
The Lake Placid Outing Club
DEC Forest Rangers’ High-Angle Rescue Team (longest serving member)
Whiteface Mountain Gondola Evacuation Team
Blue Ice – a NASA project including “Crash School” on the Greenland Ice Cap and Teacher Exchange, Nagano, Japan
Board Service
The Lake Placid Outing Club
Camp Good Grief
The Samaritan Family Counseling Center (chairman)
