{"id":2449753,"date":"2019-10-10T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-11T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=314213"},"modified":"2019-10-10T22:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-11T04:00:00","slug":"aspen-climbers-book-recounts-poochs-prowess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/aspen-climbers-book-recounts-poochs-prowess\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspen climber\u2019s book recounts pooch\u2019s prowess"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/p>

Rick Crandall on Mt. Wilson, a 14,252-foot mountain in the San Juan National Forest.<\/strong>
Courtesy photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Rick Crandall has been a busy man of late, but that comes with the territory of having just released a book he hopes will inspire readers to embrace a new passion no matter what their station in life.<\/p>\n

It all sounds so easy, right? Not actually, and \u201cThe Dog Who Took Me Up a Mountain,\u201d which Crandall co-wrote with Joseph Cosgriff, doesn\u2019t gloss over Crandall\u2019s mid-life struggles that got him to where he is today.<\/p>\n

The rewards, however, have been priceless for Crandall, a 76-year-old Aspen resident who got serious about climbing when he was 64 thanks to a dog relentless to lead the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverywhere we went with Emme,\u201d pronounced \u201cEmmy,\u201d as in the Emmy Awards, \u201cshe just wanted to go higher,\u201d he recently recalled.<\/p>\n

Starting at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Explore Booksellers, Crandall will discuss and sign copies of \u201cThe Dog Who Took Me Up A Mountain,\u201d published by HCI. It\u2019s the first publicity event for Crandall, who said he will be hitting 14 cities to promote the book, which chronicles Emme and Crandall\u2019s adventures that included their bagging 16 of Colorado\u2019s 58 14,000-foot peaks, known in local vernacular as 14ers.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Crandall\u2019s unlikely story that makes it such an interesting one. Here, after all, was a sizable man in his mid 60s lacking in mountaineering experience, and an Australian terrier \u2014 not exactly a stereotypical canine climber \u2014 that topped out at 20 pounds.<\/p>\n

Prior to their meeting, Crandall \u2014 a Michigan native who founded the international software company Comshare in 1966 \u2014 was a bit down on life, having dealt with a divorce and the fallout of the dot-com bust.<\/p>\n

But he fell in love with and married Pamela Levy in 2000, and the two moved to the Aspen area, before Levy, a lover of animals, brought home an Australian terrier in 2001.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was certainly one of my favorite dogs,\u201d said Levy, who discovered Emme. \u201cShe was special.\u201d<\/p>\n

A tiny thing, \u201cone of the smallest dogs I had ever seen,\u201d Crandall wrote, the dog had plenty of pep in its step and an appetite for adventure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would take her on hikes and she lit up like a football field of lights,\u201d said Crandall, who also is chair of the board of directors for Jazz Aspen Snowmass.<\/p>\n

The higher Emme wanted to go, so did Crandall. So he became a climbing buff, but not before he shed 25 pounds and worked his way into 14er shape, while educating himself about the state\u2019s climbing trails and the sport\u2019s physical, logistical and mental demands.<\/p>\n

Soon enough, he was climbing Colorado\u2019s highest mountains and conquering some of its most technically challenging peaks.<\/p>\n

Emme did her part without any aid, Crandall recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had the strength and commitment that would not take \u2018no\u2019 for an answer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Emme has since passed away, living 141\/2 years. Crandall has since climbed the remaining 42 Colorado\u2019s 14ers, while these days he focuses on 13,000-foot peaks, which come with their own challenges, he said. These days Crandall is an authority on climbing, and he writes a blog with advice and tips about the sport.<\/p>\n

His life-changing friendship with Emme, Crandall said, made him a better person, and he hopes his book can persuade readers that it\u2019s never too early to discover a passion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith all of the negativity in the world, there are so many downers that to be able to have something so optimistic and positive, the book says \u2018maybe I had some dark days, but I came through them and this is how I came through them,\u2019\u201d Levy said. \u201cI think that\u2019s such an uplifting story to share.\u201d<\/p>\n

rcarroll@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rick Crandall on Mt. Wilson, a 14,252-foot mountain in the San Juan National Forest.Courtesy photo Rick Crandall has been a busy man of late, but that comes with the territory of having just released a book he hopes will inspire readers to embrace a new passion no matter what their station in life. It all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2449753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 17:08:51","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2449753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449753\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2449753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2449753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2449753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}