Jamie Logan

Author: Beau Toepfer

Since the 1970s, Colorado Springs and the front range of Colorado has been a mecca for rock climbers like John Long, Harvey Carter, Stewart Greene, and Jamie Logan.

Logan went to Fountain Valley High School, but noted during conversation that she spent her free time exploring the woods and rocks around Colorado Springs. She also started a climbing club at Fountain Valley High School during her time there. When she was a climber in Colorado Springs in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, there was no outlet to express her queerness, even in the outdoor recreation community. While she had cross-dressed secretly and had thoughts about her sexuality since her teens, she had no outlet to express them.^[1]

Jamie Logan on top of the Sentinel’s West Face in Yosemite in 1971. Photo Courtesy Jamie Logan.

One of Logan’s most impressive climbing accomplishments was her 1978 first ascent of the 8,000 foot Emperor Face of Mt. Robson, a cutting-edge achievement at the time. Logan said of her ascent of the emperor face, “The real key to climbing the Emperor Face was making the firm decision to try, regardless of the obstacles that nature and our imagination might place in our path,”^[2] a quote that I believe sums up her experiences transitioning later in life. Notably while on the Emperor Face, Jamie pulled an M8 move on bamboo ice tools (a difficult move by today’s standards with modern equipment), where a fall would’ve killed both her and her belayer. She later compared transitioning to be scarier than the Emperor Face.^[1:1]

Jamie Logan on the Emperor Face - Photo by Mugs Stump.^[1:2]

In 2021, Logan was inducted into the Fountain Valley Athlete Hall of Fame.^[3]

In 2024, Logan premiered a film, titled Jamie, about their experience as a trans climber who had long felt out of place. The film premiered at Arc’teryx Boulder, but Jamie returned to Fountain Valley High School for a private premier and rock climbing team practice. ^[3:1]

Community Impacts

Jamie Logan has this to say about the beauty of being a queer climber, which holds especially true in a national environment that is so oppressive of non-heteronormative individuals.

“When I was climbing, I was climbing. There was no gender stuff; there was just the next pitch. When you're on something hard and scary, there's a rule--you gotta take your pitch. You think, ‘How hard is it going to be? Is there going to be protection? What am I going to do up there?’ And gender doesn't make any difference. When I was climbing, I was just climbing.”^[4]

References

Anything to add?