Shay Chen Nothing good, ever comes from a phone call these days. Everyone texts, no one calls anymore, but when you do get a call, its never good news. I saw the missed call from James and I already knew, my mom called me, when her mother died, my brother called me when our grandfather died, so I called James back hoping for the best, expecting the worst. Afterwards I had to make some calls... The relationship you have with your climbing partner, is a relationship unlike any other. I don’t care who your spouse is, who your friends are, what your mom does, you automatically become the most important person in each other’s lives. You know when their tired, you can hear their voice tremble, when they are scared, your lives are literally in each other’s hands. I met Shay thru a mutual friend, you meet a lot of people in this sport, telling you how great they are and what they “think” they are capable of, so you have to learn to spot the boshit fairly early in these relationship or else it could lead to some bad situations. What struck me with Shay was how humble he was, he knew he was good but he never told you about it. He was the prototypical climber, tall, strong, hands that could palm a basketball. I kept thinking me and him, we could do something special together! Shay would show me the Gunks in NY, and I would show him Squamish in BC, these last couple of years. Iron sharpens iron and we would both make each other better climbers, he would talk me thru overhung sport climbs, while I would show him delicate finger lock techniques. More important than climbing, we made each other better people, his humility and kindness rubbed off on me, while my propensity to eat ice cream everyday rubbed off on him! They say you die twice in life, once physically and again when they stop saying your name. These last few days our friends haven’t stop talking about you and I don’t think we ever will. The Asian Rock, who fosters cats and climbs 5.11 in the Gunks. I haven’t met anyone else like you and I never will. Thank you for being you, Shay, you shared a zest for life that was infectious to all your friends. While life is precious and fragile, [cont. in comments]