Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Kent Ashcraft

Laura:
Thanks for capturing the sadness of the event and the greatness of the soul of Dr. Kent. I too read his messages on this board though never met him. My heartfelt condolences to his family and all his friends. I miss him on this MB.
Krishna

I too attended the memorial. I am a newbie to this board, discovering it upon notice of Kent's death. Kent took me up the Mountaineer's Route once along w/ my wife. I also summited Mt. Irvine w/ Kent.

The service was soothing to the soul. The family memorialized Kent in such a wonderful way, sharing stories about Kent's sense of humor, his quirks, and his love for people. The talked about how Kent could talk your ear off if you let him.

Kent's wife Ilene was so poised and gracious. It was obvious her thoughts were in making sure that all of Kent's friends felt welcome. She greeted everyone. She walked around afterwards while the luncheon was served and greeted every single person. She put her own grief aside to comfort others. I have so much admiration for this woman. She told me she met Moosetracks and said that Moosetracks had some antlers on her head or something(What?). Anyway, Ilene got a kick out of that Moosetracks.

Kent's family and the way those kids composed themselves in at such a very difficult and emotional time was a tribute to Kent and Ilene and the way they have raised that family. When one of the 13 year old twins began to speak of his father the reality of it all seemed to come crashing down on him. He broke down into sobs. The whole congregation was in tears. Ilene took him in her arms and whispered something to him. The boy composed himself and with great courage and class gave a moving speech on some of the wonderful memories he had of his father, Kent.

I wish you all could have been there. I'm sure Kent was very proud.

Godspeed Kent.

Kent Ashcraft: a role model

I met Kent on the north fork a few winters ago. We spoke briefly.

I was impressed that he was out there with two of his boys and one of their friends. How many fathers do that? Not enough for sure, or else this world would be a better place. He has inspired me to do the same thing with my kids.

Kent Ashcraft was a friend of mine. I didn't know him as well as I do the friends with whom I climb a lot, but we had met on quite a few occasions, and we had shared quite a few emails and phone calls over the past few years. The topics were always discussions of obscure routes in the Mt. Whitney region. Whether a new one might go, or of a newly tried one that did or didn't. Kent always exhibited so much pride and excitement when he was able to report that he—usually with a son or nephew—managed to pull a new one off.

Kent was a mountaineer, and mountaineers share a special, common, bond of friendship and camaraderie. When one of us dies among those beautiful high places we love so much, the sorrow in the entire mountaineering community is profound. There is that feeling of helplessness—wishing we could have been there—perhaps we might have made a difference. But knowing that such thoughts are futile.

This time I was very lucky. When Kent's wife Ilene told me that his ice ax and a couple of other items were missing, she asked if I would go look for them. I was humbled, and deeply honored. The ice ax is a mountaineer’s heart and soul. Kent's was still up there, lost and alone, and his wife was asking me to find and bring it home to her. She could have asked innumerable other people, but she didn't. She asked me, a person she had never met. You cannot imagine the impact of that.

Luck came on my second day of searching, just a few days ago. With two of my friends, we found and retrieved Kent's ax, high in that chute on Thor Peak—on yet another obscure route he was trying. It was on a ledge, next to the point where he fell. The feeling I had when I came upon that ax, knowing that Kent had perished just below it, and knowing that the ax could have made all the difference, is indescribable.

I will mail it to Ilene tomorrow. I don’t know what will be on my mind when I do that, but I do know that there will be deep emotions, as there will certainly be with her when she receives it.

Kent was a friend of mine. Where mountaineering is concerned, his ice ax was his heart and soul. I am lucky, not only because I found the ax, but because Ilene entrusted me with the quest for it. I am very, very, happy that I can play a role in getting it back to her.

Thank You Bob, in our family we call it taking them home , the last walk,these are those rare moments that tie our beings together . I will close this thread and forward the messages to the family.
Doug

First of all, I have to apologize for using Kent's sign-in. It probably throws people off. I've tried several times to register myself and it's just not working.
Laura, thank you so much for coming to the funeral. I wished so bad I got pictures of all the hikers that came. It's nice to go on the Whitney portal and see the pictures of people there.
Thank you for your comments about the funeral and about kent. You all met a lot to him. He talked about so many of you.
Give thanks to Doug Sr, Earlene and Tomi for me also. Bob is amazing, he's already gone up two times (with Mike) to the place to see if he could find anything of kents, then sent the ice ax,and other articles to us, along with a beautiful scenic picture. Thank you all so much for enriching his life.
Sincerely,
kentswife - Ilene Ashcraft

Ken,
Thank you for your comment about Kent. When people say,"how can you be smiling in the pictures during this time?" Cuz I can't help but think of the good sense of humor had, as you stated. That he was so happy, just so excited to go show everyone a new route up to thors and share it with all his friends on the msg board.
Just so excited - What better place could he have gone to the arms of above. Thank you for being his friend.
Sincerely,
Kentswife-Ilene Ashcraft

Brett,
It was wonderful to see you there, coming from Santa Barbara.
Thank you for your thoughtful words about the funeral.
May the Lord Bless you and your little family.
Sincerely,
Ilene Ashcraft -kentswife

Bob,
You were kent's ideal mountaineer, all knowing, all giving, all sharing words of wisdom and advise. Thank you for taking time out in coming all the way to the funeral and going up to Thor's twice to help find his things. You are an amazing Soldier of strength and fortitude, going forth to conquer the mountain.
I will forever be grateful. Thank you for the beautiful picture.
Sincerely,
kentswife-Iene Ashcraft

Kurt what a lovely thing for you to do - sign his name on the Top of Mt.Whitney. Thank your correspondence with kent through the years. He sure enjoyed the Whitney Portal message Board.
Sincerely,
Ilene Ashcraft - kentswife

You're welcome Ilene... blessings to you and your family.

Dear Jeremy,
I am kent's wife, I wanted to thank you for your message on the Whitney Board and the Card that you sent us. The person giving the eulogy, actually used it in his talk. I am so glad Kent had a chance to get to know you as a patient, as a friend.
Thank you for your consoling words.
Sincerely,
Ilene Ashcraft - kentswife

Richard,
I am Ilene, Kent's wife. I want you to know Kent talked a lot about you too. That was so kind of you to honor kent to build a Karin Memorial and put a message on the top of Thor.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Ilene Ashcraft

Dear Calhiker,
I am kentswife. I appreciated the comments on the whitney board.
Kent did talk about you. Thank you for your correspondence through the years.
sincerely,
Ilene Ashcraft

Rick,
I am Kent's Wife. Kent use to talk about you. I appreciate your comments on the whitney board.
Thank you for corresponding with him.
ilene

Dear Doug,
I am Kent's wife. Thank you for corresponding with kent through the years. He really enjoyed being able to receive and give advise on the Whitney Portal - it was like his hobbie (besides building, working, helping others).
Thank you for being a good friend.
Sincerely,
Ilene Ashcraft

Dear Kurt,
That was very touching. Thank you for your words of comfort
Sincerely,
Ilene Ashcraft - kentswife

Moosetracks,
Thank you for all your comments about Kent.
Sincerely,
Ilene Ashcraft-kentswife

All,

Ilene and her family spent a couple of days in the area earlier this week. They hiked to the spot where Kent fell, for a memorial. They built a cairn of 49 stones, one for each year Kent spent on earth. And visited with Doug and Earlene and others, at the hostel and at the store.

She asked me to upload some pictures and make this post. The pictures are here.