Herb and Jan Conn
| Jan and Herb Conn | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Known for | being pioneer rock climbers and cavers |
| Jan Conn | |
|---|---|
| Born | circa 1924 Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC |
| Herb Conn | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Herbert William Conn April 16, 1920 upstate New York |
| Died |
February 1, 2012 (aged 91) Custer, South Dakota |
Jan Conn (born c. 1924 ) and Herb Conn (April 16, 1920 – February 1, 2012) were climbing and caving pioneers. They are credited with establishing many classic climbs in areas like Carderock in Maryland, Seneca Rocks in West Virginia, Cannon Cliff in New Hampshire and Black Hills of South Dakota. They are also well known as cave explorers who in 1960s and 70s discovered and mapped over 60 miles of Jewel Cave, making it the world’s third longest cave system.
Both Herb and Jan were born and raised on the East Coast. Jan grew up in Maryland, just outside Washington, DC in a household with two older sisters. Jan loved music and played flute, classical guitar and several other instruments. Herb, whose full name was Herbert William Conn, grew up in upstate New York, possibly in Geneva, New York, and graduated from the University of Colorado. They married in 1944.
During World War II, Herb served as an electrical engineer for the Navy Department in Washington, DC. Jan and Herb spent their spare time exploring the rocks surrounding Washington DC, most notably Carderock where they began climbing in 1942. They climbed and named lots of the routes at Carderock, including Herbie’s Horror, Jan's Face, Spider Walk and Ronnie’s Leap, which was named after their dog.Herbie’s Horror, first climbed by Herb, was one of the first 5.9 routes in the eastern United States. They also made the first documented ascents of the routes Conn's East and Conn's West at Seneca Rocks, following the pitons left by the mountain troops who trained there. In a letter to the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club Mountaineering Section the Conns describe a visit to Seneca with Don Hubbard: "Don and the two of us climbed the south peak on a gorgeous moonlit evening, carrying sleeping bags, and spent the night on the narrow summit ridge. Don woke up in the night to see the lower half of Jan’s bag flapping over the edge. But Jan was safely curled up in the top half, still anchored to a piton in the rock." In 1944 they started publishing "Up Rope" magazine, which became the official newsletter of the Mountaineering Section of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC).
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