Howie Richardson has the Doc Brown look from Back to the Future down pat.
But there's a lot more to Richardson than the hair. Just look closer and you'll get a hint. For a guy of maturing years, Richardson, now of Okanagan Falls, is in tremendous shape.
And that's because he spent so much of his life climbing.
"I recorded the very first climb at Skaha Bluffs, in 1987," Richardson told us over the weekend while standing in the parking lot of, you guessed it, the rock climbing mecca of Skaha Bluffs.
Now, Richardson is no braggart. He'd shown up, as had we, for the first ever Skaha Climbers Festival -- a celebration of not only the sport, but the amazing Skaha Bluffs region and the non-profit society that formed in 2015 to successfully battle a growing spate of area auto theft.
So we cornered him and he filled us in on a glorious bit of history.
But more on that in a moment. First, a little more on a weekend that ultimately pulled a ton of avid climbers into the park -- including several who are legit famous -- and a few thousand dollars into the worthy Skaha Bluffs Park Watch Society.
At the helm was veteran climber Rolf Rybak, the executive director of the Skaha Climbers Association, the founder of the Watch Society, and likely the park's foremost advocate.
"Six years ago," he said, "there was a lot of break and enter in the park. So I met with the mayor and (Penticton MLA Dan Ashton) and the like and the RCMP. Someone mentioned a park watch program in Sooke, so I followed that up and then incorporated the program here."
Setting it up wasn't as easy as Rybak makes it sound. Regardless, it was an immediate hit with the climbers who'd long been victims of crime, and perhaps even more so with the folks hired to patrol the zone.
"It offers opportunities to people with barriers who might not have employment otherwise," said Rybak. "So there's a dual benefit. The climbers are safe and it’s a great thing for the community too."
The official kick-off to the first-ever Skaha Climbers Festival was Saturday morning at 8:00 with the opening of a vendor market in the main parking lot. We're talking name products too, like Petzl and Boreal and Sportiva, and vendors from all over the province.
As climbers showed up, they'd hang out a bit at the market on their way to the cliffs, renew acquaintances, perhaps grab some gear, and maybe even play a game along the way.
There were a few, including a climbing-centric take on Pin the Tail on the Donkey and a far more physical challenge where participants attempted to coil long lengths of rope faster than their competitor. It delivered some big laughs.
Soon, we ran into Howie Richardson and learned about his debut Bluffs climb.
"The first climb in the Bluffs was called Primus, and it was way back on a cliff called Stove Cliff," he said. "I moved back here from the coast in 1987, and I'd always been looking up here.
"There's a cliff you can see from the road called Great White. And at 2:00 in the afternoon you can see this shade on this cliff and it's so obvious from the road that we decided in Easter of '87 to walk up and see it. So we trudged up from the road at the bottom -- there was no car park then -- and it was mind blowing.
"And we'd be looking at the cliffs as we went up, and then we'd turn around and look back at the lake and you'd see other cliffs that we had no idea existed because we couldn’t see them from the road. It was amazing."
If Richardson wasn't a big enough name, there was famed Canadian climber Scott Milton, a guy Rybak said is one of the first Canucks to climb "5:14" -- a particularly punishing climbing grade. Or equally famed Canadian climber Mike Doyle, who flew in from his current home in Las Vegas to speak at the festival's Saturday evening soiree at the Lakeside Resort.
Doyle, 45, said today's younger climbers would have to look hard to know who he is, but we disagree. He's all over the Google machine. And he got his start right here.
"I learned to climb here," he said. "This is where I grew up. I climbed here from 12 to 18 (years old) and then a lot in my 20s."
We asked Doyle what makes the Bluffs so epic. And he was quick with his response.
"The density of the climbing," he said. "You park in one spot and there's a lifetime of climbing. I don’t think anyone here can claim to have climbed all the routes at Skaha Bluffs. That's virtually impossible."
Doyle also commented on the climbing fear factor, acknowledging that it is indeed scary.
"I'm not going to say climbing is completely safe," he said. "It does require you to be vigilant and double check your stuff.
"But it's like driving a car, and how you learn to trust everything and your own ability to use it. I've been climbing for 30 years, and nowadays if I get a shot of adrenaline at all, something's gone wrong."
Next up was Megan Creaton, born in Australia but now living in Revelstoke, who came to the Bluffs with her friends to engage in a two-day women's climbing course.
"We just wanted to come and learn the proper skills and techniques and good habits," she said while readying her gear. "We're learning anchor building, lead climbing, rappelling, rope skills, a bit of everything."
Creaton and her buds are precisely what Rybak had in mind when he said Skaha Bluffs is now "one of the premier world destinations for sport climbing," and when festival media logistics manager Dave Mai, also a climber and movie-maker, said, "It's the best shoulder season climbing around."
In short, the word is out there. In Creaton's case, her group "wanted to come to this guaranteed weather from the mountain weather."
"And we don't really know the area well," she added, "so we thought with doing the course we'd get some knowledge of the area, get some skills, and have a great weekend."
An hour later at the base of one of the Bluffs' less strenuous routes, the appropriately named "Daycare," we chatted with Ashley Meriam, a Penticton resident who's currently moving to Nelson due to low local rental stock.
But, she said, she "had to stick around for the festival."
"I love climbing and everyone I've met through the climbing community. I just love the vibe, love the people."
Meriam got her start climbing indoor at Hoodoo Adventures, then transitioned outdoor. She found it more difficult, so the festival and the weekend course with Skaha Rock Adventures was a no-brainer.
We then talked with Tom Wright of Squamish, who said he climbs The Stawamus Chief "every day I can," and admitted he feels our pain when we told him about our fear of heights.
"But there are a lot of different dimension to climbing," he said. "One of them is overcoming challenges. Once you start to trust the gear, which takes some time, and your partners, you can overcome fear of heights."
Bexx (Rebecca) Ferri at the Petzl/Patagonia tent said she lives in Canmore, essentially in the Rocky Mountains, but has climbed at the Bluffs every year for at least the past 15.
"Climbing starts early here," she said. "We still have winter there. I can’t even pick a favourite climb here because there are so many good ones."
Later Saturday, climbers and vendors and anyone with a ticket hit the East Ballroom of the Lakeshore for food, drink, socializing, speakers, a silent auction with $6,000 in swag, and a film.
Also during the weekend was a climbing competition named "Battle at the Bluffs."
In the end, Rybak estimated 1,200 people came to the park and the ballroom during the two days and one night of the festival.
And today he's a pretty happy camper.
"The amount of people coming here is growing at least five to ten percent every year," he said, "and I think people are beginning to realize that climbers aren't a bunch of guys sleep in their vans, eating cans of cold beans.
"We have nurses here, physiotherapists here, lawyers here. So the demographics are changing and there really is an opportunity for Penticton to tap into that."
They may want to tap into the next festival too. It won’t be next year, says Rybak, but there's a good likelihood it’ll be the year after, and then every second year going forward.
For more info on the event and on the Skaha Climbers Association, head here. For more info on the Skaha Bluffs Park Watch Society and to donate, go here.
