December 2025 –
From Charlie Sassara
I met Teale on my second visit to Valdez in ‘84. He was quiet, almost aloof, but also open and curious. Sort of a” just there” kind of guy without taking too much space. I’m not even sure how we became friends, but his attention was real. We climbed together only a few times, and it was clear he was totally in another league. Smooth, unhurried and cool. Funny, too, how he would just show up when something needed fixed on a neighbor’s house or to pull someone from the Lowe River. “Good thing I showed up,” was the extent of any expressed self-promotion. Over time we stayed connected because I always wanted “more” and he would always call on my birthday.
One winter weekend in 2002 Brian soloed “Shaken Not Stirred” on the Mooses Tooth while JJ Brooks and I were climbing “Ham and Eggs.” He didn’t mention at the time that he had soloed “Ham and Eggs” earlier after his partner Carl Tobin ran out of mojo (i.e. hadn’t fully recovered from a recent accident in the Hayes Range). He also didn’t mention that his weekend jaunt on the Tooth was just a scouting trip for what would be a new route on the NE Face of Mt Wake a week or two out.
Sometime after the Valdez oil spill I took Brian and his current female companion to the Pipeline Club for dinner. While Brian and I talked, his friend snarfed down a fat steak with her arms wrapped around the plate like someone who spent time in prison or a dog lot. She was drop dead gorgeous and never spoke. “What brought you to Valdez?” I asked. “Learn to climb ice” were her only words. Over time I met more gorgeous, motivated, and talented women hanging around Brian. He never betrayed their confidences, and the women loved him.
I coined the phrase “The Brian Teale Women’s School of Alpinism” so I would never forget the period or my friend.
Other BT Accomplishments Include:
» Bicycling from Colorado to the Canadian Rockies to solo the North Face of Robson;
» Over 50 new ice routes in the Valdez area;
» FA of the 2300-meter North Face of Moffit, Hayes Range, with Harvey Miller (unreported);
» FA of the East Face of Wake in Ruth Gorge with Pete Lowery;
» North Face of Rooster’s Comb with Sue Nott;
» Ice climbing ventures throughout Prince William Sound supported from a modified 18’ Lund;
» 40 + year commitment to the Valdez Ice Festival.