I saw him once in the early 2010s in Vertical World's Redmond location, but I didn't realize it at the time. Just some old guy in a harness feeling the holds in

I saw him once in the early 2010s in Vertical World's Redmond location, but I didn't realize it at the time. Just some old guy in a harness feeling the holds in the bouldering area. We kept to ourselves. Later, one of the employees told a story about how he met Beckey at the counter one time. Beckey had asked if he could climb, and the employee told him the rate for a day pass, not realizing who it was. "I'm Fred," Beckey volunteered in frustrated amazement. "Fred who?" "Fred Beckey." He waved him in to climb for free, of course.