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| Messages 1 - 19 of total 19 in this topic |
Happy Idiot
Trad climber
Santa Fe
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 18, 2013 - 10:46am PT
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Here's a vintage New Mexico Magazine article about Bob Ormes' early attempts at Ship Rock.
I found this in the UNM special collections library yesterday. I hope the scans are readable. The cover image is actually blurry in the original, so it's not just your eyesight.
So, who ultimately nabbed the second?
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Happy Idiot
Trad climber
Santa Fe
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 18, 2013 - 11:18am PT
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Thanks Steve. With all your posted magazine articles, you're actually the one who inspired me to dig up these old obscurities and post them up as well.
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crunch
Social climber
CO
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Jan 18, 2013 - 04:24pm PT
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Nice article! The dry trip, the wet trip, the windy trip. Ormes manages to bring the desert to life.
Thanks for posting that.
Ormes was really affected by that fall. He never again pushed his luck on technical steep rock; he focused on more mountaineering-based objectives after that.
He was, seemingly, quite the character, an old-school eccentric, humble, self-effacing, a prankster. He wrote a hard-to-find, fascinating (though kind of bizarre) memoir/biography called "A Farewell to Ormes."
Second ascent was April 8, 1952.
Dale Johnson, Tom Hornbein, Harry Nance, Wes Nelson, Phil Robertson. All CMC members.
Third ascent was just a couple weeks later, by some Californians:
Bob Skinner was Todd Skinner's father, I believe.
Ray Jacquot, of Laramie, WY, has assembled a comprehensive reconstruction of the ascents up until 1970, when the climbing ban was enacted. A copy is at the Alpine Club library in Golden.
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FRUMY
Trad climber
SHERMAN OAKS,CA
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Jan 18, 2013 - 10:47pm PT
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Thanks
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jan 18, 2013 - 10:54pm PT
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Nice post Crusher.
The formal start of the bolt controversy.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Jan 19, 2013 - 12:20am PT
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Beautiful!!
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Jan 19, 2013 - 02:10am PT
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No doubt that Shiprock was a great ascent from a climber's perspective.
From the perspective of the Navajo, it was just another rape of sacred land by white man, and just another example of white man's complete disregard for the Navajo culture.
I hope that modern climbers just leave the place alone.
Sierra Ledge Rat
Native of Santa Fe
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Jan 19, 2013 - 02:39am PT
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hey there say, happy idiot...
thank you for sharing...
i love new mexico cover...
seirra ledge rat...
thank you for posting that lovely litho...
*wow, that magazine is old...
the old stuff is nice to see and read...
thanks again...
edit:
crunch... thanks for the picture, it just
does not show...
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Jan 19, 2013 - 02:46am PT
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The idea that Shiprock was so hard to climb in the first place
the idea that Shiprock is a sacred spot to the Navajo by another name because how the hell does a Navajo know what a ship is in the desert--that's a white man term
the idea that Shiprock had a controversy over the FA, even one easlily disproven
the idea that Shiprock was climbed several times with no deaths (if I am correct)
the idea that Shiprock is officially 'retired' and has been put out to pasture
all these give it the aura of mystery which the desert is so kind to provide
the idea to post this brief and informative piece was a good one and thanks.
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Tony Bird
climber
Northridge, CA
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Jan 19, 2013 - 08:34am PT
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please read the shiprock climbing history thread--there are navajo and there are navajo.
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Jan 19, 2013 - 10:54am PT
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please read the shiprock climbing history thread--there are navajo and there are navajo.
So... as a white guy that's your judgement to make? Who is Navajo and who is Navajo?
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Jan 19, 2013 - 11:21am PT
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Thanks for the post. I love historic stuff. It's a great perspective.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jan 19, 2013 - 01:27pm PT
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I am a bit surprized to see that Dale Johnson and Tom Hornbein were in that second ascent party. I would have thought that they had more sense than to bugger up the place!
Funny that the original FA pitons would have loosened up in just two weeks time.
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crunch
Social climber
CO
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Jan 19, 2013 - 02:33pm PT
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I am a bit surprized to see that Dale Johnson and Tome Hornbein were in that second ascent party. I would have thought that they had more sense than to bugger up the place
That surprised me, also.
I talked to John Devitt, who was on the fourth ascent and a good friend of Dale's, about this.
When Brower et al. left four bolts on Shiprock, they were careful to describe these as being for "safety" not for progress. Two were placed for belay anchors, two as protection (not aid, apparently) on dicey bits of aid climbing.
What they had done, their bolting legacy, was unprecedented in US climbing, and of course WWII interrupted any discussion of ethics. A decade later, when climbers began revisiting their sport, the Shiprock bolting legacy, as described in the various essays written by Brower et al., could be interpreted in two ways:
1. Restraint. Bolts were to be used as a last resort only. This ethic was adopted by the Californians, who also quickly added the idea that it was unacceptable to add bolts to an existing route.
2. Safety. If it was acceptable for the lead-climber to place a bolt to ensure his/her safety, then it was the leader's decision. If any competent leader felt that their safety required a bolt, then it was fine to place one: "safety knew no bounds." No one else could second-guess the leader's decision. This ethic was widely adopted by a number of Colorado climbers (particularly within the CMC), in the 1950s. Dale Johnson being one of the leading (In both senses) CMC climbers of the day.
This ethic was eventually displaced by the California one. Non-CMC climbers in Colorado, like Layton Kor and Harvey Carter, readily embraced the more sporting "restraint" ethic in the late 1950s.
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crunch
Social climber
CO
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Jan 19, 2013 - 02:41pm PT
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I would love to hear of whatever happened to Ernie Anderson. He was a long-time New Mexico climber who at one time intended writing a book about Shiprock.
He amassed a big box of cuttings, articles, etc. These ended up with Eric Bjornstad, who gave me the box which is now at the AAC library in Golden.
Eric had no idea what happened to Ernie. Suggested he had maybe moved to LA? Anyone have any idea?
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grover
climber
Northern Mexico
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Jan 23, 2013 - 05:48pm PT
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Missed this first time around.
TFPU
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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May 10, 2013 - 10:56am PT
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Can't have that...bump.
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