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Joseph Fino
Sport climber
San Francisco
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Topic Author's Original Post - Feb 17, 2014 - 02:49pm PT
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Does anyone have some good info on the history of YOSAR? Especially the relationship between the climbers and the rangers, which was tenuous most of the time except when a rescue needed to happen. Going to do a report on it for school
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climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
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Feb 17, 2014 - 02:52pm PT
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Lol the question here is not if folks have some good info.. It's how to pry the stories from em.
You could of course just search yosar and you'd have hours of reading, good bad funny, weird, heroic and slander.
2271 posts
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Risk
Mountain climber
Olympia, WA
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Feb 17, 2014 - 03:33pm PT
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I recall seeing a handbook of sorts for volunteer team members in the 80's back when Corbett had a cave-like tent of several tarps and partially decomposed mattresses from the annex. In the handbook it said that many in the Valley community regarded the team as a “sanctioned band of lawless renegades.”
Even if partially or hilariously true, the importance of YOSAR volunteers has always stood on the highest pinnacle by all but a very few rangers.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 17, 2014 - 03:44pm PT
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Joseph, you sure you wouldn't rather write about the 1977 Airplane Crash?
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Feb 17, 2014 - 08:20pm PT
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I am not sure of the dates exactly, but in 1970 the Rescue Team lived in a campground under the Apron, at least in the spring. I don't recall if 1970 was the first year of a formal Rescue Team—not that it was very formal--in exchange for working on rescues, we could live in the Park and camp for free. Barry Bates was there and might know if there was a Rescue Team in 1969. Wayne Merry might also remember.
Getting along with the Park rangers was pretty individual. Some climbers had a chip on their shoulders and some rangers wanted to be tough. The summer rangers sometimes didn't get that the rescue team was on their side and harassed climbers. Jim went out of his way to get to know the rangers and stay on good terms. Wayne Merry was still in the Valley, and he was an important bridge between the climbers and the rangers.
I remember that one of the rangers organized a ranger/climber meeting in one of the ranger’s living room. The fact that someone thought there should be meeting indicates that there was tension, but it also indicates a level of respect the rangers had for climbers—they could have just thrown us out of the park. It seemed a little awkward, but it also seemed to clear the air a bit. There was a long discussion about the two week limit in the Park and why climbers should or should not be subject to it. I argued that Yosemite was unique from a climber’s perspective. A hiker or camper could go to all the national parks and enjoy two weeks of hiking or camping in every one whereas rock climbers could only go to a few parks and climb.
I don’t think I convinced anyone, but the Park Service decided to kept us around.
In the early 70s there were so few regulars that most of us knew the rangers and they knew us. I think there are more than a few stores of rangers looking the other way or helping individual climbers out of jams.
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Joseph Fino
Sport climber
San Francisco
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 17, 2014 - 08:48pm PT
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Wow! These are some incredible stories! Coz and Chief, it sounds like you were right in the middle of everything in the Valley at that time. If you think of any other stories or info I would love to hear all about it.
Thanks again for everyone's input from all the angles!
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Feb 17, 2014 - 09:12pm PT
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April '62 Wayne organized the climbers in Camp 4 to carry the NPS winch and cable up to the cliff overlooking the Notch on the Lost Arrow. I can still remember hiking up the trail in the moonlight. We winched Wayne down along with gear for Glen Denny and another who got caught in a late snowstorm with only T-shirts. They couldn't get out of the Notch and would not have made it through the night. Us winchers on the top kept warm cranking that handle. by BBA,
from:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=2196361&tn=20
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Feb 17, 2014 - 09:12pm PT
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much appreciation to those on Yosar. past and present.
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Jim Clipper
climber
from: forests to tree farms
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Feb 17, 2014 - 09:15pm PT
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Looks like you might need a multimedia presentation. TFPU
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Bruce Morris
Social climber
Belmont, California
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Feb 18, 2014 - 03:14am PT
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I recall there was a distinct separate Tuolumne Meadows SAR c. 1972 in the main T Meadows campground. Later on c. 1974 SAR moved out to Soda Springs, which was still owned by the Sierra Club at that point. There was Vern Clevenger, Bob Harington, Mike Ferrel, Dale Bard, Bob Locke and various hanger ons c. 1975 when I was there. Anyone remember Hippie Chuck or Cosmic Bob? Ken Boche was out there at times as was George Sessions on occasion. There were some searches and some rescues performed too. Anybody else with more details and a better memory than me? Oh, yeah, remember now that Drone lived out there in a tepee and Bruce Brossman was camped near him. Tons of hippy chics. Many parties. In fact, a non-stop party.
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deuce4
climber
Hobart, Australia
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Feb 18, 2014 - 04:18am PT
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Chief, do you know the crew of the Lemoore team that rescued us on Half Dome. I recall Officer Davis was the one who came down the line. Would like to thank those heroes agin. Also was wondering what type of helicopter it was--someone asked me recently and I don't recall.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Feb 18, 2014 - 07:19am PT
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hey there say, roger... wow, i am not even doing a report and i am happy to learn all this, as well...
thank you for sharing... :)
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steveA
Trad climber
Wolfeboro, NH
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Feb 18, 2014 - 07:50am PT
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Yosar--Much Respect!
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Feb 18, 2014 - 08:50am PT
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Chief, there was a time in the early 70s when the Park Service used a local helicopter to assist on rescues--that did not always go so well. We wasted a couple of hours while the local guy cruised around above the Village instead of pulling a young girl out of the Yosemite Falls amphitheater; he was afraid. Duh! It is dangerous. The Park Service finally shooed himi away and the chopper from Lemore came in. The girl died; I ranted at the Park Service for the delay, and never fully accepted their assertion that she would have died anyway. We were really glad when the work was transferred to the Navy.
Where you the pilot on the Olsen El Cap rescue in 1972?
There was also a rescue of a climber up high on the East Buttress of Middle where a medic and a litter were dropped down by cable to the broken climber. I was sitting in the chopper and watched as the pilot was intently keeping his thumb just above the cable release if anything went wrong--sort of equivalent to a belay knife After the tension passed, I asked him if it was frightening to be flying so close to the rocks. I loved his response: "Hell no. Nobody is shooting at me!"
Was that you?
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Feb 18, 2014 - 10:02am PT
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So, you were the lucky SOB the driver was going to sacrifice if anything threatened his ship!
While I knew that releasing the cable was the right ultimate call, climbing culture was slightly different--we were all supposed to go down together; after we had helped the women and children to safety first, of course.
A few years ago, I returned to the Valley after many years, and Werner and John Dill gave me a tour of the current YOSAR big wall operations and tactics, with videos, pictures and explanations. They both got a kick out of my dropped jaw dragging on the ground.
Regarding the training video you posted, is that first lift off from the ledges on the east side of the top of the Rostrum? I think I recognize that ledge and bush from the movie "The Rangers."
As you can see in this picture taken from the 1972 Olsen rescue, we were very high tech. A Navy helicopter ferried us and our gear to the top of El Cap and then off. We thought we were very fast. According to Werner, the operation took 31 hours.
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TomKimbrough
Social climber
Salt Lake City
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Feb 18, 2014 - 10:03am PT
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Steve Hickman was the ranger in charge of rescues in the late '60s.
He was quite a good guy, understanding climbers well.
The rescue team was not formalized at that time.
The rangers just showed up in camp 4 looking for help when something happened.
With no stay limit in those early days there was less need on the climbers side for a more formal agreement.
The two notable operations in the late 60's were the Pratt - Fredricks fiasco when Madsen was killed and Pratt and Fredricks didn't need a rescue in the first place. A little more recon would have kept Madsen alive.
The other operation was the Harding rescue on the South Face of Half Dome. Robins was calling the shots on that one and all went quite smoothly. Schmitz and Mckewan were also along.
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PhilG
Trad climber
The Circuit, Tonasket WA
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Feb 18, 2014 - 10:15am PT
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Interesting thread.
Joseph the person you want to interview is John Dill. He has been with Yosar since day one.
I agree we Tom that prior to the 70's climbers rescued climbers, the Park Service supplied what support it could. The turning point was the rescue on Lost Arrow Spire (Roy Naaz sp.?). I think both the Rangers and the climbers saw with that one that rescues were going to be such big operations (and also more frequent) that we needed each other.
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
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Feb 18, 2014 - 10:24am PT
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Chief...Is Manning still in the area..?
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
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Feb 18, 2014 - 10:34am PT
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Chief..Seems like the town had it in for him towards the end and made Bill a sacrificial lamb...Wonder if the town knew about his past service to the country...? Off topic..
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Banquo
climber
Amerricka
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Feb 18, 2014 - 11:03am PT
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Slightly off topic or at least out of the park. The Balloon Dome register has a series of NAS Lemoore SAR entries 1979 to 1981. The Chief? What were you guys doing there?
Sadly the old Balloon Dome register is no longer there.
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