Almost Cut My Hair...

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Ed Hartouni

Trad climber

Livermore, CA

Topic Author's Original Post - Jun 10, 2008 - 01:01am PT

...you remember that CSN&Y song.

Last week I had given up on STForum. Not because people were critical, but because I realized that it mattered too much to me when they were.

I'm not adding content that could be in any way construed as anywhere near the leading edge of climbing. In fact, I'm not really that good a climber, in any sense, at least in my opinion. But it is something I've done and enjoyed for a very long time. I can get up stuff... and I've studied it.

So given that, it seemed to make more sense to just not worry about it anymore, just stop posting. I was in that space and comfortable with the idea of lurking and maybe hucking in a few witticisms every now and then... and perhaps a few factual tidbits, attaboys, and what have you. But why go through the effort of posting TRs, or copying literature that most of you wouldn't read unless it popped up on the STForum, I could use that time to do something constructive like sleeping.

This last Saturday we were in the Meadows for the first time this year. I had intended to go to Ken's opening but I didn't get off work until 2:30pm, and the 3 hour drive to the Valley (without traffic) wouldn't have gotten me there in time.

It was a glorious day, spyork, boku and his charming daughter, Gary and I. Gary and I usually do as many laps on Stately Pleasure Dome as we can stand, usually the limit is the burning thighs on the nth descent of the steep slabs. And I grabbed the rope and headed up from the little parking spot in the trees on the western edge (north side) of 120. The altitude was making itself felt... normal for the first trip of the year, but it wasn't so bad. I get to the start of West Country shared with Hermaphrodite Flake, I had seen another team coming up more directly from that little parking pullout mid-cliff on the south side of 120.

We get there about the same time, me a little bit ahead and I dump my rope, them just below me.... the older of the two asks:

"Hi Ed, is this the way to Great White Book?"

Now I didn't recognize this climber right away. The rolodex in my mind was spinning through all the cards but wasn't coming up with anything.

"Ya, just scramble across, a little bit thin but doable"

and I had immediately decided that I hadn't heard the "hi Ed" part, just the tinnitus in these old ears.

"We'll just belay here" came the reply.

Ok, so Gary arrives, we shoot up Hermaphrodite Flake to the right, under the flake and to the bolts, one long pitch doable with a 70m cord. Gary comes up, does the pitch of the Eunuch to the chains, and I finish to the top. 3 pitches. We descend.

spyork, Boku and offspring are getting on GWB behind the party I just met... Gray and I decide to do South Crack, it's open.

Gary gets the first lead, doing pitches 1 and 2 as one. I get the second lead, which I guess I do two pitches. By the way, there is only a "skid mark" where the poop was... and I didn't even see it... There I say "hi" to the familiar team on GWB and Gary takes us to the top.

We collect our stuff and go down again... spyork has the car locked so we can't get lunch, we go up again. This time Hermaphrodite Flake but to the left. Gary finishes on Boltway, the 5.8 variation, and goes to the top with a little simulclimbing for me (about bolt 4 or 5 off the top of the flake). We descend yet again.

We should go up GWB to catch up with our team but things are getting crowded, my back is stiff, and we both feel that we've had a good day. We'll just chill and watch "the show."

Who should wander down but the first team on GWB. The familiar climber comes up and shakes my hand "it's an honor to meet you" and then I realize just who this guy is. His partner Josh comes by and sits with us, his first time outside from the gym. He's amazed how un-gym like it is... how hard it seems, the ratings are crazy... he's had a good first day and with a great partner.

His partner was the real deal BITD. He was one of the new generation mentioned by Steve Roper in Camp 4. He had done amazing things in the Valley. We had climbed his climbs, we can't touch his hardest, yet. As Roper writes elsewhere, he "was best known as a boulderer and a superb crack climber, so his solo effort will stand forever as the definition of 'intrepid.'" From his writing here on STForum I felt a kindred spirit, wonderfully supportive and genuinely interested in our little adventures on old and forgotten routes.

"Hey Gary, do you know who that is?" I asked, I could tell Gary hadn't quite placed the climber either, and I told him... "let's go down and socialize a bit." He was resting his feet in Tenya Lake, and drinking something cold, he had lost his voice sometime during the day.

It was his first climb in decades, his first day back on the rock. He lamented as us old guys do when we get together, remembering how much better we once were, certainly he had climbed harder and done more. It was a fantastic time talking...

And then he said, "you know, SuperTopo is a wonderful thing, it has allowed us to weave this web of friendship in a way never before possible" which is probably a paraphrase, but it is what I felt. We had been friends here, on SuperTopo Forum before we had ever met.

"How's my friend Steve Moyles doing?" and we talked about our offwidth obsession and things we could do... and beta for a climb that Donini didn't get right away, the same one that Bridwell and Klemens thought was "hard." We'd be Steve's support team on an attempt... and report it, no doubt on SuperTopo, an old forgotten climb that once meant something but fell out of fashion.

I was a bit overwhelmed at the serendipity of the meeting. We bid our goodbyes and headed back to wait for the other part of our crew to arrive.

Usually it would be a good enough day to have done three laps on Stately Pleasure Dome early in the season, to get the feel of Tuolumne granite under foot, and to run out those friction pitches. To move, to flow, over stone once again... to sit on the top of those domes and watch the clouds rush by and the mottled sunlight change the rock.

But that day was more special for that meeting. Many of you are my friends, maybe we haven't met yet... but we might, and we might share something of this climbing which has a deep value to us. We might accidentally share some important event together.

At the Facelift last year, after meeting Karl, he said our "energies knew each other now," perhaps our energies knew each other before, it was just our physical form that hadn't coincided.

So even though STForum can be a real bummer at times, I don't really care... I value fact that we have this web of friendship, a web that is woven out of the stuff of our climbing. That stuff is something we all know - we have all done and it is the source of our attachment.

Silly writing from an old man.

climber

The right side of the tracks but in the wrong town

Jun 10, 2008 - 01:22am PT

Just one of those simple stories that makes everything seem a little brighter, the sun warmer, the sky bluer, the difficult trail easier.

And usually those kinds of stories only come from the ramblings of old men...

Well, ya ain't that old, Ed, but you sure can bring the daylight into the darkness...the warmth into the winter. Thank you.

Oh yes...one more thing....

The ribbon should be this color...in the hair you almost cut...

Anastasia

climber

Not here

Jun 10, 2008 - 01:29am PT

Dang it Ed,
If you are not a good climber, then what am I when I am worse?
Blah...
AF

Mighty Hiker

Social climber

Vancouver, B.C.

Jun 10, 2008 - 01:34am PT

A nice story. Plus I've figured out who you were talking with.

Hopefully you'll both be at the FaceLift, and many other friends, new and old, from the wonderful wacky world of SuperTopo.

nick d

Trad climber

Jun 10, 2008 - 02:07am PT

I have only had rudimentary communication with you Ed. but I value your acquaintanceship highly. I always enjoy our interactions.

You are a smart, decent, funny guy. Thanks!

Mungeclimber

Trad climber

sorry, just posting out loud.

Jun 10, 2008 - 02:15am PT

...that uncommon ground of similarly unique people...

bvb

Social climber

flagstaff arizona

Jun 10, 2008 - 03:04am PT

...where particular people congregate.

Jay Wood

Trad climber

Fairfax, CA

Jun 10, 2008 - 03:07am PT

Nice, Ed.

I vote for your thoughtful musings and story for the ST newsletter.

Keep that freak flag flyin'

survival

Big Wall climber

A Token of My Extreme

Jun 10, 2008 - 03:48am PT

Cool Ed.

I'll be looking for you at facelift......

Lynne Leichtfuss

Social climber

valley center, ca

Jun 10, 2008 - 03:54am PT

Gee, Ed, I usually sleep like a baby at night and never wake up. Tonight was different. So I logged onto ST and here is your post! I sensed that something weird was going down, but since I considered you more of a mentor than a "regular human bean" I kinda let it slide.

(Hope you did notice I defended you big time against the "Poway Gang" (did I get that right) but ended up not hearing from you and making friends with them....go figure.)

Anyway, have been pretty nervous about not hearing from you re: ST Book Club. My general SOS went out tonight and then I WAS going to hunt you down!!!!!

Ed, buddy, what would I/we at ST do without you? To me you are the dude! Seriously, I am so looking forward to meeting you at the Facelift. I am only famous for NOT being famous,(unlike the person you just met) but I am and will always be your loyal fan. There are a handful of ST people that have helped me and mentored me through this challenging time in my life and you have been one of them.

Always returning answers to my questions. Never making me feel like an idiot even tho you are 5000 X's smarter than I.

Count your blessings my dear friend, at least you have a lifetime of climbing under your belt. This noob is just starting and has a very limited window of opportunity.

Ed, not only are you a quality guy but you are real.

OK, now get the heck into Heart of Darkness and email me, cause I need your imput pronto! Your Friend, Lynnie

Oh, yes, push your edit button pronto and erase that (expletive) phrase, "silly ...from an old man". That's, excuse me, a bunch of crap! Peace and Joy

Jaybro

Social climber

The West

Jun 10, 2008 - 06:54am PT

PH?

I had an interesting weekend enhanced by supertopo-dom may get a TR together.

Jaybro

Social climber

The West

Jun 10, 2008 - 07:16am PT

oddly, I can't 'hear' that CSN&Y song ( don't shout, can't hear you ...) but when I read the topic title I heard that Talking heads song that has the line "Lost my shape, trying to stay natural"

.....and it won't go away,
could be worse.

cowpoke

climber

Jun 10, 2008 - 07:58am PT

cool song. cool story.

Lynne Leichtfuss

Social climber

valley center, ca

Jun 10, 2008 - 09:03am PT

Ed, interestingly enough I had emails from 2 STers over the weekend that said they were going to quit posting. I think we have a ST flu bug going around, I even felt the same way.
Too weird.

Now would all you guys check in at the book club thread, I'm feeling kinda lonely! Peace and Joy, Lynne

hobo_dan

Social climber

Minnesota

Jun 10, 2008 - 09:24am PT

I post because I want to write. And I want to be read by an audience I care about. When I put in a piece I check up on it to see if I have any feedback and its scary because I'm looking for that praise and wondering if what I had to say went over or not.
You have to keep posting. I like your style.
I am definitely on the way to being a has been and never much of one. But, so what- once there was a way to get back home- and I like thinking that ST helps pull out that long and unwinding memory.
Nowadays its about that lifestyle, I'm building a Sauna. I'm riding a bike. i'm beating a heart.
I post because its fun
and scary
kinda like Climbing
Happened just the other day

murf

eeyonkee

Trad climber

Golden, CO

Jun 10, 2008 - 09:39am PT

A far as I'm concerned, Ed, you are one of the main reasons I frequent this site (and if there's ever a ST Jeopardy game, I want you on my side).

MisterE

Social climber

My Inner Nut

Jun 10, 2008 - 09:54am PT

Ed, I just want you to know I really like your writing, and I consider you one of my friends-from-supertopo.

Hope to see you again at the Facelift this year!

Keep the TR's coming, we'll innundate this political forum yet!

Erik