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| Messages 1 - 19 of total 19 in this topic |
Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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Topic Author's Original Post - Aug 25, 2009 - 07:49pm PT
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Great writing in the classic old highblown Victoria style.
From Summer Saunterings, by Frank Harrison Gassaway, San Francisco, 1882, p. 122:
As a standpoint for the landscape viewer, the polished summit of [Half Dome] is incomparably the finest in the whole range, towering as it does five thousand feet above the Valley floor and commanding its entire scope, from east to west. The drawback to its general enjoyment is the undeniably hazardous nature of the present means of ascent, which from the top of the horse-trail to the apex of the eminence is by means of a mean rope nine hundred feet long. This cordage lies upon the vertiginous ramparts of the bald granite monolith. The marvel of the matter is how this lead was first placed on that air-line trail by the spider-footed George Gordius Anderson, a guide of the greatest strength and most iron nerve. A man ascending this dizzy slant presents about the relative appearance of a fly walking up the side of an inverted goblet. Very few visitors care to attempt it, unless under the supervision of this guide, Anderson (whose wonderful coolness was acquired as a ship’s carpenter on a frigate that frequently plied Cape Horn). The cord itself is hardly calculated to inspire confidence, being composed of seven thicknesses of ordinary, hay-bale-rope. This, however, is knotted every few inches to assist the hands, besides which the climber can rest at certain intervals and anoint the soles of his feet with sailor’s rye, a flask of which Anderson carries in his vest pocket for this and other purposes.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Aug 25, 2009 - 07:56pm PT
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nice. about as grim as victorian prose gets.
i didn't know that book-- tx for the cite
yosemite's first bolt ladder.
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Gobee
Trad climber
Los Angeles
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Aug 25, 2009 - 08:02pm PT
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murcy
climber
San Fran Cisco
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Aug 25, 2009 - 08:23pm PT
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It does suggest a pretty obvious way of making the cables route much safer. Crimp some crap onto the cables.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Aug 25, 2009 - 08:25pm PT
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Proctor's 1884 account of restoring Anderson's route is a classic. In The Vertical World of Yosemite (Rowell).
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Gene
climber
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Aug 25, 2009 - 08:31pm PT
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I prefer to annoint my soul with sailor's rye.
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Fletcher
Trad climber
Shivasana
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Aug 25, 2009 - 08:33pm PT
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Wonderful!
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GDavis
Trad climber
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Aug 25, 2009 - 08:45pm PT
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Well, I'd like to be the first to say that both prose and language in contemporary climbing literature have taken a steadfast decline, however the hip flask remains the same.
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nutjob
climber
Berkeley, CA
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Aug 25, 2009 - 08:46pm PT
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I really enjoyed that writing, thanks Largo!
I think that might inspire a victorian-style trip report from me at some point.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Aug 25, 2009 - 08:59pm PT
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Sailor's rye?
Now I'm curious.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Aug 25, 2009 - 09:48pm PT
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Proctor's account of the 1884 ascent with Alden Sampson was written for the 1946 Sierra Club Bulletin. He must have been well into his 80s by then, but clearly recalled and recounted his adventure.
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Short4Bob
Trad climber
Morgantown, WV
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Aug 25, 2009 - 09:50pm PT
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That's delightful. I'll have to hunt it down.
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Josh Nash
Social climber
riverbank ca
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Aug 26, 2009 - 12:06am PT
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a flask of which Anderson carries in his vest pocket for this and other purposes.
are alcoholics climbers or do climbers become alcoholics?
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Curt
Boulder climber
Gilbert, AZ
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Aug 26, 2009 - 12:08am PT
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Chicken or egg, indeed.
Curt
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Aug 26, 2009 - 12:27am PT
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http://www.stanford.edu/~galic/history/halfdome/index.html
for an exhaustive historical list
(straight from Anders' link)
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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 26, 2009 - 01:15am PT
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"A man ascending this dizzy slant presents about the relative appearance of a fly walking up the side of an inverted goblet."
Try slipping that beauty into a modern climbing story.
JL
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Jim Herrington
Mountain climber
New York, NY
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Aug 26, 2009 - 02:01pm PT
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Is a goblet a small gob?
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Norton
Social climber
the Wastelands
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Aug 26, 2009 - 03:08pm PT
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It still amazes me that Yosemite is only 6000 years old.
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| Messages 1 - 19 of total 19 in this topic |
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