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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 30, 2010 - 07:38pm PT
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Larry Dalke is one of the quiet giants of Colorado climbing. His evolving commitment to pure style has long been an inspiration for free climbing excellence. Boulder became bolder with guys like Larry setting the pace!
A couple of photos from Kor's superb Beyond the Vertical. 1983.
Larry climbing The Viper on Twin Owls. "A naturally brilliant free climber able to float up hard rock fast and seemingly effortlessly."
Larry climbing on direct aid close to the top of Spider Rock. "I trusted Larry as much as any person I ever climbed with."
And some more historical background from Dudley Chelton and Bob Godfrey's classic Climb, 1977.
No way that I can crop out a classic Gill shot!
One good look up X-M is all it takes!
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philo
Trad climber
Somewhere halfway over the rainbow
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Oct 30, 2010 - 08:12pm PT
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Larry Dalke was a big inspiration to me as a young aspiring ascensionist. I love the storys of him climbing the same no matter the difficulty. He would always ask "was that the crux". Not many people in this sporty game we play have a whole genre of climbing named for them. The respect afforded to "Larry Dalke 5.9s" is indicative of the tremendous significance of his contribution to free climbing.
Larry is the real deal.
Thanks for posting this thread.
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mud
Trad climber
CO
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Oct 30, 2010 - 10:04pm PT
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Larry's doing good.....saw him this last Thurs.
He really doesn't like to talk climbing anymore.
That's Cool
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 30, 2010 - 11:25pm PT
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Please let him know that he has fans that still admire his brilliant style of climbing while it was of interest.
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telemon01
Trad climber
Montana
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Oct 30, 2010 - 11:30pm PT
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Thanks Steve for all your historical posts... good stuff!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 30, 2010 - 11:53pm PT
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It is a cool web of connection... I went looking for the striped shirt traversing shot because it features a classic MOAC nut and reread the surrounding chapter.
Dalke and Kor! What a team!
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philo
Trad climber
Somewhere halfway over the rainbow
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Oct 31, 2010 - 12:02am PT
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XM is a wild and beautiful climb. Back in the days of EBs and before RPs that traversing lead off the flake was daunting. There was no pro except a manky sideways #1 stopper. The chasm of a crack behind you looked like it would eat the unlucky whole. We shuddered at the thought but also laughed, wondering how much crisco it would take to extricate a well jammed leader, or would you just have to let them become fixed gear?
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Oct 31, 2010 - 12:42am PT
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Larry hasn't climbed for years, and really refuses to discuss climbing--even with old friends. It has to do with his religious beliefs about "tempting the Lord," by climbing. He doesn't even want to be tempted in thinking about it....
I've climbed with Larry but a long time ago, and can also recall his question: "where does it get hard?" When told by his partner: "Dalke! You're at the crux!" Where his nonchalant reply was "O.K.--where does it get easy?" When asked how hard climb X was: "Probably hard 5.7." Equals ....probably 5.9. When he said "Really hard 5.7," you better watch out!! Most likely a 5.10!
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Oct 31, 2010 - 02:15am PT
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The second roped climb I ever did in my life after the Third Flatiron, was Redgarden Wall with Layton Kor and Larry Dalke. We got off to an inauspicious start when I pulled loose a large rock and it landed squarely in the middle of the coils of Layton's new perlon rope and sliced it in two. Larry, in his very controlled way, seemed more upset about this than Layton who shrugged it off, saying such things happen every day. In any case, the three of us went back the next weekend and finished off the climb without mishap. We continued as a threesome on a number of other climbs in Eldorado and on the Maiden.
Larry was a music major at CU at the time and asked me if I wanted to go to a concert he was performing in (he played in the orchestra). It turned out that he was playing in Mozart's Magic Flute, which was the first opera I had ever been to, and still one of my favorites.
Later when I was no longer climbing with Layton, Larry and Pat Ament and I, went out climbing and Larry and I went out with Rodger Raubach as well. The little I knew of aid climbing when I arrived in Yosemite in the spring of 1965, I had learned from Larry.
My sister came to visit Boulder in the spring of 1965 and met Larry there. He evidently got quite interested in her and made several trips from Boulder to Glenwood Springs on his motorcycle the summer after I left for the Valley. Needless to say, the arrival of a college guy complete with a motorcycle and black leather jacket to visit my sister who had just finished her junior year in high school, nearly gave my poor father apoplexy!
My mother however, made it a point to talk to him and decided he was quite a nice and serious young man though she didn't like the climbing part and was afraid that my sister would run off to Yosemite like I did. My sister finished high school, and never got into rock climbing, while Larry lost ardor for traveling to Glenwood on a motorcycle in the winter.
Meanwhile, my sister left home for Yosemite just that three days after high school graduation, but not with Larry. She spent the summer of 1966 living in Camp 4 but not climbing, dating Dick Erb and then John Morton whom she married the following June. Thus, we all went our separate ways and neither she nor I have seen Larry since the 1960's.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 31, 2010 - 10:08pm PT
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Great stories!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 6, 2010 - 11:19am PT
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Modest Little Bump!
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philo
Trad climber
Somewhere halfway over the rainbow
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The second roped climb I ever did in my life after the Third Flatiron, was Redgarden Wall with Layton Kor and Larry Dalke
Now that could be the start of one heck of a resume'.
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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As an aside here--Larry also had a second love--maybe it was in third place--playing his trombone. He was a talanted musician, and played in the CU Mens Marching Band, and in the jazz band as well.
I now recall the climbs I did with Larry: Whistle Stop, and a direct variation of Pseudo Sidetrack, both in Eldorado Canyon.
He was a fantastic guy on the rocks; he and Wayne Goss came up to Longs Peak East Face and attempted an route to the left of the Diagonal when Patrick Oliver and I were on the 4th ascent of the original Northcutt-Kor Diagonal in 1966. Larry dropped his beloved Nikon camera (destroyed)and he and Wayne retreated.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 26, 2010 - 01:28pm PT
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So many hard 5.7's, so little time...
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 23, 2011 - 01:54pm PT
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Nostalgia Bump!
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Jan 23, 2011 - 02:10pm PT
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Great history stuff. Love it!
Thanks Steve.
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Jan 23, 2011 - 03:08pm PT
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As I was going through my "archives" (i.e. envelopes of old pictures from eons ago!) yesterday, I happend across this classic picture of both Larry Dalke and Wayne Goss at the base of Long's E. Face, as Patrick Oliver and I were about to embark on the 4th ascent of the "Diagonal." Wayne and Larry were doing another one of Kor's lower East face rouest off to the L. of us. We shared the hut the preceding night, and made the trudge up to the wall at dawn. I can't recall the name of the route they were attempting, but Larry dropped his precious Nikon camera and it was totally destroyed. They retreated after that happened.
This is enlarged, cropped, and digitally processed to reduce the contrast such that faces (?) can be recognized.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 23, 2011 - 03:10pm PT
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Classic shot!
Thanks for the share.
Kor's Door off to the left?
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Jan 23, 2011 - 03:59pm PT
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Really neat stuff. I really appreciate your threads Steve. And I love everyone's contributions to them.
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Jan 23, 2011 - 04:17pm PT
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Steve-
No, it wasn't Kor's Door which was on a seperate buttress and left of Stettner's Ledges. I really can't recall the name of the route, since it hadn't received a second ascent when Larry and Wayne went up to do a repeat. Another of Layton's "classics" that scared the stuffin's out of most normal people BITD. The lower East face had lots of good lines, but many of them were subjected to bad rockfall, were wet, and had some less-than-great rock. I made an attempt on The Shining Slab in early Summer 1967 with Jonathan Hough, but backed off for these reasons.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Jan 23, 2011 - 04:23pm PT
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Bump for Larry, and of course, for our historian,
Mr. Grossman!!!!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 25, 2011 - 12:17pm PT
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Bump for more Dalke stories!
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ydpl8s
Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
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Jan 25, 2011 - 12:41pm PT
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Goss, I still remember that pic of him in that down coat, looking frozen on the winter ascent of the Diamond.
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Bobert
Trad climber
boulder, Colorado
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Jan 25, 2011 - 01:23pm PT
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I've been trying to remember some Dalke stories. We climbed together quite a bit, but the climbs were all uneventful. We picked a route and Larry climbed real fast. That's about it. I do recall a day when we did T2 and then the 4th Flatiron. I think he wanted to do more.
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Jan 25, 2011 - 01:26pm PT
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I can't believe Pat hasn't gotten on this thread yet......
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Jan 25, 2011 - 01:29pm PT
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Steve, thanks for shining the light on another unsung virtuoso.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Jan 25, 2011 - 02:30pm PT
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That picture of Gill in Pennyrile was the trip that basically got climbing going in SoIll.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - May 13, 2011 - 08:40pm PT
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Anyone actually seen "X-M?"
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 25, 2012 - 05:17pm PT
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Dalke Bump...
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Mar 25, 2012 - 05:45pm PT
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Met his son recently in Boulder, who is in the wood flooring business.
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Bob Culp
Trad climber
Boulder, CO
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Mar 25, 2012 - 07:40pm PT
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Not only was Larry a brilliant climber, he was (is no doubt)a really nice guy and a great companion. He apparently climbed only for the fun of it and seemed to have no ego, as far as climbing was concerned at least.
I met him and Pat Ament when they were little more than children up at the Flagstaff boulders and recognized immediately that they were both going to be really good climbers.
I did a lot of climbs with Larry and was dismayed when he dropped out of the sport. I'm sorry - I really despise religion.
Larry and I were planning a trip to the Alps one summer. I had been working at the National Bureau of Standards and when I quit I had enough money coming from some retirement fund or other that I thought I could manage a trip to Europe. Naively I supposed I would get the money in short order.
Not.
We had to scrub the trip. I have often wondered what my life would be like now had we made it.
I took the money I eventually got and put it into starting a retail shop, The Boulder Mountaineer.
I wish Larry and I had gone to Chamonix.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Mar 25, 2012 - 09:57pm PT
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We climbed together quite a bit, but the climbs were all uneventful.
We picked a route and Larry climbed real fast. That's about it.
Great summation. For the life of me I can't remember what we talked about when we were out climbing except for music.
Pat and I on the other hand, never shut up, always saving the world with great ideas!
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Mar 25, 2012 - 10:04pm PT
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I had a 2 hour talk about religion with him 39 years ago.
I don't think either of us convinced the other of anything.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Mar 25, 2012 - 10:10pm PT
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I knew Larry in his prereligion days.
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philo
Trad climber
Somewhere halfway over the rainbow
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Mar 26, 2012 - 12:01am PT
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We had to scrub the trip. I have often wondered what my life would be like now had we made it.
I took the money I eventually got and put it into starting a retail shop, The Boulder Mountaineer.
I wish Larry and I had gone to Chamonix.
You would have made more history.
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Dick Erb
climber
June Lake, CA
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May 26, 2013 - 10:22pm PT
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Larry was a wonderful person and an extremely talented yet unpretentious climber. At one time I thought he and Jim Madsen might become America's two best climbers. It's hard to predict the future.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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May 26, 2013 - 10:28pm PT
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Steve, say hello to everyone at the Diamond gathering for me! Wayne Goss just got in contact with me recently after all these years (thanks to ST) and reminded me that I was the one who introduced him to Layton. Layton was climbing something in Eldorado while I was sunning myself at the base and along came Wayne. We started talking and I suggested he meet and climb with Layton. When Layton got down from whatever he was on, I introduced them and the rest is history!
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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May 26, 2013 - 11:59pm PT
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Godfrey, of course, wasn't there and knew nothing of the real
history, other than what he could glean through rumor, gossip,
second-hand opinion, jealousy, outright lies, and bad memories....
He did pretty well, all that considered, but each time I read
through his book I see the errors, one after another, even just
little errors in emphasis or context, and all the usual clichés
that aren't quite accurate, such as, "He was doing things before
anyone else." Well, in a way, that's true, because he fit with
a small group of us who were doing that sort of
stuff, and each finding some personal path.
Larry did more climbing with me than he did with anyone, so I
know where he was mentally and in terms of his ability. I knew
ever one of his weaknesses and every strength and gift. These
were strange times. We were caught between eras. For example,
for a time it was all about speed: just get up any way you can,
the faster the better. Sometimes we simply hammered pitons in
quickly and used them because it was fast, even though we often
found when the focus changed that we could return and easily
free climb such things. There was a lot of friendly competition.
When Rearick and Culp did T2, that was a kind of breakthrough
into the next era, not that T2 was so very difficult
but it meant we no longer were training for the big walls,
trying simply to get up. When Dalke and I did Jules Verne, a route I
discovered and named, we wanted something to practice aid on. We
would have been disappointed were there holds all over and the
free climbing obvious. Yet almost any climb in Eldorado, we
quickly learned, could be free climbed... with a little focus and
determination. Even the most overhanging routes had enough holds
to go free, if one decided to make the route free. When people
started writing that the new generation were doing free climbs
beyond our comprehension, it wasn't true. I actually had thought
about doing the Edge free and, one day on a whim, "gave" the
climb to Jim. I knew it would go, and I was capable, but at that
time I was going through some painful stuff related to the '60s.
Later I came out of that and free climbed most of the routes
that were done by the '70s generation. I sight led Kloeberdanz
one day, for example, including the Dalke second pitch.
We were still working out our styles during the
golden 1960s. All of us had good and bad moments.
Dalke had as many little infractions of style as did I, but mine
became somewhat more publicized, since I was the free climbing leader
at the time and the only person pushing into the 5.11 realm. Larry had
gobs of talent, and moments of brilliance, a real natural ability.
But he could be kind of goofy at times. We were climbing Ruper
one day, and I decided to belay at the bottom of the crack and
let Larry lead it. He went up 15 feet, his foot slipped off, and
he fell straight onto me, legs straddled around me. Had I not
belayed there, he would have gone a lot farther!! We all liked
each other, and respected each other, but there were these
competitive jealousies, for lack of a better way to describe them.
After Layton and I made the first ascent of XM, on which we had
used very little aid, and had done simply in Kor fashion, i.e. go
fast, get up, well Larry then eventually set his sights on
that route he had been left out of. Maybe he could polish off those
few points of aid. It was logical, and the only question was the
second pitch, which he found he could stem out onto with his long
legs and virtually reach those finger-tip holds above the thin
crux where other shorter climbers have to do a delicate move.
By the way, I did XM free not too long after that and maybe
forty times again, once with Rick Accomazzo (finishing with Outer
Space), when Rick moved to Boulder. There was nothing on these
climbs beyond our ability either earlier or later, but, as I said,
it had more to do with focus and what we wanted to do.
I think Layton could have free climbed many more routes than he
did, had he made that focus-switch sooner, but now and then he would
apply himself, such as on the West Buttress of the Bastille, or
when he and I did Rogue's Arete on Overhang Rock. Layton was as
good as any of the free climbers coming along but did not have
the gymnastic strength that a few of us started to develop.
In '67 when I brought Dalke to Yosemite simply to free climb, we did
that Slack route, the first 5.11 in the Valley (it was much harder
then than later when a block broke out), and Larry followed that
like floating. It was the only 5.11 I'm aware of that he ever
did. Most of the top Yosemite climbers had tried that little
pitch and not done it yet. Dalke had no experience, though, in cracks
and couldn't follow several I led, such as Ahab and Left Side of
Remnant. He would have learned, of course, with more time in the
Valley, but he followed Layton into the Jehovah Witnesses in 1968,
and they have a doctrine that it's not good to spend too much time
with people not of the faith... a doctrine Layton finally matured
beyond, gratefully.
When I was just a tyro, Larry was a year older and a really much
better climber than I. He would lead certain 5.8s onsight at age
15, in 1960, and that was something back then. He had more natural
talent than I did, although I trained harder and became a gymnast
and so forth, and bouldered with Gill, so I got much stronger
than Larry. He became a bit insecure about this sudden surge
in my ability. Bouldering was not his favorite thing. But one day
in Camp 4 I walked up to the Kor Boulder and climbed it, as did
Royal. Larry was there and didn't do it. Royal and I ambled away
to the next boulder, and Larry came up finally and told us he had
done the Kor problem. We congratulated him. About an hour later,
as I recall, about as long as Larry could live with a lie, he
told me he had not done the problem but felt bad he was not
able. I could care less. He was my best friend. It made me think
he was human, which we all were back then. Then another day,
in hush-puppies (which had amazing friction abilities) he did
some really hard route. He and I mastered every inch of the
sides of Boulder High School, inventing probably the hardest
climbs and traverses in the Boulder area, at least the hardest
boulders. Because they were on a building they were forgotten.
Larry and I have good memories, which I only want to remember,
such as the night he and I were playing in a jazz band at a gig in
Boulder and during the intermission we sped up Flagstaff Mountain
in his sister's car and, in suits, in the dark, free soloed the
150-foot east face of Campbell's Cliff, a nearly vertical wall
that sits in a very exposed way over the front of the mountain
and that overlooks Boulder. It has a lot of loose little holds....
Larry was a real climber, though he sometimes had head issues.
When we did the third ascent of the Diagonal, he got gripped
for some reason and made me do all the leading. Yet I knew,
if something went wrong, and I for some reason got gripped, he
would take over with confidence.... These were perplexing times....
Twice I carried him piggy-back down the talus and down the road in
Eldorado. The first time, he bent over with an appendicitis while
leading the first pitch of C'est La Vie. Then after we did Le Void,
he went to get our back which we had left at the base of Redguard,
and he tripped over a boulder and broke his ankle.
One of my strongest memories is when we climbed the inside east face
of the Amphitheater, a red, slightly overhanging wall, at night,
by only moonlight. We had our little radio with us (we started that
practice, that Layton picked up from us), and Moon River was the big
hit of the day. It played over and over, but Larry led the top
pitch in blackness, up that rotten red wall, reaching, feeling for
holds, directly overhead against the stars, the wind blowing....
Truly, he was a brilliant climber.
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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May 27, 2013 - 07:58pm PT
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I typed that last missive too fast, and not feeling well, and
I made a lot of typos, so I went in and fixed some errors and added a
sentence or two.... I loved Larry. I write about him with
a lot of respect but also realistically. The historians who
come along and have no direct experience at all with the history
will make sweeping statements, such as how perfect a given individual
was, and let's face it. Not one of us was/is perfect or was back
when. Both Larry and I had our moments. It is good to remember
the good things but also the dumb things. The critics of course don't
want to remember the great things people do. When I led Super Slab
in 1967 without the slightest wince of a stylistic flaw, no one
paid any attention. There were lots of climbs like that, but
it's easier to think of the wrong note a musician plays, rather
than the moments of beauty. Human nature, I guess.
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okie
Trad climber
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May 27, 2013 - 10:03pm PT
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Supertopo Gold.
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crunch
Social climber
CO
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Jul 11, 2013 - 09:52am PT
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 17, 2016 - 12:09pm PT
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Larry's brother, Roger, is a fine climber also and spoke at the Diamond Reflections show. Big fun to meet these estimable folks and hear their stories.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 8, 2017 - 04:16pm PT
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Bump for the indefatigable Larry Dalke...
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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And bump for Larry AND Mr. Grossman, who keeps these things
in our view!
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Apr 10, 2017 - 06:14am PT
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Steve- Reading this was for me, something like stepping into a Time Machine mentally; brought back memories of a lot of good times with both the living and those who are no longer among us. Those of us who climbed in that era all knew one another, but we normally had our favorite partners. Much of the interaction off the rocks came in the CU UMC Grill at lunch or between classes. Most of my best climbs of the era were with Bob Culp, and he and I still maintain a climbing connection to this day. I usually hung out and had occasional lunch in the Grill with Jan, sometimes Layton or Bob, and with both Larry and Patrick Oliver on an intermittent basis. So many friends of the era have gone on ahead of us...I miss them all.
Patrick was indeed correct when he writes about "Climb." The comments about the personalities of the era are sometimes accurate, but flawed in many cases. Mostly we were just a bunch of guys bonded together through a love of climbing.
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