Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
| Messages 1 - 51 of total 51 in this topic |
Roadie
Trad climber
Bishop, Ca
|
|
|
Topic Author's Original Post - Dec 16, 2012 - 07:50pm PT
|
A Hard Lesson
It was a hot and relentless summer in Moab, but Lyzz and I were hanging tough, trying to pry a living out of a tourist economy. I was guiding, Lyzz was taking care of rich peopless kids, "trying to instill some values in the little bastards." she called it. Grimm. If you ever get to Moab my advice is this: bring money from someplace else. Anyhow, I'm getting off the point.
It was hot. Brutally hot, and relentless too. Most of our friends had fled, finding jobs in the cooler, more lucrative climes of Telluride or Aspin or some other such foreign parts, but Lyzz and I were hanging tough.
She wasn't my girlfriend or anything, though sometimes I wished she was, especially on those afternoons when we'd go swimming at Mill Creek. Lyzz already had a boyfriend: Linus, old friend, trusted wall partned, fellow seditionist. But that's not what this story is about.
Finally, in August, the rainy season came with those big grey clouds that storm across the sky, colliding like battleships on the warpath. The temps dropped to the low nineties and those winds blowing from far, far away made life seem almost bearable. It was time to go climbing.
Another car crowded the lot when we pulled into the pull out below the Rez Wall. I had my heart set on The Slot Machine, 5.12-. The idea behind Slot Machine is this: you get in this slot, and go like a machine. I'd dressed accordingly: Carharts and a long sleeve shirt. Lyzz was in cut-offs and a tank top.
Sweating up the trail a cry, urgent and heartfelt broke the quiet of the desert morning.
"Kwang-fo! Cham! Kwang-fo!" Japanese? Chinese? Korean? It was anybodies guess.
A tiny figure grappled high up in 'The Slot', hung motionless for a split second and began to fall, pinballing down a long, long ways.
"Huh, what'd'ya' suppose that meant?" I asked Lyzz, as we stopped in the trail and enjoyed the show.
She paused before answering, whipped the sweat from her eyes and smiled. "I think it means, "F*#k! Dude! F*#k!"
I smiled too. Some things transcend linguistic and cultural barriers alike.
They were Koreans it turned out. With broken English and a game of charades we pieced it together and sent them on their way, limping to their next massacre, Excuse Station, a half-mile down the wall. I racked up beneath The Slot.
Thirty-minutes and a hundred and sixty-feet later I rapped to the ground, breathlessly cleaning the gear as I went.
Lyzz took the rack while I pulled the rope, noticed the fresh smear of blood staining my thick pants and rethought her own apparel. "Give me your pants," she said, stepping out of her harness.
"Huh?"
"Yer pants, I want them. That shirt too."
"Um, Lyzz, I'm not wearing anything else, at all."
"Don't be an idiot," she said. "You weren't wearing anything at Mill Creek yesterday and it didn't bother you then."
Somehow, it didn't seem the same. The Koreans, of course! "What if the Koreans come back?"
"If you're going to be such a prude then here, put on my underwear. Christ Steve, sometimes I gotta wonder."
I had to wonder too, as she handed me the purple thong, which would look worse if the Koreans did come back?
They did, of course, just as Lyzz rigged the rappel. I tried to hide behind a rock, but to no avail. Embarrassing, but that's just the way life is.
But that's not the reason I'm writing this story either. In fact, this is not a story about climbing at all. I only reach for and recall these events as I would for a crayon: to color in the outlines of our otherwise anonymous lives. And maybe to draw you in.
Slowly, inevitably, summer crept towards fall, and with it the masses returned, crowding our desert paradice for that short, blissful season. Some faces were a joy to see as old friendships were rekindled; most we regarded with mild indifference. As with many human endeavors, old rivalries grew into resentment, blosseming into slander and contempt.
Around one particularly vicious campfire, while a group of psudo-locals was raking an area climber over the coals for a purportedly inflated resume, Lyzz pondered aloud: "What other recreational activities do you guys have?"
'Recreational' was a subtle challenge to the raging egos surrounding the fire. "I", she continued, "Enjoy needlepoint, crosswords and hard core bondage."
Most of the assemblage regarded her irreverence for our noble activety with quiet disdain. I laughed so hard I fell off my log.
Always a bit show on the uptake, however, I too felt myself drawn into that pathetic game of competitive contempt. Familiarity escalated minor slights into verbal shootouts and out community suffered along with our souls.
Then the harsh fingers of winter encroached on our desert paradise and Lyzz and I found ourselves alone again. We shared many a midnight game of Scrabble and Monopoly while the cruel winds rocked our vans and tested out patience.
The last time I saw Lyzz was on the highway. She was going to Salt Lake to see Linus, I was headed to Denver to interview for a job I didn't really want. She laid on the horn and stuck out her tongue as she passed. Not to be outdone, I gave her the finger. We both laughed.
Lyzz died two weeks later soloing in Indian Creek. It's been over ten years now, but still, I find I'm crying as I write this.
The reason I'm writing this is that, in all likelihood, I'm older than you are and I've seen a bit of life and the world that I think you might need to know about.
The first thing you should know is this: we're all going to die. You, me, Lyzz, all of us. And when you stand there before your maker, naked and alone with no place to hide, like me with those Koreans, it's not going to make one bit of difference what you climbed or what style you climbed it in. The only thing that will matter then is how many people you helped out along the way.
Another thing you might want to keep in mind is this: At Lyzz's funeral I ran into an old friend. Well, not really a friend, we'd been feuding for a long time, hadn't spoken for over a year. We approached each other cautiously, both knowing it was time to move on, both too stubborn, too stupid to start.
"You know," he said at last. "You don't have to like everybody in your tribe, but you do have to love them."
We didn;t say another word. We just held each other and wept on that bitter, cold, wind swept February day.
Life went on, as it tends to do. But for me that moment, those words remain frozen in time and I think they bare repeating: You don't have to like everybody in your tribe, but you do have to love them.
Thank you, Steve Seats
|
|
the czar
climber
meyers, ca.
|
|
|
Dec 16, 2012 - 08:02pm PT
|
thanks roadie.
|
|
drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
|
|
|
Dec 16, 2012 - 08:10pm PT
|
keep writing, you're very good at it.
|
|
Alexey
Trad climber
San Jose, CA
|
|
|
Dec 16, 2012 - 08:24pm PT
|
thank you
|
|
Fritz
Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
|
|
|
Dec 16, 2012 - 08:39pm PT
|
Thank you.
Words to remember:
You don't have to like everybody in your tribe, but you do have to love them.
|
|
Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
|
|
|
Dec 16, 2012 - 09:37pm PT
|
Oh, That Lyzz. I didn't even know that's how her name was spelled.
Thanks and thanks for bringing her back for a bit.
|
|
nah000
Mountain climber
canuckadia
|
|
|
Dec 16, 2012 - 09:38pm PT
|
powerful writing via a nomadic path.
thank you.
for both this and the alaska highway tr.
|
|
micronut
Trad climber
|
|
|
Dec 17, 2012 - 01:24am PT
|
"I only reach for and recall these events as I would for a crayon: to color in the outlines of our otherwise anonymous lives."
The keyboard is your canvas dude. You have a serious gift with words man. I'm glad you have this medium to spill out your story here for us.......we've never met, its kinda strange eh? That we're here participating in this cool thing you're doing. Thanks for letting us ride along. I echo the sentiments of others here. Keep em coming.
Scott
|
|
Big Mike
Trad climber
BC
|
|
|
Dec 17, 2012 - 01:37am PT
|
Another excellent tale. Thanks Steve.
|
|
ruppell
climber
|
|
|
Dec 17, 2012 - 02:29am PT
|
Great read Roadie. And some serious food for thought.
Thanks
Matt
|
|
steveA
Trad climber
bedford,massachusetts
|
|
|
Dec 17, 2012 - 08:29am PT
|
Wonderful read!
|
|
cowpoke
climber
|
|
|
Dec 17, 2012 - 09:53am PT
|
hilarious and beautiful. thanks for sharing your writing, Roadie. more, more, more!
|
|
donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
|
|
|
Dec 17, 2012 - 12:35pm PT
|
A good message for everyone.
|
|
generationfourth
Trad climber
Arizona
|
|
|
Dec 17, 2012 - 12:58pm PT
|
This was in R&I December 08... I have it clipped out. one of my favorites. As indicated by Roadie– Steve Seats wrote it.
|
|
matty
Trad climber
under the sea
|
|
|
Dec 17, 2012 - 01:15pm PT
|
Great read, the emotion totally comes through. thanks
|
|
The Larry
climber
Moab, UT
|
|
|
Dec 17, 2012 - 01:44pm PT
|
Thanks Steve. I've never read that before. I didn't know Lyzz long and I didn't even know that she was a climber. I did know her as a hell of a good pool player and a damn fine dancer. I sure do miss her and her energy.
|
|
nopantsben
climber
|
|
|
Dec 17, 2012 - 02:03pm PT
|
wow, excellent. thank you
|
|
nutjob
Gym climber
Berkeley, CA
|
|
|
Dec 17, 2012 - 02:10pm PT
|
Thank you for sharing what is inside you. Life details are different for everyone, but you've tapped into a deeper river that runs through us all.
|
|
neversummer
Trad climber
30 mins. from suicide USA
|
|
|
Dec 17, 2012 - 02:52pm PT
|
thats the ticket...
|
|
schwortz
Social climber
"close to everything = not at anything", ca
|
|
|
Dec 17, 2012 - 03:37pm PT
|
thanks
|
|
splitter
Trad climber
Cali Hodad, surfing the galactic plane ~:~
|
|
|
Dec 17, 2012 - 03:48pm PT
|
You don't have to like everybody in your tribe, but you do have to love them. WORD!!
Thanks for sharing with us, bro!
|
|
10b4me
Boulder climber
Somewhere on 395
|
|
|
Dec 17, 2012 - 05:52pm PT
|
very good. I would have paid to see the Koreans reaction when they saw you
|
|
roadman
climber
|
|
|
Dec 17, 2012 - 06:27pm PT
|
nice.
thanks.
|
|
grammie lou
Sport climber
big pine,ca
|
|
|
Dec 17, 2012 - 09:26pm PT
|
so sad, but great story, steve.
|
|
Roadie
Trad climber
Bishop, Ca
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Dec 18, 2012 - 03:14pm PT
|
Thank you everyone for the warm replies. As was pointed out earlier, I first published this piece in R&I in late 2008. After the horrendous events of last Friday, however, I felt it was a good time to blow the dust off it and give it a new birth in this forum. I hope all will keep it in mind through the holiday season and beyond.
For the record, I never put on the purple thong and was clad in only my harness when the Koreans returned. What do ya take me for!
SS
|
|
Hummerchine
Trad climber
East Wenatchee, WA
|
|
|
Dec 18, 2012 - 10:45pm PT
|
A dear friend and my main climbing partner sent me a link to that wonderful tale...
The link was broken.
He then told me the name of the thread, I found it.
My response to him:
"Whoa dude…I had no idea I would be reading anything remotely that profound. With no warning whatsoever I started crying near the end.
That was DEEP. I swear…SuperTopo is such a mix of LAME and ASTOUNDING!
Brilliant. Thanks so much for sharing that."
|
|
F10
Trad climber
Bishop
|
|
|
Dec 19, 2012 - 11:07pm PT
|
Thanks for the story
|
|
Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
|
|
|
Dec 19, 2012 - 11:39pm PT
|
Great stuff, Roadie. We usually learn this stuff too late in life. Thanks for the awareness - and the good writing.
|
|
RyanD
climber
Squamish
|
|
|
Dec 20, 2012 - 12:12am PT
|
Thanks dude, keep em coming. That was a tough one but some amazing insights in there. Cheers.
|
|
lubbockclimber
Trad climber
lubbock,tx
|
|
|
Dec 20, 2012 - 01:33am PT
|
Thanks bump
|
|
Rockin' Gal
Trad climber
Boulder
|
|
|
Dec 20, 2012 - 01:03pm PT
|
Brought tears to my eyes. Thanks for reminding us what's important in life.
|
|
cultureshock
Trad climber
Mountain View
|
|
|
Jan 10, 2013 - 06:41pm PT
|
Bump!
|
|
RyanD
climber
Squamish
|
|
|
Aug 14, 2013 - 03:59am PT
|
Bump!
|
|
Norwegian
Trad climber
dancin on the tip of god's middle finger
|
|
|
Aug 14, 2013 - 08:52am PT
|
i enjoy.
i've only one suggestion / correction to offer you;
and that is in regards to your written sentiment
that we all will die.
you're passive verb tense is off by 1 order of spacial position.
i defy your wisdom,
because i am dead.
and thus you must revise your understanding
in order to accomodate the a-typical case: me.
i've life yet to exhaust, though my bio-beats
are merely an echo of my future demise;
my strides collide with earth only according to
the momentum of the electrical impluses that surge
from synapse to nerve.
i accidentally live;
rejecting well being with a stubborn resolve.
and don't get me wrong, im not suffering or sad,
this life-death interplay is quite a joy.
my ill habits reward me with peculiar curiosities
such as the magnificent white spider that
has claimed her spot outside of my cabin window,
which is usually lit according to my nocturnal theatres.
so as i alternate cups of coffee with cans of beer,
i sit and watch her grow bigger and bigger as the night
moths, they seek the light drug, and she's there to collect.
then the sun rises behind her web,
and she crawls up into the eve,
so i, like the night moth,
head east toward the light drug,
and get caught in some granite web,
only there's no creature to suck out my vital juice
so i play the role of that predator,
and i also co-star as the prey;
at the end of the day,
those silk purple panties that conceal the mystery's
void glide a little further down god's soft inner thigh.
|
|
couchmaster
climber
pdx
|
|
|
Aug 14, 2013 - 08:57am PT
|
"In fact, this is not a story about climbing at all. I only reach for and recall these events as I would for a crayon: to color in the outlines of our otherwise anonymous lives. And maybe to draw you in."
Well I got drawn in for sure. GREAT PIECE, you write excellently and the topic is on the money. Thank you for sharing the masterpiece, don't know how I missed it the first go round.
Oh, minor English Teacher moment: The word show should be slow? 6th paragraph from the bottom: "Always a bit show on the uptake,..."
|
|
Gal
Trad climber
going big air to fakie
|
|
|
Aug 14, 2013 - 09:26am PT
|
That was amazing, thanks so much!
|
|
ncrockclimber
climber
The Desert Oven
|
|
|
Aug 14, 2013 - 09:34am PT
|
Thank you.
|
|
justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
|
|
|
Aug 14, 2013 - 09:35am PT
|
Thanks for posting that and thank for the bumps. Sorry I missed this the first time around.
|
|
Roadie
Trad climber
Bishop, Ca
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Apr 20, 2018 - 07:00pm PT
|
in a moment of utter narcissism i'm bumping my own thing. I assume many of you are new and some may need a refresher..
cheers...
|
|
7SacredPools
Trad climber
Ontario, Canada
|
|
|
Apr 20, 2018 - 07:16pm PT
|
Brilliant, Mr. Seats. Thank you.
|
|
spectreman
Trad climber
|
|
|
Apr 20, 2018 - 08:54pm PT
|
Wonderful! Thanks for the bump.
|
|
hacky47
Trad climber
goldhill
|
|
|
Apr 21, 2018 - 10:20am PT
|
keep writing....keep posting ...please
|
|
Bequita
climber
|
|
|
Apr 21, 2018 - 01:10pm PT
|
Thanks for sharing this heartfelt story, important reminder and the bump ❤️
|
|
Lynne Leichtfuss
Sport climber
moving thru
|
|
|
Apr 21, 2018 - 04:39pm PT
|
I'm glad you bumped it.
|
|
Kalimon
Social climber
Ridgway, CO
|
|
|
Apr 21, 2018 - 08:09pm PT
|
Quality writing Mr. Seats . . . You did a great one about Cochise too!
Thank you for your efforts.
|
|
Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
|
|
|
Apr 21, 2018 - 08:50pm PT
|
Steve, your writing, no, storytelling is tops!
If you ever get to Moab my advice is this: bring money from someplace else.
"Kwang-fo! Cham! Kwang-fo!" Japanese? Chinese? Korean? It was anybodies guess.
"Huh, what'd'ya' suppose that meant?" I asked Lyzz
"I think it means, "F*#k! Dude! F*#k!"
"If you're going to be such a prude then here, put on my underwear. Christ Steve, sometimes I gotta wonder."
I had to wonder too, as she handed me the purple thong, which would look worse if the Koreans did come back?
 Rest assured your fan club here on the taco runs deep and true.
|
|
Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
|
|
|
Apr 21, 2018 - 10:41pm PT
|
Oh yeah, and I met that guy Linus way back in the day, 1990.
It was at a party that Kyle Copeland, RIP threw, including Warren Harding.
Linus was kind of a warm and fuzzy character, as I recall, and though I was "only 30", I remember admiring his power of youth!
Plus, one of the Weeg's best poems appears in this thread!
|
|
micronut
Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
|
|
|
Apr 21, 2018 - 10:51pm PT
|
I'm so glad you bumped this. I had read it a long time ago and was wondering about it the other day actually. Pretty random that you posted it back up. Thanks so much. I always enjoy your stuff.
You should post and write here more.
Scott
|
|
Crag Q
Trad climber
Louisville, Colorado
|
|
|
Apr 22, 2018 - 06:44am PT
|
That is beautiful. Thank you for writing and sharing it.
|
|
tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
|
|
|
Apr 22, 2018 - 08:17am PT
|
well that just made me cry...
|
|
| Messages 1 - 51 of total 51 in this topic |
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!