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Park Rat
Social climber
CA, UT,CT,FL
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Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 14, 2009 - 10:52pm PT
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It’s about five o’clock , Harding races in the bar, he is totally animated, jumping up & down. He looks like an unmade bed, I don’t think he owned a comb. He didn’t sit down, or order a drink.
He starts talking really fast, he is glowing with enthusiasm.
Warren to Susie “Did you hear about the new school, for rich Eastern Preppies”? OK, tell me about it.
“They Pay to go to a camp and experience Nature.”
“They call it outward bound”!!!
So-------I am waiting for the punch line, I know it is coming.
Warren smiling ear to ear “Don’t you see, it’s perfect for me as a founding member of The Lower Sierra Eating Drinking & Farcing Society.
“ I will start a school-----for young, innocent, rich girls.”
“ I will teach them ALL about Nature, drinking & debouching. ”
Warren, doing his best dirty old man leer.
“ The best part is their parents will pay me for the privilege.” LOL
“I already have the name, I will call my school.”
“DOWNWARD BOUND”
“Get it”? Susie with eye roll & a big smile . “I get it Warren” LOL
I didn’t have time to react, he was sprinting out the door, to spread the news, that the L.S.E.D.& F.S. had a new project.
The banter went on for weeks, with Warren refining how he was going to debauch, and generally corrupt these innocent young things, it was classic Harding.
When I heard about his book, my first reaction was OMG he finally did it, not a school, but a book! Now all of you know the story!
Semper Farcissimus
Park Rat
Other Warren stories
The Warren Harding I Remember How I met Warren
http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/1010478/More_Warren_Stories
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Ray Olson
Trad climber
Imperial Beach, California
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Nov 14, 2009 - 10:57pm PT
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hilarious!
and very sweet too...
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Nov 15, 2009 - 12:14am PT
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Vintage Warren.
Thanks for another great story !
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Nov 15, 2009 - 12:44am PT
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Genius! The both of you!
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mucci
Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
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Nov 15, 2009 - 01:02am PT
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Keep em coming Lady!
Nice to have your voice here on the Taco.
Cheers
Mucci
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Fletcher
Trad climber
Pasadena, CA
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Nov 15, 2009 - 02:12am PT
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Thanks... wonderful!
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Nov 15, 2009 - 06:36am PT
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Cool - nice sendup of Outward Bound!
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habitat
climber
grass pass
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Nov 15, 2009 - 10:23am PT
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Classic!
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Gobee
Trad climber
Los Angeles
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Nov 15, 2009 - 10:31am PT
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What goes up must come down! LOL
Park Rat, Thanks!
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Nov 15, 2009 - 10:34am PT
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Hey, I taught Outward Bound and I didn't corrupt any of the innocent young guys there !
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Park Rat
Social climber
CA, UT,CT,FL
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 15, 2009 - 11:16am PT
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Jan,
I doubt Warren corrupted many young ladies, back in the day.
I am pretty sure they were all cheerful volunteers. LOL
He just couldn’t pass up a chance tease, as I said in my first post,
his bark was way worse than his bite.
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Maysho
climber
Soda Springs, CA
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Nov 15, 2009 - 01:47pm PT
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Xmas in 7th grade, my mom gave me Downward Bound! I was psyched! My parents were supportive of my interests, though they had no clue... A few mt. shop employees took advantage of this and would sell my mom some kind of weird nut that no one else would buy, #8 wired stopper etc. But this was a gem, and a perfect intro into some other climbing culture besides the somewhat staid Sierra Club scene I was a part of.
Thanks Park Rat for your great contributions here! I can totally see the Mt. Room bar in the 70's in my memories, too young to drink, I still spent plenty of evenings there.
Peter
ps. Did you know Lynda Ballerini? She became a bartender, maybe right after your time.
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MH2
climber
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Nov 15, 2009 - 03:38pm PT
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“Did you hear about the new school, for rich Eastern Preppies”?
For a minute there I thought he had caught wind of Hampshire College.
Cool story and touching belief that rich girls would be innocent. Those prep schools are a pretty complete grounding in the whole range of life experiences. Or maybe its the ski trips to Zermatt.
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Park Rat
Social climber
CA, UT,CT,FL
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 15, 2009 - 03:50pm PT
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Maysho,
Sorry, no Lynda bartender in my day, We had Joe Smith, Jerry ?, & Ton Tang as our boss.
The girls were all hot for Joe as I recall. We called the guys our (want a be climbers) just to keep their egos in check. LOL
Bridwell & his crew were the real deal, they had the right stuff so to speak.
Thank you for your comments, I really enjoying hearing the feed back.
MH2,
W.H. was just hoping they were innocent!!! We are not talking reality here.
Best,
Park Rat
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Nov 15, 2009 - 04:04pm PT
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Urmas
Social climber
Sierra Eastside
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Nov 15, 2009 - 06:26pm PT
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Park rat, wasn't it the LSED&FS? You seem to have left out the drinking part! I'm sure Warren wouldn't have!!
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Jingy
Social climber
Flatland, Ca
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Nov 15, 2009 - 07:18pm PT
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Thanks for the story Park Rat.... That's a keeper..
speaks to an innocence of the times.... (to me at least)
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Park Rat
Social climber
CA, UT,CT,FL
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 8, 2013 - 02:07am PT
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I was asked recently did I have a copy of downward bound?
The answer is yes I do have a copy of the book.
I was there when Harding got the idea, not for a book but a school in which he would pass on his experience, chuckle as a mountaineering instructor.
He loved to fantasize about being a great Lothario. Well maybe in Harding's world it was more than a fantasy, but that's another story.
He did go on and on about his downward bound school for girls, it became a running joke with him constantly adding new material. You had no choice but to go with the flow when Harding got into one of his playful moods.
This was the summer of 1970 and he was still recovering from his run in with a pickup truck. I suspect he was in more than a little physical pain which he refused to knowledge, at least not to me.
I think he may have needed the downward bound fantasy as a distraction from what was really happening in his real life.
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Awesome.
Semper Far, Batso
Ledge Rat
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
bouldering
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Is that photo at (Lewis Memorial) Yosemite Medical Clinic? I only saw the man at the church-bowl turnout one day in the 90s.
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