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KP Ariza
climber
SCC
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Dec 31, 2009 - 10:34pm PT
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Great book! My wifes folks got it for me for Xmas (pleasant surprise). In one excerpt Lynn Hill tells of a boltless fa on Fairview that her and Yabo did, I think it's a fascinating story and I was wondering if anyone knows anything more about this climb?
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Deemed Useless
Social climber
Ca.
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Mar 31, 2010 - 10:35am PT
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I just ordered a copy... can't wait! One of my all time fave shorts is by Mr. Long "The Green Arch". Anyway, regardless of genre I put him up on my list of best "American writers" including Hemingway, Stienbeck, Hunter S. Thompson. I don't care that his books mostly deal with climbing and adventure sports, da man can spin a good tale!
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Spanky
Social climber
boulder co
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Jul 27, 2014 - 01:27pm PT
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Hey all just an FYI
some folks had mentioned that the stone master book is getting quite hard to find. The patagonia store in boulder had 2 copies when I was in there the other day so if anyone out there is still looking for one they might still have it. Its an amazing book so get em while they are hot.
cheers
Dan
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TwistedCrank
climber
Released into general population, Idaho
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Aug 21, 2014 - 05:04pm PT
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Update on the get em while they last availability:
I saw three copies today 8/21 in the Patagonia Outlet in Dillon, MT.
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TYeary
Social climber
State of decay
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Jun 27, 2015 - 03:02pm PT
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I always thought the criteria for "Stonemaster" was anyone who had led Valhalla, was an arrogant punk and smoked copious amounts of bunk weed....
By '74 the "club" had expanded, under those criteria, considerably.
TY
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TYeary
Social climber
State of decay
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Jun 27, 2015 - 03:41pm PT
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I didn't really get to the Valley till 75-76, but hung out with the "crew" at Tahquitz/ Suicide from 73-75 semi-regularly. And you are right Kevin,( in my opinion) the weed, even then was anything but bunk. It was a direct contributor to the many skate board comps and blood and contusions, down the hill from the parking area.
But perhaps I was a lightweight...
TY
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rmuir
Social climber
From the Time Before the Rocks Cooled.
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Jun 27, 2015 - 04:24pm PT
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^^^^^
For the record, the house we lived in on Seventh Street in Riverside was the NORML headquarters leading up to the elections of 1972. ;-)
To make matters somewhat more complicated, one of my roommates was "seeing" the (very) young daughter of the Riverside County Sheriff at the time… He wasn't at all happy about this.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Jun 27, 2015 - 07:50pm PT
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I checked on Bookfinder.com, they started at $178, went up to $656.
I'm knot sellin' mine!
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Bullwinkle
Boulder climber
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Jun 28, 2015 - 12:14am PT
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Glad you enjoyed the Book KW, please don't throw away your old Fotos!
I did Vallhalla with Tobin and Bachar, it was Tobins second time and Me and Jacks first. I did it again the next week with Erick E and Bachar, this would have been '73 or very early '74, I fell all over it, but sent. I was going on trips to the Valley as Tobins belayer and partner in crime by late 72. . .df
Edit, nope that's me in the photo, all the captions in the Book are correct. . .df
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Jun 28, 2015 - 08:31am PT
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Great perpectives on the early years of the Stonemasters. For readers who are interested, here is a visual of Valley free first acsents, measured by first acsentenists, with the Stonemasters contrbution shown in light blue: hugely prolific with some of the most iconic Valley climbs.
Great photo Robbs. Any thing white was cool attire, which gave way to any thing cool was cool attire. The humour of those days was part of the tribe's DNA.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Jun 28, 2015 - 01:27pm PT
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"my point is that there is a cult of celebrity around these guys when we all, in our own ways, contributed to climbing"--Patrick Sawyer
In the early seventies, in my self-imposed exile to the flats, having married, I gradually became aware via the climbing mags and discussions at TNF's Telegraph shop in Berkeley of REAL HARDMEN from SoCal taking up space in the headlines, in Camp 4, in BASECAMP, in the "letters from correspondents" received from various Yosemite "regulars." They were, of course, the SM guys, especially Accomazzo and Largo, whose names were, for me, the most memorable, along with Tobin, of course, the REAL LEGEND.
They came, they impressed the denizens already in place--Bridwell, Pettigrew, them Oregon folks, Roger, Luke, Werner, and more...and MATHIS? Of course, Mathis. He had BEEN MARRIED, gone climbing instead, stuck with it, thrived--and I sincerely wish that I'd stuck around, celibate or not, but free of encumbrances of that nature, to do more of what I came to Yosemite to do in the first place.
This is a wonderful thread, tangled like an old Edelrid spaghetti, but which will gradually reveal itself below the ledge where we all now sit, in spite of the kinks, the quality of the smoke, or the relatively low altitude.
Fantasia was Chouinard's best rope pattern, and EBs were God shoes.
Clean climbing was still "optional."
Guys were working out 11b and c.
Glory days, at least for some.
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Jun 28, 2015 - 01:53pm PT
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Kevin,
My take on "Stonemaster" is that there are multiple meanings. Your comments reveal the problems with this.
Broadly speaking, as my chart shows, the individual climbers know as "Stonemasters" were only a part of early 70's climbing. For example, Barry Bates and Mark Klemons, who started 70's free climbing have never been considered Stonemasters. The same is true of Peter Haan, Steve Wunsch, and Jim Donini, to name a few more well know 70s climbers.
So if "Stonemaster" is applied to all the fine climbing starting in 1970, it is wrong on two counts: most of the early 70s did not identify themselves as part of the "Stonemasters" and climbed most climbed before the "Stonemasters" arrived. Many 70s climbers simply didn't share the Stonemasters personal characteristics.
On the other hand, if the term refers to the original SoCal climbers who led Valhalla, much of the best climbing in the Valley is missing: it would devolve into Long's and Bachar's climbs. This would still be impressive, but there were lots of others making contributions. In any case nobody from those Valley days has the chutzpah to brand just themselves the way John has branded Stonemasters. Stonemasters has to be applied to a larger group to gets its legs.
John seems to split the difference in defining Stonemasters as Jim's new boys. As one of JIm's "old" boys, this makes sense. Jim always collected the best talent he could, and he liked the name "Stonemasters" and their unbridled enthusiasm.
The only issue with this, as you pointed out, is that it's not good history.
It is interesting to compare the 50s and 60s. Roper was able to project a sense of Valley climbing while including everyone of note. He did this by grounding everything he wrote in the actual climbing, which by definition leaves out some juicy stories. That culture extended into the early 70s by Bridwell, who managed to get the best out of all of us, while opening the gates to anyone new with talent and desire.
I'm on a train going back to NY so please excuse my typos.
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TYeary
Social climber
State of decay
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Jun 28, 2015 - 02:26pm PT
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"In America, legend and celebrity usually wins... "
An astute and accurate observation.
I could be wrong here, and no disrespect to Largo, whom I count as a friend, but wasn't it John who once uttered, " never let the truth get in the way of a good story." Perhaps that quote too, is just more legend and celebrity than fact.
TY
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Jun 28, 2015 - 02:38pm PT
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Thanks Kevin.
The test of leading Valhalla to be a member of the original Stonemasters has to be accepted as correct--they set the rules. But I know of at least one other climber who led Valhalla before any Stonemaster and, who I am pretty sure was not a Stonemaster: Bud Couch. Did John do the second ascent?
I searched to see when Bob Kamps climbed Valhalla, but it was in 1977.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Jun 28, 2015 - 03:20pm PT
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Kevin, I readily admit to being skewed, as I readily admit to being scared.
I cold never have mustered the mustard to lead Valhalla, nor really think I'd have been a plus factor in an ascent of New Dimenshucks, even.
The "trio" of names is really much larger than those three, it's just the ravages of time on my memory, one which did not include ANY contact with ANY of these aliens from Tahquitz/Suicide. By the time I'd begun climbing THERE, these gents seem to have vanished and gone to the Valley, so that's no wonder. Nor did I come across any of them when visiting Josh.
As I say, this discussion is very worthwhile, and thank yous to you and Roger and Tony, who I met last Facelift, as I hope to meet you in the not too distant future.
Stay well, climb high.
Colombian was the NorCal "brand." What were you smokin'?
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Jun 28, 2015 - 04:10pm PT
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To support one of your post upthread, here are the numbers for total first ascents for the most prolific climbers in the early 70s--non-Stonemasters--and the Stonemasters. I include the middle 60s graph to capture Jim's massive contribution.
These graphs don't count climbs beyond about 1980. Here is the list of all climber's first ascents up to about 1980.
Here is the count of first ascents per climber included in the data base up to 1980 (down to 5). I have in my head that Jim had something like 90s ascents. Did Jim do 12 ascents since 1980?
Jim Bridwell 78
Chuck Pratt 47
Ray Jardine 47
Warren Harding 40
Kevin Worrall 40
Royal Robbins 38
Frank Sacherer 37
Rick Sylvester 33
Dale Bard 32
Bob Kamps 31
Mark Chapman 31
Rick Cashner 30
Mark Klemens 29
Don Reid 28
Yvon Chouinard 26
Ron Kauk 26
Mark Powell 25
Steve Roper 25
George Meyers 25
John Long 24
Kim Schmitz 22
Charlie Porter 22
Wally Reed 21
Tom Frost 21
Chris Fredericks 21
Ken Boche 20
Glen Denny 19
Barry Bates 19
Bill Price 19
Jim Donini 18
TM Herbert 17
Chris Cantwell 16
Galen Rowell 15
Jerry Anderson 15
Steve Wunsch 15
John Lakey 15
Bruce Morris 14
Les Wilson 13
Rik Rieder 13
Ed Barry 13
Jim Beyer 13
Layton Kor 12
John Bragg 12
John Bachar 12
Eric Beck 11
Chris Falkenstein 11
Bruce Pollock 11
Al MacDonald 10
G.B. Harr 10
Joe Faint 10
Matt Donohoe 10
Mike Breidenbach 10
Vern Cleavenger 10
Dick Long 9
Tom Higgins 9
Loyd Price 9
Roger Breedlove 9
Jim Pettigrew 9
Werner Braun 9
Dick McCracken 8
Wolfgang Heinritz 8
Greg Schaffer 8
Bob Ashworth 8
Bruce Hawkins 8
Peter Haan 8
George Sessions 7
Herb Swedlund 7
Gary Colliver 7
Gordon Webster 7
Tom Fender 7
Tom Gerughty 7
Jerry Coe 7
Bruce Price 7
Rab Carrington 7
Richard Harrison 7
Bob Sullivan 7
George Whitmore 6
Jim Wilson 6
Merle Alley 6
Bill Feuerer 6
Krehe Ritter 6
Rich Calderwood 6
Dave McFadden 6
Joe McKeown 6
Andrzej Ehernfeucht 6
Dave Trantor 6
Dave Bircheff 6
Don Peterson 6
Pete Livesey 6
Henry Barber 6
Tobin Sorenson 6
John Yablonski 6
Tony Dailley 6
Dave Anderson 6
Dave Altman 6
Angie Morales 6
Don Goodrich 5
Jim Baldwin 5
Andy Lichtman 5
Rob Foster 5
Tim Fitzgerald 5
Jim Madsen 5
Bev Johnson 5
Peter Barton 5
Mark Moore 5
Linda McGinnis 5
Hugh Burton 5
Dennis Oakeshott 5
Rick Accomazzo 5
Larry Zulim 5
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TYeary
Social climber
State of decay
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Jun 28, 2015 - 04:13pm PT
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^^^^^^
Couch Bud, for the win.
Those were heady days.
TY
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WBraun
climber
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Jun 28, 2015 - 04:53pm PT
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StoneMasters in Yosemite had not much to do with climbing.
It was a climber Gang like the mafia ... :-)
Numbers runners, ... sandbag ratings :-)
Long run outs to scare the sh!t out of people :-)
Bad anchors to scare the sh!t out of people :-)
Fast cars, loose women, and lots of booze and weed :-)
Baseball and football team :-)
The only camp site with electricity in it.
Reel to reel stereo system.
Light bulbs and electric blankets ..:-)
Etc etc etc etc .....mwahahaha .... :-)
And more stories that are unfit to be heard by today's delicate little fertile minds :-)
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phylp
Trad climber
Upland, CA
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Jun 28, 2015 - 04:59pm PT
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I really enjoyed reading these new contributions to this thread. Thanks for the history Warbler.
You have made a number of great points about the distinction between storytelling and reporting.
Phyl
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