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AndySan Diego
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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Mar 30, 2008 - 10:28pm PT
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Croft's Solo of the Minaret Traverse is incredible. Does any one know if he also soloed the Palisades Traverse?
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bachar
Gym climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Mar 30, 2008 - 11:04pm PT
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OK, I'll give in...
Once on a rest day I was chillin' out at Degnan's Deli around 11am, eating a sandwich in the sun and Croft joins me. He had chalk up to his elbows and was devouring a sandwich as well.
I asked him what he did that day. He said, " Oh nothing, just been climbing a little."
I said, " Yeah right. Cough it up Croft. What did you do today?"
"Astroman and the Rostrum" was all he said. I knew instantly he had soloed them. I tried my best to keep a straight face. "Wow, that's cool" was about all I could come up with.
He said he was going to go down and solo the Nabisco Wall... I don't know if he actually did. I didn't really ask him later to find out.
I already knew he redefined the game forever.
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GDavis
Trad climber
SoCal
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Mar 30, 2008 - 11:18pm PT
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Wow....
Man, when someone said that Croft embodies the pinnacle of American Climbing, I don't think I could find better.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Mar 30, 2008 - 11:23pm PT
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Pinnacle of Canadian rock climbing, too. :-)
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10b4me
climber
hanging by a thread
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Mar 31, 2008 - 12:51am PT
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I just saw Peter at Red Rocks Rendevous today. looking as fit as ever. also saw him in the Happies in January. one of the nicest climbers I've met. Unfortunately, some famous climbers(that shall remain nameless)are a-holes.
I believe Peter is about 46.
does anyone know if Peewee has recovered from the hamstring pull?
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marky
climber
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Mar 31, 2008 - 12:57am PT
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Dude's Canadian. Like Neil Young. Or Wolverine.
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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Mar 31, 2008 - 01:01am PT
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...and that bitch, Anne Murray, too...
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marty(r)
climber
beneath the valley of ultravegans
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Mar 31, 2008 - 01:32am PT
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Anyone with a business card that reads "Coffee Drinker, Snappy Dresser" is pretty rad.
His piece "A Life in the Day of a Mountaineer" is worth its weight in gold. Wish I had a digital copy to share. It's reprinted in Largo's "High Lonesome" (with Croft on the cover).
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marky
climber
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Mar 31, 2008 - 02:43am PT
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"Croft" is Canadian for "low-key, under-the-radar bad-ass". It functions both as a noun and as a verb.
E.g.,
"Look at Ronnie. He's such a croft. He received his PhD in nuclear physics from MIT but will tell you only that he took a few math classes here and there. What a f*#king croft."
And
"Becky just crofted that dude who was spraying about finishing the Boston Marathon. Becky went All-American four straight years at UCLA and took the Silver at Seoul in 1988, but she told the guy that she just runs for fun. That dude never knew how bad he got crofted."
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10b4me
climber
hanging by a thread
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Mar 31, 2008 - 01:58pm PT
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let's keep this on the front page.
more Croft stories.
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tolman_paul
Trad climber
Anchorage, AK
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Mar 31, 2008 - 02:47pm PT
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I met Peter at a rock shoe demo day at Donner Summit in the early 90's. He was slated to give a talk on crack climbing. I'd started a climbing club in college and about a 1/2 dozen of us had come up from the Bay Area for the weekend. We were over at the snowshed walls and had just finished climbing a few of the crack routes waiting for him to show up.
Peter walked over and asked what one of the routes was rated, I don't recall the name of the route of the rating, it was around the corner up the slope from Ariel, about a 1/2 pitch 5.7 or 8 crack with a small roof about 50' up. Perfect hand jam route.
Anyhow, as folks gathered round Peter soloed up and showed how to use hand jams, foot jams etc. Then he cruised up to the small roof, got a knee bar under the roof and showed how to get a no hands rest.
What impressed me most about him was not his impressive climbing ability, but his unpretentous manner and how approachable he was. It was clear he just loved to climb.
I got to meet John Bachar a bit later that day at the after climbing festivities. There were several other famous at that time climbers there, but Peter and John were the only memorable ones, and not so suprisingly still at it.
Yep, that day in the life of a mountaineer was a great story, I just re-read it the other night.
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Anastasia
climber
Not here
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Mar 31, 2008 - 03:23pm PT
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I saw Croft at Red Rocks taking two steps at a time rushing towards the parking lot. My friends and I humorously joked that Croft takes all steps two at a time. Croft solos the Rostrum as a warm up before breakfast. Croft does the Palisade Traverse as an afternoon leisurely walk. We even joked that by the time we made it to the parking lot, Croft would have taught a clinic and be already back at the main tent.
I happen to know "by chance" that he is still climbing hard, is still very much happily married to Karine, and still loves to climb. At Red Rocks he appeared fit and extremely busy rushing about enjoying his day. It made my little group happy to spot him on the go since it is his elementary state of being.
AF
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Bazo
Boulder climber
Ky
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Mar 31, 2008 - 05:02pm PT
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Sorry to go off topic...but you could use this picture to test for latent homosexuality.....If the eyes tend to wander to those rather ripped dudes instead of Tami Knight's very nice ass then ya gotta be.....
sorry for any offence...:)
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L
climber
If only I could remember....
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Mar 31, 2008 - 06:51pm PT
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I know Peter from taking classes with him through Vertical Adventures in Joshua Tree. One night, about five years ago, he came into Crossroads alone, and as every table was taken, I offered him a seat at my table where I sat hostage to The World’s Worst Climbing Partner.
Peter sat, and in between small talk about the day’s adventures, proceeded to down a glass of red wine. I’d never seen him drink before, and I have to admit, he got more loquacious with each sip. Normally a man of few words, he soon began a soliloquy on his intention to get a piece of the blueberry pie advertised on the Specials board. It seemed he didn’t care much about burgers or salads, but the blueberry pie had certainly caught his fancy. Red wine and blueberry pie: the dinner of champions.
He’d finished the first glass of wine and was halfway through his second when one of the waitresses told him they were all out of blueberry pie. He looked at her like she was speaking Japanese, wrinkled his brow, and said “What was that?”
“No more pie,” she repeated.
Peter’s shell-shocked gaze slid over to me and The World’s Worst Climbing Partner. “How can they be out of blueberry pie?” he asked, a pained expression on his face.
“Losers,” I murmured, as grieved as he. I’d wanted a piece of blueberry pie, too.
“Just get a brownie,” TWWCP interjected rather impatiently.
We both looked at him as if the top of his head had popped open and a giant slug was oozing out. Not only was he The World’s Worst Climbing Partner, but he was a dumbshit to boot.
“I really wanted that pie,” Peter mumbled, staring into his wine glass. “Why would they say they have it when they don’t? Don’t they know how bad it is to deceive customers like that? I’ve been thinking about that pie since I walked in here, and now…I just don’t know what to do.”
He continued on in this vein, grieving the absence of his flaky-crusted dream, his despair growing as his glass emptied. My glass was empty by that time, too, and the more Peter lamented, the more I laughed. He got funnier and funnier, his sense of injustice at pie deprivation seeming to know no bounds.
TWWCP, on the other hand, grew more and more annoyed…and annoying. It had not been part of his plan to have the world’s greatest climber sitting at our table…it made all of his climbing exploits, which he’d been bombasting me with all day, sound like mud wrestling on a dry lakebed.
When it was finally time to leave the restaurant, we all stood and shook hands. The World’s Worst Climbing Partner lied and told Peter it was good to meet him, I thanked Peter for a very entertaining (read: lifesaving) evening, and Peter, in his humble, slightly tipsy way, said he was off to find some pie. He knew there had to be some somewhere in town.
Peter Croft saved me from terminal boredom that evening in the desert. He will always be my hero.:-)
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Anastasia
climber
Not here
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Mar 31, 2008 - 06:57pm PT
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L
You gave such a great story that I honestly have fallen in love with you! Dang, that was funny!
AF
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matisse
climber
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Mar 31, 2008 - 07:10pm PT
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The wonderful world of climbing is a small place.
Just for the record, some of us don't think "the worlds worst climbing partner" is even remotely the worlds worst, or even a bad partner at all. 2 sides to every story and all that.
carry on.
Sue
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Mar 31, 2008 - 07:12pm PT
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Peter does like his baked goods. :-)
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tradcragrat
Trad climber
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Mar 31, 2008 - 07:21pm PT
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I wish he knew about his thread. That would be a riot!
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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Mar 31, 2008 - 07:27pm PT
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I'll second the notion that Croft is a funny guy. I saw him give a slideshow in Bishop years ago. I expected some great photos and stories, but had no expectations that it would be hilarious. It was. And enthusiastic! A great relief from the "when I'm soloing and I'm in the zone and it's just me and the rock and the elements and blah, blah, blah" type stuff we so often hear from elite adventurer/athlete types. Plus, he was able to joke about being scared, exhausted, whatever in a way that was not only funny, but so completely humble and sincere that it wasn't the least bit patronizing to the mortals in the audience. He brought us in to share experiences that few (if any) will ever have, not an easy thing.
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10b4me
climber
hanging by a thread
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Mar 31, 2008 - 07:33pm PT
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L
You gave such a great story that I honestly have fallen in love with you! Dang, that was funny!
AF
L, you have a way with words. a great story.
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