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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 27, 2009 - 02:29pm PT
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When I was just starting to get good down at Tahquitz and Suicide, one of the old time guys said that there was someone from his generation who would have been right there with us - or even ahead of us - should he have been born forty or fifty years later: Dick Jones. The old timer (then around 70) said Jones was a born Stonemaster, and could pull down like mad, and had a great head for the unprotected lead. In all, a true hardman.
I never paid much attention to this comment till I did the Mechanics Route, 5.8, a very step face route on Tahquitz which Jones first led in 1937, with tennis shoes and a manilla rope - basically without protection. We instantly knew this Jones guy was way out there relative to what was being done back in the 30s. (The Mechanic's Route was later recognized as the most difficult pre-World War II route in America.)
Jones did many other first ascents including the East Buttress of Mt. Whitney and East Temple in Zion National Park. But it was always that comment from the old timer - that Jones had the magic, that he would be right there with us, or beyond us if he was there in his youth - this comment always stuck with me after climbing The Mechanics. But who was Jones? How could we ever really know?
Then I came across this photo of Jones bouldering way up on Whitney. One look and I pretty much knew the guy had it going on 75 years ago. Check out the body position.
Trippy . . .
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scuffy b
climber
Frigate Matilda
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Apr 27, 2009 - 02:40pm PT
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Sounds like he could really have used some context.
I mean, more climbers near his level, so they could bounce off
each other.
Some of what he was doing, it's as if he were off in the woods
by himself.
Mechanic's Route was most definitely an eye opener.
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Apr 27, 2009 - 02:42pm PT
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Old Dadz Rool!
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Apr 27, 2009 - 03:09pm PT
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Yeah, I've long been curious about Dick Jones. I always assumed he was part of the SoCal RCS but haven't gone through that material.
Mechanic's Route was one of the few North American rock climbs that compared favorably with the stuff that had been pioneered in Tirol and the Dolomites a decade or two earlier.
That tension traverse start was still a bit of a novelty here. Today it's the climbing on the upper face that stands out.
Amazing route, really heady, casting off into that blobby sea, manila rope, hammer, gym shoes, no ledges visible.
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HighDesertDJ
Trad climber
Arid-zona
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Apr 27, 2009 - 03:17pm PT
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This is great. I probably never would have heard his story any other way. Thanks John.
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looking sketchy there...
Social climber
Latitute 33
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Apr 27, 2009 - 03:28pm PT
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Thanks for posting this John.
Mechanics Route was so far ahead of its time, it is hard to imagine today. Mechanics Route is solid 5.8, steep and run out.
In 1937, "modern" belaying had only been introduced a few years previously and gear was very primative (typical contents of a climber's pack: manila rope, 6 steel carabiners and an equal number of pitons all in the 1/4 to 3/4 inch range). Footwear was less than optimal (think Converse All Star hightops).
No harness or even a swami. Instead, a single wrap of the rope around the waste, tied off with a bowline on a coil.
Mechanics Route was put up only 1 year after Tahquitz was discovered. While the other 5 routes on Tahquitz in 1937 were 5.0 to 5.4, Mechanics route was serious, hard and commiting; a climb years ahead of its time.
Early guidebooks credited Dick Jone's partner (the well known climber Glen Dawson) with the lead of Mechanics Route. In fact, Jones lead the entire route. I had the pleasure to talk to Dick a number of years ago and he was very gracious and had a keen memory of that day more than 70 years ago.
Yes this guy had the stuff, and in spades.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Apr 27, 2009 - 03:34pm PT
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so sketchy, was he socal rcs? i know dawson was. and do you know if he has donated any of his archive to anyone?
it'd be nice to get more of that stuff collected, whether it's huntington or bancroft or aac.
mechanic's was years ahead of its time here in the states. but it was well in the tradition of earlier stuff in tirol and the dolos.
great route, really unlikely line.
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looking sketchy there...
Social climber
Latitute 33
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Apr 27, 2009 - 03:48pm PT
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Dick passed away a few years ago and I am unsure of where his photos and climbing momentos currently reside. He was a So Cal local. When I spoke to him, he was living in Laguna Niguel.
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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 27, 2009 - 04:09pm PT
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I look at Dick Jones' lead of Mechanics as The Edge of that era - a guy basically going for what all others couldn't even see was there. Randy pointd out two very key aspects: the gear, which was totally crude (tie in consisting of one warp of manilla on a bowline on a coil, steel biners, manilla cord, tennis shoes), as well as the techniques (running belay had existed in the US for very few years), and the fact that climbing at Tahquitz was only a few years old, and here's Dick out there on terrain four grades harder than anything else at that time.
Someone should go through the old RCS material and do an article on Jones, the original American hardman.
JL
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jbar
Social climber
urasymptote
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Apr 27, 2009 - 11:16pm PT
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The pic doesn't come up for me. I'll try again later.
I've always been impressed by what the pioneers accomplished. People like Buhl climbing well above the level or many people today with none of the gear advantage or safety. The Stettner bro's in 1927. I've never anything about Dick Jones. An article would be awesome.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Apr 28, 2009 - 12:09am PT
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from: http://angeles.sierraclub.org/About/LeadersE-K.asp
Jones, Richard M. (1912-1995) - Active 1933-47 (14.0 Years)
RCS; Ski Mountaineers
Richard M. ("Dick") Jones was one of the fourteen charter members of the SMS. He made a number of trips with Walter Mosauer, and was active in the building of both the San Antonio and Keller Ski Huts. He put in 26 workdays building the San Antonio Hut, more than any one else. He led the first ascent of the Mechanic's Route at Tahquitz Rock in 1937, later recognized as the most difficult pre-World War II route in America. His other first ascents included the East Buttress of Mt. Whitney and East Temple in Zion National Park. Dick was a real leader in a variety of Sierra Club activities, making new members welcome and ready to give instruction and information.
Dick Jones (standing right) drops his load of lumber for the San Antonio Ski Hut to chat with fellow workers Nelson Nies and Mary Jane Edwards. The Ski Mountaineers carried most of the materials for the ski hut on their backs. -Photo by Nelson Nies, Angeles Chapter Archives
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Apr 28, 2009 - 12:15am PT
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from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tahquitz
In the 1930s, the Rock Climbing Section (RCS) of the Sierra Club Members in California started a campaign to identify potential rock climbing locations in southern California. RCS member Jim Smith "discovered" Tahquitz in June of 1935. The first fifth-class ascent of Tahquitz, The Trough (5.0), occurred in August of 1936 by Jim Smith, Bob Brinton, and Z. Jasaitis. A month later, Smith and Bill Rice quickly put up the now-classic route, Angel's Fright (5.4). In 1937, Dick Jones and Glen Dawson led a first ascent of The Mechanic's Route, one of the first 5.8s in the country. During the late 1930s, the movie Three On A Rope featured climbing at Tahquitz.[2]
2. ^ Tahquitz & Suicide, Chockstone Press, Evergreen, CO, ISBN 0-934641-31-5. P. 15-16, 172.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Apr 28, 2009 - 12:28am PT
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from: Rock Climbing Tahquitz and Suicide Rocks Randy Vogal, Bob Gaines, p17
Without a doubt, the most impressive climb of this era was The Mechanic's Route, one of the country's first 5.8s. Climbed on October 3, 1937, it involved technically difficult climbing on an exposed and steep face. Dick Jones led both pitches followed by Glenn Dawson, another prolific climber of the 1930s.
Dick demonstrated amazing control leading the second pitch. No piton cracks were available for protection. (Though a bolt was added on the fourth ascent, it has been removed.) Even a modern-day climber would find the runout 5.8 face climbing, in light tennis shoes and tied into a manila rope, more than a bit unnerving.
Glen Dawson recalls, "The climb was right at the limit of what I wanted to do, difficulty-wise. I think we may not have done it free if we had a good spot to put in a piton--the free climbing was really partly a result of necessity."
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Apr 28, 2009 - 12:38am PT
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Just a tidbit. Sketchy, you mentioned Dick used
one loop of rope tied with a bowline on a coil. I'm
not sure how the bowline on the coil would work on a
single loop. It was probably a single loop tied with a
bowline. I enjoyed learning about Dick Jones and hearing
about his exploits from many of the old timers, when I
was working on my free climbing history. Tap into that
for some details on the subject.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Apr 28, 2009 - 12:56am PT
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from: A History of Free Climbing in America; Wizards of Rock by Pat Ament, p37
October 3, 1937, Dick Jones and Glen Dawson made the first ascent of the Mechanic's Route, 5.8 R, at Tahquitz Rock in Southern California.
This route was thought to be the hardest free climb in the country when it was done. Earlier climbs, however, that might have been as difficult included...
If not indisputably the hardest, the Mechanic's Route measured up to these earlier climbs and certainly was the most difficult route in Southern California at the time. The enthusiastic Jones was a gymnast on high-bar and rings and led the route in tennis shoes, facing a 100-foot fall on Manila rope. When Jones reached the top, Dawson said, "Wow, what a lead." Of the runout second pitch, Jones remembered, "Lots of fresh air on the bucket pitch. It was much easier to keep going up than down." Jones said that he felt, in fact, that he could not down-climb. He was fully committed, blanked out somewhat, and the next thing he knew he had done it. (Interview with RIck Ridgeway, 1976.) Dawson too was an excellent climber. According to Jones, "Glen had tremendous leg power. At Mammoth Lakes one time, he climbed Crystal Mountain without touching his hands to the rock." (Interview with Ridgeway.)
The route was named because the climbers mused that they had to be mechanics to use so many pitons--16 in all. During the route's third ascent, in 1939, John Mendenhall placed a bolt on the runout pitch.
In the words of Royal Robbins:
"The hardest pitch, which makes it more than mere difficult, was the second pitch, done without a bolt. When I did it in the 1950s, there was a bolt there that had been added. I bypassed the bolt, to try to experience some of the style of the first ascent party, and I only did so with a supreme effort of will. You have to separate the brilliant unprotected pitch above from the lower, well-protected pitch but more difficult 5.8 pitch. Others later would do this route, using the bolt, and say it was not quite as hard as other routes by Wiessner in the East, except that the use of that additional bolt up there makes all the difference." (Interview with the author)
The Mechanic's Route indeed was one of the most impressive leads in America.
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Apr 28, 2009 - 02:55am PT
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Hey wait a second, I want to know more about Mary Jane Edwards?
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Apr 28, 2009 - 09:12am PT
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sheesh... Mary Jane is sorta hot in a 50s way...
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Apr 29, 2009 - 05:56am PT
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Ed, you must have typed that whole thing in, as I
see some spelling errors, such as Royal's name... It
probably didn't scan, with that cumbersome big book,
right?
I find that part interesting where he seemed to have
blacked out for a spell while doing that lead.
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Apr 29, 2009 - 05:58am PT
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Ed, you must have typed that whole thing in, as I
see some spelling errors, such as Royal's name... It
probably didn't scan, with that cumbersome big book,
right?
I find that part interesting where he seemed to have
blacked out for a spell while doing that lead.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Apr 29, 2009 - 10:52am PT
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Yes Patrick, the scanner was unavailable (in Debbie's office off of the bedroom, and she was sleeping). So I just typed it, keep in practice... but I have a ways to go!
I'll keep fixing the typos as I, or others, see them. For what ever reason Robbins' name is always murdered by my transcriptions...
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