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| Messages 1 - 9 of total 9 in this topic |
Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 19, 2009 - 06:27pm PT
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So I'm in the process of studying this new healing modality called The Reconnection and I had to go through a session with a certified practitioner. I was looking at their website for local practitioners and came across the name Don Gordon. In his bio he claims to have been active in mountaineering for many years and then something clicked in my brain and I remember reading about a Don "Claunch" Gordon. He did the first ascent of Wishbone Arete on Robson and The FA of the North Face of Mount Baring and a bunch of other cool stuff. Well I went to his place today and sure enough it was the same guy. After my session we talked for quite a while about climbing and the characters involved. It was an honor to meet one of the pioneers of our sport and I told him so. Don has to be in his seventies at least and he seems to be fairly healthy although he doesn't climb anymore. He told some really funny Becky stories and recounted some of his adventures in the mountains. Here's to Don Gordon, a wonderful man and a living legend. Cheers Don.
I'm going to see him again tomorrow. If anyone wants me to give him a message I can.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Oct 19, 2009 - 06:30pm PT
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Well, you can tell him that his climbing certainly inspired many of us.
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pc
climber
East of Seattle
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Oct 19, 2009 - 06:36pm PT
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Cool.
Tell him to get a Taco account and enter the fray ;) We'd love some stories too.
pc
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hooblie
climber
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Oct 19, 2009 - 06:43pm PT
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tell him i sat comfortably in a padded seat as i flew by robson, and was dutifully humbled by all that transpired both above and below. respect and admiration. we each get our time and place and your's stunned this casual observer.
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Oct 19, 2009 - 06:44pm PT
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That guy was THE MAN! and what is with the "Claunch"? Him and Beckey must have racked up hundreds of ascents togather.
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Brian Hench
Trad climber
Anaheim, CA
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Oct 19, 2009 - 06:47pm PT
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I believe that I chatted with him at Fred's party. A very modest fellow.
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 19, 2009 - 06:49pm PT
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I asked him about "Claunch". He said it was his middle name. He didn't care for it too much.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Oct 19, 2009 - 09:02pm PT
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Having stared long and hard at the N Face of Baring I would buy him all the beers he could put away! A proud chossfest BITD.
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 21, 2009 - 03:42am PT
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I saw Don again today and talked a lot more about climbing. He told me this story of being in Yakutat for work and finding some canoe and then fashioning a paddle and paddling up through ice bergs and currents and bivis under the boat. All this to get to some peak that hadn't been climbed named Seattle(I don't think it's spelled that way). He's doing this all solo and then chooses the wrong ridge on the approach and finds himself too far away to go for it and then bags it and then takes a couple of days to back out.
It was really cool to meet a guy like Don who was so willing to share some of his experiences and to get a sense of what these guys went through to do climbs in those days.
Don asked me about ratings and said he thought that 5.8 was about his level. He also asked me if I ever climbed at Castle Rock near Leavenworth and I told him that I did Canary and Damnation. He smiled and said that Canary was one of his FA's and that he was the first to free Damnation on a TR a couple days before Ed Cooper bagged the FFA. I told him that I thought Damnation was a solid 5.9 and he was probably doing stuff back then that would be considered 5.9 or harder. He at first couldn't see how it was possible that ratings got so hard and I told him I think it's mostly the shoes. I think he quit climbing before EB's came out.
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| Messages 1 - 9 of total 9 in this topic |
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