Will Yosemite Pioneers Be Forgotten?

Search
Go

Discussion Topic

Return to Forum List
This thread has been locked
Messages 101 - 120 of total 159 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
Tamara Robbins

climber
not a climber, just related...
Apr 30, 2015 - 09:13pm PT
nice pics, Ron... when were those taken? I'm guessing at an OR show?
mouse from merced

Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
May 1, 2015 - 12:36am PT
In 1945 Albert and Mabel Rixon stood in front of the pinnacle and took self portrait.

They called it Rixon's Pinnacle ........

http://www.sonomawest.com/obits/tom-rixon---loving-husband-father-grandfather/article_e392b99b-db1f-59cd-a37a-1e679b666043.html

As to puke-fests on the Grinder, Matt Donahoe had just "done" the route, using pins, but fell anyway from the exertion, the "grind." He got really ground up.

So "ground up" can mean two things, depending on the hyphen: ground up or ground-up.

Don't you just love off-width?

ron gomez

Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
May 1, 2015 - 06:13am PT
Taken in Yosemite Valley Tamara. Your Dad with Tom Frost and Joe Fitschen, they were along on the second ascent of The Nose, El Capitan with Chuck Pratt. Photo taken inside the Mountain Shop, Curry Village.
Peace
mastadon

Trad climber
crack addict
May 1, 2015 - 06:33am PT
Didn't have the guts (brains?) to layback Meat Grinder when I first did it in 1972. Left side in the whole way. Closest I've come to heaving on a pitch ever.

Not the first time on Meat Grinder but prolly 1973 or 74.

Werner-I don't have any bongs left. Please don't tell me that you do… That would certainly raise some eyebrows at the Cookie-the sound of bongs being hammered into the Meat Grinder. Haha, might almost be worth it. Did you ever install that license plate frame I gave you??
rick sumner

Trad climber
reno, nevada/ wasilla alaska
May 1, 2015 - 07:51am PT
Lately I've been carrying 3 or four pins on every new route outing. We leave them fixed in sections where you could at best get a shetty RP, thin stopper, or have to run it out. Since these routes are out in the middle of nowhere and not likely to be repeated there is nothing for anyone else to remember. Perhaps hundreds of years from now someone will ponder the reason for the anomalous rust stains.
Scottnorthwest

Trad climber
Sumner Washington
May 1, 2015 - 10:49am PT
The nice thing about the "Legends" of Yosemite is most of them were still around in the 80's when I was there and were happy to talk to you and climb with you. The first one I ever met was TM Herbert, he showed up in the Mountain Room Bar late and joined my room mate and I at out table. We talked about our favorite climbs and he asked us what we were doing the next day. We told him we were climbing and he asked to join us. I was pretty new at the time and that was a big deal. I hope TM is still around, one of the funniest guys I have met.
JEleazarian

Trad climber
Fresno CA
May 1, 2015 - 11:36am PT
I'd heard the same story about Klemens and Bates, Kevin - although from neither of the principals - but no matter. If we both heard it, it must be true.

I was too cheap to buy Clog hexes, and I think I owned one MOAC, but Dan Smith and I took a trip to his home in Belmont, then to his favorite metal supplier, where we bought some aluminum hexagonal stock, some thick aluminum irrigation pipe (about 1 1/4" OD), and a 2" X 2" x6" block of soft aluminum. I made a bunch of hexes and tube chocks by sawing the stock with a hacksaw, and drilling holes with a hand drill at my father's furniture store. I made MOAC-like (and Stopper-like) wedges of various widths, again using the hacksaw, then filing things smooth. I think Dan got ahold of a rock tumbler and made some much nicer ones. The rest of the block got sawn into smashies. It was a high-value trip for this impoverished Berkeley student.

It wasn't more than a month before one of my home-made hexes got field tested, in a way that sounds similar to yours, but on rather gentler terrain (the Harding Route on the GPA), when I misjudged a lieback and took a 20-foot slide. My homemade hex, placed endwise, held just fine.

I remember first seeing Stoppers and first-generation Hexcentrics in 1971, but I didn't really start using them in a big way until 1972. By 1973, if I took an angle with me (particularly on a free climb), David Altman would demand to know why. By then, I started leaving the hammer behind on most free routes.

It's funny, as I contemplete the "wealth/poverty" thread elsewhere on ST. I was flat broke most of the time then, but very rich in climbing time and adventure.

John
Ihateplastic

Trad climber
It ain't El Cap, Oregon
Topic Author's Reply - May 1, 2015 - 01:56pm PT
That there can be some sort of certified history that everyone can accept

Do we all accept the history of Washington? Edison? Watson& Crick? MLK? The Kennedy assassination?

No, but they remain historically significant nonetheless.

Does this mean I am putting Westbay, Long & Bridwell on the Nose alongside the first president? No. But that does not mean it is less important in y eye.

mouse from merced

Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
May 1, 2015 - 02:41pm PT
It looked like OW to me when I nailed the first pitch, Warbler. :0)

We n00bs didn't know what the climb was, and this was in fall of '70.

Mathis and me and McAllister, one of our first attempts at being hard, but it ended when Mathis said we'd never have enough pins!

I went and bought more iron, but we never ever went back out of shame when we found what it was from the guys in camp. We both thought OW.

It's never interested me, either, not after hearing about Matt's fall.

It's only taken me what, 45 years to find this out? Ha! Thanks.
Ward Trotter

Trad climber
May 1, 2015 - 03:12pm PT
A significant factor at play in the contemporary world is the accelerated loss of historical knowledge and understanding in general---driven by recent technology.

An average Millennial learns all he/she needs to know and navigate in the real world from peers in social media and from the general state of technological connectedness--- and not from prior generations, as was the case traditionally.


Such is the nature and the pace of change at the current time.
mouse from merced

Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
May 1, 2015 - 04:20pm PT
It is a fact that there is too much history to learn. One learns only what interests oneself and lets the rest slide into the gray area.

It is natural for the pioneers to become "quaint" for the "modern generation," who will suffer the same fate, ultimately.

What would Herodotus say? Easy peasey to find out: look it up online!

"Historia (Inquiry); so that the actions of of people will not fade with time."
― Herodotus
mouse from merced

Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
Feb 22, 2018 - 07:34pm PT
I brake for Bird sh!t...
i-b-goB

Social climber
Wise Acres
Feb 22, 2018 - 07:42pm PT
George G. Anderson...



WBraun

climber
Feb 22, 2018 - 07:44pm PT
Will Yosemite Pioneers Be Forgotten?

What did they ever pioneer for humanity?
zBrown

Ice climber
Feb 22, 2018 - 07:47pm PT
Ahwahnechee
jstan

climber
Feb 22, 2018 - 07:49pm PT
I have to make it a habit before posting to see if I have weighed in once already. I here violate my rule not to post often .

Fifteen years ago a Gunks climber told me even after thirty years, people there were still picking up cigarette butts. I wasn't a pioneer nor was I the proximate cause. But it is just great to see people moving in a good direction. That's all that counts.
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Feb 22, 2018 - 07:52pm PT
To answer the question posed by the OP...Not if I have anything to do with it!
http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/3044785/Oakdale-Festival-Oct-2018-Yosemite-Big-Wall-Climbing-50s-60s
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Feb 22, 2018 - 08:12pm PT
HATE THAT!
NutAgain!

Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
Feb 22, 2018 - 08:27pm PT
I walked a section of the Hollywood Walk of Fame with my daughter yesterday. I was surprised that I only recognized about 5% of the names on the stars after a few blocks!

All we are is dust in the wind.
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Feb 22, 2018 - 08:42pm PT
Gold dust brother...
Ryan Frost photo
Messages 101 - 120 of total 159 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
Return to Forum List
 
Our Guidebooks
spacerCheck 'em out!
SuperTopo Guidebooks

guidebook icon
Try a free sample topo!

 
SuperTopo on the Web

Recent Route Beta