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MikeMc
Social climber
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Sep 16, 2015 - 08:59am PT
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^^^Nice bump for a great thread.
I remember walking up to the Thimble, looking up, touching the stone, smiling, and walking back to my truck. All I could really do actually.
The Needles were a nice part of a 126 day, 32 state road trip inspired by Rock N Road.
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John Mac
Trad climber
Littleton, CO
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Sep 16, 2015 - 09:18am PT
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I was up there last week and touched the Thimble! I can't imagine what it would have been like with the hitching post there.
John Gill ... simply amazing.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Sep 16, 2015 - 10:10am PT
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+1 here that has walked up to it twice, and just walked back to the truck. Oh, the other time I climbed the Hitching Post nearby. That felt Thimblish for 5.2. lol
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Sep 16, 2015 - 02:41pm PT
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It's been a fun journey down memory lane, reading these words from many of the Masters! I only had one brief time at Dixon Springs State park in Illinois where I was highly honored to spend a few hours in the presence of our Grand master. When I look back, that was now 50 years ago in either late 1965 or early 1966. No one has mentioned the impression I had of watching John at that time; he not so much "climbed" the rock as he floated above it in an effortless and flowing manner. I was indeed shamed by my own lack of style and grace that day, and it caused me to self-evaluate my own style of climbing (for the better, I still hope!).
I'll close here with the words "Thank You for your contributions," John. They have made a difference in making artistic style important to climbing.
ATB, John!
Rodger
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Sep 16, 2015 - 03:17pm PT
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btw, why doesn't anyone go up the groove left of the Thimble problem?
It looks easier. Is it really? Might be more awkward.
Right of the Thimble problem is way cruxzilla. How hard?
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Sep 16, 2015 - 07:35pm PT
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People do go up the groove and have for a very long time. The first person to do this was...John Gill in 1959, two years before the main event. BITD, we called the groove 5.8, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear it is really more like 5.9.
Right of the Gill route is a route toproped by Kevin Bein. I don't know how hard it is, but it is harder than the Gill route.
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steve s
Trad climber
eldo
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Sep 16, 2015 - 07:55pm PT
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The groove to the right felt like 5.10 to me. That was a long time ago. Bouldered up the "main event" on the Thimble a few times but always backed off. John Gill was truly inspirational and it was always cool checking out the problems he climbed at various areas over the years. Thanks John!
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DWB
climber
Madison
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Jun 20, 2018 - 07:41am PT
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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Jun 20, 2018 - 08:13am PT
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John Gill: Far ahead at his time and innovative in many ways, also by being the one who first started using resin to get better friction. Resin/poff now mostly connected to Fontainebleau in France...
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Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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Jun 20, 2018 - 08:39am PT
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Not resin...chalk...as used by gymnasts...
"One immediate consequence of my introduction to gymnastics in the fall of 1954 was to adopt the use of chalk in rock climbing and buildering activities - a simple innovation that, once introduced to fellow climbers, evoked a more athletic view of rock climbing."
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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Jun 20, 2018 - 08:44am PT
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Brian.
That is strange. A French Font guide written and/or edited by Font noblesse Montchaussé and Godoffe is crediting John Gill for resin. But thank you for correcting me. Climbing history is extremely full of "fake facts".
Ed: Resin/poff should have been magnesie. The guide is perfectly alright on this point. It was my quick reading jumping too fast forward that took magnesie for poff. Thanks, Brian.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Jun 20, 2018 - 06:53pm PT
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That is strange. A French Font guide written and/or edited by Font noblesse Montchaussé and Godoffe is crediting John Gill for resin. But thank you for correcting me. Climbing history is extremely full of "fake facts".
Resin never really made it to the US. Gill never used it as far as I know---nor did anyone else. Although French climbers got it on their hands, it was primarily used to help with shoe rubber adhesion (in the days before "sticky rubber" probably made resin obsolete). Resin was made to keep rubber drive belts from slipping on pulleys. It was balled up in a bandanna and smacked on the shoe soles. It seemed to me to be a little too effective; the boulder problems in Fontainbleau developed characteristic black smears from resinated shoe rubber.
As for chalk, I bouldered for a week or two in Fontainbleau in 1970 and saw no evidence of chalk anywhere and met no French climbers who used it.
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Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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Jun 20, 2018 - 08:12pm PT
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Funny...I've got a 1991 (translated into English in 2001) "Fontainebleau Climbs" guidebook.
In a history box on page 36 it talks to the debate between resin and chalk. Says:
"Chalk is widely used by gymnasts because it absorbs sweat and not surprisingly it was a gymnast - John Gill - who started using it on climbs in the United States in the fifties."
In the history section in the front of the book, it talks about shoes:
"1982 Sticky Rubber
Yvon Chouinard revolutionized climbing when he injected resin into the soles of rock shoes." (etc).
Good stuff! Ha ha...
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Jim Clipper
climber
from: forests to tree farms
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Jun 20, 2018 - 11:32pm PT
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Maybe that last video should be a part of the safety orientation in every climbing gym,(and pay that poor kid a few shekels).
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plund
Social climber
OD, MN
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Jun 21, 2018 - 06:58am PT
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That vid is also on the "Black Hills Gold" DVD, along with some other pretty crunchy stuff, including a dude busting off a crystal sidepull & somehow managing to hold the barn-door. Definitely a palm-sweat inducer.
Bonus footage of Verm shotgunning a breakfast Pilsner Urquel...
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DWB
climber
Madison
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Jun 21, 2018 - 07:13am PT
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Great film - friction addiction black hills gold. That was Curt Love breaking a hold on Iron Lingerie at Sylvan Lake.
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