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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Here's that cartoon of philo's that he referred to in an earlier post.
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philo
Trad climber
boulder, co.
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I was just reeling from the news of Jim Anglin's death and thankfully saw a new post in the Black Canyon thread.
Thanx eeyonkee I needed a smile.
What is hard to see on the scanned version is the bag of halloween mini-snickers I foolishly thought would suffice for wall food. Gag! And if you look closly I am holding a pack of Camel straights with a neat pile of butts on top of my pack. I smoked a whole pack of those nasty sticks freting about my lady in waiting's inevitable 'welcome home'.
I don't think most people are aware that the 'toons in the guide book are all based on true events. There is lots of esoteric detail in them like the pack logo for Barney's Bogus Biner Barn and fast food emporiom. Where you could get some very used gear and a "lunch to boot". (Think Patagonian dark humour.) I would draw them during breaks while teaching for two years in Texas. Then I would xerox them and write a letter on the back side to the personality involved. It was how I stayed connected.
There is a story for every one even the unpublished ones. Just don't ask what e.b.f.s.g.n.c. stands for.
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Philo - here's my personal favorite from Black Canyon Rock Climbs.
I love this guidebook. Pretty cool to learn that these cartoons are based on real events.
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Tahoe climber
Trad climber
a dark-green forester out west
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man, thank you guys so much for continuing this thread.
this is why i keep coming back to the forum.
much respect.
if any of you have more Black stories, i'd love to hear them.
Respectfully,
Aaron
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
Otto, NC
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Um Leonard, I gotta ask--
What kind of cutting-edge footwear ya got there in that photo?
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lcoyne
Big Wall climber
Byron Bay, Australia
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Hey Rob (Rhoto),
I had to go back and have a look at the photo. Those are Blundstones (great Australian working boot, good for hiking also, even good for desert cracks...wide hands and up). Wasn't climbing in them though. That climb (Silent Rage) is a rap in, climb out affair and I'd slipped into them when I got to the top.
On the topic of Blundstones I use them a lot on wide cracks since I can't find high top boots anymore. Anyone know of any climbing boots that cover ones ankles nowadays???
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
Otto, NC
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Mostly I surf Ebay for my old favorites, which will eventually surface from the bottom of someone's closet who bought 'em and never used 'em. I think JB/Acopa may be making some now?
So I was peering across from the Porcelain Arete at something resembling that Silent Rage wall, I think. Looked like sweet rock, and real shady.
Perhaps you can tell me if this story has any basis: RR from Chattanooga gets elaborate beta for the Stratosfear, including how to lower down and stash crux rack, water, etc., only to arrive in the canyon, take one look at the wall, and declare his disinterest?
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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hey there philo.. say as to this quote:
"I don't think most people are aware that the 'toons in the guide book are all based on true events"
say, thanks for letting folks know... it makes for twice the insight, and appreciation when one sees them.... thanks for "bearing your heart" in your "creative toons"....
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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hey there philo...say, keep on "wallowing" in the past glory.... as to your quote:
"Back when I actually was a climber I didn't talk much about it. Sort of the Gunnison way. Now that my juvenile juice has turned to geriatric jelly I am more inclined to wallow in perceived past glory. We should gather for a brew and a BS session sometime."
it is not "perceived" it is very good hard-earned work-trophies, needing to get shared, so it won't fade, tarnish, or get lost in some dusty old closet...... glories are to be share--howbeit, humbly.... and you are doing RIGHT-FINE...
none climbers like me, we even love to walk along side and listen. :)
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 6, 2007 - 01:05am PT
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Yes Philo,
(Bob D & Leonard et al)
Please pen up another "Tale of the Black" won't you?
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lcoyne
Big Wall climber
Byron Bay, Australia
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Now here's one of the better Black Canyon plummets I've heard about. Occurred in January of this year...
Rangers responded to a report of a vehicle that had crashed through the fence at Tomichi Point Overlook and had apparently gone down into the canyon at approximately 4:30 p.m. on Monday afternoon. The reporting party, a Delta Montrose Electric Association Employee reading meters in the park, indicated that he had hiked to the vehicle and found one passenger who was alive and able to communicate.
Upon arriving on the scene about 5:00 p.m., rangers found a gold Kia, four-door sedan wedged between the cliff and the side of the canyon facing upslope about 400 feet below Tomichi Point. The driver of the vehicle, a 31 year old male visiting the area, was alert and oriented when rangers reached him.
Members of the Montrose County Sheriff’s Office and the Montrose Fire Protection District arrived shortly after park rangers to assist with patient care and extrication of the driver from the vehicle. Due to the steepness of the canyon, snow cover, and uneven terrain, resources from the Montrose Sheriff’s Posse Search and Rescue team and park rangers set up a haul system to pull the driver out of the canyon using a litter and a pulley system.
The rescue took about four hours and over two dozen rescuers. The driver of the vehicle was transported to Montrose Memorial Hospital. His condition is currently stable. The National Park Service is still investigating the accident.
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golsen
Social climber
kennewick, wa
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Damn, surprised that driver didnt die of a heart attack!
No stories but here are some pics of the Stoned Oven,
I always for get the name of htis pitch but that sideways chimneying is unique.
Topping out.
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Can you say Womb Fight?. When I did Moveable Stoned Voyage earlier this year, we opted for the original Stoned Voyage finish, which avoided this pitch. It involves a very short section of 5.11+ face climbing followed by a 5.10+ offwidth. Did the Womb Fight finish when I did the actual Stoned Voyage in 1990. You gotta do that one at least once. It's so improbable that it goes as easy as it does.
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philo
Trad climber
boulder, co.
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The "Say What" cartoon was another time I took Dave off-route in the Black on a climb I'd done before. This one is on Black Jack and was probably the first. For some reason I managed to get lost repeating routes with Dave. It got to be a local joke. "Off route-In the Black-with Phil-again".
It's a wonder he kept climbing with me.
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philo
Trad climber
boulder, co.
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I hope this isn't too long. I call it "Clearing trend Tuesday"
Jimmy Newberry - the patron saint of the Black Canyon - taught us to always bring a ‘Radiant’ - a small 9v transistor radio - on adventures. Over the years there have been many ’Radiant-carnations’ but I am always oddly gratified to see Jimmy still has one. Jim Nigro and I took up the radio practice to keep abreast of the weather when we were working on Painted Wall routes. There was this country western station from Montrose that we could tune in for regular weather reports. Not right but regular. We were amp-ed when we heard the weather weasel proclaim “clearing trend Tuesday”. Assured that the window we had been waiting for was finally there we headed down into the ’Ditch” that Monday. Hauling all our crap down the SOB to the base of the Painted Wall we fixed the first few pitches planning on climbing the rest of the wall in one push. Reassured by our country western weather forecast we settled in to a deluxe sand bar bivy and awaited what was sure to be a grand day of ascent. So it was with some surprise and much consternation when I was awoken early Tuesday from my disturbing dreams of rafting and drowning to a steady down pour and a diminishing sand bar.
Older “Black-Cats “ will likely remember that there use to be a little fishing camp down on the sand bar. This groovy little camp used to have a cool little table ingeniously constructed out of bits of lashed together drift wood. Well I am here to tell you don’t bother looking for it when your down there. In all that waterlogged wilderness the only thing we could find to get a fire going with was that little bit of canyon history. From predawn and into the next dreary day we regretfully broke off first one small piece then another and another till eventually we had gleefully torched the bulk of the tinder dry table. The next day, our clearing trend Tuesday, was spent in the rain retrieving sodden ropes and gear, miserably sloshing back out the SOB and driving back to Gunnison defeated.
Having eventually dried and regrouped we went back. Once again armed with an encouraging weather forecast. This time it was a “Clearing trend Tuesday” again heard from the same country western station and pronounced by the same weather weasel. You think we would have learned but no this time it almost killed us. We had decided to approach the climb differently. Where before we had fixed a few pitches planning on sleeping by the river and blasting to the top in one push. This time we used Monday to get 2/3rds of the way up the wall planning to bivy and climb thru the to the top on Tuesday, After all there was a clearing trend. Tuesday right? Sleeping fitfully at the Hanoi Hilton I was again awoken to troubled skies. Lightning was already brewing in the west and the rain was coming down steadily.
Come to think of it wasn’t the weather that actually woke me up it was Nigro. Coming to consciousness a little before me he noticed the lap of my bivy sac was pooled up with rain water. Never being one to turn down a free drink of water in the Black he promptly and with out warning buried his face in my crotch and proceeded to slop up the rain water like a dog. Waking up to this unusual experience I thought in horror that my long term Climbing buddy had gone rogue on me and I was trapped with no place to hide. I was hoping this was just another bad dream. “ What the hell are you doing Jim” I asked? He croaked “water”. Understanding helped alleviate my immediate fears but in his reckless dash for hydration he dumped all of the rain water off of his bivy sac leaving me not high but dry.
Dawn feebly became apparent. Going up was out of the question. The wall was veritably drooling. The whole day of our “clearing trend Tuesday” was spent in desperate retreat. Bailing off the Painted Wall is never casual. But in a storm and from up on high it was a real adventure. We occupied and entertained ourselves with thoughts of what vile and despicable things we would do to the weather weasel should we survive. Of course the “slog of shame” with full wall gear and mudslides was a burly joy that took till past dark. But the real life threatening adventure didn’t begin till we started the drive home.
The Black Mesa Road, unlike it’s civilized big bother the Blue Mesa Road, travels the convoluted rim of the North side of the Black. From Crawford to the Blue Mesa Dam It’s 2 narrow lanes of asphalt take the longest distance between two points. But it is usually the quickest access for Gunnison climbers to get to the Black. Built on alluvial hill sides the road was always sloughing and being repaired. But on this night, this “clearing trend Tuesday” night, it was nearly the death of us repeatedly. I will never forget Jim’s heroic drive back to Gunnison in his frumpy but stalwart little VW square back. Though Jim will say I slept through it all stating as evidence that my head bouncing off the side window proved it. I in my own defense would say that was only my desperate attempt to beat the terror out of my head. Okay so maybe I did sleep a little being utterly exhausted and all but all the swerving, bouncing, thunder and lightning made it really hard to rest. Dodging and weaving and staying on the road was epic! Not to mention the pounding rain and hail. I ask you how could anyone sleep through that?
By then the weather had worsened to the point of seriously torrential with sky wide flashes of lightening and thunder powerful enough to rattle Jim’s Veewee across whole lanes of slick pavement either towards the cliff face on the left or the abyss on the right. Either way didn’t seem good. But what really made that drive so extra, extra special was the road bed. Even though it was paved with layer upon layer of asphalt it had become fluid like ground in an earthquake. As we traveled huge sections, sometimes more than a lane wide, would cave off into the canyon right in front of us. Other times the whole road bed would pucker and buckle like a moving wave launching the valiant VW in haphazard directions. What could be worse you might ask. Well in a word mudslides! Jim would not only have to watch the ever disintegrating road ahead of him but would as well have to be thoroughly vigilant to the dangers of multiple mudslides from the side. He learned that lesson when the first big one threatened to either engulf us or sweep us over the edge. If not for Jim’s incredibly skill full driving and keen awareness we certainly would not have made it! And I certainly wouldn’t have gotten what little sleep I did. It helps to fully trust your partner whether he is crotching you on a big wall or careening you in a car.
Irritatingly the very next day dawned fresh and bright and innocent of all the previous tempest. Just another beautiful sunny Colorado clearing trend Wednesday. AAAARRRGH! The road took four months to rebuild
making the drive to get to the North Rim (on Wednesdays) longer but infinitely safer. Even if that route would take us dangerously close to the country western weather weasel.
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Dang, Philo! You've had some adventures in the Black, Sheesh!
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
Otto, NC
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Now the biggest problem with that road (besides it being 1334845 miles of curves) is the g^&**&%#^&%*um deer. I think you need a hunting license to drive it at dusk. Inevitably, one is already exhausted from the climbing, and the satisfaction of topping out in the daylight is immediately overwhelmed by the sustained attention required to negotiate the 1500 hairpins and video-game style pop-up fauna. Lately I've taken to driving home over McClure Pass to I-70, which is perhaps a bit longer but has the added virtue of avoiding the equally hairy Buena Vista deer gauntlet.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 8, 2007 - 10:12pm PT
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Good one Philo.
That road bed experience sounds frighteningly surreal.
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TwistedCrank
climber
Ideeho
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Nov 16, 2007 - 01:07pm PT
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Bump. It's been a week without a post here.
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lcoyne
Big Wall climber
Byron Bay, Australia
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Nov 17, 2007 - 04:43pm PT
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In the interest of keeping Roy (aka TarBuster) happy here are some old, old photos.
I like the rack in this photo of the Air Voyage offwidth. Taken around 1976.
Here's Randy Leavitt beginning the traversing pitches on Stratosfear (circa 1982).
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