Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
|
|
|
Feb 22, 2018 - 10:35pm PT
|
^^ that is a GREAT shot! The joyful boy still shines through.
I’m really grateful for the role models of the climbing world that have opened my eyes to the possibilities of aging. I’ve gained so much from following their routes, and I hope that I gain even more following their example in my later years.
|
|
justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
|
|
|
Feb 23, 2018 - 05:40am PT
|
I don't think the Yosemite pioneers will really be forgotton.. If anything, I see more interest in recording thier stories and more books and documntaries being made. Sites like this one record a lot of this history for posterity.
There is always going to be some disconnect with certain age groups and people outside the California/Yosemite bubble- but when has that not been the case? There is just a much larger number of climbers nationwide these days. It may take a few decades for the millenials to take an interest.
@ NutAgain!- not suprising you didn't recognize most of the names. The Walk is for sale to anyone who has done... anything... in the entertainment industry (including off screen). All they need is a nomination from a friend and $30,000.00 . The Hollywood Chamber of Congress does have to agree though.
Funny factoid: "The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which oversees the awarding of this singular honor, announced in 2013 that [Kim] Kardashian is unworthy of being walked upon by tourists because, as a reality TV star, she lacks a key attribute: talent."
|
|
Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
|
|
|
Feb 23, 2018 - 07:49am PT
|
"Celluloid Heroes"
Everybody's a dreamer and everybody's a star,
And everybody's in movies, it doesn't matter who you are.
There are stars in every city,
In every house and on every street,
And if you walk down Hollywood Boulevard
Their names are written in concrete!
Don't step on Greta Garbo as you walk down the Boulevard,
She looks so weak and fragile that's why she tried to be so hard
But they turned her into a princess
And they sat her on a throne,
But she turned her back on stardom,
Because she wanted to be alone.
You can see all the stars as you walk down Hollywood Boulevard,
Some that you recognise, some that you've hardly even heard of,
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.
Rudolph Valentino, looks very much alive,
And he looks up ladies' dresses as they sadly pass him by.
Avoid stepping on Bela Lugosi
'Cos he's liable to turn and bite,
But stand close by Bette Davis
Because hers was such a lonely life.
If you covered him with garbage,
George Sanders would still have style,
And if you stamped on Mickey Rooney
He would still turn round and smile,
But please don't tread on dearest Marilyn
'Cos she's not very tough,
She should have been made of iron or steel,
But she was only made of flesh and blood.
You can see all the stars as you walk down Hollywood Boulevard,
Some that you recognise, some that you've hardly even heard of.
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.
Everybody's a dreamer and everybody's a star
And everybody's in show biz, it doesn't matter who you are.
And those who are successful,
Be always on your guard,
Success walks hand in hand with failure
Along Hollywood Boulevard.
I wish my life was a non-stop Hollywood movie show,
A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes,
Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain
And celluloid heroes never really die.
You can see all the stars as you walk along Hollywood Boulevard,
Some that you recognise, some that you've hardly even heard of,
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.
Oh celluloid heroes never feel any pain
Oh celluloid heroes never really die.
I wish my life was a non-stop Hollywood movie show,
A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes,
Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain
And celluloid heroes never really die.
Ray Davies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh23A2GptAQ
|
|
guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
|
|
|
Feb 23, 2018 - 01:15pm PT
|
That Frost smile is worth gold! Kind of makes one ponder, he just might enjoy climbing.......
|
|
jeff constine
Trad climber
Ao Namao
|
|
|
Feb 23, 2018 - 02:52pm PT
|
Bev Johnson was super cool, got to climb with her a bunch in the late 80's up until her death on April 3, 1994. I was set to go on a trip to Kelly Wy with Bev 2 weeks before her death, got a phone call from my Dad saying her and Mike Hover and the President of Disney had a bad accident while Heliskiing. I cried a bunch, it was the day before by birthday. R.I.P Bev.
|
|
Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
|
|
|
Feb 23, 2018 - 03:13pm PT
|
My introduction to climbing began in September 1961. In a few other threads I’ve related the details of that introduction. You may have read from The Original Vulgarian:
“I spent the entire Saturday climbing at Stoney in a pair of John’s mountain boots two sizes too small for me. He took me around the entire area, climbing everything in sight. By the end of the day I could barely lift my arms. I was exhausted - but was I stoked!
That evening at John’s apartment, … , John [Hansen] filled me with Gerwurztraminer and tales from his Vulgarian Shawangunks days. Well into the evening he talked about mountaineering – famous European and American climbers and climbing history. He pulled six mountaineering books off his shelf and insisted I take them home and read them.”
My reading list included:
Gaston Rebuffat’s Starlight and Storm
Lionel Terray’s Conquistadors of the Useless
Maurice Herzog’s AnnapurnaS
Edward Whymper’s Scrambles Amongst the Alps
Clarence King’s Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada
A.F. Mummery’s My Climbs in the Alps and the Caucasus
Needless-to-say, my “introduction” included a basic history lesson. The Golden Age of Yosemite had just begun. Books covering that Age did not yet exist. Any Yosemite history was brief and oral, but John filled in what he knew from Anderson through Salathe, Steck, Harding, Robbins, Frost, Chouinard, and Pratt.
In September of 1962, I completed my first Yosemite climb (Higher Cathedral Spire) and finished off Hansen’s reading list. A pile of back issues of Summit Magazine brought me pretty much up-to-date.
I had acquired a respectable background in the history of climbing and most importantly I had, and still retain, considerable respect for that history. Should be a required prerequisite to calling yourself a climber.
|
|
mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
|
|
|
Feb 23, 2018 - 06:13pm PT
|
I say we get old Clint's head in a jar of clear fluid like they do on that Futurama dealie.
When you're done with it, of course, CC! :0)
|
|
guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
|
|
|
Feb 23, 2018 - 06:16pm PT
|
|
|
Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
|
|
|
Feb 23, 2018 - 07:29pm PT
|
Climbing history and the written word are far from dead and it comes down to the question of presentation and access. Bricks and mortar are dead but the ongoing history of the routes that we all share and the names behind the routes and their attendant adventures boils down to how many clicks in it all is. Those of us who emptied out the library shelves like myself are now trying to distill all of those accounts down to their compelling essence in the hope that interested souls will hunger for more and seek it out.
When I started the North American Climbing History Archives(NACHA) back in 2014 it was with this mission: To gather,document and celebrate climbing history in image, word and artifact with special emphasis on personalities and events in North America and fostering climbing culture.
Toward that end I have posted thousands of images and scanned article pages on this forum and organized many historical gatherings to allow younger climbers to connect directly with the events and estimable climbers that set the table for what is going on in the world of climbing now.
We all stand on the shoulders of those who came before us and knowing more about our collective experience enriches us all while we step out and learn what we can on rock and ice.
Life is too short to be willingly ignorant.
|
|
guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
|
|
|
Feb 23, 2018 - 07:39pm PT
|
Nice Steve and a big guy like you can get away with saying "Life is too short!"................
|
|
Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
|
|
|
Feb 23, 2018 - 08:18pm PT
|
With heroes like Pratt, YC and your estimable ass I come by my adulation honestly...
|
|
Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
|
|
|
Feb 25, 2018 - 02:26am PT
|
Freddy are you keeping any narrative history of the Swell, especially the Dylan wall. Ought to be doable since it's mostly you!
|
|
jogill
climber
Colorado
|
|
|
Feb 25, 2018 - 05:18pm PT
|
Wikipedia page views: Dave Rearick, Bob Kamps = 2 or 3 a day. Chuck Pratt = 33 per day. Tom Frost = 49 per day. No page for Mark Powell. Warren Harding = 100+ per day. Royal Robbins = 203 per day. Yvon Chouinard = 554 per day.
Roughly speaking, the luminaries are remembered. Many of those who were just as good, not so much.
|
|
Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2018 - 01:22am PT
|
To answer the question: yes.
|
|
Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2018 - 09:04am PT
|
A somewhat less than Merry outlook from a fine and brave man recently described as a "Bad Ass Motherf*#ka" by a admiring young lady. Believe it brother.
The question is one of easy access to relevant history and not the content of your character or accomplishments which will certainly live on. We just don't have much climbing culture in this country which I am trying to change.
I remember flying back to Seattle from the Outdoor Retailer show quite a while ago and pointing out one of our best to a bunch of folks sitting nearby. "That tall fellow on the left up there is Big Jim Whittaker, the first American to summit Mt. Everest in 63". They were appreciative but simply didn't recognize him despite his stature.
As the profile of climbing steadily rises as it has in the last two decades the readily available variety and depth of mountaineering history needs to keep pace. The general public is fascinated by climbing and always has been. The challenge is properly feeding that interest.
|
|
mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2018 - 09:56am PT
|
Americans seem to want it all NOW!
But the Euros have had climbing to appreciate and on which to comment since its inception.
The culture of climbing grew apace with those of the earliest European pioneers and spread to other lands.
I'm not surprised that Big Jim was unknown to that group you mentioned, Steve. One can hope that gym-rats and others will begin (sooner rather thatn later) to appreciate the outdoor venues more than they apparently do. When that starts happening, maybe we will see a greater general awareness of who those pioneers were and the importance of their FAs and other discoveries.
Meanwhile, keep your noses to the grindstone, Steve and Bullwinkle and Ken and Corbett and the rest.
|
|
Mike Friedrichs
Sport climber
City of Salt
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2018 - 10:30am PT
|
I would argue that the history has been preserved more in Yosemite than anywhere else in the U.S. There is also so much history in other areas of the country that weren't fortunate enough to have the writers and historians like Robbins, Frost, Long. I bet there were hard core climbers at places like the Tennessee Wall (I've never been), Devil's Lake, any number of "backwoods" places whose history has already been forgotten. I know we never documented anything back from the early days at Vedauwoo. There is some documented history here in the Wasatch but not all that much. Yosemite is fortunate in that there is a pretty well-preserved record of the pioneers.
|
|
August West
Trad climber
Where the wind blows strange
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2018 - 11:57am PT
|
Today, I don't see a lot interest in reading printed periodicals. Most of what seems to be consumed is web content, which is heavily laden with videos of current climbing comps, travelogues, and some bouldering. Where are these kids going to find any of this history out? Back when I first got into climbing, you actually had to have a magazine to read on the toilet. Now, sh#t, you have your smart phone!
There is a lot of history with the "web content" of this very supertopo site.
Although whether anybody under 40 is reading anything from this site, I couldn't tell ya.
|
|
RussianBot
climber
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2018 - 11:57am PT
|
Climbing is the new curling! I don’t know about you, but I’m rushing out to brush up on all our heroes from curling history. I’ll bet the rest of the world is doing the same for climbing.
|
|
Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2018 - 06:52pm PT
|
Now, barring some global cyber erasure of data, any person with a curious mind has access to endless data on everything
Before the Library of Alexandria burned, any person with a curious mind had access to endless data on everything. Paper and Papyrus are not very durable, and from my experience, neither are magnetic media or CDs. I don't know about solid-state thumb drives. But, without a working computer, none of that data is accessible.
Bronze statuary is pretty durable.
Maybe we could crowdfund a statue of Harding with a message in several languages, and swap out El Cap's "No Mud Falcons Allowed" sign.
Robbins' message could be where you divert from the cable trail to reach the NW face.
Bridwell could be at the Arch Rock entrance.
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!