Chuck Clance appreciation Thread

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Fogarty

climber

BITD

Topic Author's Reply - Jun 14, 2017 - 09:18pm PT

Rip, my old friend, it is sad and true☺️

Petch

Gym climber

knapsack crack

Jun 14, 2017 - 09:59pm PT

Bummer.

Cheers my friend 🍻

Russ Walling

Social climber

from Poofters Froth, Wyoming

Jun 14, 2017 - 10:05pm PT

Well that sucks... we're running out of them sorta guys. RIP to Clance. Damn...

BLUEBLOCR

Social climber

joshua tree

Jun 14, 2017 - 10:33pm PT

Wow...OW! i'm more than FUCING dislodged

mike whats ur number gimmie a call

Bad Climber

Trad climber

The Lawless Border Regions

Jun 15, 2017 - 06:44am PT

Wow. Adios, amigo. I was glad that our paths crossed. My life is better for having met you. Climb on, brother. The granite will be excellent, the pro bomber, the skies blue and clear.

BAd

shipoopoi

Big Wall climber

oakland

Jun 15, 2017 - 09:13am PT

that's a bummer, it was always good to see clance at the crags of yosemite and josh. rip brother, steve

CA Dreamin'

climber

Jun 15, 2017 - 10:58am PT

I'm sorry to hear of Chuck's passing. I have a couple of Chuck Clance stories that leave a wry grin on my face. Hopefully it will bring a little smile to those missing their friend.

I was a young college kid at UC Davis, getting in to climbing in the early 2000's when my friend and partner met Chuck. Chuck somehow ended up in my buddy's car on our way to the Phantom Spires. No big deal, I thought. The more the merrier. On the drive, Chuck regaled us with stories from Yosemite's yesteryear, when the climbers were "out there," in more ways than one. It seemed like Chuck was still in those yesteryear's on this day. He stumbled and bumbled his way from the parking lot to the Spires, and I was slightly alarmed if Chuck would make it through the day.

Well, my buddy and Chuck do some warm up climb on Middle Spire. Chuck's climbing was impressive given the epic trek from the car to the crag. Now, a fella and his woman friend were at the base, when my friend let them know the rope was coming down for their rap. He proceeded to lower the rope - not throw it - for their rap. It was standard operating procedure. It was even courteous to lower the rope, and it shouldn't have been a big deal. It turned into a big deal. Maybe the proximity of the rope disturbed this guy's chi, broke his bliss, and maybe he wanted to impress his lady friend, and he launched into my friend and Chuck for what he felt was their incompetent rappel behavior. And he wouldn't stop. I'm standing at the pack when Chuck walks over, unzips the lid, pulls out his gun, and in a barely audible stammer, mutters "we can settle this now if you want." Without seeing the gun, the guy dropped his rant, the gun went back in to the pack, and I breathed a sigh of relief as if I had just clipped a bolt after a long run out. As the innocent, blond haired, blue eyed, Christian church boy, this rocked my world. Chuck belayed me on my first 5.9 lead that day. While still being that blond haired, blue eyed, Christian guy years later, I'm drastically less innocent and more world aware - likely a good thing - partially thanks to Chuck.

As a quick post-script to that story, I ran in to Chuck twice in the years following, once at the Leap and once in Tuolumne. He remembered me and was gracious, engaging, and friendly in each experience. At the Leap, I was encouraged that Chuck appeared to be doing well. He had a different aura about him that day. The experience five years ago in Tuolumnne makes me laugh. I was with my friends, Erik and Megan. Megan is a truly beautiful person, inside and out. Unsurprisingly, Chuck saw this and dropped the good-old "let's go climb Cathedral Peak today!" line on Megan. I can't help but wonder and laugh at how many times that line has been used on women in the Meadows? She was a good sport, laughed with Chuck, and politely informed him she was committed to climbing with Erik and I. Chuck smiled and we went about our day.

In a world of conformity, Chuck is a unique soul.

Bad Climber

Trad climber

The Lawless Border Regions

Jun 15, 2017 - 12:55pm PT

Great story, CA Dreamin'.

Rumor has it that, back in the day when he was working as a life guard/paramedic at the beach, he used a wood burning device to inscribe this on the back of one of the rescue boats:

"Kneelin', feelin', buns up and squealin'"

I don't think it went over well with his boss....

Carry on, wayward son.

BAd

pinckbrown

Trad climber

Woodfords, CA

Jun 15, 2017 - 04:44pm PT

RIP Chuck
I'm the one that introduced Chuck to climbing. We
climbed all the free time we had. For years and years.
Finally worked up the gumption to climb El Cap.
We hadn't even done a Grade IV. 90 % failure
rate at the time. 100 lb haul bag. 8 gal water.
No concept of quitting, to scared to rappel that
far. New Edelrid 2-3 fall 11 mil rope. 8 days
later we topped out. Flipped leads all the way.

I will never forget Chuck for as long as I live

Bob Pinckney

klaus

Big Wall climber

Florence & Normandy

Jun 15, 2017 - 06:32pm PT

A couple of Clance stories:

The Ghostbusters ascent of Tangerine Trip with Troy Johnson was in 1985 not '84. The premise behind it was that Carol Moyer had died on it some time before this on the solo while cleaning the infamous pitch 4 when her ascenders somehow became unattached from the rope (she was not tied to the end). She fell to the ground, and according to Chuck he saw a coyote eating her brains. Hence the Ghostbusters T-Shirts to prevent the ghost of Carol from haunting them during their ascent.

He invited me to a "base party" they were having on the night before they were to commit to the route. At the car he asked me to carry some of his gear for him, I said sure. He gave me a blue Forrest haulbag with no waist belt and 50 pounds of pitons in it. As soon as we left the car he stumbled into the ditch next to the road and passed out, likely from a mixture of pills and beer he had been consuming all day. He would not get up so I threw the haulbag down next to him figuring "fukc this" and left him on his own while I went up to the Party. Troy said "where is Clance?" I said he decided to sleep in the ditch by the road. The party was fun.

They somehow made it up the route without getting arrested. When they got back down Clance confided in me that he indeed saw the ghost of Carol on the route. She molested him one night in his portaledge and he knew it was for real because he sprayed semen in his sleeping bag.

Russ Walling

Social climber

from Poofters Froth, Wyoming

Jun 15, 2017 - 06:53pm PT

^^^^^

Damn!!!! Sounds about right.

A couple of tweaks... Carol was climbing with a friend of the Pocket Russian (not solo) and he was up at the belay while she was jugging and subsequently pitching. As for the coyote part, it could be true as not "everything" was found and recovered. I was on that one.

Most Clance stories can't be told... but...

He got super ripped one night and crawled into the wrong tent. This tent contained two girls that were sleeping... they kicked his ass inside the tent and he eventually fled. Cops nab him and his fresh shiner the next day, due to his wallet falling out in the tent during the scuffle. He claimed they attacked him or that it was not him but a guy that stole his wallet or some such lame story. He might have got the orange suit for that one.

klaus

Big Wall climber

Florence & Normandy

Jun 15, 2017 - 07:09pm PT

Later that year, 1985, I met Clane at Glen Park in SF to do some "bouldering". I was 19 years old. He said we had to get beer first. Sounded good to me. We arrived at the rocks in the canyon. He put on his Fire's and chalkbag and cracked open a beer. I had already had one on the hike in and was climbing.

He chalked up, sipped his beer, and launched into a nasty tirade against the many perceived slights he suffered from the women in his life. According to Clance all women were evil and will destroy your life. Except for Hookers who were OK because you knew what you were paying for. And in the end you WILL pay, Hooker or not. He continued with the misogynist rant until we were out of beer. He then smashed a bottle on the rocks at the base and declared that we were done bouldering. He never even got off the ground.

klaus

Big Wall climber

Florence & Normandy

Jun 15, 2017 - 07:13pm PT

I have better Clance stories but they can't be put in print.

Russ Walling

Social climber

from Poofters Froth, Wyoming

Jun 15, 2017 - 07:17pm PT

Yeah... that is the curse of being a legendary character. The road to legend is rarely fit to print.

I have a fave and will try to word it up later. Classic Clance including slurs, liquor, scared teens and a guy who looked sorta Middle Eastern throwing a rage fit at the base of El Cap, complete with violent threats. Good thing Clance was not packing back then or there would have been blood spilled me thinks. Wild times in the life of a wild man... He'll be missed by many.

mucci

Trad climber

The pitch of Bagalaar above you

Jun 15, 2017 - 07:25pm PT

Dude was bitchin, I was very sad to hear he passed.

Oh I got some more modern stories.....

"Bitch lesbian!"

rottingjohnny

Sport climber

Sands Motel , Las Vegas

Jun 15, 2017 - 07:29pm PT

Sorry i never met Chuck Clance...

Bad Climber

Trad climber

The Lawless Border Regions

Jun 15, 2017 - 08:43pm PT

Hah, Klaus, I remember that story. Classic Clancy. Ugh.

One quick one of his good side: A friend had taken a major screamer onto me WAY up on Middle Cathedral--blood, moaning, general chaos, but we weren't too wasted to get ourselves off, so we rapped, stumbled to the base and hitched to the infirmary. A few Frankenstein stitches and much squirming later, I stumbled out into the night, happy to be generally ok. Days later, after not seeing Clance for a while, he calls me just to check in, see if I'm okay, genuinely concerned and sweet--a friend looking out for a buddy who'd been through a harrowing experience. I really appreciated that. He was a good dude as long as he didn't get too deep into the juice.

BAd

Russ Walling

Social climber

from Poofters Froth, Wyoming

Jun 15, 2017 - 08:50pm PT

I remember him telling me about when he lived above or next door to the Mitchell Brothers Theatre (porn pioneers) and all the various encounters and escapades. Dude had more outrageous experiences in a month (every month) than most "normal" people have in a lifetime.

Edit: This is a good read. Hunter S. and Clance were probably bros. Timeframe seems about right.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitchell_Brothers_O%27Farrell_Theatre