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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
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Shlitz , eb's , and the skinny swami belt...when life was simpler...
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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I remember a poster or picture of Lynn Hill on the Pirate at Adventures Unlimited there in Orange. Super inspirational to a kid that only done some top ropes at Rubberdux and a couple pitches up Hard Lark, and one pitch on Weeping Wall.
Finally got to walking around that side one day after leading Spatula or Nawab (which is the corner?). Saw that thin stuff and was just like "That's impossible"
You guys doing that steep slab sh#t were beyond comprehension! Seeing that rope trick on the knob reminds me about my own rope shenanigans elsewhere (much later). Pure fun trying make things happen with your buds is what its all about!
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guyman
Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
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Aug 16, 2014 - 12:37pm PT
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I found this one, buried in the closet. I think Im getting close to finding a whole bunch of old stuff...
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Aug 16, 2014 - 08:19pm PT
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Boogie Chillun chillin’ at the base of Johnny Quest, 1984/5.
Left To Right: Margie Floyd, DE, Pat Brennan, Henny, Carrie a.k.a. Old-ass Hippie, Kelly Carignan.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Aug 16, 2014 - 08:43pm PT
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Going cordless on Flower of High Rank, circa 1984/5
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Sam E
Boulder climber
Malibu
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Aug 17, 2014 - 07:15am PT
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These pictures and stories are awesome. Thanks for the routes, the history and the stoke!
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looking sketchy there...
Social climber
Lassitude 33
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Aug 17, 2014 - 03:24pm PT
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That rope toss was no easy feat. Several of us took turns, honing the technique until, miraculously, it looped over the knob. We all gave the moves over the lip a try, but none of us were fully committed to giving it our all, since we lacked a degree of confidence in the knob's integrity. And, yes, we had a back-up belay "just in case."
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Aug 17, 2014 - 05:01pm PT
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Roy,
Great to see these shots from your archives! FOHR looks great, but I hate to admit that I never did it in the 1970s, then moved away. So, it's still on my list!
Randy-That photo is a perfect example of the laughs and adventures that epitomized the So Cal climbing experience in those days.
Rick
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henny
Social climber
The Past
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Aug 17, 2014 - 11:27pm PT
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Ricky, I find it hard to believe that you never did the Flower, in fact, I'm not sure I can believe it. It certainly still needs to be on your hit list.
My schedule gave me an afternoon to swing by the little stone today. Rather hot but still good as always. Johnny and I even managed to get the bonus points for shutting the crag down (haha DE, I think I'm starting to pull away from you.) Being there late in the day refreshed in my memory how absolutely awesome the alpenglow on Tahquitz is as the sun sets. That, right there, is one of the great treats you get on a summer evening. I had almost forgotten just how rich and vibrant the color can be.
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henny
Social climber
The Past
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Aug 18, 2014 - 08:02am PT
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Roy, I'm with Ricky, thanks for posting the pictures. Funny thing with pictures like that, it brought back a vague memory of being there the day that group photo was taken. Only question is, where's Washoe?
Guy, who's the young looking one at the base of Rebolting? Haha. Oh, boy - sigh.
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Jamesthomsen
Social climber
Mammoth Lakes, California
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Aug 18, 2014 - 12:10pm PT
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Wow Ed, thanks for starting this thread! What great memories , climbing there and sitting around the old Tarzana Mountain Shop with you, Greg B., Dan M. Jim W, and everyone else talking about the new routes just done or being worked on. I sure remember "rebolting development" being an ongoing discussion. 1971 I think?
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Sioux Juan
Big Wall climber
Costa mesa
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Aug 18, 2014 - 12:50pm PT
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guyman
Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
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Aug 18, 2014 - 01:36pm PT
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Henny.... Don't remember being that young! Not with Black Hair at least.
I do recall trying Rebolting... try being the word. I fell 3 or 4 times trying to get the stand up to clip the 3rd (??) bolt.... Shawn Curtis did a great job belaying by running down hill, stopping me a few feet off the deck, every time!!
It became sort of routine.
They sure don't make climbs like that anymore.
And I like the fact that there are no helmets, what were WE thinking???
and zero belay devices, too.
Sioux .... give that one to peter hann to fix.... I recall the time we carried Bullwinkle down in the rain and gave him to the EMTs. One hour later he was back! thanking us for the carry down!!!
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Sioux Juan
Big Wall climber
Costa mesa
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Aug 18, 2014 - 05:23pm PT
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good one Guy you remember..................the photo is so bad
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Sioux Juan
Big Wall climber
Costa mesa
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Aug 18, 2014 - 06:02pm PT
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henny
Social climber
The Past
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Aug 18, 2014 - 06:19pm PT
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Yesterday I saw something that was slightly depressing. The money tree on the trail has been chain sawed out of the way. A rather large section where you used to duck under it (with the predominance of the money in it) has been freshly cut out and rolled down the hill. While it made hiking easier it somehow felt wrong.
Sioux Juan, you have a rough date for that rescue picture? Fun detective stuff - I assume it is right by the road. The shortness of the hill means it would have been back when the trail was right by the water tanks at the hard right hand uphill turn in the road, instead of down where the trailhead is now.
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Sioux Juan
Big Wall climber
Costa mesa
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Aug 19, 2014 - 04:33am PT
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henny for such a old picture you got it right. I think it was 1973 ? my first day on the rock and yes I was climbing with bull ....he had another moment on the 2nd pitch of serpentine that had me do the third pitch ! a good introduction to a first day on a rope..............
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dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
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Aug 20, 2014 - 05:16pm PT
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I promised the Acapulco Bill story and here it is. I have included several comments from Sketchy.
THE GUILLOTINE
I was 16 or 17 (1974) and still in high school when this took place. We were up at Suicide, I was there with Randy V. and Spencer L, We were over on the North side and somehow Randy ended up belaying this guy "Bill" on the Guillotine. I'm not sure how they hooked up but back then we would just troll around and get belays from anyone and everyone at the crags. The scene was small and we knew most everyone. Anywho, Bill was on the lead with RV belaying. Bill was not solid but he was driven to advance his climbing skills. It could have been the first time we met Bill.
Spencer and I were sitting down and to the right slightly from the belay ledge which is a bit above the talus, as you guys know. Bill was shaky but kept advancing up the climb in spurts. He was having trouble placing pro and a couple pieces were placed blindly from a lieback position. These were wobbleing hexes and none looked good. At some point he started running it out, he was a ways up at that point.
We watched with increasing nervousness as he got farther and farther out there. At one point he came to a fixed pin and was so sketched that he put his finger through the eye while trying to compose himself. By now, those of us on the ground were starting to freak out a bit. Randy was standing in the most ready hip belay position possible and Bill had everyone’s attention for 50 yards in both directions with his panicked moans, whimpering and yelps.
RV [He had a hex or other piece of gear about 15 feet below the roof (deep behind the "flake"). The fall Bill was facing would be long and likely cause him to swing into the flake, risking (at least it seemed to me) being sliced by the flake. Fortunately(?!), this piece pulled when he fell and he headed pretty much down the clean slab to the right of the flake. The next piece -- the one you mention next...]
It was clear that his last piece was dangerously near his halfway point, rendering a ground fall a distinct probability or worse. Spencer and I moved over to Randy’s position to assist with the belay if possible. The plan was to fling off the ledge and run downhill if Bill blew. It seemed like the only way to prevent the catastrophic event which seemed inevitable. Bill couldn’t clip the pin and just decided to go for it. You know how there are some sucker flakes that tempt the leader to abandon the main flake and go right? Well, that’s what he did, he launched out right into no-man’s land.
He made a several completely desperate undercling moves and BOOM, he was off! I looked up to see his body silhouetted against the sky and lazy coils of rope drifting down with him. Randy was yarding in rope like a madman, like someone’s life depended on it because, well…….it did! I can’t remember if they went with the fling and run, Randy would.
The sound was horrendous. He screamed and he hit the rock several times emptying his lungs. There were the ugly sounds of an accelerating mass ripping through the air like a rock falling and people screaming in the background. I might have been one of them.
(RV- he screamed and fell, stopped screaming and realized he was still falling and screamed again)
RV- (We all later joked that Bill had fallen so far, he had time to scream twice -- funny, yet true).
When he stopped he was inches from the ground.
RV-(absolutely true -- but it may have been 18-24 inches. What was amazing was that his fall line and where he stopped were free of ledges and boulders at the base).
The Riverside Mtn. Rescue Group was there practicing and before we knew it they had him strapped into the Stokes litter and he was out of there.
RV-(I recall that we may have quipped -- probably before the fall (MHU("Mobile Harassment Unit")), but I'd like to think that it was after -- that Bill had picked the perfect day to die in complete safety).
He was basically unhurt and I think he was even back in Humber that evening.
RV-(Absolutely true -- and drank more than a couple beers too).
He went on to have several more famous big ones. Years later he told me about soloing the East Face of Whitney and getting off route on 5.9 variation and almost dying again. The sad thing was he died soloing the Nose in bad conditions years later. He dropped the bag with his bivvy gear, sleeping bag etc. from near El Cap Tower but continued anyway. A bad storm came in and he died of hypothermia just below the top.
My memory of the famous day may not be 100% accurate but it’s pretty close. Randy and I reminisced about it fairly recently.
Footnote: When I soloed the South Face of the Column later the same year the only rope I could find around Camp 4 to borrow was the rope Bill fell on. Due to a mistake I made high on the South Face at one point I was facing a 300 foot fall with Bill’s rope clipped to the back of my harness! I was linking two pitches and was trying to stretch the rope to the stance, I untied the backup knot and unbeknownst to me it slipped through my Robbin’s style self belay setup. I was climbing the last 15-20 feet to the stance and looked down to see no lead rope, just a few lonely pieces of pro and the haul rope dangling below me. I was very careful on those last moves to the stance.
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
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Aug 20, 2014 - 07:53pm PT
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Dee EE...I heard that story about Acupulco Bill from Steve Mackay back in 75...He fell so far he had time to scream twice...Never knew if that was a true story or not...? 40 years later i learn the truth...that's what i call closure...
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StahlBro
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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Aug 20, 2014 - 08:38pm PT
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Not a whole lot better, but hope it helps
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