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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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What Madsen might have done had he lived...
The death that got me more then anyone was the death of Paul Boving. I didn't know him but knew of him thru friends and his exploits. He had just written a very well done article in some NW climbing mag that talked about "climbing the calcium carbonate stairway to the stars", etc., just a very funny and well written article. Then when he died on Thin Fingers it seemed like a layer of gloom descended on Index and it wasn't such a happy place to climb for a long time. Does anyone have a copy of that article by Boving?
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Mike Bolte
Trad climber
Planet Earth
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Is this the Davis of Davis-Holland?
D-H with the Lovin' Arms finish is a all-time classic. Little bit of everything with some really big air at the top.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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No, it was Dan Davis on Davis-Holland.
[edit:] Yes, same guy for Dan's Dreadful Direct.
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Mike Bolte
Trad climber
Planet Earth
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Right Clint, now that you say it, I knew that.
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Dans Dreadful Direct?
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Sol Wertkin
climber
Leavenworth, WA
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As a current resident of L-town it has been really cool to watch this thread evolve.
My buddy Jens and I had a fun training project last summer where we tried to link the best 15 5.11's in Leavenworth in one day (conditions permitting: No Drip Wall, No Midnight Rock). Of course many of these classics were established by the cadre of Hardmen in this thread, and it's been really cool to put some faces to the names. Here's a link to a little write up I did, thought it might jog the memories of some of you old-timers:
http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=883550
Great stuff here, keep it coming! Would love to hear some more stories from the Stuart Range...
Sol Wertkin
Leavenworth, WA
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mazamarick
Trad climber
WA
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Dan Davis? Dave Davis? Aren't they the same people? I'm confused.....
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Today's Trivia post. I won't bother to make it
a challenge as nobody would know it. Yes, campers,
I am the person who hung on his jugs for two hours
wielding his trusty trowel and alpine hammer in order
to sanitize this gem of a roadside attraction. You
should have seen the pile of moss (I know) at the bottom!
Its true name is 'Tongue In Cheek'. Not sure: '75?
When I first scoped it the quartz was barely visible!
After all these years it feels good to come out!
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Max
Social climber
outer space
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That's one excellent dike climb across the river. Unfortunately it's somewhat reclaimed as no one climbs over there. Did you have to go the long way around or were you able to take advantage of the off limits bridge? I'm not sure how long it's been there but it seems somewhat modern.
More!
Stories!
Please!
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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All right, if you insist. Again '74 or '75
I had just taken the missus up Outer Space. We were back at
the base packing up when the first drops started. It didn't
take long for them to get serious and as it was early spring
it was pretty nippy. Just as we were ready to head down we
heard sounds from above. We hadn't noticed anybody there the
whole day. Then we noticed their packs in an out-of-the-way spot.
It was really coming down as we went down. When we crossed the
creek I got out the binos. The three were at the wee ledge halfway
up the final crack. It was almost totally dark so I took all the
gear and sent the missus down for the mounties, or somesuch
facsimile. I stormed back up to the top and anchored my first rope
as low as I dared scramble in the dark and deluge. And it was a
proper NW deluge, believe me. I rapped down into the maelstrom
and started hollering. Then I anchored my second rope and tossed it.
Since it was blowing quite nicely I couldn't be sure it had made it
to them so I had to haul it up and re-toss it a couple of times.
Finally I got a reassuring tug and figured we'd all be back at the
Der in no time and I'd be drinking for free the rest of the night.
Right. What I hadn't counted on was their lack of preparedness to jug
while hypothermia set in. Actually it turned out that hypothermia had
already clouded their judgement as they later admitted it took them a
long time to get up the nerve to trust the rope from providence. What,
somebody is going to drop you a rope and not anchor it? It would have
helped also if they had jugs rather than jury-rigged prusiks.
It was a very long night.
The first rays of dawn greeted us as we stumbled into the 'mounties'
about 1/4 mile from the road. Gee, thanks guys, hate to have gotten
you out of your jammies! We repaired to the cafe for breakfast. This
is where it gets good. My 'clients' then proceeded to debate whether
they were going to buy me a new rope for the one that had gotten jammed
when we tried to pull it up. We were all pretty frozen at that point and
further heroics to retrieve a rope were deemed ill-advised. Finally, when
the rescue team started talking about passing the hat for me the wankers
relented and coughed up 40 bucks. Did I mention that they were, ahem,
from north of the border and two of them were actually quite famous?
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Lionheart
Trad climber
Brier, Wa.
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 10, 2010 - 04:43am PT
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Yeah Reilly, that reminds me of an early Spring shake-out of a route Rick LeDuc and I did. Remorse is another classic that criss-crosses Outerspace but ends in a coulour around a NE corner.
The wall was fine, but the last pitch walk-off was coated with ice. RD's aren't the best soles for ice dancing. (Remember RD's?) At a spot where most untie, I found myself spinning head first straight for LeDuc's left foot belaying just below the wall's crest. Had there not been a root-twisted snag in the way my head would've turned him into a three-legged horse. The fall was only 15 feet or so, but the scariest one I'd ever had.
We rapped down Country Gardens during twilight but the rope jammed above us with another rap to go. Then pitch black, no moon. I think it was Greg Markov who climbed that pitch with a metal flashlight in his mouth to rescue us. It had gotten so cold and his jaw so tired that he grumped at us like the grizzled old logger who must've named the town of Twisp.
Worth it tho'. LeDuc and I were in wool shirts and the temp was likely to drop to near freezing. Geez, the thought of hugging a man all night for warmth shivers my bones even now. (...Hmm-m, but that LeDuc fella is a handsome son-of-gun!) End of jammed rope story. And I can thank Markov for preserving my hetero-ness. Btw, is Greg Markov still out there?
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Mar 10, 2010 - 12:19pm PT
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all these tales of Snow Creek Wall. I'll add one. I was climbing Outer Space for the upteenth time with Glenn Nelson about 1984, then heading on into the Enchantments. There was a party of Brits about 2 pitches ahead of us moving moderately slow, we didn't crawl up their ass and gave them room. I had just started up the handcrack on the headwall as they were topping out. The crack is a perfect vertical splitter that runs for about 300 feet(?). I was up above Glenn about 40 feet when all of a sudden i head the unmistakable sound of incoming mortar round, I mean a rock. I just had time to pull into the rock slightly when it struck me in the shoulder and tore me from the crack. I was left hanging by one handjam and cried out to Glenn, "I'm hit!" The force of the impact was so great that I knew my shoulder had to be broken, but with the rush of adenalin and the shock of it all, I felt numb. I was running it out, so no gear for longways below me, so i knew I had to do something. I pulled in, and tested my shoulder and surprisedly enough it worked. I could lift my arm, got a piece in, hung and shook out. it tookme a few minutes to realize that I really wasn't hurt badly. The rock the size of a cannonball, had just missed the bone as I pulled in at the last second. so i had a big bruise but other then that I was ok. then i got pissed. The Brits had not yelled rock, and it was really irresponsible to knock off that rock knowing we were directly below. So I shifted into high gear and tried to catch them. But they must have known we were coming,(I yelled obscenitites) and they were gone. A very close call and something to think about if there is a party ahead of you on Outer Space, as where you topout it is dirty and manky and the same thing could probably happen again with a careless party as everything funnels down that crack from that area up top as it is kind of a drainage. I thank my lucky stars!
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Mar 10, 2010 - 12:27pm PT
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Don,
HaHaHa! Markov was just warming up for the Manfest he and I had
on Half Dumb. Yeah, that is a story: almost a winter ascent and
almost the first clean, neither of which would have compensated
for having to stand on a 6" ledge all night hugging Greg inside
an upside down 2-man bivy sack! Ok, we didn't actually hug but
how close is too close?
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Lionheart
Trad climber
Brier, Wa.
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 11, 2010 - 06:41am PT
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Ohh-h, so that explains the gigantic floating condom sitings of yesteryear in Yosemite. Mystery solved!
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11worth
Trad climber
Leavenworth & Greenwater WA
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Mar 11, 2010 - 11:32pm PT
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Reilly,
The photo you posted of Mike on the Tyrolian is actually Dan Davis.
Mike and I were climbing yesterday and he mentioned that fact. How do you know Mike?
Jim
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Mar 12, 2010 - 11:02am PT
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That was Dan Davis? I've been trying to remember who the
other 'star' was in that shoot but couldn't for the life of
me. I was one of the riggers on that shoot.
How do I know Mike? Well, he did own the Swallow's Nest.
Doesn't he remember all the business I sent his way when I
worked at the Evil Empire on Capitol Hill? Boy, there's
gratitude for ya. Just kidding, I knew Bill better I suppose.
A funny story was the day in '74 or '75 when two guys speaking
Spanish and broken English walked into REI. Somebody at the
front desk knew I could habla so I got paged. Turns out they
came all the way from Mexico City to buy 12 of everything from
Bronco Nagurskis to Jumars for an expedition to Aconcagua.
I took them to lunch in the U District and stopped by the old Swallow's Nest under the bridge.
I think they made the Nest's monthly gross in that one visit.
At the end of the first day we hadn't bought either store out yet
so I bid them hasta luego. They said they wanted to make a deposit
on the piles of stuff they'd already picked out. I said no probs
we'll get it all sorted out the next day. They insisted and then I
realized they meant they wanted to 'deposit' the contents of the
brief case they'd maintained a death grip on all day. They opened
that puppy and we spent half an hour counting out $12,500 to put in
our safe! They'd brought that all they way from home, stayed in a
flea bag down by SeaTac, took a cab to downtown, and walked up Pike St.
The next day they arrived with another $3K which I guess they'd left
in their flea bag! A trusting lot!
So where is Bill these days? I heard he had moved back from Kazakhstan.
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Mar 12, 2010 - 12:57pm PT
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As a teenager, I used to love going in the Swallows Nest and hanging out, talking to these old gruff climber types. The rad climbing photos on the wall, the cool location of the shop, and the smell of burning nylon will always stay with me. Unfortuneatly, ultimately it became cheaper to go sleep on the sidewalk at REI for their annual sale and walk out with a pair of boots for $5- and a sleeping bag for $20 and all other kinds of gidgets they were getting rid of.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Mar 12, 2010 - 01:02pm PT
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Yeah, but even though I got my stuff gratis I
still had to go to the Nest for the gud stuff.
Today's Trivia Note: Bill actually produced two prototype
iceaxes (I wonder if Mike still has his). Big deal you say?
Think again. This was about '73 (?) and the handle (55cm?) was freaking
titanium or something (might be wrong on that) but I am positive
that the head was hollow and it had a load of mercury to
give it some POP! when you sank it! It was sooo raaaad!
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Mar 12, 2010 - 01:42pm PT
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I still have my Sumner model MSR ice axe that I got at the Swallow's Nest.
Chrome plated head, more steeply drooped than the regular MSRs, aluminum shaft (60cm?), light blue PVC sheath over the shaft.
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