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LongAgo
Trad climber
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Holy crap. Old journal is worth something after all. Found it:
"Regular route on Sentinal with Price. Leave Village at 6, back by 5. June 18, 1967."
LongAgo
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 6, 2011 - 03:16pm PT
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So, can we have your liver then...
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Wonderful to see all these names and stories bound together in that summit register. Richard Harrison and I climbed the Steck Salathe and the West Face, if memory serves, around 1973 or 1974, but we just weren’t into registers, man.
Seriously, I had no idea there was one up there (I don’t even recall a distinct summit). And those of you who know Richard will understand that he would have cruelly ridiculed me, had I tried to delay the descent to look for it.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 6, 2011 - 04:50pm PT
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Since I can readily access the OP over time I will try to put together an ascent chronology for the various routes. That way unsigned talent can be recognized...Sentinel Idol, if you will. LOL
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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I'll try to update the "list" later, based on the various posts. Maybe I'll distinguish between those who made ascents, but didn't record them in the register, by using a + or something by their names.
Tom, those are some nice poetic posts. One often wonders about the meaning of it all, and whether our struggles to do first ascents, have them recorded, squabble about them in journals and her, and so on, have any real meaning. Are we all just saying "look at me!", or "remember me!"? Some pretty fundamental human questions.
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LongAgo
Trad climber
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Steve,
Guess so, but keep it in the fridge in case I need it again later..
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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I can't recall if I saw Kor and Hempel, their names in the register,
but both told me their story of doing Sentinel together via the
Steck-Salathe, even though it wasn't called that back then. Kor told
me how tight he was in the Narrows, and how he yelled "Pull," and Hempel
pulled as hard as he could, as Layton inched upward... Hard to
imagine Layton would go up, knowing there was a tight squeeze. There is
more to their story, but that's enough for now. Two great old friends.
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oldguy
climber
Bronx, NY
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Just for the record. My second and Royal's fourth. The nice thing about that was that I got to lead all the pitches Tom led on our first trip. In Sept. of '61 (maybe '60) Roper and Sacherer did it in 8 and a half hours, but where possible the second yarded on the rope, saving some time. Still . . .
As to the book, which by now some may think is only a wild rumor, it is currently being considered by the Mountaineers. Largo said he would write a forward and suggested sending it up to Seattle. I think that part of the problem with getting it published is that in many respects it is quite different from the usual mountaineering literature, so the question of audience comes up. Glad to hear there are a few prospective readers.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 7, 2011 - 12:52pm PT
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Count me in!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 7, 2011 - 02:36pm PT
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Joe Fitschen's memoirs.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Roxjox,
You aren't alone in missing the register. Mike Caldwell and I did In Cold Blood in May of 1973, and headed straight down without looking or signing. Boy did we miss out. What a register!
John
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 7, 2011 - 02:59pm PT
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How was that route? Way obscure...
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Steve,
To which route do you refer?
John
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 7, 2011 - 03:16pm PT
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In Cold Blood.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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We did it about three years after the FA, and there were already several chicken bolts near the pendulums. Mike and I are both short, and the pitch below the pendulum required a wired nut placement a long ways away (we used a hammer as an extension arm).
There is an amazing bivy ledge about half way up -- big, flat and sandy. the pitch after that was wet when we did it, and Mike took a bad fall trying to free climb it (that ended up breaking off a small chunk of his hip). This was around the rope-toss over the flake.
We were able to free climb (well, more exactly, Mike was) much of the lower part of the route. That ended after his fall.
Overall, it wasn't as clean as the West Face, but not bad, had some good ledges, and was much easier, but it is still a beautiful wall. I enjoyed the climb, but haven't been back.
John
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 7, 2011 - 07:03pm PT
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Thanks for the report. You are the first party that I know of that has repeated that route.
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Dave Davis
Social climber
Seattle, WA
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For what it's worth, Greg Markov and I did the steak/salad route in the spring of 74 and also missed the register.
I think a book from Mr. Fitschen would be wonderful. It would be nice to get the perspective of someone who was so involved in that era of Yosemite climbing that we haven't heard much from.If you can't find a publisher how about an extra long post?
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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All this talk of preserving history, reminds me of how many people have suggested we need a separate section of this forum just for history. Has anybody actually approached Chris Mac about that?
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Jan,
It could be rephrased as having a separate section for non-climbing (political?) threads. I believe it has been on the wish list for awhile, but it involves work and there are other disadvantages.
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