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Steven Amter
climber
Washington, DC
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Aug 22, 2010 - 09:14pm PT
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Hi everyone. Sorry I missed the beginning of this thread, but I was out in Colo and AZ for a week.
Ghost, what you said about the huge scale of things is spot on - it took us a while to adjust to the reality that if we could see a rock across the valley, it was as big as a bus, and a crack on a face was big enough to drive a bus into!
It's a result of incredibly clear air and the lack things (trees, for instance)to use forsize comparison.
When scoping Thor from the valley, even binoculars could be misleading... but the views up, down, and across the valley were spectacular. Even in horrendous weather - which we got megadoses of - we could see for miles at the slightest break in the clouds.
Steve G (off topic): I want to pick your brains on something: I'm interested in researching the earliest climbing gyms in the USA, maybe interview the original owners and builders. I think it might make an interesting history, and was part and representative of a social trend that has culminated in a thriving indoor gym scene (and market). A wilderness in plastic? Could you send me an email with your current phone #?
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Gagner
climber
Boulder
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Aug 22, 2010 - 09:28pm PT
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This was hard core BITD.
I knew both Eric (AKA the incredible bulk) and Earl well. Eric and I did the FA of Latitudes on the Streaked Wall in Zion, and the 2nd ascent of Lost in America on El Cap. Eric was a big boy, but got after it. Though it always struck terror in me to have him bounce testing gear, right off the belay and right above my head.
Eric was always up for an adventure, though he didn't abide by the "if we don't have it we don't need it" rule - he usually had duplicates of just about everything.
My wife tells me I can sleep anywhere, and through anything. Try imagining being on a portledge with Eric snoring though. The only time in my life when I had to wear ear plugs to sleep.
Earl was always up for an adventure too. And always ready to show folks a good time. My first time ever parapenting was with Eric and the Yates brothers, north of Reno during one of the early Outdoor Retailer shows. Run, flip the chute up, pull on one side to turn that way, and pull down to slow up when you're going to hit the ground was all the instruction I had, or I guess really needed.
Remember Earl's Thor clothing line he was sewing in Midpine? An early tribute for trying to get the right gear for big wallin in the artic.
Paul
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Brock Wagstaff
Trad climber
Larkspur
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Aug 23, 2010 - 01:10am PT
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Hey Paul... Probably like you, I miss both Eric and Earl. Eric was an amazingly strong guy, and a longtime friend. I was always slightly terrified I would have to catch him on a long leader fall, but it never happened during all the many routes we did together. I do remember leading Tombstone Terror on Lovers Leap and even though I ran the rope through the upper anchor anticipating a "heavy" top rope fall possibility, there was still enough stretch in the rope when he popped off in the first 15 feet that he ended up on his back on the "tombstone". He just laughed it off, but for a minute I thought I might have done some serious harm. Earl had that southern gentleman's charm, but there was also a burr under the blanket. He had both the energy and the drive to tackle a whole bunch of adventure oriented projects. I think I still have a t-shirt Eric made for the Thor climb.
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fareastclimber
Big Wall climber
Hong Kong, but live in Wales...
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Aug 23, 2010 - 10:00am PT
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Great thread, reminds me why I keep coming back to ST : )
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David Wilson
climber
CA
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Aug 23, 2010 - 12:55pm PT
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Here's Eric in Manang, Nepal in 1983 a few days after a porter tipped the stove and we came back to a camp with a charred VE24. I have lots of great memories of Eric from that trip and many el cap climbs in the mid 1980's. He was never in amazing physical shape, but he sure kept looking up when he was on a route. He was a pleasure to spend time with and is sorely missed.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 4, 2010 - 01:47pm PT
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Tent fire! Yow! Last thing anyone needs in the back o beyond!
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MSaw
Trad climber
Scottsdale, AZ
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This tread does bring back many memories… BTW, on our 1979 trip, Ron Sacks was the other cohort. (Actually, he was probably the brains of the whole operation.) Anyway, regarding the stuff that would fall from high up and come buzzing down to pock-mark all the ledges and lower ramps, I have two vivid recollections.
The first is while we were in base camp scoping out route possibilities and watching the Japanese crew do their thing. Anyway, I think we were sorting and packing gear when we heard a loud, deep pop that was muffled by distance. We shifted our attention to high up on the wall and we see this “thing” free falling from the top. As it falls, the thing begins to spin and we realize it is a sheet of ice about the size of a ping-pong table. We also realize that the fall-line is directly in-line with the lead climber on the Japanese team. To give you an idea of the scale of things, we had time for a three way discussion regarding the odds of the thing actually hitting the leader. As it happens, this “helicopter” ended up crashing just two or three meters directly above the hapless leader, who I’m sure was doing his best to flatten himself out and disappear into the granite. On impact it exploded into a thousand bits from icecube to surfboard size. After the crash we held our breath for what seemed like a very long time. There was no any detectable movement in the leader, had he been crushed? Then after about 25 seconds, he seemed to be shaking himself off. Within another two minute he was back to drilling another bolt hole. Clearly there was a language barrier that prevented him from understanding the advice that Mt Thor was trying to offer.
Anyway, a more humorous memory recalls our first encampment, which I’m thinking was about 1,000 feet up the wall. We had dug in a small platform into the slope of the ledge directly against the wall and there was about a six-foot overhand about 70 feet above our camp. The overhang gave us a little protection from the rock and ice falling from higher up the wall. We were dog tired, stretched out with our heads near the wall and trying to get some rest. Periodically, we would hear the buzzing of falling debris and one of us would say “ICE” which was the signal for all three of us to reel in our legs so as to be less of a target for the coming impact. Mostly, the overhang above protected us from whatever was coming down, but sometimes the projectiles would pick up enough spin that the english would curve their trajectory around the overhang and give one of us a pretty good thwack. Eventually, we acclimatized to the situation enough that, for whatever reason, all three of us were sleeping without our helmets on. Suddenly we were awakened by an exceptionally loud buzz – a notification that something really big was headed our way. Immediately we scrambled for our helmets. Unfortunately, each of us had targeted the exact same helmet, so we had three people grasping one helmet each trying to get their head under it. Luckily, we were not in the impact-zone of the bomb, and we got a pretty good laugh out of our behavior. As I recall, it took the edge off enough that we were able to get a bit more rest before starting our next shift of climbing.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 17, 2010 - 08:13pm PT
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Still waiting for the Steve Amter slideshow on the Gunkies proud, boltless ascent to the escape ledge.
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MSaw
Trad climber
Scottsdale, AZ
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Sep 24, 2010 - 12:19am PT
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When Amter returns to this thread, it might be entertaining if he would describe the events surrounding an anti-prophetic statement he made while on Mt Thor – basically something like: "I’ve never taken a leader fall and I’m not going to start here."
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 24, 2010 - 08:25pm PT
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Welcome Mike Sawicky!
Talk about how this whole show got started...if you would?!?
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Steven Amter
climber
Washington, DC
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Oct 17, 2010 - 12:14pm PT
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Hi everyone - sorry for not checking supertopo and this thread for the last month, but things have been a bit crazy...
I don't know if anyone is coming back to this thread, but just in case:
Hey Mike, how you doing?
As to my anti-prophetic statement - well put! What MSAW is referring to that I said before starting out on a pitch with somewhat mankey rock was: "I've never taken an aid fall before, and I don't intend to start now"... this being just before I took the biggest zipper of my life. I don't remember how long it actually was (Maybe Ron, who was belaying, remembers) but I was high above my starting point, out of gear (much our good stuff was fixed on other pitches and anchors), and hanging from a shitty crack-n-up when the wind spun me around and it pulled.
Most of the gear pulled and I ended up far below my belayer with the sounds of pins pulling echoing through my brain (ping, ping, ping...). A #3 friend I put in a good crack near the base of the pitch, as a multi-directional, is what held me. The pitch was overhanging enough that I was not hurt, not even banked up, even though I felt I had been flipped around in a clothes dryer. (My middle-aged back is protesting at the just the memory.)
I remember looking up at Ron, who asked without a hint of panic "are you alright?" I said, "I think I scraped my pinkey."
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 17, 2010 - 12:19pm PT
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Steve-I just saw Ron at the Brauhaus dinner and tried to get him to chime in with his recollections about your proud and boltless effort!
Everybody should flap for fifty at least once!!! LOL
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bringmedeath
climber
la la land
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Oct 17, 2010 - 12:41pm PT
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Wow, missed this article the first time around, glad someone bumped this to the top. There was also and article in the AAJ but this one has way cooler pictures. Thanks!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 31, 2015 - 03:58pm PT
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Bump for the Earl of Redfern...
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 4, 2015 - 02:46pm PT
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Bump for the estimable Mr. Amter one the 4th.
Great hanging out with you in the City!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 6, 2015 - 01:52pm PT
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Bump for the Mighty Thor...
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Blakey
Trad climber
Sierra Vista
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In 1975, I and some other Brits trudged past Thor en route to Summit Lake. We met with a Japanese party who had bailed from Thor (from the Modern Japanese Climbing Club).
I don't recall how far they had got, but by dint of sign language (on our part) and a little English (on theirs) they recounted tales of aiding on extremely rotten rock. The final straw was an earthquake that seriously rocked their world and they bailed. We experienced it on Overlord - It was very exciting. I wonder if the Japanese team on the wall at the same time as the authors, were these guys revisiting?
It is very, very big!
Steve
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 6, 2015 - 02:46pm PT
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There was a Japanese party on the wall at the same time as Team Gunks were hard at work. As I recall the story they had one particularly stout fellow who was along as their dedicated driller and he was kept busy. The Gunkies stuck to their guns and drilled not a single bolt if I recall correctly.
The successful party chose to follow the Japanese lead when they climbed the lower part of the route rather than the more challenging Gunkie's effort.
Take it away Mike and Steve...
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