Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
|
|
|
Jan 23, 2011 - 02:30pm PT
|
Prompts for hidden salvation is Doug's speciality! LOL
Go easy on the chalk folks to keep the exploration and adventure high for the next wave. Better yet leave the bag at home and leave no trace!
|
|
Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
|
|
|
Jan 29, 2011 - 05:08pm PT
|
Kleen Bump!
|
|
Tony Puppo
climber
Bishop
|
|
|
Jan 30, 2011 - 11:02am PT
|
I think some of you Buttermilkers might like one of these;
|
|
Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
|
|
|
Jan 30, 2011 - 11:03am PT
|
How cool is that?!
|
|
Tony Puppo
climber
Bishop
|
|
|
Jan 30, 2011 - 11:05am PT
|
Jaybro,
I got one with your name on it, PM with your address.
Tony
|
|
Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
|
|
|
Jan 30, 2011 - 11:44am PT
|
Tony- Very cool medallion and photo!
Who took the shot?
|
|
BW
climber
Bishop, CA
|
|
|
Jan 30, 2011 - 12:58pm PT
|
Hey Tony,
Good to see you got those out in the open. Wow, they turned out great. And way better pic than the one I had.
Cheers, Bruce
|
|
Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
|
|
|
Jan 30, 2011 - 01:02pm PT
|
Actually, DR is out there yesterday and today. With his 15-year old daughter. They are photographing the Smoke course by airplane for his article he is doing. I think the weather even worked out for the shots, from what I could tell front the Bishop webcam.
|
|
Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
|
|
|
Jan 30, 2011 - 01:04pm PT
|
This just gets cooler all the time
|
|
Tony Puppo
climber
Bishop
|
|
|
Jan 30, 2011 - 02:53pm PT
|
Steve, the image is from Jan Tiura who climbed with Smoke a fair bit back in the day. She said her husband was just out of frame. I had asked her specifically for a "Smoke up a chimney" photo as that's what seems to evoke Buttermilk scrambling so well.
Glad y'all like it.
Tony
|
|
guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
|
|
|
Jan 30, 2011 - 04:00pm PT
|
Jan is a most interesting lady-cook at the Palisade School back then and the first female tugboat captain on the S.F.Bay. Still tugboating and passionate as ever with her photography. Check out her website for some fascinating photos:
http://www.phototiura.com/TUG/tugs.htm
|
|
Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
|
|
|
Jan 30, 2011 - 09:39pm PT
|
Thanks Tony!
|
|
Tony Puppo
climber
Bishop
|
|
|
Jan 31, 2011 - 12:32am PT
|
I had been hiking up there years before, but the early bouldering was my stepdaughter Hallie and Kick Ryan.
Edit,
Oops, make that Mick Ryan, although many would like to put a foot to his rear.
|
|
Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
|
|
|
Jan 31, 2011 - 12:54am PT
|
This is a really interesting thread. I'd never heard of Smoke Blanchard before, or just slightly. He wasn't a "real" climber, in the modern sense of the word. He might be aghast at some of the things now done in the name of climbing and mountaineering. But he was clearly one of the great mountain men in the Sierra Nevada, and a lot of others ended up perched on his shoulders.
|
|
BooDawg
Social climber
Polynesian Paradise
|
|
|
Jan 31, 2011 - 11:59am PT
|
Since Doug has given Smoke his own thread, I thought I'd post these two photos, taken the weekend of Doug's second wedding that I posted elsewhere:
The half-day that some of us spent following Smoke's lead as he guided us humbly, almost silently through a portion of The Course was one of the most enjoyable days of climbing that I can recall.
|
|
Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
|
|
|
Jan 31, 2011 - 01:21pm PT
|
Mighty Hiker,
To say, "He wasn't a "real" climber, in the modern sense of the word" is to say none of us were.
|
|
Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
|
|
|
Jan 31, 2011 - 03:03pm PT
|
Thanks, Don. My background was in traditional mountaineering, where more than a few weren't very comfortable with hardware and fancy gadgets, and all it stood for. To some, rock climbing wasn't really mountaineering. But I look at it from the perspective of what we all have in common, and the intertwined threads often going back a long time. For example, bouldering going back to at least Oscar Eckenstein, in the 1880s. "Mixed" climbing to the 1920s, or earlier. And so on.
We've had a few characters like Blanchard up here. They may not have had all the latest tricks and gadgets, but did have the essential fire and energy.
Hence my comment on perching on other's shoulders.
|
|
Swifter
Social climber
Flagstaff, AZ
|
|
So great to see this thread! (Thx for the tipoff, Jan and the great kickoff Doug!). I first met Smoke at Nort Benner's home, and in summer of 1965 Smoke and I went on our first “walk” together. His idea was to wade in the Pacific Ocean near Icy Bay and from there walk to a viewpoint from which we could see the ocean from on high. Those who have walked or strolled with him will recognize the “purity” of this proposed summer itinerary as well as his understated manner of describing various “exploits.” (“exploits?” Now THAT is word he would never use or tolerate in reference to himself!) Of course the viewpoint he had in mind was Mt. St. Elias. I’ll check his book to see if he talks about not completing this walk.
Gnomic: The manner in which he liked to describe the evolution of his name typically went something like this:
Companion: How’d you ever get the name, Smoke? It’s just a nickname isn’t it?
SB: Yes, you could call it that.
C: Well what’s your real name?
SB: Oh, you mean the handle I put on tax returns and such?
C: Yes, your real, legal name.
SB: Well, it’s sort of awkward, so people just shorten it to Smoke.
C: OK then, what IS your awkward legal name?
SB: It’s Blacksmoke. Now let’s get those packs on and walk up to the lunch spot...
In reality William Ellis Blanchard had legally changed his name to Blacksmoke. Why he did so was another yarn.
|
|
Bill Bechtell
Mountain climber
Montara, CA
|
|
I first met Smoke in 1968 on a Sierra Club trip to Alaska that he co-led with Jules Eichorn. We did an unscouted hike over Anderson Pass on the lower slopes of Mt. McKinley (it wasn't called Denali in those days). This was one of the trips described in his book.
If I remember correctly, Smoke told me that he got the nickname "Black Smoke" when his day job was driving truck on Hwy 395 between LA and Reno. Evidently when you drive a diesel truck in the wrong gear black smoke spews out the stacks. "Black Smoke" was eventually shortened to just plain Smoke.
I subsequently bouldered with Smoke in the Buttermilks, and hiked across Austria with him and his wife, Sue, in 1970.
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Smoke Blanchard's entire Rock Course
Let us know!