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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Apr 15, 2007 - 07:48pm PT
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I have a Ski Hut story...
the summer of '73 I was going to hike the John Muir trail, solo... I had made a bunch of cash taking care of 3 children of a family whose house I lived at my freshman year at Cal, room and board exchange for working around the house, handyman, landscape/gardening, child care, etc.
Anyway, I went to get my first down bag, which I still have around here, a Sierra Design mummy. Debbie was my new girl friend then, and we went down to Ski Hut together. One of the guys there was going through all the bags, showing us the various features...
"These bags zip together...you should think about getting one that zips on the left, in case you run into someone on the trail, they would probably have a right zipping bag.." then both he and I look at Debbie... hmmm... maybe not the best sales pitch.
I think I might have some other gear I bought there in the garage museum too. I do know I have a set of 15 minute quads for the entire John Muir trail, many of them stamped "Ski Hut"
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rmuir
Social climber
the Time Before the Rocks Cooled.
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Apr 15, 2007 - 07:54pm PT
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Bought my first Mountain mag (Mountain 5) at Ski Hut... Leaning Tower on the cover. Still have a mint-condition Trailwise down bag. The upstairs loft was the coolest place as a teenaged wannabe!
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Scared Silly
Trad climber
UT
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Apr 15, 2007 - 08:29pm PT
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Here is a related Ski Hut story. My father grew up in the Bay Area and years ago he gave me a bunch of maps of the Sierras. I did not think much about the maps until I did a ski trip and stayed in the Benson hut which is between Sugar Loaf and Squaw Valley. My father commented that some 30 years before he too had visited the hut and one of the maps was of that area. I thought that was pretty cool. Anyways as time goes by I pulled out the maps here and there. Then in 2000 I got the chance to climb with the Silver Fox (did Castleton Tower - something that he did not climb when putting together 50 Classic Climbs). During the outing we were talking about the Ski Hut and I remember all of these maps which came from guess where? The Ski Hut. As mentioned above each is stamped as well. I figured my father was visitng the Ski Hut during the mid to late 50s.
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder
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Apr 15, 2007 - 08:37pm PT
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prunes
climber
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Apr 15, 2007 - 09:21pm PT
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I had a Snow lion parka and sleeping bag which where stolen from my 78 Nova. Also had a tent which sucked. also climbed many routes with a old friend of yours. The great Billy Russell. We did the prow,half dome,n.f. Edith Cavell,Athabasaca,Andromeda,Middle Teton,and atempts on on N.F. Grand,Alberta,Temple and others.Is keith Guy stll trying to kill Billy? Fish you suck,when are you going to order some t-shirts and decals?Chez is a homo! Prez for Life Rich Bechler DLFA
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Apr 15, 2007 - 09:33pm PT
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Swilliam climbed all that stuff with you Prunes?
I've climbed quite a bit with Bill Russel, of course not to underestimate him, yet I didn't know he did so much stuff in the Canadian Rockies. That's fun to hear.
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prunes
climber
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Apr 15, 2007 - 10:53pm PT
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Swilly was quite the Alpnist.Of course I had to lead all the hard pitches.Some of the best memories of my life was traveling with Bill.He used to hike real fast. His girlfriend Jungle Judy once peirced my ear on the athabasca glacier and gave me a diamond earring.Last time I was in the valley with my soon to be x wife I told her I was going to find Bill one night and she told me to bring a knife!
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Apr 15, 2007 - 11:41pm PT
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I know this is getting into thread drift and this is such a cool thread,
But slam up pictures is what I do.
Here's a recent picture of Billy for ya Prunes,
With Don Lauria, which probably makes it on topic:
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WBraun
climber
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Apr 15, 2007 - 11:44pm PT
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How come climbers always stand around holding a beer?
Is this beer their God?
Me no understand. They should be drinking wholesome milk.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Apr 15, 2007 - 11:57pm PT
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With so many people coming up lactose intolerant,
Beer is the only safe alternative, plus, in Russel's case,
It makes a wunderful truth serum.
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WBraun
climber
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Apr 15, 2007 - 11:59pm PT
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Lactose intolerant means bad Karma.
Alcohol is not truth serum. It's an intoxicant to illusion.
Gimme a beer .....
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Apr 16, 2007 - 12:11am PT
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OK.
They drink to forget, that way they go out and climb again, & again...
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WBraun
climber
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Apr 16, 2007 - 12:17am PT
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Only to miss the real summit.
The desert heat creates the illusionary mirage of water. That illusion is never water. Water is always somewhere else. Thus crawling on hands and knees chasing the mirage, thirst is never satiated.
I'm very thirsty now ......
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder
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Apr 16, 2007 - 12:39am PT
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was it Swilliam who dubbed Old E "truth serum?"
I recall Bill as being a pretty fun guy to be around - we did some good routes base of El Cap one day.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Apr 16, 2007 - 01:08am PT
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Yes it was Ray.
But hey, I always loved the Class 5 ad art too, nice drawings.
There was Sierra Designs, but also Alpine Designs, which did some cool stuff.
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder
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Apr 16, 2007 - 01:22am PT
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did Alpine Designs turn into Big Dog?
that was late 80's
as I recall Alpine Designs had the tissue paper backpack thing going long before the others adopted it.
neat to see a picture of Don Lauria
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Apr 16, 2007 - 09:44am PT
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The Ski Hut was a cool place. I'd go and ogle the goods and occasionally buy something. The upstairs/loft always seem to be cool even if it was hot outside, kind of strange. It was on the same side and not far from Oak Barrel Winecraft.
A typical Saturday would be first stop The North Face (in order from coming off Highway 24 from Lafayette), then the Ski Hut, then Oak Barrel, then Class Five and then Sierra Designs, with the occasional stop at "Whole Earth" store (I think that's what it was called).
I also posted the above on the North Dome Gully rescue thread, where Jerry posted the link to this thread.
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TwistedCrank
climber
Hell
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Apr 16, 2007 - 10:13am PT
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As a kid growing up in Chicago I had no idea what gear was. When I was maybe 10 years old we had a Ski Hut catalog mailed to us - I think my mom had a wild idea that down jackets would somehow make the Chicago winters more tolerable. I remember saving that catalog for years, reading it late into the night, wishing I has some of toys I saw in it - often times not even knowing what the toys were used for. It's now almost 40 years later and I've got a shed full of toys. Ski Hut planted a gear-mongery seed in me long ago.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Apr 18, 2007 - 09:46pm PT
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Here's an iconic era piece: the Sierra Designs Teardrop.
Felt shoulder straps 'n all.
Even cooler was the Holubar model with a thick aluminum ring where the straps connect at the top of the pack.
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder
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Apr 18, 2007 - 09:50pm PT
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dude,
I had a Hine Snowbridge with the felt too
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