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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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The master tourguide of the New Dimensions?!?
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Double D
climber
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Ahh… I sense a Bardini has joined the mix, but I could be wrong. Who else went after O.W.’s with enthusiasm?
Jello, re: Wilford…
He does indeed deserve his own thread and was/is the essence of Stonemasters.
So one fine day, Augie & I decide it’s time to head to CO and get schooled on ice. After arriving in January to 70 degree weather and rapidly deteriorating ice, we hook up with Mark for a little “tour” of his world. In classic Wilford style, he’s telling us about this little mishap he had with his new car (an Alfa-something sports sedan). Anyway, he’s getting tailed by this car on the way home on a winding road that he had just passed. Impressed by the handling of his new ride and loving the opportunity to put the rig to a true road test with a willing racer in his rear view, he decides to drop this guy in the dust.
So goes this fusion of like minds…or so Wilford thinks, until the guy signals him to pull over. Now Mark thinks the guy is trying to fight and figures that he can’t back down because he drives this road every day and it’s only a matter of time when they meet again. So he pulls over, gets out of the car to be greeted by an off duty cop!
Anyway, we show up shortly after this and Mark’s in an arm cast from some other miss-hap and on probation, I think. He’s stoked to get a ride around due to the involuntary relinquishing of his license. He offers to let us spend a couple of nights at his parents place. At the time he was living in a tool shed on the property. That night the temps dropped down into the teens and we soon discovered that Marks ambition to become an alpine climber carried over to his daily life, bivi and all.
So the next morning after it warms up a bit, it’s off to boulder at the infamous “Reservoir.” Mark’s pointing out all kinds of incredibly hard test pieces when he dips into my chalk bag takes off his shoes and pulls off some incredible problems, cast and all! I mean he’s topping out on stuff 15’ off the boulder-strewn-deck that we’re not even getting off the ground on! Mark was the definition of incredible talent, funny and full of the “Stonemaster Stoke” that Largo speaks of.
Here’s a few shots of Mark, AKA “disco boy” taking full advantage of a rest day (Cirque of the Unclimbables 1981???). For you younger readers, this was back in the day where real men had batteries and portable tape decks on all serious adventures.
Keep’em coming!
DD
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WBraun
climber
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Not making any sense?
Dale Bard and me did second ascent of Final Exam.
First ascent Bridwell & Klemens in 71
Then barbarinism said; " I arrived in the Valley a freckle-faced teen".
Rick Reeder? Dale? I don't remember you having freckles.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jan 12, 2008 - 01:05pm PT
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So, Mark, when ARE you going to tell us some stories about the first ascent of Cream, and other climbing adventures? We're all ears.
The guidebooks say "Cream FA Mark Klemens et al, August 1971". Ascent (1972) says "FA Mark Klemens and Jim Donini".
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Tony Puppo
climber
Bishop
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Jan 12, 2008 - 02:44pm PT
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Dale spent some big iron time in the gym with a couple of "Barbarians", it must be Dale.
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Ihateplastic
Trad climber
Lake Oswego, Oregon
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Jan 12, 2008 - 02:48pm PT
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I only met him once or twice but my bet is the new boy is Mark Klemens.
As I recall Mark didn't suffer fools gladly and this extended to Euros visiting the Valley. British climber Alec Sharp was one of the unfortunate ones who experienced this when he awoke one night under a steady stream of...
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jan 12, 2008 - 02:50pm PT
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Got a wicked chocolate jones or a daughter?!? The freckles though.....
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graham
Social climber
Ventura, California
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Jan 12, 2008 - 04:53pm PT
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Speak up Dale
I can’t remember that far back when I did stuff either.
It’s good to have you here Man!
Mike
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jan 12, 2008 - 08:07pm PT
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Only Dale would be so toying past a point....So welcome elusive Bard! Enter and sign in please!?!
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jan 12, 2008 - 09:02pm PT
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Hopefully the stories about his eating habits haven't frightened DB away. Whatever he ate, he's always been darn fit.
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Jan 12, 2008 - 09:48pm PT
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I'm betting its Mark Klemens,
Glad to have you here!
Went snow riding with Gib out this way recently. I'll say hello to him for you.
Price of admission is an ancient Yosemite story from the days when leaders wielded hammers.
Rick
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Jan 12, 2008 - 09:52pm PT
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sounds like Klemens, but I thought he was already here?
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Jello
Social climber
No Ut
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Feb 11, 2008 - 12:48am PT
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Well-written Rok. You captured the Stonemaster credo, I'd say, and thanks for lumping me in with that illustrious quixotic bunch. But I really think the true Stonemasters all hailed from the Golden State, or at least spent years there. I was lucky enough to share a climb or two with bona-fide Masters, but I was never stoned enough to be a true Stonemaster. Even the ones I climbed with - especially the one's I climbed with - remain mythic figures to me.
Glad Largo's rounding up all the stories he can get his mitts on. Can't wait to read the book!
-JelloMaster
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Feb 11, 2008 - 01:06pm PT
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Nice job there Rox,
That's a poignant and fitting tableau.
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Here's one, Steve.
In the White Maiden thread which showed up today, Largo mentioned his high school days, when he worked at a gas station after school. I regularly used to pick him up at the station so we could go bouldering or climbing. One time I called the station to arrange the pick up (this was decades before cell phones) and Largo's voice answers with his usual, staccato delivery,
"John Long Chevron. John speaking."
At the age of 17, Largo had promoted himself from pump jockey to owner of the establishment! John never lacked chutzpah, even as a teenager.
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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Oct 19, 2010 - 09:13pm PT
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The major thing that is missed about the Stonemasters, is that when they came to the valley and discovered that a few of their heroes were still there, they together developed a sense of the Mythic. Thats what "The Stonemaster" himself WAS, as JL points out so well. A Mythic Construct.
So, were Robbins, Chouinard, Frost, etc. considered "stonemasters" even though they climbed in a slightly earlier time period? Or did the designation simply start with John Long and his buddies in Yosemite? Just curious, since the valley was a center for significant progress.
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WBraun
climber
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Oct 19, 2010 - 09:19pm PT
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Robbins, Chouinard, Frost, Prat, ^^John Gill^^, the Bird, etc ... et all
No they were ... "THE" Masters of Stone. :-)
I learned a ton from what they did ....
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ron gomez
Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
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Oct 19, 2010 - 09:48pm PT
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Yeah that era was the true MASTERS! We all learned from them and still do. I can't wait for this weekend, should be another great history event and a chance to learn from the MASTERS! Ya gonna be there Werner?
Peace
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