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Chicken Skinner
Trad climber
Yosemite
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Aug 15, 2006 - 02:15am PT
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I remember geting my first set of CracknUps and they were new on the market. Because of my early goal of climbing El Cap I decided to try them out and practice my aid climbing on a tall building at my High School. I did the left and right side of a tan conglomerite brick wall that had flashing and stucco on the sides. When I stood on the CracknUps they would slide down the flashing, sometimes over a foot, sending mortar dust in the air until they held. I did these things on lead over pavement 2-3 stories high and I shudder to think about what could have happened if one had pulled. After that experience I do not think I ever used them on rock. I free climbed buildings after that and only aid climbed on rock.
Ken
p.s. No photos, I was always getting chased and had to travel light. It woul be fun to go back and check these things out again. A few college students showed me their circuit at the UC Davis campus around 1974 and it was all done in the evenings. Good training and a lot of fun.
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doc bs
Social climber
Northwest
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Aug 15, 2006 - 12:10pm PT
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Remember the old Monty Python skit of the guy rockclimbing on the sidewalks of London?
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LongAgo
Trad climber
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Aug 15, 2006 - 09:48pm PT
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Pratt’s Ways:
Dwinelle Hall Traverse – O my, how time flies. I think it took me a 100 tries to get. The get-in-trouble pinches, peering students (maybe even a pretty one), potential cops, night lamps … what joys were the old cements compared to gyms!
The trick with the police seemed to be a Ying yang comply. Get down (if possible), apologize, leave and come back.
Pratt’s masterful (maybe Zen) way of dealing with higher powers, as per post here, is legendary. In the very old days of desert climbs now out of bounds (e.g. Chiricahua), the super Spider Rock was a lovely prize. Lore goes that after doing an early if not first ascent, Chuck was queried by a small posse of miffed Indians at a local bar, “So, White Man (or words to that effect), did you find the bones?” Apparently, legend had it an Indian God, devil or creature periodically deposited bones on top of the rock, animal or human unknown. Chuck knew if he said, “No,” he risked offending the legend. If he said “Yes,” he might be pandering. Slowly turning, smiling, sipping his beer, he respectfully said, “Some.” Perhaps it was his smile and humility. Perhaps the middle answer showing knowledge of the issue or the wry truth of little remains brought by a hawk. It was just the right word. Some laughed. Tensions eased. Drinks continued.
Eventually we learn days on walls come down to persons on walls. Pratt was one fine person.
Tom Higgins
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Chicken Skinner
Trad climber
Yosemite
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Aug 15, 2006 - 10:03pm PT
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Nice story Tom.
Ken
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Aug 15, 2006 - 10:42pm PT
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A very enjoyable thread.
In "A View from Deadhorse Point", Pratt relates the Spider Rock story with great skill. I'll summarize it, but recommend the read. (In "Games Climbers Play", if not elsewhere.) (Edit: Possibly the tale had several versions, or as Tolkien put it, "grew in the telling".)
Pratt and Kamps stopped in the nearby village for ice cream after the climb. The store was full of Navajos. Dead quiet fell. A giant Navajo asked if they'd climbed Spider Rock. Pratt, reaching for the door knob, said yes, but so did the other fellow outside. The Navajo asks what they found on top. The crowd are all ears. Pratt, fearing to say anything else, says they found a pile of bleached bones. Pregnant silence. Pratt starts to turn the doorknob.
Then the Navajo says "What do you take me for - a fool?", and the place bursts into hysterical laughter.
I went to the University of B.C., and we climbed a lot on the buildings there. There was even a guidebook, held by the outdoors club. We didn't get arrested, but did get chased. One of the better spots was a chapel with a south-facing stone wall. Nice inset rocks, small edges, vertical - we traversed it a lot. It had a good roof, plus a lawn.
Once we talked the administration into letting us rappel off the main library, and got our pictures into the campus paper.
There's now a Vancouver-based buildering website, naturally found at www.buildering.net. Well worth a visit.
Two pictures of buildering at a community college in Vancouver, in the late 1970s. The climber is Dave Nicol. The crack was a geometrically perfect off-hands, and desperate. The chimney merely silly.
Anders
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Aug 16, 2006 - 02:14pm PT
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Classic bystander photo from Marc Jensen's 1988 Bay Area climbing guidebook.
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LongAgo
Trad climber
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Aug 16, 2006 - 03:38pm PT
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Mighty Hiker,
Thanks you. I stand corrected. Pratt's written word should trump my hearing of the story from, would you believe, Pratt! Strange to have beer replaced with ice cream and a pile of bones with "some." Wish I could dig up Pratt for another telling, and to hear more of his general wisdom. Of course, when I heard the story, much wine was flowing around the campfire, so probably I am responsible for the warping ... or was he?
Ah, climbing lore, forever evolving!
Tom Higgins
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