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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Apr 15, 2007 - 03:15pm PT
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TTstr,
Al Steck has been compared to the incomparable Dulfer. They both climbed like girls, which finally now at the beginning of this new century, is viewed as a good thing. Tons of supple balance, relentless use of cool rhythm, no brashy show of upper body strength and testosterone-fueled semi-prancing, all this supported by bigtime edging and foot power. And locks, lots of them, avoiding the hideous truth that the stuff could be way too pumpy. And always with great brains.
I look at Al's climbing as pretty much how he lead his whole life, and thus, he is 84 going on perhaps, what?, a hundred? Let's hope. He is such a decent perceptive man.
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Deuce
Trad climber
Sonoma County, Ca
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Apr 15, 2007 - 03:30pm PT
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Is this Dr. sascha from SSU?
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tuolumne_tradster
Trad climber
concord, california
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 15, 2007 - 03:31pm PT
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Deuce: no
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Deuce
Trad climber
Sonoma County, Ca
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Apr 15, 2007 - 03:34pm PT
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sorry she fit all the descriptions. thanks for sharing.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Apr 15, 2007 - 04:30pm PT
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Jerry D et al,
The Ski Hut was an amazing store, and would be thought so even today were it open. The owner was George Rudolph, who died, sometime in the 80’s perhaps. He was highly respected, very much appreciated by his people, and privately, a dignified, kind gay man. As part of the operation there was a wholesale and manufacturing facility in west Berkeley, called Trailwise. There, they made softgoods, down products. Vandiver and I spent the night there making haul bags for ourselves back in 1970. My golden retriever went crazy in there with the powerful smells of birds emanating from the down everywhere. Very funny, kind of a catnip response, really.
The Ski Hut was on University Ave, in Berkeley, about half way down towards San Pablo Avenue from Shattuck, on the north side of the ave. The store even had Klepper foldboats in there, along with everything else, plus all the climbing hardware available at the time. Basically their competitor back in the early 1960’s was a soon-to-be giant REI when I started hanging around the place. The staff included at one point or another just about everybody in the early cadre of Nor Cal. climbers. You never knew who you would see working in there, or just shopping. I think golden-era guys relied on occasional work there to keep afloat. It was a pretty intelligent place. I bought my first goldline and then my first perlon rope there, and of course the chrome moly hardware that Long was making, then Yvon. But my carabiners were from REI, the old cheapy Army surplus oval aluminum ones, covered with casting porosities and defects! For awhile, the Ski Hut even carried the Crack Jacks that Les Wilson and I made (covered in earlier thread).
Al was the manager for quite awhile I think. He had an education in accounting and was perfect for the position as he was also a major climber and great with people. Around this time, he acquired the nickname with some of us, Old World Allen, though this was behind his back. Nowadays, Inez and I, call him The Alien, and this to his face with tons of affection since he still climbs, still flourishes and still is a good friend to so many.
The location and perhaps the store, became a Copeland’s Sport, and then disappeared altogether, and then George was gone eventually too. Fortunately climbing kept going and became the huge freakout it is now.
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Jerry Dodrill
climber
Bodega, CA
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Apr 15, 2007 - 04:37pm PT
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Awesome, Peter. I'll post this in the ski hut thread.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Apr 15, 2007 - 04:48pm PT
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"I wanted to share an adventure with him..."
Well, I'd say that's one goal you accomplished, and probably one he won't forget - maybe even one with lessons that will save his life on some future outing. Good TR, glad you're both alright.
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ricardo
Gym climber
San Francisco, CA
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Apr 15, 2007 - 06:57pm PT
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makes me glad that i've never had to do the NDG .. i've always insisted that we rap royal arches ..
usually we throw a second rope in a backpack and rappel with 2 ropes ..
... i think i once heard john dill refer to royal arches as their "Please rescue me climb .. " .. referring to the numbere of rescues they do on royals arches -- just because its 5.7 doesn't mean that its a cakewalak ..
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ADK
climber
truckee
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Apr 15, 2007 - 06:59pm PT
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whats a cakewalk and why is it so easy?
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murcy
climber
San Fran Cisco
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Apr 15, 2007 - 07:31pm PT
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adk: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cakewalk
tt: as the dad of a 12yo, both early-career climbers starting to imagine multi-pitches on our own, thank you very much for posting this. big respect to you, to yosar, and especially to 11yo sascha for toughing out this epic.
edit: oops, i could've sworn i'd read that sascha was 11! sorry.
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sheepdog
Trad climber
just over the hill
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Apr 15, 2007 - 07:55pm PT
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Vic, next time Sasha's tempted to climb with you have him call me first, and I'll set him straight on his old man! How old is he now? Last time I saw him he was two years old rampaging around your dad's cabin.
Pretty freaky getting caught out like that with your kid, right? I was climbing with my son Luke a few weeks ago in the San Rafael Swell on one of HIS first multipitch climbs. We were caught by cold front and slashing rain a few pitches off the deck, by the time we got down he was shaking like a jackhammer.
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Crimpergirl
Social climber
Hell on earth wondering what I did to deserve it
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Apr 15, 2007 - 08:42pm PT
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Really interesting read. Thanks for sharing. I'm curious, how did your wife react when you guys got back to her?
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tuolumne_tradster
Trad climber
concord, california
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 15, 2007 - 09:58pm PT
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Murcy: not sure where you got the impression Sascha is 11. He is 21 years old.
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tuolumne_tradster
Trad climber
concord, california
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 15, 2007 - 10:05pm PT
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Crimpergirl: obviously she was relieved to hear my voice on the phone when I called her around 2:30 p.m. She had been up all night.YOSAR had called at 11:30 a.m. to let her know that the rescue team had reached us.
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tuolumne_tradster
Trad climber
concord, california
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 15, 2007 - 10:08pm PT
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Sheepdog?? my curiosity runneth over
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tuolumne_tradster
Trad climber
concord, california
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 15, 2007 - 10:28pm PT
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OK Sheepdog. I just figured it out. I sent you an email with a few photos, including one of you on Central Pillar of Frenzy.
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Shack
Big Wall climber
Reno NV
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Apr 15, 2007 - 11:09pm PT
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I too have epiced after a late start on Royal Arches.
I passed on that same boulder too.
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sheepdog
Trad climber
just over the hill
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Apr 15, 2007 - 11:21pm PT
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Yeah Vic, it's only been about 20 years! I think that was the first time either one of us did Crest Jewell back then, the "reverse sandbag". Hard to believe that Sasha is 21.
What an epic story, man, but a great ending.
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Logdog
Trad climber
Berkeley, CA
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Apr 16, 2007 - 12:01am PT
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Vic-
My name is Logan, and my partner and I were the one's that you kindly let by on pitch 5 last tuesday. I'm sorry to hear about your epic/rescue. Had I known that you were in trouble, I would have sprinted back up the north dome gully in a heartbeat! Glad everyone is safe, see you next time in the Valley.
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