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andinismus
climber
Germany
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Well, i´ve only been to the valley once, but the only one who actually deserved a nickname was azire `the crazy spaniard aka. THE HORSEMAN`.
Here´s the story.
I met the guy in the valley last august with a whole bunch of crazy co-spaniards (they were actually basque, but who other than them would care). All of them very decent, if not to say strong climbers, though mostly keen on bouldering, sport and trad climbing. Well, azire managed to get them on the nose...after he had just finished zodiac. Quite normal so far...till the day they (must´ve been 4 of them) came back. Everybody was thrashed, except for azire, who started to rack up at dawn to get goin` on the next wall...Regular Northwest on Half Dome. Only that he didn´t have any wallpartner. So he would come over to our camp site and ask every single one of us if we were willing to join in his little adventure. None would ... for whatever reason. Partly because he hardly spoke any english. Partly because we weren´t keen on that gnarly approach. BUT if you mentioned that, he´d say: `YOURRR HARRRD` sqeeze your biceps then go `LOOONG APRROACH I DON`T CARE .... BEEEG WALLLL... YOU ME UP DOWN ONE DAY... TOMORRO`
Pictures of being short roped up to the base of Half Dome, hauled up a 2500` cliff and then being short roped back to camp appeared in our minds... so each and every one of us rejected. He left our site that evening and the legend of THE HORSEMAN was born. Funny guy he was. Although when you sat on a camp fire and he talked to you (of which you never understood a word) you had to be careful with any form of positive signal/reply. You might have agreed to one of his plans and at six in the morning you´d be short roped out of your sleeping bag and before sunlight strikes you the third pitch of sea of dreams lies behind and it´s your lead... So we kept rejecting whatever proposition he put forward. Sad but true...
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can't say
Social climber
Pasadena CA
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the glass man
bearamya
beared squared
bear to the 29th decadohedran
too tall
potato
manxy dude
T squared
Malt Shipley
Da Meat aka Meathead aka rearentry
The Tape Bros.(dave and steve)
A little story about how these two (who are not related) got their name. Well most climbers know how to use tape to protect their hands from gobbies etc. and since Josh rock is a bit on the rough side, these two industrious types, deceided to refine that technique by using duct tape. What they would do is to use a strip of t-shirt or like material underneath the tape gloves they would fashion out of duct tape. Well after a few uses the backs of the tape gloves wore thru the outer non-sticky layer of duct tape material and expose the sticky underside. So when you hands slid into that rough Josh hand jam, well presto, those jams turned out to be not so difficult as the beta your buddies had given you for it. The only time I tried it was when I first did Fisticuffs and to say the least they worked like a charm. Never used em again but it was sort of fun. Or as Yabo once said, "dude, you don't need tape. Just don't move your jams after you set em"
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Demented
climber
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Larry the Lion Tamer (aka Larry Loads) was a bit of a lost soul in his early adulthood in terms of career path. When I met him, he was a butcher’s apprentice. ….later he enrolled at our local State College in their rigorous Recreation and Leisure Studies Program (we were going to be a wilderness guides together… yea right… ). Larry later was in training to be an airplane pilot …but the nickname comes from the day he plunked down $2000 to enroll in an animal training school (the kind that advertises to losers watching mid-day soap operas… ) good career choice, Bud
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can't say
Social climber
Pasadena CA
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T-the-Ho-from-He is who I believe you are refering too Brick
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
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{Dr. Piton stands and applauds}
MORE! MORE! MORE!
More stories about how these characters got their nicknames!
Superb post, this.
There is no definite article in Coiler. Concur on the origin of his nickname, as he told me firsthand.
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The O
Social climber
Yosemite via N.Y.
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what a bunch of mutts....geighest thread ever...devoted to hotshots giving themselves nicknames....
LAME
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can't say
Social climber
Pasadena CA
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nope, he wasn't the voice and I don't think he would appreciate seeing that nickname associated with his name on here, so that is one nickname I won't be elaborating on. Needless to say he wasn't the nicest guy to other climbers. But then he had a lot of help too.
Hey O, most of the folks mentioned in here would not really fit in the role of hero, hottie, rock stud. They were just peeps who happened to go to the crags a lot and become good or not so good buds in the local scene. Hell some of em weren't even climbers so chill.
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Demented
climber
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nobody gave themselves their nickname… you got tagged with it by the heartless peanut gallery and now it's stuck to you like a bad habit
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Like no kidding, eh? But what can ya say ... some people get it, and some people don't.
I always liked the nickname Big Wall Pete. I secretly wanted a nickname like that. It sounded so impressive. Then I learned how he got it - he failed on so many walls.
"Hey, look! Here comes Big Wall Pete! Hey Pete, which Big Wall you gonna try this time?"
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can't say
Social climber
Pasadena CA
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this thread is kind of cool since this little romp down memory lane makes me wish the same sense of community was still there. I don't think you can recreate the varied and broad group of people that used to hang around together.
Today it seems the community is more of a balkanized one, with many smaller cliques hanging out with only occaisonal intermingling. But that could just be a perceptional by-product of my alcohol addled melon.
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Demented
climber
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Some of that community aspect was geographical. My first clique of rookie climbers- we considered ourselves the “Joe Boys” which was a common Asian gang name (our part of the San Gabriel Valley being predominantly Asian). We later morphed with the “Sheep Buggers” who were a Sierra Madre- based group who would bleat like goats at the crags (so it was widely assumed they fukced sheep). The Buggers cast a wide net, and a few of them went on to some minor fame as accomplished climbers… I’d tag you Mr. Can’t Say as an honorary Bugger, yes?
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Gnat
climber
Smell A
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The Chicken, aka The Hen (and several others)
KP has several aka's including: Powell Not Rowell
Boogles has the most names of anyone I know...
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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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Jeeeez, you guys are killing me here with those names. I can´t believe that given all the rag week we smoked, anyone can still recall said monikers.
For those who weren´t regulars in the Valley or out at Josh in the 70s and 80s, the whole name gig was a game we played not just with climbers but with everyone. A desert rat we used to see stumbling around Josh was called, The Man with the 10,000 year old face. One guy who could only make it ten feet up any crack before he started dry heaving was, of course, coined the Dry Heaver. As I recall, Acapulco Bill got his name from the titanic falls he took off Insomnia crack at Suicide. There was generally some little truth to each name, like Malt Shipley and the Driver. Some were simply slander, like Buttf*#kleman, the Turd Burgler, Miles of Piles Butt Giles (Russ´creation), and Pedaphillip, Cornhologram, Ferris Honeyquim (Russ again), and a million more.
Hilarious stuff.
JL
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Did you say "sheep"?! As one who was recently buggered by a sheep, I have this to say: "Baaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!"
It is gratifying to me to read irreverent posts like this one! Notice that it is the Old Bulls [OB's] who are writing for the most part.
I am amazed and saddened at the political correctness of some of the YB's around here. Climbing used to be somewhat avant garde and attracted anarchists, reprobates, and delinquents - fringe members of society rejected by the plutocracy yet accepted by others of a similar ilk. Climbing literature was permeated with tales of dereliction and misconduct, and we aspirants revelled in the ripping yarns of debauchery perpetrated by the miscreants who were to become our heroes, some of whom are here in this very forum.
Paradoxically, the climbing ethics were stringent - enforced in ways seldom seen today. How we climbed was valued more than what we climbed - boldness and creativity were venerated.
There is a lot of heart in the posts above, and that's what I love to read.
Encore!
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FREEclimber
Social climber
SF
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So Dr. Pete-on likes the idea of a climbing community where deviants are accepted, even revered in some loveable way?
I wonder why that's so appealing, Pete?
Well, let's see, what do they call you around the campfire?
Pedophile Pete?
Pass the pre-pubescent Pete?
And many others I've read right here on supertopo.
I'd search for that thread w/ the others, but my point is made.
Maybe they should add "Pass the Pain Pills Pete"?
-Fc
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Michelle
Sport climber
Zone 10
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"That Asshole" is a good one too.
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looking sketchy there...
Social climber
Latitute 33
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The Trivia Question refers, of course, to Spencer. Spencer and his brother Al had early monikers: The Home Made Hash Bros, or just Hash Bros for short. When I first met them, I was under the mistaken impression that Hash was their last name until someone set me straight.
One route at Josh (Grand Theft Avacado) memorializes one of their more "savory" escapades...
Acapulco Bill was so named for his famous cliff diving (the many horrendous falls he took while leading). He sort of worked his way up from shorter 20-30 footers to a 40 footer in Church Bowl (some 5.8 route), cumulating with his piece de resistance: a 120 footer off The Guillotine at Suicide Rock. Amazingly, he was never seriously hurt in any of these falls. He did quit climbing (falling) shortly after this, perhaps sensing his luck had run out.
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can't say
Social climber
Pasadena CA
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Speaking of going for the ride climbing. Anyone remember Jack the Ripper?? He really wasn't part of the regular crew, but he had a knack for going for long ones. We were walking by Insomnia one day and he was trying to lead it, near the pod and for some reason hadn't clipped a piece of fixed pro. Well he whipped out of there and stopped like five feet from the deck. He ultimately wound up as a body recovery off of the Nose when he froze to death near the summit
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Demented
climber
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The Manx (aka The Shumpzzz) was last seen selling fire-extinguishers door-to-door .. or so I thought… Russ gave me the update.. one Kent Sparks purportedly ballooned up to 500 lbs. (I’d take that figure and divide it in half.. .) and sometime thereafter started on a Thelma and Louise road trip across country (minus Thelma). At different points along the road, he sent post cards to many of the aforementioned nicknamed people saying “I hate you and I am going to kill myself” and was never heard from again……
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