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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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the haze surrounding Chongo was think - he sewed on a creaky treddle machine in camp at JTree, Chongo wear - we hung out, hazy - he helped me get a flat fixed, hazy there too - I think he crashed at my place - one big haze -
the pics T2 has of him out there are the best - Chongo seems a bit of a hard core mystery at times, I admire him but like Bukowski I know, I could never be like him.
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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Chongo Bump.
As a point of history, this thread MUST have more staying power.
The Really GOOD Stories have not yet been told . . .. .
I hafta bump the topic, to make sure anybody On The Wall gets back to the Grid, the McTopo, and tells a good story.
Hate or love him, he's ours: Chongo.
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malabarista
Trad climber
San Francisco, Ca
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I was just happy to hang out with the guy a few times. The best was one day in C4 when I was standing around juggling four clubs with another one balanced on my nose and then dropping it down into a five club juggling. He came by and said "Man, you are as good at that juggling stuff as I am at slacklining!". That compliment made my day. I learned to slackline and practiced the Chongo mount. I can juggle on the line now and am working on a show combining different juggling moves with slacklining. It's too bad he's no longer around in the valley.
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theLoop
climber
Northwest Montana
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"Unbelievable." I never knew Chuck was a track star.
Nope.. he wasn't. In fact he was always saying he was like an old car: "Slow on the uphills but rolls as quick down them."
And, speaking of his venture into the clothing industry, remember those pants he made for everyone? Baggy enough to fit two people in them and the "piece de resistance" being the hidden inside pocket in the front center? You could carry a few coins there but to reach in and retrieve them in public could cause quite the stir.
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mooch
Big Wall climber
The Immaculate Conception
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I seem to recall a moment in time when Chongo had this huge crush on Half Dome, but then Werner stole those dreams away when he....
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Ammon
Big Wall climber
El Cap
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There’s a really good slacklining article in Alpinist #21 that Dean wrote. It tells the tale of when Dean first met Chongo and how he lured him into the provocative art of balancing on stretched webbing.
I first saw Chongo at the base of El Cap near South Seas in ’97. He was surrounded by eager eyes as he passed rope through folds, showing them knots and better/easier ways of accomplishing their tasks. I gave the group a nod and continued with my journey to the base of the NA wall.
A few hours later I was at the top of the first pitch and began “trying” to haul my enormous pig, using a Z pulley system I had read in one of the rags. After thirty minutes of work my haulbag was a couple of inches off the ground. I rappelled in total frustration.
I went back looking for the guru who was teaching the circle of young bucks and found the scrappy looking instructor alone, fiddling with some odd looking gear.
“Hey man, do you know anything about hauling”, I asked.
A boisterous laugh belted out of the man. “Do I know ANYTHING about hauling?” He repeated the question a coule more times before continuing. “Son, you’ve come to the right man, how much time do you have?”
“As much time as it takes for you to teach me how to haul”, I replied.
An hour and half later I thanked my instructor and headed back to the fixed line to give it a try. I nearly cried with joy when the bags came slowly, but easily towards the belay. “I’m MOBILE”, I yelled at the top of my lungs.
A few days later Chongo was grillin’ me about my gear as he eyeballed the jeans I was wearing. “You’re not going to climb in THOSE are ya?”, he asked.
“Um… yeah, why not?” He then schooled me on proper climbing attire. He lent me a pair of fleece pants and jacket, a bivy sack because I had a down sleeping bag and then asked me what kind of portaledge I was bringing.
“Um, I’m just going to climb from ledge to ledge”, I told him. He laughed and handed me a two-point hammock. “Here you’re going to NEED this”, he said with authority.
“What’s your pin rack lookin’ like?”, he asked next.
“Um… I thought it went clean. I just read about in the magazines”, I stammered.
“Haa haa haa, yeah, ONCE... by some BADASSES”, he laughed. “Are you rich?” he asked.
“No, not even close”, I told him.
“Well, here’s a hammer, you better go to the Mountain Shop and spend EVERYTHING you have on pitons if you even want a chance at making the summit.”
I took all the gear he lent me and went to the shop and bought, 2 BA’s, 2, LA’s and 1 KB. On the way back up I was psyched to find another baby angle in the talus. I saw Chongo dangling over on South Seas and tried to yell up at him to tell him I was launching but he had his headphones on and couldn’t hear me.
After nine days of trying to learn and figure things out I made it to the top and was back at the base. I was late for work so I ran up to return all the gear Chongo had lent me, which I would have never succeeded without them.
The next year my son Austin came to the Valley for his first time (he was eight) and Chongo and Dean taught us both how to slackline. I’ll never forget the brotherhood I felt in those early days. They taught me a LOT but the best lesson was to keep the cycle flowing… and now I get a kick out of watching the young bucks I’ve taken under my wing, give back to the climbing community, by teaching others.
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pimp daddy wayne
climber
The Bat Caves
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 6, 2007 - 11:04am PT
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Thats what i'm talkin about
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pimp daddy wayne
climber
The Bat Caves
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 7, 2007 - 08:49am PT
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mdavid
Big Wall climber
CA, CO, TX
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Chongo is my Wall Doctor, and I miss him as I haven't seen him for several years since he was kicked out of the Valley.
I've got so many Chongo stories, and not enough time [nor space] to write them in a single post, so maybe I'll start at the beginning, and write as I remember them.
I first met Chongo in the fall of '95 on my Post-Divorce Renaissance trip to Yosemite. My mom had scored me a GO Vacations camper van at a nickel on the dollar, so it cost me about six bucks a day to bivi in luxury in the Centre of the Universe, now the Train Wreck parking lot. Chongo would appear at the door most mornings with a cool idea.
"Hey Pete, check this out - a new way of self-belaying with an adjustable clove hitch. You pull out on this sling and the rope feeds one-handed. Just make sure that metal touches metal when you set it up."
Before long, Chongo started showing up every morning [was it the food?] and sporting his Chongo Big Wall Tip of the Day. As a novice wall climber with only a half-dozen or so El Cap routes under my belt, I was eager to devour any information I could get.
"You know, Pete, I should write a book."
Chongo helped Neal and me get tooled up for a couple of our walls, showing us such basics as how to connect our aiders and daisies and fifis, which carabiners to use for which application [especially lockers] and how to manage the top of our pigs. I found the transition from easier walls like The Nose and Salathe - with ledge bivis - to full-on hanging portaledge bivis difficult. My first few attempts were rather clusterfrigged to say the least!
I'll confess I spent less time with Chongo over the years, because he was fully absorbed in his physics book. Despite me having a degree in engineering, and having somehow managed to [barely] pass a bunch of pretty hard physics courses, I'll confess I have no idea what he is talking about most of the time. Plus I can't understand his English!
I am forever amused by the takes of various legit physicists on Chongo's physics book - fully half of them say there is some pretty cool stuff going on. However the converse is also true.
I always liked Chongo's ideas - some have become standard big wall practice, while others have faded into oblivion. I have always found Chongo Technology to be like a smorgassbord - put what you like on your plate, and leave what you don't like in the bowls.
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Mike Eadington
Boulder climber
CA
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Great Thread,
I first met Chongo hanging out in Joshua Tree in the early nineties. He taught me how to campfire surf when I was a wild eyed nineteen year old actively chasing my dream of becoming a dirt bag climber. He would stop by my camp-sight on the back loop around twilight. We would share my last beer and venture out into the campground looking for some weekend warriors with a large campfire and a larger ice chest full of weekend goodies. Chongo would walk up to the fire and with a big smile would say hello and ask permission to get warm by the fire. This was the time of year that five gallon jugs of water freeze solid overnight and as soon as the sun went down the desert chill sets in. Almost as if by program we would be welcomed to the fire and offered an alcoholic beverage and sometimes even more. After a couple campfire stories and a beer or three Chongo would tap me on the side and we would say good good-by and move on to the next campfire. In a way it was taking advantage of the weekend warriors. But it was also an experience that the weekenders would appreciate. A glimpse into the life of dirt bag climbers and a couple good stories for some warmth and a beer. Anyway thats haw we rationalized it.
I with a ran into him for the first time in years right before he got kicked out of the valley. He did not remember me, but I will never forget many of the memories that he left me. Any body out there still have any "Chongo Wear". It would have given Patagonia a run for it's money if Chongo had gone to mass production. He led the best tours through the Grand Chasm. Mr. Keefer in full claustrophobic freak-out. The cookie machine is a squeeze though a couple boulders that is about ten feet long with a super tight hip squeeze in the end. It is in a spot where even with a full moon out is still pitch black. A skinny person goes though first. Chongo probably never fit through squeeze, but somehow would always end up on the other side laughing with the skinny people as larger framed people tried to force their hips though the slot. I remember the two poor Brits that we went through with. Neither would fit, but their want to continue drove them to attempt it again and again. We laughed for probably an hour as they cursed the width of their hips. On the way out of the chasm Chongo would stop at a slightly overhung flaring inch and three quarter flaring crack that went up for about twenty feet in a slot. He would point at it and say "All the greatest minds of climbing have tried this and no one has succeeded." He was probably full of sh#t, but I was impressed. The story of the when his buddy told a lady at a bar that he had been in prison for ten years and had not been with a woman since he had been released. I'll leave the rest of the story to your dirty imaginations and still you will come up short of reality(or at least short of Chongo's version of the story). Probably the best Chongo story I know is when he got stuck in Mexico City with no money and no way home. As the story goes he set up a slack line and like any great street performer went on to wow the crowds gracefully balancing and twirling his pear shaped body on the slack-line like some kind of ballerina. Peso by paso Chongo earned his way out of Mexico City and escaped back to the safe confines of Yosemite Valley and Joshua tree.
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Wack
climber
Dazevue
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Sep 11, 2007 - 08:44am PT
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Chongo like the Cahuilla not only knew how to eke out a living in the desert but how to appreciate it's intrinsic beauty. A decade before Ammon's tale, I was on the State sponsored climbing team at JT as winter slowly morphed into spring. The Twins arrived at the Chongo Brothers (Chongo, Dave & Richard) camp bringing sunny weather and a violin case containing "Big Red" a formidable saxophone like instrument. They pointed to a summit across from the Pleasure Palace and announced that tonight there would be a concert where all were invited to play a solo on BR. That afternoon Chongo borrowed my Mtn bike to troll for resoles at Jumbo and Ryan. As daylight dwindled, the revelers warmed up around the campfire in preparation for a chilly onsight ascent with headlights. I slipped away and donned my Chongo resoled EB's. Stuffing a brew (courage in a rucksack?) into my chalkbag I was ready to solo with the honed locals, casually wearing Tevas or the then new Lavadomes. The climb turned out to be more of a chaotic -V0 stampede start, following various easy 5th class scrambles to the summit. Under absolutely clear desert skies the Twins conducted their concert with the sand backlighting the Joshua Trees under brilliant stars. In reverent silence we enjoyed the other worldly landscape reflecting upon our days adventures. As if on cue Chongo materialized with a date from a woman's outdoor adventure group. After the concert concluded we granted the couple some privacy and walked off the route Chongo provided, thankful having avoided the down climb. Safely on the ground like a legion of Zombies we stumbled through the night in search of our sites.
Warm in our bags we contentedly drifted off to sleep only to be awakened by a wild cacophony of amorous noise, all too scarce back in the day. Water is the second most precious quantity in the desert. More fortunate then most of the residents of HVCG I was able to close the door of my panel truck and return to sleep. The tent or cave bound were a captive audience to his dates opera, which seemed as interminably long as his wall ascents. The next morning all Chongo had to say was "I locked your bike up at Jumbo, it's cool". While we 'batched it cooking our mac and cheese he was scoring a free meal, partying with a bevy of women and most importantly avoided the cold bike ride back to camp.
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that girl
Boulder climber
Sacramento, Ca
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Sep 11, 2007 - 11:19pm PT
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It was really cool to see those old 80s pictures of him in the new Alpinist. I had him sign my copy. I see Chongo almost every day so almost every day is a new Chongo story for me.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Sep 12, 2007 - 04:12pm PT
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In the spring of 1997, I had done eight El Cap routes up to A3, and Chongo told me that it was now time for me to join The Club, meaning to solo El Cap.
"Now Pete," said Chongo, "you can solo El Cap by an easy route, but if you wanna be bitchin' - and I know you wanna be bitchin' {chuckle} - you have to solo it by a route that is longer and harder than one you have ever done. It is a very select few who have stood on top of El Cap having climbed it entirely by themselves."
Warren Hollinger told me he had climbed Iron Hawk, and that it was a pretty good route. I knew nothing more about it than what appeared in the Reid guidebook, but it is certainly longer and harder than anything I had yet climbed. It also traverses a lot, which I figured would be a good exercise in rope management and hauling skills.
So I went home to my local crags, and figured out how to solo. I practised hauling a bag of rocks, and set up a belay in the middle of the one-pitch routes we have here. I also traversed all over the place, making a difficult route to follow on purpose. That was about all the solo training I had, there wasn't really much literature available then.
When I arrived at the base of El Cap, Chongo helped me go over all my gear and rig up a bunch of stuff. He showed me how to make a Solo Tag Rack, which I really love and continue to use to this day. I started out on the El Cap Tree route start, and Chongo was able to watch me from below and offer advice. "Don't you have a bag for your haul line?"
"Nah," I said, "I just flake it carefully and it comes out no problem."
"Wow, Pete," said Chongo, "that's impressive. You have to have a real skill to properly flake a rope with each coil a bit smaller than the last, otherwise it will hang up for sure."
Needless to say, I had no idea how to do it properly, if it can even be done at all. What seemed to work so well in theory at home came to a crushing halt on the first few pitches of El Cap. I immediately got a haul line bag. Each night when I came down after fixing, Chongo and I held a debriefing, where he helped me solve my many wall problems.
The next day, I shouted down, "Chuck! I'm goin' too slowly! This is taking forever!"
"Why do you care, Pete? Just take extra food and water with you. In fact, the only thing you have to do today is climb and fix half a pitch. Do that, and you can blast and haul tomorrow."
Man, that really took a lot of pressure off! Knowing I didn't have to hurry. I assembled my huge load beneath El Cap Tree, jugged my fixed line, and got ready to haul. I didn't know exactly how to make a 2:1 Hauling Ratchet, as Chongo had drawn it for me on a paper napkin in the caf a few months earlier. So I had a zed-cord that was about forty feet long.
Chongo later told me the story of the Euro climbers who walked past my huge load and declared, "He vill nevah lift zat load off ze ground, it is too heavy."
About that time I hopped on the zed-cord, and as Chongo describes it, "Suddenly your load went rocketing up through the canopy! Funniest damn thing I ever saw, Pete!"
Having a big wall coach at the base would later prove handy when I met up with my first-ever expanding flake. I had no idea what to do, and was pretty scared. Chongo walked all the way over to the Alcove where the acoustics are good, and shouted up instructions to me on how to climb it.
After I got down, we had our final debriefing out in the parking lot. I had made a number of systemic errors, and what Chongo taught me in twenty minutes could have reduced my overall work on the wall by about 25%, so grievous and repetitious were my mistakes.
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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Sep 12, 2007 - 06:50pm PT
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chongo chongo chongo...
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Sep 13, 2007 - 10:20am PT
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Cheers, mate. But c'mon, guys - most everyone has a Chongo story, so let's hear 'em! I'm just warming up here.....
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that girl
Boulder climber
Sacramento, Ca
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Sep 13, 2007 - 12:14pm PT
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We were on our way to go camping and we stopped at this grocery store in Sonora. Chongo and 3 others went inside, but I was kind of beat from driving so stayed in the car. There were a bunch of teenage looking kids running around in the parking lot and all the activity seemed to be centered around this silver car. Then I noticed an unmarked police car slowly roll into the parking lot and circle around to light up the people silver car. Then about 10 other police cars jammed into the parking lot. I was so entertained that I didnt see Chongo run out of the store and back to my car. "everyone in the car! Get in the car! Get in! Get in!" he yelled. The cops wern't even paying us any attention, probably because we were parked a couple of rows away from all the action, but Chongo was still yelling for us to get outta there. The whole time I was trying to navigate out of the chaos Chongo was in the back seat yelling "Go this way! No, go that way! No, No, No, go back the other way!" I guess after so many years of trying to avoid "the man", you just get use to it. Old habits die hard.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Sep 13, 2007 - 12:34pm PT
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Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!! Too funny!
It reminds me of the time Chongo told me he received a warning from a Ranger, something the cops rarely do:
"Chongo, if you don't stop then we will have to arrest you."
"That was mighty kind of those rangers, Pete," Chongo repeated many times in amazement.
But that's the kind of guy Chongo is, and while he has his detractors, his friends are certainly loyal. That Chongo could essentially LIVE in the Lodge cafeteria unmolested for what - a decade? - is testament to his people skills. While we were working on his book, I used to ...
Well, I'll save that for another post.
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