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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Jul 13, 2009 - 10:06am PT
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Great shots, Peter.
Thanks for the magic!
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Brunosafari
Boulder climber
OR
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Jul 13, 2009 - 10:20am PT
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Now it is time for me to respond to the incessant comments about John's fashion sensibilities:
Is that funk belt buckle official BSA or is it Navy issue?
Thanks Peter --, more than sentiment, the twinner 'pirate' head shots seem so literary and timeless.
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Jul 13, 2009 - 02:41pm PT
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I don't know what BSA stands for, but the belt looks like the Navy issue webbed belt with the pressure cinch buckle that were common. They were pretty handy for keeping your pants up. I may still have mine. Probably wouldn't fit around my waist anymore. Cool pictures Peter.
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Jul 13, 2009 - 05:28pm PT
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Nice Peter! Low key like the day, and stunner photos.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Jul 13, 2009 - 05:36pm PT
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nice sequence, peter.
even though it's only thirty feet, sbt isn't a casual highball since that insecure step up out of the crack is probably the crux.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jul 13, 2009 - 07:20pm PT
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BSA = Boy Scouts of America
I think that it is probably a "military surplus" belt, picked up at one of the military surplus stores that were still ubiquitous in the 60s and early 70s... the BSA ones were either kaki or green... that looks darker...
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 13, 2009 - 07:26pm PT
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You're wrong again Ed. It means "Breedlove Standard Accessory"--- everybody knew that back in the Day --- BITD And later on we learned to say, "accoutrement".
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seakri
Trad climber
Sierra Crest
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Jul 13, 2009 - 07:42pm PT
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Thanks.
Much more interesting than most any magazine out there today.
More?
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jul 13, 2009 - 08:22pm PT
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"Much more interesting than most any magazine out there today."
So true.
That's because magazines present at one remove from the personal.
This is personal...
HEY: "You talkin' teh ME ?"
He is.
Nice words Peter.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jul 13, 2009 - 08:28pm PT
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oh man... not again!
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jul 13, 2009 - 08:33pm PT
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No really: not kidding around, this is just plain good stuff from the heart.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 13, 2009 - 09:59pm PT
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Tarb, Eddie was talking about my smaller post above, where I said he "was wrong again" as in Breedlove Standard Accessory/accoutrement, not Boy Scouts of America. he wasn't reacting to your marvelous, to-the-bone post just now.
best to all, p.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jul 13, 2009 - 11:29pm PT
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Peter is right, that response was to his post that I was "wrong again." Peter had commented a while back that I wasn't rising to his bait, a sign that I was dealing with a number of nagging physical problems and somewhat distracted and depressed. He was correct... so I thought I'd take the time to take the hook, as it were, and show that I've got a path forward... and am making progress.
But the issue with the magazines is an interesting one, and perhaps more important to those of us for which the magazines once played the role of SuperTopo Forum. I remember reading the "Info" section of Mountain, trying to pick up a wiff of what was happening out there in the world of climbing, or the Letters in Climbing...
Because of the limits of print media, choices had to be made by editors, and there was a need and desire to print quality material. Here things can be a draft, or built up in collaboration, with lots of temporary contributions, and often information from unexpected quarters... the multiplicity of voices and opinions can be developed, questioned, replied to, etc... and over a long period of time.
These fragments of a summer day so very long ago would have seemed a month ago to be of limited importance. The desire, in the aftermath of John's death, to recapture some small element of the way it used to be is human nature, and is really an online memorial to John. Perhaps such contributions could be a part of the traditional print media, but it seems so much more natural here at this virtual campfire...
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Jim Wilcox
Boulder climber
Santa Barbara
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Jul 13, 2009 - 11:50pm PT
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This a pretty personal one from Mountain #93-Sept. 1983. Author:Phil Bard
The article's first few paragraphs appear to be very appropiate to this thread. I can post the other 3 pages if people want.
I sure do miss John's periodic posts adding color to stories.
Sigh.....
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jul 14, 2009 - 12:36am PT
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hey Jim, post the rest!
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Jim Wilcox
Boulder climber
Santa Barbara
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Jul 14, 2009 - 01:12am PT
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Just on youtube watching your videos, Ed
Scanning is commencing...
page 2, high up on Crack-a go go
page 3
Phil really did capture the essence of John's climbing-not Gillette!
page 4
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jul 14, 2009 - 10:58am PT
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Well there we have it: the proto-appreciation thread, in print no less, hosted by Mountain Magazine of course.
(Would have to peruse the letters section of subsequent issues for initial responses to the OP)
Thanks Jim and Phil.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jul 14, 2009 - 11:21am PT
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"For those of us who aspire to excellence at any level and in any style, someone like Bachar provides inspiration, both through his accomplishments and his dedication to the craft. The future undoubtedly holds many great events in this field - success, failures, tragedies. There is a good deal of unbroken ground. Controversies will continue; today's revolutionary solos may become tomorrow's commonplace. Climbing has always existed in a constant state of flux, and soloing, as personal as it is, will be influenced. We grant pre-eminence cautiously to a select few, but there is little doubt that, on the frontier of solo ascents, John is state of the art."
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Jim Wilcox
Boulder climber
Santa Barbara
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Jul 14, 2009 - 12:41pm PT
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Time tells all...
Phil was partially right, what was groundbreaking often becomes commonplace. But even after 25 years the pictures of John's free solos, even the 5.9's, makes you pause.
Those who can perform at the highest level, at the purest level, leave you breathless
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jul 14, 2009 - 06:23pm PT
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Well that's not the way climbing went... as we now know... but Bachar continued to inspire us, and he stayed true to himself in the process
Those iconic images evoke a whole series of memories of that era.
The feeling of sadness still hasn't quite given way to appreciation and wonder in the fact that I got to know him a little bit, and experience in small part the effect of watching him climb, solo or not... as Bard observed "it's nearly impossible to determine a route's difficulty just by watching John solo it." I would generalize it to "watching John climb it." Just watching him climb was mesmerizing, you couldn't process everything you were seeing, at least that was true for me. In my most recent climbing I have been trying to focus on the specific lessons I learned from those moments... the internal dialog: "get your feet just right, like John, get that hand in the best position, don't rush, focus..."
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