A climber from the school before the Old Skool

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adam d

climber

Aug 12, 2009 - 02:15pm PT

Love seeing the old moms and dads crushing!

A few years back I organized a New Years bash at Joshua Tree, camping in a group site in Indian Cove. Ended up being ~40 people, climbers and otherwise. One day we took a respite from personal climbing to take a bunch of the non-climbers top roping at the short wall. As they struggled and laughed up those 5.easy routes we belayed and offered encouragement. Then a couple, must have been 70 each, walked up and slowly and methodically got their socks, shoes and tape just right before stepping up to a crack each and soloing upward like anti-gravity cold molasses...smooth and slow, with several laps to follow. At first some of my girls were shocked, but then they realized how solid and awesome those two were. And they were right. I managed to keep my ego in check at the time and not share that I did the same when I had the place to myself, faster but most likely not as smoothly as those two from the Old Old skool.

nature

climber

Tucson, AZ

Aug 12, 2009 - 02:20pm PT

thank you.

Fletcher

Trad climber

a buttery white sand beach... I wish!

Aug 12, 2009 - 02:45pm PT

This is wonderful. Thanks.

My mother-in-law wrote a nice remembrance of her days as a young woman working in Yosemite Valley (late 1940's). I've been meaning to share that (it's fine with her) and will do that shortly. She's not a climber, but I thought she caught a spirit of the time.

Eric

Fletcher

Trad climber

a buttery white sand beach... I wish!

Aug 12, 2009 - 04:02pm PT

Actually, her remembrance of Yosemite is from 1954. Here it is:

Summer Escapades in Yosemite 1954

I had just graduated from Arizona State College in Phoenix Arizona. A recruiter for students to work in Yosemite appeared. I applied. I was accepted to work in their office in the Prepaid Orders for tickets for various day trips. I had worked in the office at Kaiser Steel in Fontana California for 1 year between my sophomore and junior years. This gave me some experience in office work, and thusly I was hired.

My work began from May through Labor Day. What a great summer that was. I lived in the women’s dorm. The scenery was spectacular. A glaciated valley with meadows, streams and rivers running through, high sheer cliffs surrounded the valley. I joined the employees’ social group in the evenings and weekends. We did square dancing, gave choir recitals and musicals on the Camp Curry Stage for the tourists, had bar-b-ques alongside the rushing Merced river while one of the employees played his violin, and even went swimming in the Merced river.

Another activity was hiking. Maxine and I planned to take a high country hike one weekend. Somehow we hitched a ride up to Tuolumne Meadows. We were in the valley at the 4000 foot level and rode with someone in their car to the 8000 foot level. We spent the night there in a rented tent at Tuolumne Meadows.

We began our hike the next day. We carried our day packs on our backs. I had just bought my first camera. How exciting was that! We planned to hike through to Merced Lake and then hike down to the valley. All went well. Being very frugal, I had bread in my back pack. I had a jacket, and my new pink nylon pajamas and a few sundries.

Other hikers had told us to make lots of noise while hiking so as not to scare any bears. If bears get scared they could perhaps attack you. This was something we wanted to avoid. We did meet some deer in the forest. They froze, with their backs to us as we walked on the trail. They were tan in color with tails hanging straight down with a white patch of fur under the tail with their heads turned to the side staring at us with their huge brown eyes and ears erect and still as a statue.

We walked by streams, and through meadows and tall pine trees. I was fascinated by the sugar pine with their very long 18 inch pine cones. I tied four of the pine cones to the top of my pack. In those days it was okay to collect pine cones. I took lots of pictures with my very small camera. I was so proud and happy to have this camera. It was exciting to take so many pictures. In those days the film was black and white. The photos would be in black and white, not colored like today’s photos. We were still walking the trail when Maxine said she’d like to get a drink of water by the stream which was a few feet through the trees and down a small slope. The water was cold and tasted good. We had left our packs on the trail. When we came up to the trail I could not believe my eyes. There standing beside my pack was a huge sandy colored bear. I thought this would make a great photo, the only problem was that the camera was in my pack. I screamed and hollered and raised my two arms high in the air, to no avail. The bear grabbed my pack and loped through the woods so fast. How could an animal this big gallop so fast through the pine trees? I started to chase him through the woods. The soft padding of the pine needles gave a spring to my steps. Maxine was on the trail. She shouted “Denise, come back, come back, please come back!” I pursued on with the chase dashing in and around the trees. The bear was outdistancing me. He had my camera in the day pack! Then all of a sudden the bear stopped. Then, I stopped. I froze, stared at him and waited. He dropped the pack, turned his head in my direction and gave me a hiss “sssss”. I remained in place. Then he continued on through the woods. I ventured further following the direction of his path. I came upon my pack. The pine cones were still neatly tied around the top. However, something was missing. I opened the pack. It was the loaf of bread and the pink nylon pajamas! Was the bear hungry, or did the bear want something fancy to sleep in? I did get my camera back. That was a close call. I did find my way back to the trail.

Another activity while working in Yosemite was to fill in as a waitress for approximately two nights a week. I was a neophyte in this activity. This took place at the oh so exclusive Ahwahnee Hotel. It is still a fine hotel, but in those days it was the absolute finest dining experience in a National Park. I donned the brown cotton knee length dress uniform with a half white apron, a white round collar, and a white waitress- type headdress much like the nurses wear. The hotel gave us a dinner in a special room adjacent to the serving room. There were experienced waitresses there, but I was not one of them. I took the orders for one of the tables. It was “prime rib au jus”. I was being very careful to serve the dish by standing on the diner’s right side, with my left hand holding the plate. That went all very well, except while placing the plate in front of the diner, I just wasn’t experienced enough to know to hold the plate straight and steady. In those days, the men wore their best suits to such a dinner. Well you know what happened next, the “au jus” spilled onto the man’s trousers. I was so nervous, I started to laugh and couldn’t stop laughing. The laughter was uncontrollable, as I was getting more nervous. I tend to laugh when I get nervous. Finally the experienced waitress came to my rescue. She apologized to the man and took over the serving of the table. I would suspect that the Hotel took care of cleaning the trousers. I quickly left the scene and went to the serving room to hide out for quite a long while! Surprisingly, they still used me as a waitress. I would see the waitresses carry orders on big silver trays over their shoulders. It looked so easy. One evening I decided to try this. I did this a couple of times so I felt confident. That was my downfall. As I walked from the serving room through the swinging doors into the dining area, the tray started to wobble. I tried to steady it, but overcompensated and CRASH all the serving plates etc. fell to the floor. I was quickly whisked away. Someone from the kitchen help came to clean up the mess. I did not carry trays over my shoulder ever again. My whole experience was not disastrous. I was successful doing the accounting in the office. In spite of these escapades, I loved the whole summer there.

Another activity was going on the balcony of the Awahnee Hotel to see the firefall. I wondered “What is this Firefall everyone is talking about?” At the top of glacier point which rose above the valley to a height of approximately 6000 feet, a fire was made. When the fire turned into red-hot coals around 9 PM the coals were pushed down the ledge, and thusly was born the Firefall. That has been disbanded due to our consciousness toward keeping things according to nature, and not as an amusement park. Another activity was to see the moon bow. On certain nights of a full moon, there was talk among the employees about seeing a moon bow over Yosemite falls. What is a moon bow? A rainbow appears during rain and sun. The moon bow appears during full moon and the waterfall – It appears as a white arch. I did manage to go one time, but saw nothing. The talk was that the conditions had to be exactly right for the apparition to appear. Was this moon bow fact or fiction?

As a result of my enjoyment of the summer of 1954, I planned many summer vacation trips for my husband & I & four children. We camped in Yosemite in a tent and later in a tent trailer at the Lower Pines Camp Site on the Merced river.

The summer of 1954 created a great impact on my life.