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Blitzo
Social climber
Earth
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Aug 26, 2009 - 06:11pm PT
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Very cool. I wish I could have made it.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 26, 2009 - 06:20pm PT
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let me dream on that one, Jaybro...
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Aug 26, 2009 - 06:24pm PT
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Sometimes it, Is, better to lose your dreams....
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Aug 26, 2009 - 06:33pm PT
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Onward
into,
the recent
past...
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goatboy smellz
climber
लघिमा, co
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Aug 26, 2009 - 06:39pm PT
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Is that a fulgurite right there or is the rock just happy to see me, er those coeds?
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Aug 26, 2009 - 06:52pm PT
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"Lightning always strikes in the same place twice," William S Burroughs.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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Aug 26, 2009 - 06:57pm PT
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Sweet road-trip fellas!!!!
What's up with the hot chix hangin around???
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Aug 26, 2009 - 07:01pm PT
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I'm not going to get into it but Edzilla of the bus,might have been the choreographer, it was a drag when he had to ride on top....
Maybe L has notes...
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Aug 26, 2009 - 07:14pm PT
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Just look who showed up there. . . check this out
They're lookin' at LOCKER--look at that blockhead!!!!!
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Aug 26, 2009 - 07:23pm PT
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knew I felt that weird mojo...
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Dirka
Trad climber
SF
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Aug 26, 2009 - 07:28pm PT
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Nice like rice!
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MisterE
Trad climber
Canoga Porn, CA
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Aug 26, 2009 - 07:46pm PT
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Nice! Did the Bandaloop crew really show up at The Boogaloo?
Awesome pics!
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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Aug 26, 2009 - 07:48pm PT
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Eric, I don't think that's Hartouni and Jaybro in the blue tights hangin upside down!
Maybe...maybe Jaybro, not Ed though...
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goatboy smellz
climber
लघिमा, co
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Aug 26, 2009 - 08:41pm PT
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Actually E it was a homegrown version of Bandaloop going back to 1924.
http://www.jharp.net/vertical_dance.htm
“In 1922, Maybelle Land DeKay, a child prodigy in her own right, and then a Drama and English Professor at the University of Wyoming, found what she was looking for, a perfect natural amphitheatre in a very primitive setting roughly 20 miles east of Laramie. Her vision was to produce a play in the out of doors describing the history of Wyoming, from the cataclysmic birth of its rugged mountains to the coming of civilization.
Fascinated with Indian legend and myth of the region, she wanted to give her pagaent an Indian name. Newspaper articles of the time describe how she sought out the Arapahoe and asked them what their word for 'earthborn' was, coming up with "bi-ito'o'wu". This was then anglicized to "vedauwoo" (now pronounced 'vee-da-voo'). The pagaent was of rather grandiose scale, containing some 500 fanciful and historic characters and was written in 5 long episodes. 'Grand Teton', god of the mountains, was advisor to Vedauwoo, who was smitten with the goddess Wyoming, and on it goes.
Of course at that time, there were no roads into the area, so oxen-drawn plows were employed to level an access path into 'Vedauwoo Glen'. During the play, boulders were rolled down the cliffs to signify thunder and fireworks were exploded to simulate volcanic activity. A live musical score was orchestrated. The original play drew spectators numbering in the hundreds (nearly 1,500 once) from as far away as Denver, Kansas and Nebraska. Despite great enthusiasm, the play was held only three times, once in 1924, and twice in 1931.
Shortly thereafter, Ms. DeKay was divorced from her husband and was subsequently fired from the University Faculty, ending what was considered a quantal leap in theatrical production. As incredible as it sounds today, it was against the law (back then) for a single woman to be employed in a State funded position. Her untimely departure from the University signified the end of the production, but the strange and evocative name derived for the play and used for the area as well remains to this day.
Early in 1997, a spark was rekindled at the University to possibly recreate the pagaent with a more contemporary twist. Under the extraordinary and creative leadership of Ms. Rebecca Hilliker, Chairwoman of the Department of Theatre and Dance, a more modern version of the original play was produced, with inventive choreography by Margaret Wilson. Over the next year, while care was taken to retain much of the original spirit of the play, characters were 'updated' to appeal to a more modern audience and an original musical score was written by Kevin Hart.
Technical rock climbing and vertical dance techniques were integrated into the script by Neil Humphrey (Prof. of Geophysics) who anticipated suspending several actors/students high on the rocks overhanging the audience where they would perform gymnastic dance routines, creating a rather spectacular supporting theme.
The first play took place in September of 1998 to an audience of over 400 spectators. While moderately successful, it foretold of better things to come. The play emphasized more aerial improvisation in 1999 and many more tickets were sold. The 2000 performance was based on the new concept of "vertical dance" (somewhat reminiscent of Project Bandaloop) and was performed mostly on the Coke Bottle formation to the west of Fall Wall. The 2001 performance, entitled "Life in the Balance", occurred on September 9th. A blend of creative acting and dance was performed on the ground, and overhead there was free-floating balletic and gymnastic movement in three dimensional space against a backdrop of Vedauwoo's highly unusual rockforms. Since then, the Production has been performed each year for a large, highly diverse audience."
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cleo
Social climber
Berkeley, CA
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Aug 26, 2009 - 09:09pm PT
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chix hanging upside down. i don't know how i feel about that.
but I bet you guys liked it!
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 26, 2009 - 09:41pm PT
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It's not hard to get a good night's sleep after a couple of days of climbing at Vedauwoo. Wednesday came and the plan was to go and climb the uber-classic Mainstreet 5.10a. There was just one little problem: the UWy dance company was practicing for a vertical dance performance... Mike was defiant, "they can't just take over, it's a public area!"
Well the notices from the Forest Service did mention that some of these areas were going to be restricted. We wandered up over to Fall Wall and asked, then got permission to climb... it helps when the director of the company went to high school with Mike... we weren't just a bunch of yahoos (or maybe we were...).
There is something about being twice as old as what once would have been the object of desire...
lots of artistic inspiration has been generated by those longings...
Mike, however, kept his head and made sure to ask the dancers if they had adequately protected themselves ...
...against sunburn, "and your ears too?" sort of a professional interest in the public health... he sounded just like a dad...
...and Jaybro rose to the occasion (just a figure of speech, ya, that's the ticket)... and took up the lead. I had done this once two years ago, left side in, but followed Jaybro's left side in low which worked great.
As you can see, the dancers where walking the ledges... I hear one say "gee, I wish I was 8 again, I wasn't afraid of this when I was young." Whatever age she was now, my thought was she was ok just where she was.
Jaybro kept his mind on his bidness, here in the crux
and making for the large rest, now turning around...
It is a great climb and Mike and I where happy that Jaybro got the rope up there... either it's really much easier right side in or I've figured out a bit more of this wide game in the last two years.
The day was getting warm, so we went over to the Holdout... our objective was Currey's Diagonal 5.10b, another uber-classic...
I belayed Mike on this and didn't get any lead pictures... but I did get Jaybro's follow... here he is at the crux
my back and hip were complaining so I backed off, it was cold and I was tired from the good trip up Mainstreet and we were about to get Em, who was on schedule coming in from the Bay Area, flying into Denver, and shuttling up to Laramie... ETA 3:30 pm. We finished off and headed out... Mike was going for a run...
...we got Em, returned to camp to get her settled and wait for Bill Kuestner, aka "Captain America", to show up. Bill shows up, then Mike and the five of us go off to the Fall Wall area. For three years in a row, we've had Bill lead 5.11 Crack 5.9 which he makes a strong showing on. Mike starts lobbying Bill to lead Fall Wall Route 5.10a... which he does with grace! Bill does more boating these days then climbing, his rack was still setup for 5.11 Crack from last year... the last climb he did was with us.
I was belaying and didn't get a lot of shots....
here is Bill belaying someone on Fall Wall Route, with Jaybro lurking around.
amazing that Jaybro, Mike and Bill are a large contingent of the 1970s Vedauwoo FA-ists; certainly a privilege for me to count these guys and gals as friends.
Em had a good day, here she is doing the "light switch" crux move on the Fall Wall Route, with no apparent problem...
It was "beer-thirty" with pretty light, time to go and eat a bit and have a beer to continue the stories and slander around a campfire.
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Dick_Lugar
Trad climber
Indiana (the other Mideast)
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Aug 26, 2009 - 10:56pm PT
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Man, those ARE some tight bums...and I'm not talking about Jaybro's or Ed's either!
I got asked to do the UW Bandaloop a few years ago ...but just couldn't muster up the mojo to do it.
Looks like another fun year lads, thx. for the TR.
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Zander
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Aug 26, 2009 - 11:11pm PT
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Very nice, very nice...
more?
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dogtown
Gym climber
JackAssVille, Wyoming
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Aug 26, 2009 - 11:13pm PT
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Nice,Piece 'o' dirt,a fun lead.It's the Cool jet the crack to the right of Fantasia that the one that makes me puke! Need help!
Bruce.
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