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Gary
climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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ts the only way this thread is going to have legs. All the "black" people the OP got in response were "Black" in name only. (pun.) Not only haven't they named the BEST black climber in the Sierras, they haven't NAMED ANY so far.
I did. Maybe the bedsheet got in the way and you couldn't read it.
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Rankin
climber
North Carolina
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Man, you guys sound like some sorry crackers. You really should get out more....
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LithiumMetalman
Trad climber
cesspool central
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Glenn from Pacifica?
I remembered him telling me that he used to work for YOSAR back in the 70's. Went climbing with him in 2004, and the dude is strong!
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Karen
Trad climber
So Cal urban sprawl Hell
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Back in the mid-90's I met an African-American (male) at both Williamson and up at Suicide, the dude was an awesome climber. I talked with him quite a bit each time we ran into each other climbing, but I'll be damned if I can remember his name.
Surely someone around here must know who I am referring to, he was always with several other guys and after all, he was and has been the only African-American I've ever seen out climbing!!!?
Anyway, after that year I never saw him around....
btw...I had a classmate in graduate school, she was from Nigeria (she did not refer to herself as an "African-American" but as, "African"). She was always intrigued by my climbing and asked me to take her sometime. I did, and we went out to Josh, she had a great time; but other than the guy above and the woman I took climbing, nada....
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Prezwoodz
Big Wall climber
Anchorage
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I am black and I climb. Although I dont know any other black climbers in Alaska that I can think of....
Who is the best in the Sierra?
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FeelioBabar
climber
Sneaking up behind you...
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Mike Freeman is bad ass, and a total class act.
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mark miller
Social climber
Reno
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I'm from Detroit( and have played in Blues Bands for 2 decades) and have many African American friends, But I've only seen 2 climbers in 31 years of craggin". If they made the sport pay better they would probably have more gifted individuals raising the current climbing standards.
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jstan
climber
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Mike Freeman had a pretty good sticht. He could blow dry his finger nails, look all-knowing and declare, I'm the token black.
Once I did see another feller doing a climb. I know it wasn't Mike though. This fellow seemed to be struggling on the climb.
Where's Mike at these days?
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Inner City
Trad climber
East Bay
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is it the full moon comin'? what's up with people...some black some white...some climb..Werner?
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Ken M
Mountain climber
Los Angeles, Ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 3, 2009 - 12:17am PT
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Treeman saw through my ruse.
Clarence King, who did something astonishing. A white man who chose to pass as a black for 17 years, and was accepted as such by the black community of the time.
When I heard this story this year, I absolutely thought it was a hoax. I mean, how was it possible that such a famous man could have this history, and have it not known.
The book about him is "Passing Strange: A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line"
Glad I posted this, as I was not aware of that talk on the C-span site, nor that resource existed, at all.
As for current climbers, Marc Jackson is pretty good.
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Roman
Trad climber
Bostonia
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I hardly want to weigh in on this thread due to some of the blatant bigotry within it but I know several black climbers in the DC area.
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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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I think if you want to get some sense for the gulf between blacks and all other races, there's perhaps no better place to look than adventure sports. I've always wondered if the lack of black participation in climbing and caving and so forth was owing to the almost complete lack of black role models in these activities. Why? Perhaps blacks feel just being alive in American is risk enough, no need to push it for no pay, huge toil and little glory (climbing).
My interests are literature, sports and music and all are heavily influenced by blacks. A black rush on climbing might enrichen the sport like mad.
JL
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up2top
Big Wall climber
Phoenix, AZ
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RJ -- don't you know that any criticism of black culture (or any culture) is racist? There must be moral equivalency. Politically correct is the only acceptable way to speak.
As for the BEST black climber in the Sierras? Dunno. But why does it matter? I'd say it was the dude or dudette having the most fun. Regardless of race, ethnicity, or national origin.
Ed
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hooblie
climber
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i was so provoked by the author's presentation, i fritzed out and started a thread called "clarence king, we hardly knew ya."
it languished for twelve hours or so with only 'dirtbag' responding with a "sounds interesting."
to tell the truth i fritzed out again and deleted the thread for reasons akin to the wary miner whose fuse might or might not have fizzled.
plus some other threads at the time had run completely off the tracks in regrettable directions. right, like that could ever happen again.
my take on the story had to do with compassion for a man who was driven to extreme measures for following
the true compass of his heart in a time when social constraints would have ruined him.
he felt no attraction to stiff victorian women "suitable" to a man who moved amongst presidential cabinets
and also performed western wilderness surveys.
instead his passion was stirred by voluptuous afro-caribbean earthyness (help me out here largo)
and frankly, i get it, but apparently can't describe it.
his widow was supported until the sixties by financial underpinning traceable to lincolns sec of state, i mean really, check out the story
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Pilgrims,
Where the HELL have you been?? It's obviously Steve Swenson, Doninininini's sidekick at AAC.
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wildone
climber
GHOST TOWN
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My friend Stanford is the best black climber in the sierra. Of this, I will say no more.
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