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mouse from merced
Trad climber
merced, california
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Apr 19, 2012 - 05:45pm PT
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Well, the last time I saw Steve "Slings" Williams, it was in the Factory Outlet in Berkeley. He'd worked in a tungsten mine over on the East Side and had a gut the size of Gypsy's in that picture. He claimed it was all Budweiser. That is one of the best photos of him you will ever see.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
merced, california
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Apr 19, 2012 - 06:32pm PT
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My wad is on Oakshott. I mean, I bet it's he in the middle behind the binocs (who guided Millis up the Salathe, wasn't that how it happened?).
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
merced, california
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Apr 19, 2012 - 06:54pm PT
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"Baseball been berry berry good to me."---Garret M, SNL.
It never came to fruition, but I tried to convince The North Face's off-shoot softball team, "Fear of Flying," that we should challenge the "Men of 4" to a game some holiday weekend. We were eager, but the members were not able to mobilize enough players to do so; we all had jobs in the Bay Area. It would have been interesting. We won a class A league in Alameda during the late 70s. I was the pitcher, some of the time, and the weakest hitter, by far. Turns out a left thumb improves your batting and your golf, and probably your sex life. And your climbing. I'm berry berry glad I didn't have an afro like poor Roger was cursed with, but at least he could bat worth a sh#t. (Zing!)
The funniest softball exhibition game I ever saw was in Alameda between the Oakland Raiders and the Alameda cops. Mickey Marvin, a Raider lineman, dropped trou and mooned the crowd for some reason, but he was big enough not to need one. The Raiders killed the cops, as you might expect.
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Gypsy
Social climber
NC
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Apr 19, 2012 - 08:17pm PT
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So Mouse from Merced, I remember living in that "studio" apartment in Berkeley. I cannot remember that we had a telephone; but somehow I remember we called you to tell you that we were leaving for Europe and perhaps you wanted to come up sometime (from Ventura?) and apply for Randy's job at the North Face. You and Dolores drove all night and were there in the morning. Ha ha. Lee Bibby lived in our closet, Randy and I slept in one room, you and Dolores in the kitchen, Larry Jones in his van in our back driveway and Dick Ellsworth in his yellow van in our front driveway. Wasn't that a time...?
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throwpie
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 19, 2012 - 08:49pm PT
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North Face Factory Outlet...the home of the Ripstop Geese. Thats about as obscure as it comes.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
merced, california
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Apr 19, 2012 - 09:27pm PT
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Obscure? I thought I have been shedding light. You're destroying my self-confidence, Pie.
And Gypsy, I can tell you have a similar problem, in that your memory is not as accurate as it should be. I left Dolores in Oxnard and came to Berkeley alone. Larry Jones had no van. It was my Ford Econoline, the DORF. And Ross was the one I replaced. Not that it matters. I talked to Malcolm McG the other day, and he's well, as is Patty.
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Gypsy
Social climber
NC
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Apr 20, 2012 - 03:44pm PT
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Well, Mouse, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
merced, california
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Apr 20, 2012 - 04:18pm PT
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I knew you would. Thank ya fer the invitation to stay there on Berkeley's presidential street (after Ike the Dwightman). And thank you for the kind email, as well. Now I can get on with my life. See ya on the radio?
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throwpie
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 20, 2012 - 07:11pm PT
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tom Carter
Social climber
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Apr 21, 2012 - 01:48am PT
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Wasn't Drone on that search too?
I remember something about rattlesnakes in bushes etc etc....
Was Whitey up there looking too?
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throwpie
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 21, 2012 - 12:18pm PT
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Who had the snake bit finger, black as charcoal with two puss leaking fang marks? Was it Skeet? I don't think it was from Andy's search.
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tom Carter
Social climber
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Apr 21, 2012 - 02:14pm PT
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Think it was Drone Stevens?
Here's another one of the elusive Bard. what Route???
Also posted on Guidos "Every picture..."
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
merced, california
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Apr 21, 2012 - 02:35pm PT
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It's nearly noon?
That finger belonged to Dr. Drone. I was down in Okie Flats, Ventura Co., being married with no kids, traveling to the Valley as often as I could, and that is where I was when the Kings River drama took place. Mathis visited us and we got mostly skinny from him. I'm in the middle of sucking up to Tom Carter at the moment. I came over here to ST to look for a photo of him and Whitey and others standing in front of an open garage door. Try searching for that, my friend, instead of worrying about such pissy little things as digits with owies. I'll do a Schwarzenegger.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
merced, california
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Apr 21, 2012 - 03:04pm PT
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Good, eff that, great photo, Tom. Aside from which route, a question we will answer, trust me, there are other concerns. Is he one of those inhalers? I have some of my own, but none of them art a patch on this guy in the photo. That is Fireplace Bluffs in the back ground and this is def EC, I tink, whaddya, tink? Another concern, one of Dr. Phil's classic lines, "What was he tinkin'?" And what was he tokin'? Not the same as inhalin' but let's let greater men decide those definitions.
He's mulling the lines from Beast of Burden, "Am I tough enough? I walked for miles, my feet are hurtin'." And Nurses and Maids.
The era, the actual time, the photographer, all kinds of sh#t go into and out of our head when we look at these pics. I see by Walstead's FB pages that he's impressed.
I just got my computer, and can expect the scanner soon. Jim Shirley offered me this rig last week in exchange for my work (to come) scanning his slides, which go back to 10 BC and the Factory Outlet's earliest days. His mail order catalog department was in the rear of the 1234 5th St. address. I mean, if you do MOs have an address that is simple to remember, right? Any how, we'll be in for a treat when that scanner happens. His first catalog project featured, I think, the Brooks Range ski trip of Ned Gilette, Wayne Merry and another cat.
I remember Ike. Throwpie.
Ike was my brother-in-law, hitched to Shari, Dolores' oldest sibster.
I like Ike. His dad is Ike, too. They are the Ikes Jr. and Sr. Their full names are Isaac Keith Edie, Jr. and Sr., respectively.
Junior (we never called him that back in the day, but we're sure gonna annoy him by doing so) came to the Valley with Shari and he and I were good partners. He could follow anything I led and I thought he could have been much, much better, but he had little enough time to play. After our move to his neighborhood, Okie Flats, on 101 just out of Snard, Ventura Co., he taught me to surf. He even put me to work on his pump installing rig on occasion, but I worked out in the oil-patch, mostly. We'd head out to the beach after work. On many weekends we got to cllimb: Stoney, JT, and Tahquitz/Suicide. When we moved to Berz we managed several trips to Tahquitz. We even made it to the Leap one summer when they visited us.
The onliest climbing photo I have of that particular trip is on my wall. I took it from a b.s. on The Line. I tossed a bunch of shots in the past because they were typical ass or head shots.
E. Buttress MCR, The Line, Haystack Crack, a couple of half-ass tries on the Steck-Salathe, Oasis to Rim on GPA, and several in that realm of difficulty; lots of JT shorties; and a number of things at Tockrock.
Later, having gone solo, I moved back to his house and then lived with his uncle, Rex Edie, still in Okie Flats, and I worked at installing pumps and drilling water wells, which got me in top shape. I was soon climbing with Jim Shirley regularly over by the movie ranch in Box Cyn. in that other Valley. We likewise jammed to Tahquitz regularly.
So that was Ike. He's still pretty hang-loose, and I would vote for him for President because......now say it together, kids......
I like Ike.
I believe the time has come to to reveal that all these years TC has been sending cash through the mail.
And there is enough altitude in the photo to suggest it's all the way up a wall. The SW face is obscured by the rock which cuts off Fireplace Bluffs. The Muir Wall ends close to the Nose, which shares the same viewpoint.
Muir Wall, within two pitches of the finish?
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tom Carter
Social climber
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Apr 21, 2012 - 11:33pm PT
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Okay Okay Okay... some questions....
Did you know Miller from Ventura or meet earlier/later? Who named him Millis?...Millis-probably named hisself - right?
You starched shirts at the Mt Shop, right? Who else worked there? Leonard Singer? Farrell? Craig Patterson? How about guides-was Whitey and Drone and Fig working? Ashworth? Birdcheff?
Sh#t the answers may help cut loose some barnacles, past fig-ments?
Remember "Smooth-trail" living in Degans Dorms (that dive looked GOOD)? And in 4 first thing in the morning reading out a page of the "Good Book"... "Ladies and Gentlemen, Uncles and Aunts and all yous peoples in the Levi pants listen up to the Book and then we shall commence to rolling... " and at this point the page would be torn out of said book and utilized as the ZigZags were nowhere to be found.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
merced, california
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Apr 21, 2012 - 11:59pm PT
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It's okleedoklee if you get impatient with me and my rambles, Kemosob.
But do check out the final add-on to my previous post.
No starch in our shirts. Just crispy creases from ceaseless re-folding. Len Singer was the manager and his boss, Tom, was a Curry-favoring suck-butt.
Len sang our praises to Tom because he liked us.
Ashworth's known as "Seller Man?"
Dillis Millis was likely named by Mathis. It sure sounds silly enough and Jeff's clever enough to think of it. I'll ask him.
You say Farrel worked in the shop? It must have been after me. Apparently, the plan was to hire Stubbs after I got "terminated" by Curry in February of 1972 (terminated for the second time--hardly a record, but a source of pride nonetheless).
I never heard of Patterson.
White and Drone were not on the payroll because it was February when I got tanked, mid-March when we left for Snard, and they didn't need guides so early in the season, likely.
Who was Smooth-Trail? I knew Larry Jones, one of the original Flames from Merced was living in Degnan's with his block of black Primo hash.
We didn't have a bet on the El Cap photo. Sh#t, You send cash, too.
What was I thinkin'?
Does that thing block out the i in sh#t on its own? Let's just find out.
It do! F*#king technology.
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tom Carter
Social climber
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Apr 22, 2012 - 01:08am PT
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No bet but you won! The Muir it is - but lower in the Grey Bands on a ledge used by the TM and somebody he refers to as "The Midget".
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
merced, california
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Apr 22, 2012 - 01:23am PT
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TC, who the fluck is the TM and what does he have in common with little people?
I'm an honest broker, broke-dick, too. I confess to you and all the world that Tornado gave me the tiniest little hint about the Muir. That still doesn't excuse TM, whoever he is, for whatever it was he had goin' on with "The Midget." But we have an active imagination. Many "tools" on our climbing "racks" lead to various speculation: long dong, short thick, long thin, nuts in all shapes and sizes, your hammer. The list goes on. And so do I.
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tom Carter
Social climber
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Apr 23, 2012 - 11:46am PT
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Mouse
Cat between Vern and Dave Altman with the binos is Billy Nickel
Bill was the first person I met who had climbed El Cap. I remember sitting beside his vw van that was parked so close to After 7 that you couldn't get to the opening moves!
He told us how it was up there...Liza and I were spellbound. It was during that story of his ascent that I knew I would do all I could to climb the Nose someday. I'd fallen in love.
Great friends in that Valley
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
merced, california
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Apr 23, 2012 - 01:21pm PT
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I'm wondering if you have a real job. What's yr gig? cuz mine is Social Security. I appreciate the time you are taking with me. It is a man's most precious commodity. Did I answer your q. about the Millis, and how we met?
I've posted stories about that like on Largo's Led Zep topic.
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