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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Nice photos. Thanks for those. Incidentally, the interview of
Mort, called "Minstrel of Despairs," was mine, in the
Climbing Art....
Good to see this thread come up again, to remember our friend.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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1969 was the last year I ever saw Pratt. It must have been right around the time these photos were taken as that is exactly how I remember him. Thank you for posting them and once again bringing back the memories.
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Rest day, Tetons summer of 71 with Hennek, Mavis Jukes, Trish dah Dish, Chuck and Dennis Mennek(sic) and lots of Kimchi.........
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BASE104
Social climber
An Oil Field
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Over on youtube there is a seven part interview of him in the early eighties when he was guiding in the Tetons. You can tell that it was torture for him, but he chugs beers and makes it through the ordeal.
I remember turning 18 in the Moose Bar in the tetons and going to the bar for my first legal beer. It was in the middle of the day and Pratt was the only other guy in the bar, a few seats down. He seemed to be deep in thought as he nursed a red wine, so we didn't bug him, but of course we recognized him.
It's funny in that interview, because he looks younger than I do now.
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Rollover
climber
Gross Vegas
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Jun 11, 2013 - 04:36pm PT
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Bump
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Jun 11, 2013 - 09:00pm PT
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Bump
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Mimi
climber
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Dec 28, 2013 - 07:40pm PT
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DR on Chuck Pratt holiday bump!
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guyman
Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
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To the top, of this slag heap...
keep the climbing on top.
flush the other garbage..
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plund
Social climber
OD, MN
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All of ST's posturing, butthurt, vitriol, stupidity, spray & politics are redeemed by this treasure of a thread. Thanks tons, old(er) dads!
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LongAgo
Trad climber
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Don't come onto Supertopo much these days, but for this one, yes.
What Doug said, way back at the beginning:
"The climbing scene revolved around his presence like a kingpin. If Robbins and Harding propelled the vision of those fruitful times, Pratt was its moral force, or maybe its strength of character. He was like the calm at the center of that whirlwind of creativity.."
Chuck seemed to know something the rest of us were missing and wished to have: deep sense of the meaning and essence of the game beyond much of what trapped us in the circle of best yet, better yet, comparisons of one sort or another.
I remember him coming to me a few times at a Camp 4 table, late afternoon, ambling over in the dust filtered sun to take account of some first ascent or first free ascent for his notebook. He smiled, asked for a little write up or made notes himself based on what I said. His face spoke with appreciation and respect as if to say good job.
But behind the smile or the eyes was something else. He didn't probe about how it went, or ask how the rating compared to anything or put himself or other climbs in the equation. The subtext was here we are, climbing rocks, fellow clowns nearly, jotting down our little lines in the sky, enormously absurd but thankfully away from the flat world below, some thinking it all noble, others giving it only a small smile like his. And, on we go.
At the time, I hardly knew how true and strong his take was against so much competition and egotism hanging in the air, and the rising commercialism and popularity of climbing on the horizon. It was only after his death that I caught up with his vision and of course wish now I could have a very long beer with him, maybe on a rock in the talus slope up from Camp 4, as I once did with him long ago when I knew so very little.
Tom Higgins
LongAgo
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Feb 10, 2017 - 03:44am PT
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And yet I wonder....Chuck was the most gifted rock climber of the "Yosemite Golden Age" generation, he climbed with great composure and an effortless grace. He was also a fine writer. What could have been had he not withdrawn from cutting edge climbing and writing at such a young age?
Everyone persues their life as they see best and I am sure that Chuck had his reasons for withdraing from the stage. He seemed happy enough in those last years in the Tetons surrounded by an admiring bevy of adoring "Chuck's girls." Yet, still I wonder.
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Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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Feb 10, 2017 - 07:32am PT
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A statement in itself, eh, Jim?
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Feb 10, 2017 - 02:53pm PT
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Higgins and Donini, two Masters of the Game writing about Pratt the reclusive, king of kings and hardly known by the current generation. We can all learn from Chuck, too bad he didn't write more........
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Feb 10, 2017 - 04:13pm PT
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Chuck was the paradigm of the tragic hero. He was physically and mentally gifted but ill suited for modern America. Crass materialism, the worship of the almighty dollar and the loud shouts of "look at me!" drove him into a reclusive, gentle life that he shared with a very few friends.
Everyone touched by him held him in high regard. The turnout at his memorial in the Tetons was huge.....and this for a man who absoluetly shunned noteriety and lived a very quiet and private life.
His life should be a lesson for climbers today....you don't have to blow your horn, if your life has real substance the horn blows for you.
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Todd Eastman
climber
Bellingham, WA
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Feb 10, 2017 - 07:16pm PT
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^^^
Dats da Truth!!!
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nature
climber
Boulder, CO
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Feb 10, 2017 - 07:16pm PT
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Thanks to Jim and Tom
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Feb 10, 2017 - 07:33pm PT
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Beep Beep!
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LongAgo
Trad climber
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Feb 21, 2017 - 06:37pm PT
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"His life should be a lesson for climbers today....you don't have to blow your horn, if your life has real substance the horn blows for you."
What Chuck taught me is horns don't matter, blown purposely or not. Recognition, status, place in history, even place in the memories of climbers as on this thread about him - relevant only if he found them so for himself. Just as his "withdrawing" from the stage or not writing more are also irrelevant or relevant only to him.
Yes, he and his way may be relevant to us as we remember him and draw lessons from him for our own selves. But they are only our speculations from outside him. What only matters is if he was solid with himself and his decisions. Was he? Probably like all of us, some yes, some no. Such is life.
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DrDeeg
Mountain climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Apr 26, 2017 - 06:02pm PT
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Because there were fewer climbers in the 60s, those of us with modest ability still got to climb with the best. I was fortunate to climb frequently with Chuck in '66 and '67, often being awakened by him standing next to my sleeping bag with the rack already assembled. When climbs had been newly freed, he liked to go back to them. In '65 Steve Thompson and Chris Fredericks had done the FFA of the East Buttress of Lower Cathedral Rock, and in '66 Chuck and I went there. I led the pitch below the hard one -- the Fissure Beck, where a layback was straightforward but intimidating, 5.7 once you made your mind up to go for it. I couldn't see Chuck leading the hard pitch (the next one), but the rope paid steadily out. He called down, "I think I'm at the hard part," and the rope kept going at the same rate when he called again, "Yep, that's 5.10." Above the hard moves, the climbing is easy for another 30 feet to the belay, and the rope kept going at the same pace.
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