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pip the dog
Mountain climber
planet dogboy
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Feb 24, 2009 - 02:19am PT
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I’ve been following this thread with much interest and joy.
I also bounced back and read an earlier thread re: brother Croft. I saw that picture of a young croft there. How cool to have been there to see that talent bloom into something massive.
(also stunned by rick grahams’s photo of Croft’s entry in the Temple Crag Register: Moon Goddess, Dark Star, Sun Ribbon, Venusian Blind … then back home in time for cocktails!)
The remarkable brother Croft has always fascinated the heck out of me.
~~~
way BITD at the end of my teens (’82?) I took my first trip to squamish (a long way from my college in new haven). Somehow I met this guy named Stephen and he had some solid local knowledge. We do a bunch of the classics together. Proves to be a really good guy and (within our then frame of reference) a good climber.
Eventually we end up on something way on the left side of the main wall. (I can’t now begin to remember the name of the route – and as I am on the road I don’t have a guidebook photo to look at, I can't even point at a guess).
Stephen hasn’t done this one before, but he has long looked at the line and wants to try it. My recollection is that it was .10something-ish. Off we go.
The first pitch is as good as it looks from the ground, Stephen’s lead. Then it is my turn and the next pitch proves to be a rather confusing pain in the asz. The line isn't at all obvious, and i rather doubt i stayed on route. In many moments it tested what little I’ve had.
I finally get up close to the obvious roof mentioned in the text description – and as noted therein, avoid the .11 finger crack straight up and over the roof and instead go right of the roof as instructed to find 'easier ground'.
I flail like crazy on this ‘easier ground’ and soon wiff for some noteable airtime. I try it again and somehow just barely manage to weasel my way up and onto the small ledge with a tree above the roof. I just lay there hyperventilating and trying to get my head on straight for a very long time before finally setting up the belay and bringing Stephen up. He too puts in some airtime on the ‘easier ground’ but eventually makes this ledge, like me all wheezing and dazed.
As I am trying to get the great wad and mess of our rope straightened out (i knew how to thread a rope over a leg or sling -- but was simply too wasted to stay on top of it) -- this so I can figure which end is actually attached to Stephen and with that actually tie him in and take him off. In the middle off this clusterfook, this head suddenly pops up from out of nowhere less than two feet from my own mug -- right where that .11 crack topped out through the roof I had carefully avoided.
Hardly expecting this, I shout something on the order of “Ho Sh!t!” Eventually I actually breath and realize that this guy is climbing unroped. At this another “Ho Sh!t!” -- and I say “Oh man, I’m sorry, let me get all this crap out of your way – c’mon up dude, don’t wait for us.”
And this calm blond creature just hangs there in finger locks and says “No rush man, I’m good, you take your time and set things up the way you want.” (“Ho Sh!t!”)
Eventually he tops out onto the ledge in a single hop, and as he takes a momet to dip for some chalk he says “You guys looked good – the rest of the route goes like this” And with that he's off in a heartbeat and quick tops out. (“Ho Sh!t!”)
We looked good? Bwaaaahaaaahaaa! We had both just flailed like stunned fish on a dock. But I have since learned that that is just the kind of guy he is. Calm, polite, forever reassuring. It was, of course, brother Croft. First time I ever ran into him (in this case literally -- “Ho Sh!t!”)
~~~
Quite a few years later I talk a pretty studly rope gun pal into dragging me up Astroman. While I had done a few very carefully selected routes (to fit my personal skinny self and few talents) with slightly higher numbers -– this one is as a whole surely the hardest route I’d ever tried.
And there were oh so many times when I was flailing and trying to figure out just the next 5 feet. In those moments i would force myself to stop whining for a moment and just breath and say to myself out loud “Croft _soloed_ this thing!" (Ho Sh!t!). And if he can do that, perhaps even just me can figure out just this next 5 feet with a comfy functional top rope.”
I lather, rinse, and repeated this train of thought (endlessly), and somehow it gets me to keep my head in it and find a way (just barely) to top out.
Croft soloed this thing! (Ho Sh!t!)
A remarkably on-target guy. Stunning climber. More importantly, a truly, truly good soul.
^,,^
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Feb 24, 2009 - 02:24am PT
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ok, maybe a bit of thread drift cuz it might've been 1980 or 1981 but first trip to squamish:
smoke bluffs. maybe 830 or 9 a.m. some mossy wet thin crack. we walk up to climb it, but there's a party already on it (unusual in these years.) it's some skinny kid, a few years older than me, tying into his swami for a go. his hands are shakin so bad he can barely tie the knot. i have some familiarity with the dts, so i recognize the syndrome.
oh man, he asks us, do you guys have a beer? (9 in the morning, remember.)
no, we say, no beer.
too bad, he says, it's a lot better with beer.
randy atkinson on some random 5.11 that he proceeded to fire, shakin' the whole way.
and yeah, everyone wuz hot 4 tami.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Feb 24, 2009 - 12:33pm PT
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Some of us actually had girlfriends at the time, and so not all necessarily had the hots for Tami.
Yes, the Little Smoke Bluffs - a nursery for Peter C. and others. From 1978 through to the mid 1980s he spent hundreds of days there, soloing up and down routes. He rightly believed that if you were going to solo up things, you ought to be able to solo down them. It helped to form a very sound base for later adventures. A lot of well known climbers may have similar places in their roots.
Self-bumped, so as to comply with Eric and Jay's order to bump history threads.
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MH2
climber
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Feb 24, 2009 - 03:08pm PT
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From my first trip to Squamish (81/82?) with Bryan Burdo, I remember meeting a group on the spur of the old highway under the Chief. There was Tami and... some others. John Stoddard must have been there because he later left a note to Bryan on our windshield. I think he climbed Cruel Shoes.
One rainy time in Leavenworth we saw a car with a rat drawn in the condensation on the rear window. Next day we weren't the only ones who thought of at least one dry climb.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Feb 24, 2009 - 05:42pm PT
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Some things never change.... (hee hee hee)
Bomb Shelter, on the east side of Grand Central Tower?
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Feb 24, 2009 - 06:33pm PT
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That picture of Simon T., Tami K., Peter C., and A. Nother a few posts back is something special.
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MH2
climber
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Feb 24, 2009 - 07:18pm PT
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I thought it was Hamish with Tami and Peter at Peshastin. Of course that might be mistaken.
I do remember that Peter, who I knew was into doing much longer things, said something complimentary about Bombshelter when I asked him how he had liked it. Definitely a good-energy person.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Feb 24, 2009 - 07:22pm PT
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It is definitely Bombshelter. At the time, it would've been rated 5.10+.
Jim Donini did the ffa. Great route until it turns into vertical kitty litter.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Feb 24, 2009 - 07:57pm PT
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"Wrong
Henry Barber"
Really? That's interesting. I didn't know Barber had even climbed at Peshastin. I'd always heard it described as a Donini route.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Feb 24, 2009 - 10:59pm PT
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Washington Rock Climbs (Smoot, 1989) says the FFA of Bomb Shelter was by Barber, in 1974. Earlier guidebooks don't provide FA or FFA information. Jim Donini is on ST occasionally, and may be able to comment - if he sees the thread.
Still no guesses regarding where the picture of Bruce F. was taken? (About 30 posts back?)
As far as the red button goes, one word: gondola.
Bumped per Karl Baba and MisterE's command.
Later I may post something about bolt chopping, convenience bolts, and Penny Lane. We haven't had a good thrash about such atrocities lately, though I'm afraid that no rap-bolting was committed.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Feb 25, 2009 - 02:43am PT
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Tami and I conferred tonight, and decided we simply MUST know who klk, BJ, and pip the dog really are. Please send PMs.
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MH2
climber
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Feb 25, 2009 - 03:14am PT
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we simply MUST know who klk, BJ, and pip the dog really are
uuuuse the Taco, lazybones
BJ
has signed a recent post of his
klk
has >900 posts, that should give a clue
I like:"people are mining the couch for quarters to get airfare to the place you live (Vancouver)"
pip
Please do not tempt him to risk his membership in the UNnamed climbers club.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Feb 25, 2009 - 01:10pm PT
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OK, found Mark. What about the other two?
Plus there are two outstanding puzzle questions that no one has interested. Hint: The photo of Bruce F. is from the Valley. Where?
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Feb 25, 2009 - 01:49pm PT
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Sorry, didn't mean to be anon. I guess my full name is in my profile on a couple of the other sites. klk=kerwinleeklein
there's a couple period photos (at larrabee) on the shining sea thread.
haven't posted much on this thread cuz i didnt get to squamish until '80 or '81. bud miller (from b'ham) was my 1st partner there. i climbed mostly with scott young, jean bonner, andy b, gordie a bit. peter a fair bit, hamish a few times. tim and stuart, later. tami will remember me only as a grommet.
i knew randy a bit, perry better. joe b and that crew. doug fir, etc. jim c of course. anders, i think we met once, but it would've been only briefly and ages ago, and the memory is pretty fuzzy. lots of sq memories, but they'll presumably fit better into an 80s thread. most of the pix are lost, unfortunately.
lived in vancouver on and off for a year or two. haven't climbed at squamish since 89 or 90, my last trip. then i was mostly hanging at pet wall. got back to lighthouse with scott a few years back.
i run into peter on the eastside occasionally.
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MH2
climber
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Feb 25, 2009 - 05:24pm PT
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The photo of Bruce F. is from the Valley. Where?
Anders, even I recognize the dark formation uppermost in the pic, but I passed on my turn.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Feb 25, 2009 - 06:11pm PT
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Bolting controversy. Picture puzzle, Yosemite oriented. I'd have thought for sure those'd generate a few more bites.
Here's the photo again:
Anyone?
With regard to Bomb Shelter at Peshastin, Jim D reports on another thread that "Mighty Hiker, I climbed in the area but a little later- around 77 or 78. If Bomb Shelter is that 11- in Peshastin I believe it was freed by Henry Barber and considered the first 5:11 in Washington."
I think Jim actually lived in Leavenworth then or a bit later.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Feb 25, 2009 - 08:04pm PT
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Knob Hill (not sure what route, though - I don't think it's Pot Belly)
compare to a shot from 2005:
Pot Belly
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MH2
climber
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Feb 25, 2009 - 11:05pm PT
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Clint has turned his powerful searchlight on your game, Mighty Hiker.
Here is Ian B, son of one of the Squamish Hardcore, climbing in the same vicinity in May 2007.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Feb 26, 2009 - 11:10pm PT
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Ding ding ding!! Yes, Clint is the winner. The photo was taken somewhere on the upper part of the Knob Hill cliff. I was soloing up some modest route, and grabbed the shot. Bruce is the person who nicknamed me Mighty Hiker. And I guess that Knob Hill is a good cliff for people with Knock Knees. Both my brother and I have them, and are regularly mocked for them by a certain climber-cartoonist. She ceased and desisted when we threatened to hold her down and tickle her until she wet herself.
The Little Smoke Bluffs became something of a core to our climbing community. The place you'd go first in early spring, and last in late autumn, and sometimes in winter - when everything else was wet. Sometime in the early 1980s the "Smoke Bluffs Morals and Ethics Committee" was invented, in a sort of tribute. What happened was that some Vancouver climbers - few if any lived in Squamish then - started to go to a peeler bar, the Cecil, on Wednesday nights. Essentially to drink, and yak about climbing. It turned out that no one watched the peelers, plus the beer was cheaper at another bar - and perhaps, as more women started to be involved, we didn't really want to be at a peeler bar anyway. So sometime about 1981, we started going to the Ivanhoe instead.
The Ivanhoe is a bar quite close to what is now the bus station, in the centre of Vancouver. In a fairly gritty neighbourhood, not far from both Chinatown and the notorious downtown east side. The area has since improved a bit, but then wasn't so great. But the Ivanhoe let us take over a corner every Wednesday night, and we usually had the same waiter, a big guy named Ian. The management and the usual patrons were probably a bit puzzled by us, but all was well. A few times the more adventurous of us visited the American down the street. Another seedy hotel with a bar on the ground floor, and a sinister name. It was the local biker bar.
The Smoke Bluffs Morals and Ethics Committee met every Wednesday night in these unpretentious surroundings. It's a bit blurry now, but I believe that at one time or another, all the world's problems were solved there. Except for some of the knottier/naughtier climbing problems, where a great deal of smoke and heat was evident, but not necessarily a lot of light. Still, it was a great common denominator, and a chance for everyone to talk about what they'd done and planned to do, see the gang, and at least try to sort things out. Usually nothing important, in retrospect - at worst, minor transgressions.
I wouldn't claim that we were all angels, or all got along smoothly. Not likely, with an energetic bunch of (mostly) adolescent (mostly) males, doing something we were passionate about. There were real and imaginary rivalries, we sometimes got on each other's nerves, and there was the odd hissy fit. But the Ivanhoe provided a sort of leavening, and social scene, that we otherwise only tended to get when a big group went to Leavenworth for Easter or Thanksgiving, when we'd camp together and have fun.
Sadly, we stopped going to the Ivanhoe in spring 1986. Expo 86 was in Vancouver, and essentially took over the neighbourhood for six months. After that, we never really reconvened. Maybe we were all growing a bit, too, and our lives were diverging as they tend to do.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Feb 28, 2009 - 12:43am PT
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"...some where on Knob Hill..." tsk, tsk, tsk, do the classics not get done anymore?
I believe the thin crack is the top of Knob Hill Rapist, 5.8 FA 1973 Chuck Pratt, Tim Auger, & Jerry Anderson
the other one is the top of Deception Gully, 5.9 FA 1973 Chuck Pratt, Tim Auger, & Jerry Anderson
we, Eric Gable, Gary Carpenter and I, put another route up there, a bit farther east, called Bumblies on Crumblies, fastest bolt I ever saw go in, and it held a hard fall by Eric too! (so BOMBER!)...
I think Eric might have at least one more up there... and Grant was looking around for new stuff too....
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