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crunch
Social climber
CO
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Feb 13, 2014 - 01:28am PT
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b. b.'s article. I'd forgotten. Damn. My name keeps coming up.
It's true what I told Bennett.
In spring 1983 I was on a long vacation. Touring the West on a motorcycle (a humble Honda 350) and arrived in Flagstaff. Next to the train tracks were a parade of bars. Back then, naive, curious, with a fierce mid-morning thirst, I stepped over whatever bodies were lying on the sidewalk, marched straight in. And was met by a dour silence. Whole bar was Navajos. Undeterred, not comprehending anything, I sat at the bar, ordered a beer, started talking to whoever was sat next to me. Took a little while, but when it became clear to the assembled crew that I was not American but a Brit (my accent was pretty strong back then), foreign, but as lost in this vast country as they were, happy to wile away an afternoon in a windowless bar drinking cheap beer and sharing stories, listening, then I was welcome; everyone's friend. I even bought a necklace or bracelet or two for a girlfriend I most certainly did not have back then.
The sense of community was so strong I felt almost more at home there in that bar than anywhere else I'd been in California or Arizona.
All these years later I'm changed. Mostly for the better, I think, calmer, saner, but now I've lived so long in the Anglo US world that that same bar would seem foreign, scary. No way I'd just barge right in. Changing for the better I've also lost something along the way.
But, maybe I can find some of that again. Sign me up, Alex. Let's go climbing! First week in March?
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Alexander Pina
Social climber
Arizona
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Feb 13, 2014 - 10:58am PT
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i cant make out he picture in the article but who did you say FA the tower in the picture. Because i believe Cam Burns has the FA on both the Down and Out towers.
Crunch ill send you my email.
alex
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crunch
Social climber
CO
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Feb 13, 2014 - 11:17am PT
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i cant make out he picture in the article but who did you say FA the tower in the picture. Because i believe Cam Burns has the FA on both the Down and Out towers.
You can click on the picture for a larger version. Both photos were taken by Cam Burns (photo credits in gray, sideways, on the far right or left of side of the article).
These would be first ascent photos, Luke Laeser and Mike Baker were Cam's climbing partners.
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Alexander Pina
Social climber
Arizona
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Feb 13, 2014 - 11:32am PT
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Thank you Crunch i was able to check it out.. i had no idea this was out..cool stuff! :)
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BASE104
Social climber
An Oil Field
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Feb 14, 2014 - 07:56pm PT
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That article above about the Navajo guide is interesting to me. The guy's last name is Staley, and our guide back in the eighties was a man named Dan Staley. Perhaps this is his son. If so, I met him when he was a little kid.
Small world sometimes.
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