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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Thanks, Chris! That seems like a fair amount of interest, although there's nothing really to compare it with. I guess it's somewhere between "Rap Bolting South Face of Half Dome" and "Clash of Civilizations" on the interest meter. Anyway, as long as I'm not talking to myself - although keeping track of all the identities has sometimes been a challenge, and I'm running out of libraries and cybercafes with independent terminals to work from. :-)
An entirely new guidebook classification: FUA (First Unrecorded Ascent).
The golden age at the Ivanhoe was the early 1980s. Vancouver and B.C. were badly hit by the recession then, and unemployment was well over 10%. Which included a lot of young, and recently graduated, climbers.
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MH2
climber
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An entirely new guidebook classification: FUA (First Unrecorded Ascent).
That's a good addition to the climbing lexicon. Please use Anonymous' Batso impersonation above to illustrate it.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Please use Anonymous' Batso impersonation above to illustrate it.
Who you calling Anonymous, Andy? Batso might have been my hero when I first tied in to a climbing rope, but I soon surpassed him. Why, the pitch I'm soloing in that photo was almost 50 feet long. Fifty Feet! And not only were a couple of the placements A2, there was actually one that was A3.
So much for your silly Batso comparisons.
David
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MH2
climber
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Why, thank you for calling me silly.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Why, thank you for calling me silly.
But you are silly. We all are! We wouldn't be posting here if we weren't
(sorry if this violates the 1970s policy, but it's a good silly picture of MH2 and it was taken at Squamish)
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Okay, here's a shot that really is from the 1970s. Don Serl on a windy spring day on an Apron route called Sparrow.
His heart is more in the mountains than at Squamish, but he did a lot of climbing there, put up a few good climbs, and is one of the finest partners/friends you could ask for.
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MH2
climber
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I'm glad you are getting your slides up, Ghost.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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The FUA has considerable potential to cause consternation for guidebook writers, and people who write about the history of climbing. Not to mention climbers who like to keep little lists of everything they've ever climbed, and claim every bit of credit they think they deserve. Worth pursuing just for those reasons.
A sociologist friend says that most climber behaviour can be explained in terms of adolescent male behaviour, especially the whole 'territory' thing. The only unusual thing being that it sometimes continues well into middle age.
A friend recently told me he freed Papoose One, five or six years before Eric and I did it in 1974. As he helped with the 1980 guidebook, and didn't say anything then, I suspect a conspiracy involving rocky knolls.
The most famous FUA would of course be Mallory & Irvine on Chomolungma, in 1924. If they got to the top - very big if, and evidence to prove it seems unlikely to now appear - a lot of things would have to be changed.
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MH2
climber
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Yer all silly
Why, thank you, again. Silly is an upgrade for me. I am usually down on the goofy tier.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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I'm no arm wrestler, so even wee ghost may be able to down me.
But Daryl was, and so was Hugh Burton. Once John, Daryl, Scott and I went drinking at a blue collar bar in New Westminster. Daryl fancied his arm wrestling, and got in a challenge/bet. Predictably, the other guy cranked before Daryl was set to go - tactics are everything. They got in a fight, and Daryl got bounced out the back door. He later said he was quite worried, as he knew it led out onto stairs. Luckily there was a landing.
I've heard stories about Hugh and his arm wrestling, but have none first hand. Being lanky and strong must be a big advantage.
On another note, I'm still wondering how to interpret the following:
Page views: 3,692
Unique views: 3,217
I'd like to think we're all unique. And I didn't know that electrons had pages. Hopefully someone can enlighten me regarding these obscure subjects.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Mar 11, 2009 - 04:07pm PT
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(Reposted, and updated.)
History projects turn up the most interesting treasures. Some friends have lent me a photo of climbers at Squamish, which was taken in 1966 or 1967. That's a bit outside the thread parameters, but it's such a cool photo that I had to post it.
It is probably a picture of a "rock school" by UBC's outdoors club. A friend who was active then says he's not sure who most of the people in the picture are, but at the time there were less than a dozen active climbers at Squamish, and most aren't in the photo. The person on the right is Tony Cousins (died last summer), and the short person next to him with a can is Tim Auger. The person in the centre with a beer bottle is Jim Sinclair, and the one with the helmet may be Gordie Smaill. My informant (also an ST lurker) astutely notes that only the adults have beer (stubbies) - the outdoors club people were too young and prim to drink, and beer did not then come in cans in Canada. He's tentatively identified some of the others, so we'll see what they say.
Some classic stuff in the photo - stubby beer bottles, Trapper Nelson frame pack, knickers, etc. It's framed, and has the signature "Wade Chernenkoff" on the back - one of the climbers then.)
As the larger history project unfolds, it will be fun to sort through all the photos and things.
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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Mar 11, 2009 - 06:20pm PT
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Ironic, the Calgary Mountain Club used to meet in a grungy Calgary bar called the Cecil. I think they started going there in the 60's. The CMC has always been a different club than most because there are no club trips, instruction, sponsership, mentoring or anything like that. It exists for social purposes only. One year it was discovered that the newly elected president was not an official member! Blanchard calls it a drinking club with a climbing problem.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Mar 11, 2009 - 06:28pm PT
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AP: That business with the Cecil was always funny. Two separate groups of climbers, two separate cities, both doing a "Wednesday night at the Cecil". What are the chances of that?
The Vancouver Cecil group was even more informal the the CMC, in that it wasn't a club at all. Just anybody who wanted to drink beer and talk about climbing. Heavily Brit-influenced in both cities, though. There's probably a Cecil in Newcastle where climbers hang out.
On the other hand, while the CMC was loose, rowdy, and informal, it did produce the "CMC World News" - the greatest climbing journal in the history of the world.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Mar 13, 2009 - 02:53am PT
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A reliable source - someone who's in the picture - advises that the photo was taken as part of a mock rescue exercise at the base of the Grand Wall, in 1968. Which might make it one of the first such at Squamish.
Bump - there's an OW somewhere in here.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Mar 16, 2009 - 06:32pm PT
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I've found out more about this wonderful photo. It was taken about 1966, at a practice by the Mountain Rescue Group, a volunteer body based in Vancouver. The MRG looked after most searches and rescues in this part of the world from the mid 1950s to the late 1970s. That day, they practiced raising and lowering a stretcher from the top of the Flake, at the base of the Grand Wall. (80 - 100 m vertical.) They practiced with a dummy and then a person, using techniques set out in Wastl Mariner's "Mountain Rescue Technique" book.
My source (who's in the picture) says: "For the operation we used a Tufor Jack that I had modified at a local engineering shop to handle a ca. 1/4 inch stainless wire rope. The Tufor Jack was a compact manual construction jack (ca. 10 kg.) that fed the wire rope through a set of modified mechanical dogs.
The wire rope was about 100 meters long, 25 kg, carried on a backpack spool. One person carried the jack and another carried the spool of rope. Raising and lowering on the wire rope was belayed with ordinary climbing ropes. The system was quite effective."
He also says (get this): "The teddy bear on the left of Jim Sinclair was our dummy body." Avalanche poodles? Check! Inflatable sheep? No problem! Teddy bears?
The people in the picture (R - L), many of importance in local climbing history: Tony Cousins, Tim Auger, Linda F., Mike W., Bev W., Gordon Smaill (helmet), John W., Jim Sinclair (Big Jim), Man D, Teddy Bear, Man E, Man F, Mab B., Colin O. (A friend who'll be back later this week can probably ID the rest.)
The photo itself was taken in the boulders under the Chief. One of the first if not the first technical rescue practices in this part of the world.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Mar 16, 2009 - 06:38pm PT
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Anders: A request for you.
Unless there's some overriding reason for not doing it, could you include last names in your stories and photos? All this "Joe A" and "Jill B" stuff is kind of frustrating. And it makes them sound like characters in a bad 19th century novel instead of real people.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Mar 16, 2009 - 11:05pm PT
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Sorry - not trying to be mysterious. Just bearing in mind that some people might not want their full names to appear, or even perhaps their photos with names. Much may be a matter of fact and record, but not all, and people don't always appreciate attention. I also omitted some names, photos, and stories out of caution.
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MH2
climber
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Mar 17, 2009 - 01:45pm PT
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My opinion: omitting stories could be a reasonable caution but it doesn't seem like too much attention to use full names or photos.
(Unless you're stealing their souls.)
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Mar 17, 2009 - 08:20pm PT
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Sorry - No way to go back and change the posts now, and apart from someone who confused the two Dave Ls (Loeks and Lane), no one mentioned this earlier. I believe I mentioned my policy on this in the first or an early post, and no one said anything.
The projected history of the first 50 years of climbing at Squamish (1957 - ) will naturally use full names, but would be very different in nature than the stories here.
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