Arizona Climbing Appreciation thread

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pk_davidson

Trad climber

Albuquerque, NM

Feb 20, 2009 - 07:48pm PT

Freakin A, about time you chimed in Bud !
Nice shots, and btw, I was doing a roof mantle.

In case you're trying to keep your anonymity....

Here's a little story about ice climbing at Elden, names changed to protect the anonymous.

So, Elden forms (late '70s) and my good buddy Hernando starts trying to drag out me there. I don't know man, that stuff looks sharp and pointy, I say.

Hernando continues to rave (I guess it had formed the year before or so and he'd done a bit then.) So, he talks me into it, lends me some gear (I think I had my own axe and crampoons.)

We drive out to Elden and get out of the car (duh...)
Hernando hands me some gear, gives me a 30 second lesson in strapping this sh#t on and pops on his crampons.

He's excited to be out and quickly ditches me to run up to the ice. Pigout the wonder dog is quickly on his tail; that animal could smell blood long before it even happens.

Meantime, I'm back at the parking lot being a total dweeb and trying to figure out how all this weird, dangerous crap goes on my feet. I mean, you used to have lace this stuff on to your Galibiers. At least I could still touch my toes back then but other than that, it was pretty humorous watching me trying to get this stuff strapped on. Kinda like a noob trying to get into a harness that's been all twisted up.

I look up just in time to see Hernando jump on the ice and do two moves up. He's raving about how good the ice is, plastic fantastic stuff, when suddenly his Humingbird comes ripping out and there's a hellacious noise of metal jingling and crashing and ice breaking and Pigdog starts jumping and barking and it's freakin bedlam.

I notice that there appears to be some redness to the white ice and Hernando is sitting on the ground holding his head. I do the limp dash over there with one crampon on and one off to find blood everywhere !

Hernando is holding his hand over his eye and blood is streaming down his fingers. Pigdog the wonder dog is going apesh#t.
I mean totally whack. This dog is running around everywhere licking up the bloody ice. He's barking, whining and eating and just having the time of his life.

In the meantime, I'm thinking Hernando has just lost an eye to this evil sport.

He uncovers his face and says that he thinks he's allright.
I look and there's this perfect circle cut into his face that totally rings his eye. The backside of his Humingbird had a sharp open circle about an inch in diameter that had kicked back and whacked the f*#k out of his head. A tool designed to take a chunk out of ice makes pretty quick work of facial flesh.

We scoop up snow and plaster it onto his face and pretty soon the bleeding stops and Hernando says he's feeling ok. So... we do some really shaky ice bouldering and then head home.

I gotta admit, I used to be a pretty sick fxxx because on the way home, I look over and see this perfect circle cut around Hernando's eye and just start laughing uncontrollably.
I'm sure it was just nervous release and not really rude dark climbing humor.

The next day a sign appears at the Alpineer:

For Sale:
1 Set of Salewa Rigid Crampons
1 Chouinard Ice Axe

Naw, I made that last bit up. I kept my gear but I do have to say that with that being my intro to ice climbing, it never became my most favorite climbing activity.

In the meantime, Hernando has to walk around Flagstaff with one of the most bizarre black eyes you've ever seen. And as it started to turn colors, it had the look of the raccoon from hell.

And that's the story of my first time on ice, in AZ no less.

MisterE

Trad climber

One Place or Another

Topic Author's Reply - Feb 21, 2009 - 12:21am PT

This seems like as good a place as any for the sneak peeks on the cover pages for the two new guides (obviously there's still some adjustments to be done):

MisterE

Trad climber

One Place or Another

Topic Author's Reply - Feb 21, 2009 - 12:24am PT

MisterE

Trad climber

One Place or Another

Topic Author's Reply - Feb 21, 2009 - 12:26am PT

Reilly

Mountain climber

Monrovia, CA

Feb 21, 2009 - 12:48am PT

Wow, in my next life I'm gonna give Arizona a try!
It was the scene of one of my first attempts at peak bagging. On the way from Chicago to LA in '62 we stopped at a rest area for lunch. While Grannie and Mom kicked it in the shade the bros (both 8) and me (12) headed for some 'peak'. We never made it to the base. We all came back within about 15 minutes festooned with chollas. We were particularly perplexed by the ones adorning our Keds. How to get them off? I swear this is true. I came up with the idea of burning them off! We waited until the heat was unbearable and then knocked them off. That was the only way we could shed the Keds! Then we could work on the stubs with pliers. The twins had it the worst. Despite some serious lip trembling I don't recall either of them really losing it.

Mimi

climber

Feb 21, 2009 - 12:54am PT

Impressive Reilly. Them jumpin' chollas were still ruthless 20 years later with Nike waffle bottoms. Had spikes embedded almost throughout my college days. Got used to em. They always managed to fester out on their own, didn't they?

Reilly

Mountain climber

Monrovia, CA

Feb 21, 2009 - 01:01am PT

Mimi,
Being young and tender, us that is, they seemed to come out fairly easily. Being OCD I made damn sure they were all out before we got back in the car!
It never happened again until I was demonstrating their jumping prowess to my wife who had never seen them. Of course, I then got to demonstrate my extraction prowess; DOH!

Reilly

Jaybro

Social climber

wuz real!

Feb 21, 2009 - 01:05am PT

I heard tell of Ice like that in Elden but never saw it, even when there was snow on the ground. Prolly bad timing on my part...

Mimi

climber

Feb 21, 2009 - 01:07am PT

No Jay, another bit of evidence of global warming.

Jaybro

Social climber

wuz real!

Feb 21, 2009 - 01:12am PT

MC, (MC?! MPC?) and steelmonk, just came across your posts from the 11th, It's not likely, March is a 22 day work month for me, this year, I'll be lucky to get out alive, as it is. but it won't always be like that, and I'm jonseing the supes and Zonerland!

Mimi

climber

Feb 21, 2009 - 01:16am PT

Granite Mt. Future SushiFest.

Jaybro

Social climber

wuz real!

Feb 21, 2009 - 01:18am PT

Now That, would be a venue!

coplateau

Trad climber

Salt Lake City

Feb 21, 2009 - 09:48am PT

Thanks for the little trip down memory lane, Pablo- I had forgotten all about that little incident until now. I do remember that it bled quite a bit..

But I resent your reference to the "pigdog"- Pika always held you in the highest respect (as he did for anyone who might kill him). Does he look like a pigdog?

And BTW- I found the youthful shot of you that Grossman posted adorable- you were such a cutey! Sorry that I only met you once you were old and crusty..

coplateau

Trad climber

Salt Lake City

Feb 21, 2009 - 10:16am PT

And Jaybro- it probably wasn't your lack of persistence that kept you from finding ice at Elden (or pretty much anywhere in Arizona). What made that year remarkable was the sequence of events: 1) heavy snowfall on an El Nino year, followed by 2) a really wet rain event, and then 3)super cold temps setting in for a few days. The result was an ice-sheathed Elden, that stayed around for several weeks, even though temps warmed back up to normal, mild Flag conditions. I looked for it again and again over the years, but never saw anything like that one winter.

Steve Grossman

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Feb 21, 2009 - 11:49am PT

Damn Larry!!!

You keep showing up like that and I'm gonna have to start carrying an avalanche beacon and shovel around the house!

A warm ST welcome to the illustrious Don Bosco Moraini, haute alpine sleuth, enforcer for the Syndicato Granitica and desert demi-god. The guidebook is in the house and so is the man's extensive slide collection as adventure's Eye of the North!

pk_davidson

Trad climber

Albuquerque, NM

Feb 21, 2009 - 09:13pm PT

Damn, little Pikie, I gotta shed a tear for the dog that wouldn't die.

First, he's gets run over by a Jeep. Was it twice as you backed up to see what you'd hit ?

Then, while doing the Silver Pond down climb at the Forks, I'm standing down on the rock below the third class (what, 15 feet of 5.7 or something like that ?) when Pika decides he's going to come down without his normal rope. He's coming down head first and slams onto the ledge right next to me.

Now to this day, I'm falsely accused of trying to drown that dog. I just did what any good physicist would.
I tried to help conserve his momentum so that he wouldn't expend it all on the splat onto the ledge.

I just gave him a little Tai Chi move towards the water.

It's really amazing how long a dog can stay under water when he's jumped down a 20 feet problem and then sailed another 15 feet through the air.

He was under for what seemed like a very long time.

I was starting think I'd finally done the impossible and killed Pika when bubbles started showing up and finally up pops Pika, snorting and wiggling.

For some reason, that dog avoided me for the rest of the day.

But I'm convinced I saved his life or at the very least, kept him from breaking his legs.

Here's a toast to Pika the wonder dog.
The Alpineer mascot, he'd jump out of the back of a moving pick up, with a chain on in order to go after another dog.

We should all be so lucky to have his adventures and then die of old age.

east side underground

Trad climber

Hilton crk,ca

Feb 22, 2009 - 10:46am PT

pika, what a cool dog , reminds me of another amazing climbing dog, the famous knocko- " c'mon knocko!!"

ericz

climber

Ogden, UT

Feb 23, 2009 - 03:14pm PT

One fond recollection of AZ,.. circa early 1980's. Departing Tucson, after a winter of walking the streets, and sleeping on friend's patios,.. I headed out west of town. Hitching across the Pima reservation,.. it took all day, with a heavy spring rain quenching/drenching the cacti and adobes. Finally, around nightfall I took shelter in an abandoned gas station, just north of Organ Pipes NM.
The next morning,.. sweeping back the sands of sleep, I was greeted with an amazing sunrise. Brilliant and warm. The day was stretched forth, with my footfalls carried across a soft carpet of desert wildflowers. The vastness of the land juxtaposed with the myraid of small plant forms radiant and alive with their blooms,.. was beautiful. The aroma of the blossoms and wet earth,.. truely a living thing.
To all the oldtimers and the newcomers, happy trails.