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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Oct 15, 2009 - 04:29pm PT
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Lynne-
My university will only release me in the spring or summer. The fall quarter is our busiest with the most enrollments. Meanwhile summer is too crowded in the Valley. It looks like I will have to retire to come to Facelift. Soon I hope.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Oct 15, 2009 - 04:32pm PT
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Jaybro-
That would be very symbolic if nobody else minds. I am also going to put some up by Half Dome since that's where Pratt managed to get us together for the first time.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Nov 29, 2009 - 06:51pm PT
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Jan- Please keep us informed about any plans for a Yosemite memorial. I would very much like to pay my respects and have a chance to meet you. Do you have a sense of his preferences enough to know which of his FA's or FFA's that he valued most or what his favorite Yosemite routes might have been?
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jstan
climber
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Nov 29, 2009 - 07:10pm PT
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Jan:
Just saw this thread. My calendar is blocked in, keep us informed and as Anders said. If there is anything we can do on this side, let us know. A gathering in C4 followed by satellite parties the next day seems a good approach though your trip to Half Dome may want to be limited to close friends the two of you had.
Thank you for all you have done,
John
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Nov 29, 2009 - 07:27pm PT
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Steve-
Hopefully the people who climbed with Frank can tell you that. He was not climbing when I met him and always tried to downplay it, in part, because he didn't want me to climb.
Meanwhile, I just got some photos of Frank from Chela Kunasz which I'll post as soon as I can and maybe you can identify where they were published.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Nov 29, 2009 - 11:45pm PT
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Here are the photos which Chela sent.
Chela could not remember what magazine she clipped the first one out of, but Glen Denny has identified it as one of his photos which appeared in the first issue of Ascent in 1967.
The larger photo of Frank was taken by Chela at the UC Hiking Club in Berkeley in 1965, and the final photo is Chela herself back in the days when she was climbing with Frank.
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Nov 30, 2009 - 04:26pm PT
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Pate, told ya.......
(smiles)
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Park Rat
Social climber
CA, UT,CT,FL
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Jan I would love to chat with you!
I will add that I welcome others as well.
My email is sfisk1942-parkrat@yahoo.com
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BBA
Social climber
West Linn OR
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The content of this thread is, truly, amazing. I wonder what Frank would have thought...
I worked in San Francisco from 1974-1999, and every year in the fall, when the days were warm and calm, but cool at night, I used to think of our times in the Valley. I would look at people walking by and look for Frank. Strange, isn't it? I did so even many years after Frank had died, not knowing of his death until Roper's Camp 4 book came out. Frank affected many of us deeply, and for me it is impossible to say why.
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Sport climber
Will know soon
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Hi Jan, all the posters here are right on. This Thread is stellar. It is good to know you. I, along with others, offer all my help and support. It seems like C4 would be a good place to start. And then perhaps a culminating event in the auditorium.
Thanks for all your support and have a Super Holiday Season, Gal. Smiles along with Peace and Joy, lynnie
PS, Belgium or Bust 12/8.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jan- I talked to Mark Powell and Steve Roper about Frank's favorites and have a few suggestions.
The Cathedral Beach picnic area would be a good place for an organized gathering. I got married there this spring and it is an easy place to get a use permit for a good sized crowd of people if that interests you. It is also well situated to see most of Frank's big routes; East Buttress of El Cap, Northeast Buttress of Higher Cathedral Rock, East Buttress, Sacherer-Fredericks, North Buttress and Direct North Buttress of Middle Cathedral and the Northeast Face of Lower Cathedral Spire.
Mark Powell expressed a desire to attend any memorial that is planned so please keep us in the loop.
I look forward to meeting you.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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More than being "Frank Sacherer", our man also embodies, inadvertently, a whole era in our climbing past. Apparently now more than ever. I agree with Stevie Grossman about Cathedral Beach picnic area. It is an awesome place, perhaps the most scenic available for such an event.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Cathedral Beach it is then by popular acclaim!
The next issues which need to be solved are dates and campground.
So far most people seem to favor late May although some have voiced a preference for April as there are fewer tourists then. All opinions are welcome.
The other issue, especially if we have it in late May is where people can stay. Camp 4 is likely to be full of climbers then, and it doesn't seem to me that us relatively well off old guys should be displacing poor young dirtbags.
Reservations for campgrounds open on Dec. 15 so I would like to figure it out by then. I can't remember a thing about the Pines campground so need help with that. Any other tips about the current procedures are welcome too. Last time I stayed in the Valley we could camp anywhere for free.
Also, any estimate of potential numbers of people would be useful.
Jesse McGahey, the climbing ranger, has given me a lot of phone numbers and info so mainly we need to make up our minds.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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So Jan, you have to be the leader in this. Don't be trying to get a consensus here, for god's sake. Get the armature in place and then maybe get a little help. It is not clear how many will take part.
Create the date from the NPS available appointments for Cathedral Beach and your schedule. Most of us are not going to be camping in C4 regardless and know how to stay in the Valley in all sorts of ways so that is a sidetrack.
Keep it simple, maybe sketch a scenario how the event will take place, enlist our help specifically in this regard. The Beach site can only handle about 150 people ( I am remembering from the Grossman-DeGravelle wedding, that was the permit limit?).
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Peter-
Surely you don't think more than 150 will show up?
As for timing, I was given leave for two months and will be in the states about April 10 - May 30.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Cragman-
Thanks for the offer. The biggest limitation I can see right now is my lack of a car.
I think I can rent one, but will have to check California regs about using an overseas military license as I no longer have a stateside license of any kind. I'm ok on mountain roads, but California driving scares me silly. I've been driving on the left hand side of the road over here for 25 years and the average speed is 40 mph.
If the memorial is in May, I will have spent enough time in the U.S.to rectify this, but if in April, will probably have to rely on others.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 6, 2009 - 12:56am PT
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Whatever we can do to help, Jan,
However you want to do it...
Just ask.
Earlier in May is still relatively quiet it's before school is out for most.
April is wonderful, more weather drama, which would probably be suitable.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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I do Jan. If we offer food and wine, we might get pretty clogged up there, you see. You see such an event can also easily become a bit like another one of our milestone events we have been having for a few years now. I refer to the Nose Reunion, the Camp Four Celebration, the Museum Show event, the Stonemasters Event, for example. Or, you can keep it down to a small group. Obviously you have to decide and obviously you can get a lot of help, either way.
Personally I think that the event should take on additional meanings besides merely taking Frank's remains to the Valley but also taking stock of the long-gone period---the Golden Era--- that he partially created and in a general way, taking stock of all the zillions of friendships and acquaintanceships that persist amongst us and which flourish today only if renewed every now and then but these gatherings.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Peter-
Thanks for voicing what I myself have been feeling. I also think a gathering of friends to enjoy each other and the beauty of the Valley, and all of our memories of the scene back in the day, is what Frank would have preferred.
Since I haven't been able to attend any of the previous gatherings or Facelift, I'm at a disadvantage however, in the planning aspect and will need a lot of help.
Frank's ashes did arrive in Japan two days ago which is nothing short of miraculous, given the ten month struggle to make that happen. It gives hope that everything else is doable as well. It also reinforced for me that the important thing is the memories, not the ashes.
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BBA
Social climber
West Linn OR
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Dec 15, 2009 - 04:03pm PT
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From the Mt. Starr King Register: Check out the next to last name on the right. This is as good as I could get the scan to work. The writing was faint and the page somewhat degraded in appearance from the microfilm. The original scan was so light one could hardly see an entry there. In any case, the date is June 25, 1960 and it was a trip by the San Francisco Sierra Club Bay Area Chapter Mountaineering Section. Over the next four years Frank moved up a few notches.
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