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SCseagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Jun 20, 2011 - 11:26pm PT
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Wonderful thread! Susan
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jun 20, 2011 - 11:45pm PT
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Talk about a who's who. The following, at least, are also people who sometimes post to SuperTopo, although in a few cases infrequently. In order of appearance of name: Royal Robbins, Joe Fitschen, Bill Amborn, Steve Roper, Tom Cochrane, Ken Boche, Eric Beck, Dennis Hennek, Don Lauria, Chris Jones, Jeff Lowe, Pat Ament, Phil Gleason, Rick Sylvester, Ed Drummond, Barry Bates, Dick Erb, John Stannard. And maybe some others I don't remember, or whose names I couldn't read.
That, and Tom's poetic post, really show how coherent our community is, and what we have in common.
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Eric Beck
Sport climber
Bishop, California
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Jun 21, 2011 - 12:03am PT
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Here's a bit of trivia; Roper did the first ascent of Chessman Pinnacle before the entire Chouinard-Herbert route was done. Many assume that the name derives from a fancied resemblance to a chess piece. Rather, it was named for Caryl Chessman, a tragic figure, then on death row in San Quentin, who was subsequently executed.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 21, 2011 - 12:34am PT
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Thanks for that Roper history on Chessman, Eric!
Who was he climbing with at the time?
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Jun 21, 2011 - 01:04am PT
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Yes Roper has the original and used to read from it to me
in phone calls. I see I failed to list the route, when
I did Sentinel in June 1967 with Ruwitch. We actually did the West Face,
about 12 hours of climbing. We were ready for a big two day
affair, started up two pitches, bivouacked, then made it to
the top with plenty of time to have done those two pitches. Oh
well, live and learn. It was great, beautiful climbing, though,
which is all that ever matters... When Pratt and I did the
Salathe-Steck in about five hours, I wasn't ready to be done
with the climb. I was having so much fun and with such a great
friend. On the other hand, earlier doing it with Fredericks,
he kept us moving slow, and I was ready to be done. Yet I still
value that friendship and that ascent as well.
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PhilG
Trad climber
The Circuit, Tonasket WA
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Jun 21, 2011 - 01:41am PT
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Thanks Steve.
Thank You doesn't seem to cover it.
It's more than just the memories. It re-ignites a certain fire.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jun 21, 2011 - 02:09am PT
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It's interesting that at the start, all ascents were listed, even those from the backside. Later the record is limited to technical climbs. Is Sentinel still often ascended from the Pohono trail, or whatever the proper approach would be?
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Jun 21, 2011 - 07:44am PT
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Fun stuff!
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east side underground
Trad climber
Hilton crk,ca
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Jun 21, 2011 - 09:59am PT
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Thanks Murry, very enjoyable . Cheers
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Barry Bates
Boulder climber
Smith River CA
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Jun 21, 2011 - 01:25pm PT
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Thanks for the post Steve brings back a lot of good memories, I've always been impressed with Robbins three hour thirty-five minute ascent of Steck Salathe way back in 66 seems way ahead of its time.
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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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Jun 21, 2011 - 02:00pm PT
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I read every entry in that register, lost as I was in a wrinkle in time. Like Phil said, those yellowed pages ignite a certain kind of fire.
These charmed pages are, I think, true talismans, are what Hammerstein was driving at with My Favorite Things, and what Ira Gershwin was chasing down in, I'll build a Stairway to Paradise:
I got the blues
And up above it's so fair:
Shoes,
Go on and carry me there!
For the lack of "shoes," we have a register, and black lines dashed off on white paper. So many familiar names. A shared history spanning time and generations. We read and we shape shift. And the past catches fire in the present.
JL
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 21, 2011 - 02:04pm PT
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These two speed ascents are my favorites. From the Sentinel chapter in the Frost book.
Two years later, Tom and Henry Kendall repeated the Steck-Salathé with a single bivouac. A week later, Steve Roper and Frank Sacherer climbed route without a bivouac. In Camp 4, Roper recounts, ”We did Sentinel in eight and a half hours, strolling into Camp 4 well before dark, disguising our tiredness with a jaunty swagger. Robbins strode over to our table with a bottle of champagne in his hand. ’That was well done, you guys! I watched you all day. Congratulations! Drink up!’ We found this act commendable indeed. Sacherer, an unsophisticated lad, took his first-ever sip of bubbly, scrunched up his face and said, ”It tastes like Coke.”
“Robbins had been generous, but he was not about to allow two twenty-year-old punks to retain the Sentinel speed record. He politely waited a full day before swinging into action. Then it was our turn to watch through binoculars as he and Tom Frost raced up the wall, often climbing simultaneously, the first time this tactic had ever been done on a big climb. Three hours and fifteen minutes after starting, they stood on the summit. They nonchalantly strolled into camp in time for a late lunch. So shocked was I by this feat that I neglected to buy champagne.”
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 21, 2011 - 02:14pm PT
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Jan- Thanks for the correction!
I changed my post...
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neversummer
Trad climber
30 mins. from suicide USA
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Jun 21, 2011 - 02:28pm PT
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Awesome...thanks
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steelmnkey
climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
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Jun 21, 2011 - 02:52pm PT
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Here's a couple shots from the Coonyard-Herbie. Was my very first route in the Valley and I spent my first night ever in the Valley sleeping on the Chessman Pinnacle.
This is the 4th class pitch headed toward the top of Chessman. Seems like there was one more 5.8 pitch that actually got you to the bivy, but I don't have photos of that... my buddy does and I don't know if I've ever seen them.
This is a shot at the belay looking up past one of my partners at the rope stretched out across the Afro Cuban Flakes pitch.
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Inner City
Trad climber
East Bay
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Jun 21, 2011 - 03:29pm PT
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What a cool piece of history here. Thanks!
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JLP
Social climber
The internet
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Jun 21, 2011 - 03:55pm PT
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Tom Evans is in there - 1969 - too cool.
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yo
climber
Mudcat Spire
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Jun 21, 2011 - 04:34pm PT
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"So shocked was I by this feat that I neglected to buy champagne."
lol classic
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Dennis Hennek
climber
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Jun 21, 2011 - 05:05pm PT
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I can't remember all of the details of my climb of the Steck/Salathe with Pratt in 69. Needless to say, anyone who has climbed this route with Chuck was given the chance to share time with a someone who is one of the most natural climbers i've ever known. Chuck had done the route several times and said that all that we needed were 9 pins and two payday candy bars. We could find water on the way up, and on the decent. This sounded logical to me as a beginner because I was climbing with Pratt. We left camp 4 after breakfast, climbed the route, and returned to camp 4 for dinner and probably wine. I didn't get to climb as much as others did through the years with Chuck, but those times will always remain to me, to be some of my best memories from the Valley and my friends.
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