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Conrad
climber
MT
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Oct 14, 2006 - 09:21am PT
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This past summer solstice George and I met up for an ascent of the Salathe. He had climbed it in 1968 (ot there abouts) with Jeff and wanted to revisit the route. He climbed it with gold line, pitons and a couple of bivies. I recall his observation that the headwall crack was a little garden with flowers and dirt. It is now a hard free climb that gets projected - lots of chalk and tick marks on key foot holds.
This is George on the 10d fist crack above the ear, chugging away.
George with his ever present smile and good attitude just below roof on the headwall.
Our goal was to climb it sub 24, which we didn't make. We made it to Long Ledge right on 24 hours and realized that the in a day goal was off so we decided to take a nap. If we climbed through we would be end up being a mosquito buffet on the summit.
We're planning a return visit next year - he'll be 63 and I'll be 44. He is quite keen on the combined age in a day idea.
Here's to George, Jeff and Greg for inspiring us all. And for Alex "No Relation" Lowe - it's been seven years and we keep your spirit close to our hearts.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Oct 14, 2006 - 09:42am PT
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Thanks Conrad,
Hey got any other stories?
A cuple I bet...
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golsen
Social climber
kennewick, wa
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Oct 14, 2006 - 10:21am PT
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Conrad,
thanks for the TR man!
You gave Stu Ruckman some beta for that back in the early 90's that helped us out a lot. It was a big dream proj for us that went smooth as silk, partially because of some info we received from you and others. One thing we did was blastoff at about 700 pm. I remember reading somewhere how you climb a little slower at night and the next evening as you are nearing the top its kind of inspirational to keep chuggin away before the sun sets again! Anyway, that strategy helped us FWIW.
Now at 45 I wish I were in that kind of shape. Thanks for the inspiration. Here is a shot nearing the top...
Gary
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ha-ha
climber
location
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Oct 14, 2006 - 01:38pm PT
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as a Little Cottonwood Canyon alumnus, George has always been my favorite climber of all time, hands down. humble and talented, with accomplishments that make your mind spin.
some teenage flash-in-the-pan sending a V10 boulder problem doesn't even faze me. but reading about the old-dads well into "why don't you just hang it up?" age doing routes that i hope to be strong enough to do someday, pure inspiration.
thanks george, grug, et al...keep on truckin'
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Jan 31, 2007 - 10:55am PT
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Hey, since someone bumped this thread, I'll take the opportunity to relate a quick story that George told me last week. I asked him what the longest fall he ever took was. Well, he and were on a ridge on Mt Foraker when George fell through the cornice. George ended up going about 120 feet. He thought he was dead for sure. What saved him was the fact that his partner jumped 70 feet off the other side of the ridge. I wish I could recall the name of his partner. Pretty quick thinking and probably the only course of action that could have saved the two.
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paganmonkeyboy
Trad climber
the blighted lands of hatu
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Jan 31, 2007 - 10:58am PT
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yo - that has to be one of the best posts i've seen on the web, ever, hands down...
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Michael Kennedy
Social climber
Carbondale, Colorado
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Jan 31, 2007 - 12:19pm PT
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"Well, he and were on a ridge on Mt Foraker when George fell through the cornice. George ended up going about 120 feet. He thought he was dead for sure. What saved him was the fact that his partner jumped 70 feet off the other side of the ridge."
Yes, that was a real trouser-filler. It's the only time I've seen George at all shaken. We sat down for about 15 minutes and brewed up, which was all it took for him to get it completely back together. We got stuck lower down in a brief storm but made it the rest of the way without any other excitement.
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Jan 31, 2007 - 01:44pm PT
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You're the MAN Michael.
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WBraun
climber
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Jan 31, 2007 - 01:48pm PT
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"What saved him was the fact that his partner jumped 70 feet off the other side of the ridge."
Just see, what an excellent partner.
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steelmnkey
climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
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Jan 31, 2007 - 06:05pm PT
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Yes, that was a real trouser-filler...
...but made it the rest of the way without any other excitement.
Michael, I had to read your post twice...when I read it quickly the first time, I thought it said "...rest of the way without any other excrement." Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.
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Michael Kennedy
Social climber
Carbondale, Colorado
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Jan 31, 2007 - 07:23pm PT
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Actually, to say I jumped would be a bit of an exaggeration.
I was up the ridge a ways with a couple of coils of rope in my hand (we were moving together). George stopped, bent over, and probed what he thought might be a crevasse (I'd fallen into a crevasse that ran perpendicular to the ridge on Hunter two weeks before, so we were paranoid). Satisifed, he announced that it was just a narrow gap and proceeded to step gingerly across.
A nanosecond later a huge section of cornice broke off (we were at least 20 feet down from the edge, and George had just stepped over the fracture line). George and the cornice fell out of sight to the left, the coils of rope were ripped from my hand, and I found myself being dragged rapidly across the snow in a pendulum/fall down the right side of the ridge. Not a lot of time to panic, although I do recall a disconcerting sense of resignation as the force of the fall dragged me up towards the ridge. I stopped maybe 25 feet below the crest, convinced by the tension on the rope that George, while he still was tied in, was either dead or seriously injured.
I yelled (as did George) but neither of us could hear the other. By the time I got an anchor in, the rope had gone slack, so I pulled it in. It went slack again, so I kept pulling. George eventually clawed his way back to the ridge. He'd lost his ice axe (a 70 cm bamboo-shaft Chouinard/Frost Piolet, a real classic), so after a brew he put me on belay and I peered over the edge. It was stuck in the snow maybe 150 feet down. He lowered me to retrieve it (another trouser-filler as the slope was steep and incredibly exposed).
Probably way more detail than most people care for, but what the heck, it's a good story.
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TomKimbrough
Social climber
Salt Lake City
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Jan 31, 2007 - 10:09pm PT
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"whatshisname on N Face of N Twin" - Chris Jones, ex-patriot Englishman, author of “Climbing in North America” He still goes to JTree each spring with the geezers, Roper, Beck, Steck, etc.
George also did a one day ascent of the Nose with Alex in the late ‘90s.
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Mimi
climber
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Jan 31, 2007 - 10:36pm PT
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Are you kidding Michael? Can't wait to read your book too. The Inifinite Spur, etc.; Wow.
It's so great to read about George. What an unsung hero.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jan 31, 2007 - 10:51pm PT
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There was a scene in one of Gaston Rebuffat's movies, probably Entre Terre et Ciel (Between Heaven and Earth), where they demonstrate the ridge counterweight cannonball belay. They're traversing a horizontal snow ridge in the Alps, and one "falls" off one side. The other then jumps off the other side, and of course all is well. I saw Rebuffat speak, and present the movie, in 1971, just when I was starting to climb. So the details may not be quite right.
Nice to hear it works for real, though it's probably not something to try every day. I wonder if others have had to do it?
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L
climber
The City of Lost Angels
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Jan 31, 2007 - 11:06pm PT
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"Not a lot of time to panic, although I do recall a disconcerting sense of resignation as the force of the fall dragged me up towards the ridge."
Michael--Great story!!! I agree with Stich and Mimi--a wonderful piece of writing that's whet our appetites for more. And more. And more...
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dmalloy
Trad climber
eastside
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Jan 31, 2007 - 11:32pm PT
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let me chime in and say that between Michael's story just above, and yo's post on the first page (I agree, Best Post Ever), this thread is a First-Ballot Hall of Famer. Such a talented bunch of folks I spend my cyber time tagging along with...
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Mar 12, 2007 - 11:12am PT
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The legend lives on...
George is airborne now, flying back over the mountains to home. Instead of rising at his usual 5:30 he slept in this morning.
Well deserved rest.
Yesterday he popped out to Zion to do a little climbing. We walked up to the base of the S face of Angel's Landing starting at noon and in a few hours I was at grips with the crux, a 30m pitch that Charlie and Chris and I had worked on last year.
The trouble was, although I took great care to put long slings on the pro, the rope drag on this horribly sinuous lead was murderous, past the hardest move I still ended up lowering off.
We pulled the rope and George gave it a go.
He began cleaning slings off some of the pro and using them to double the length of the slings on the pro he kept.
By risking some major rippers he cut down the drag and pulled it off, but at the final piece of pro he was slingless.
He constructed a "draw" out of a wired nut and two biners and, Bob's your uncle, he finished the pitch.
By the time we were seven pitches up we had only two hours of light left. I voted for descent but George had flown all the way out to free the Landing and, darn it, thats what he wanted.
How could I say no?
With five pitches left we got to work.
And pulled onto the summit with it getting dark enough to obscure the grafitti.
Our shoes were below but we weren't going to rap in the dark. Instead we did the four klicks back to the car in rock shoes.
The south side of Angels Landing is twice as wide as the concave north wall, but has less than half the number of routes. The topography is very complex and the "climate" far more bipolar than the N side.
The FFA by any route was made on the afternoon of 3/11/07.
Jeff was right.
If you want to get up something, go with George.
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golsen
Social climber
kennewick, wa
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Mar 12, 2007 - 11:31am PT
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Nice one Ron and George!
But you know that this is Supertaco so we expect a photo and a rating anyway.
Glad to hear there are adventures like that still out there for the more adventurous ones...
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Mar 12, 2007 - 11:44am PT
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We only took one photo yesterday, me on my failed attempt at the crux.
Its a grade III or IV 5.serious
Edit;
And I should have said this in my previous post.
Next year I will start my fifth decade of climbing.
Its been a great ride and I don't think I would trade it for anything. A life more ordinary, while likely offering less drama and tragedy, would not have enriched my spirit the way the life of adventure has.
And I have had incredible good fortune in getting to climb with some truly talented individuals. Indeed, I marvel at this great bit of luck.
Yet few indeed even approach the level of partnership one can feel when tied onto a rope with George. My confidence in his judgment, his perception, his intelligence, and his absolutely astounding climbing skill truly set him apart.
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Carolyn C
Trad climber
CA
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Mar 12, 2007 - 12:34pm PT
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Sounds like you had a great day Ron!
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