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Ouch!
climber
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Lois, this is a small part of it. Friends across a campfire in a certain time and place can evoke poignant memories to loosen hearts, minds, and tongues with such profundity, they are embarrassed to speak of it in the morning light. But it stays with them and becomes another precious memory.
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bachar
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Just found this image - had to bring it back. Wish the man was still around these days - I think the climbing world would be in a different space if he were!
Yabo on the first free solo of "Spiderline", 5.11c/d - also the first lead!!!
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Wild Bill
climber
Ca
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Cool pic, JB. But with Yabo it's always the story that counts. Free solo FFA, that's Yabo in a nutshell.
I wasn't hanging around the TacoStand when this thread first came around. Gotta agree with JB when he says 'the climbing world would be different if Yabo were around.' But, anyway, he was done here for whatever reason, still baffles me but no one could save him. Did those SD bouldering pics ever surface, with him covered in soot?
Bill
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bachar
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Thanx Wild B -
Just before that shot was taken I was talking with Yabo in the campground smoking some hippie lettuce. He told me he saw an omen the night before while he was sitting on the ledge at the start of Spiderline - a spider had lowered out of the crack above and was hovering in front of him. He then told me that this meant he could safely solo Spiderline! I didn't know what to tell him - it had just been freed on top rope and nobody really had it wired yet. I tried to convince him to chill out and get in really good shape - In a couple weeks he'd be ready for it.
Anyway, I walked over to my car and told "Buck" Norden (sp?) about what Yabo said. He couldn't believe it either. We both hoped he wouldn't go for it.
A couple minutes later we heard this weird yelping sound, "yee yee yee hooo". We both looked up and there was Yabo halfway up Spiderline, free solo! The next second both his feet slipped out of the crack and his body took a huge swing out but he hung on. He was still close enough to the start to where he could downclimb and jump off safely we thought. That didn't happen - he kept going. He was shaking like a leaf in a strong wind.
I grabbed my camera and ran up some boulders and took this shot. I looked at my friend Buck and he was turned away - he couldn't watch. After that image, Yabo took his shirt off (while in full layback position) for the last slab move cuz it was pretty sweaty that day!
When he finally came down, Buck and I scolded him and said he was "blowing it" and he "could've died". He looked at us and shouted, "Who are you guys to tell me anything? I just soloed Spiderline!" - and he walked away....
After the foot slip... the shaking begins!
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Wild Bill
climber
Ca
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"he kept going. He was shaking like a leaf in a strong wind."
I have sweaty palms after reading this account - thanks for posting this nugget. When I first heard this tale from someone years ago, the image that stood out the most was Yabo's shakes.
Who are you guys to tell me anything? I'm Yabo, bitches!
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bachar
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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After that solo, Yabo had the biggest gobi I've ever seen to this day on the back of his hand - it was as big (and almost as thick) as a silver dollar!
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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thanks John for restoring my interest in STForum at a time when the dross was starting to look too much to deal with... A fantastic story made real by some images... that is power, the combination of the two.
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KP Ariza
climber
SCC
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John, those pics are priceless man, and thanks for sharing the stories that go along w/ them. Its posts like this that make this site interesting. You guys were the center of the climbing universe and way ahead of your time. Keep it going!
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lamadera
Trad climber
New Mexico
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I had heard the story, but it was hard for me to believe. That is a scary, insecure, greasy lead with a rope and modern gear! Thanks for the photos.
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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awesome - flat out great thread - thanks
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tiki-jer
climber
fresno/clovis
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And in what appears to be EB's for crissakes.
Whew! Where is my chalkbag as I'm typing this.
Thanks JB. I too share Ed's sentiment.
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Knob Central
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I remember walking away that day too John. I couldn't quite quit watching though. You know that disaster is coming, but just on the off chance that it doesn't you want to watch. Scary sh!t indeed. I know my hands were sweating watching him. We all thought he was gonna die!
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Wow, unless you're timing/luck is miraculous, you'd don't get that stuff anywhere but here.
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Wild Bill
climber
Ca
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"After that solo, Yabo had the biggest gobi I've ever seen to this day on the back of his hand - it was as big (and almost as thick) as a silver dollar!"
Aye carumba, no doubt there. Probably from catching that fall. I'm sure he was so pumped that his hand was NOT coming out of the crack, no matter the EB's or gravity or anything else!
Also, that first photo in the thread is most Yabo-like to me, with his usual impish grin. But of course he's not just standing around somewhere. He's, uh, well, he's HANGING around, as usual.
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Fletcher
Trad climber
Varied locales along the time and space continuum
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Nice thread. Thank you for reviving it John. Good stuff.
Has anyone written a book about Yabo? If not, someone should. I'd go right out and buy it.
Fletch
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looking sketchy there...
Social climber
Latitute 33
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Thanks for posting those pictures John. Brings back lots of great Yabo memories. Sure wish he were here today too.
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bachar
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Thanx folks - Never met anybody like him to this day!
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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That's cool you found those shots John.
Maybe after a while Mike & Mari will post some vintage Yablonski and help fatten this tribute.
'Hope your recovery is giving you what you need and allowing you a good chance once again to really enjoy the "game" for yourself.
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Mark Rodell
Trad climber
Bangkok
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It was at the end of winter, early 80s, and I was there a few days before the Yosemite XC race. There was a fair bit of snow on the Valley floor, so much so that a person could ski from El Cap to up past Mirror Lake. Think we ran into Yabo the first day. His kick and glide form was rough, nearly comical. For a couple of days we'd coffee up in the morning and charge around for the rest of the day. I'd refined my technique and had worked out all the previous summer and raced some that winter and felt fit. As we "toured" the Valley Yabo hung tough. He was iron and we had a blast trying to get the other guy to say uncle. Never happened.
I climbed with him some; ran into him in Pinnicles once and had a blast working on something on the backside of the Monolith. But it was those days running free round the Valley floor like a couple of wolves that anchors my memmories of Yabo.
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WBraun
climber
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Bachar
You have to tell the "more monkey than funky" Yabo free solo debacle story.
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