Hugh Herr is one of the most intelligent people ever.

Discussion Topic

Return to Forum List

This thread has been locked

Messages 41 - 60 of total 61 in this topic

<< First | < Previous | Show All | Next > | Last >>

johntp

Trad climber

Little Rock and Loving It

Jan 2, 2019 - 12:50pm PT

What I respect about Hugh Herr is that he went through a terrible experience. He could have thrown a life long pity party. Instead he worked through it and has done amazing things.

Aeriq

Sport climber

100-year Visitor

Jan 2, 2019 - 12:55pm PT

Hey, Steve - your quote made me think of something:

I am proud to be his friend and mentor early on.

The guy that I started doing "real" climbing with (after 1-1/2 years of bouldering at the UW rock) was also an early friend and climbing partner of Hugh...

Did or do you know Zoltan? He is also a tradesman like yourself, in Seattle.

Erik

Steve Grossman

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Jan 2, 2019 - 01:55pm PT

Hans, Hugh and Tony Herr talked a lot about Zoltan but I never got out to PA to meet him. I would love to meet him if he is in Seattle. Are you still here Eric? Let's get together, if so.

Aeriq

Sport climber

100-year Visitor

Jan 2, 2019 - 02:41pm PT

I'm in Bishop, Steve - I will check and see if I still have his contact info & e-mail to you.

Hope to see you at the AZ gathering this year!

Bale

Mountain climber

Jan 2, 2019 - 03:43pm PT

Happie, don’t start messin’ with Krakauer or I will bring you down, I will bring you down to Chinatown.

DanaB

climber

Jan 2, 2019 - 04:09pm PT

Does he EVER consider the "There but for the grace..." thing in his stance?

Have you ever asked him?

johntp

Trad climber

Little Rock and Loving It

Jan 2, 2019 - 04:11pm PT

Happie, don’t start messin’ with Krakauer or I will bring you down, I will bring you down to Chinatown.

Don't know you Bale. Happie is a friend. She can express her opinion. You don't have to like it, but threats are unwarranted.

Bale

Mountain climber

Jan 2, 2019 - 04:19pm PT

Happie seems like an awesome person and she is absolutely entitled to her opinion. I am pretty sure we would get along famously. The “threat” was a joke from “Meet the Parents”, relax.

johntp

Trad climber

Little Rock and Loving It

Jan 2, 2019 - 04:29pm PT

Happie seems like an awesome person and she is absolutely entitled to her opinion. I am pretty sure we would get along famously. The “threat” was a joke from “Meet the Parents”, relax.

Fair enough, but it is sh#t like that that drive women off the forum. Think.

Bale

Mountain climber

Jan 2, 2019 - 04:42pm PT

I love Happie’s persona on this site, and for the record, she is invited to bring the van by Utah and have a discussion on Krakauer over a beer.

donini

Trad climber

Ouray, Colorado

Jan 2, 2019 - 05:05pm PT

Hugh is quite a guy. I recall in a restaurant in Boulder Hugh encouraging Mal Daly to have his right foot amputated below the knee and be replaced by a prosthetic foot. Mal’s heel had been shattered in a climbing fall in Alaska and had been seriously troubling him for some time.
Mal followed Hugh’s advice and was glad that he did.

johntp

Trad climber

Little Rock and Loving It

Jan 2, 2019 - 05:12pm PT

Nice insight Jim

wilbeer

Mountain climber

Terence Wilson greeneck alleghenys,ny,

Jan 2, 2019 - 07:20pm PT

I believe I have worked with Zoltan.

radair

Social climber

North Conway, NH

Jan 7, 2019 - 02:49pm PT

I have total respect for Hugh and what he has accomplished in his life. Ask Jim Ewing about how his life has been changed by Hugh's work, it's nothing short of amazing. Hugh is soft spoken but his work speaks for itself. His Ted Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/hugh_herr_how_we_ll_become_cyborgs_and_extend_human_potential/transcript?language=en

Joe Lentini gave a talk on The Moth Radio Hour on NPR about the incident not too long ago, a link is here: https://themoth.org/storytellers/joe-lentini

I don't know Geoff May and if/how he was involved in the 1982 rescue, but Cam Bradshaw was the woman who found the boys while snowshoeing on her day off.

climber

Boulder, CO

Jan 7, 2019 - 05:18pm PT

For what it's worth, "another nickname:"
I'd say your entire intention has been to "make significant statements of judgment."

"The general narrative of Mr. Herr would be of no particular interest had the incident not occurred."
Aside from the fact that his entire subsequent life might likely have been totally different, had he nevertheless had some other eureka moment leading to the same career, the career alone is so remarkable it certainly would have become as newsworthy, regardless of backstory about his accident - which many followers were never originally aware of.

As to your dismissal of the notion, that "it could happen to anybody," the average is that twenty-five require some rescue assistance on Mt. Washington every year, so yes indeed it could, and does, and is certainly well above your unresearched declaration that "It has probably happened to precisely nobody."

Your persistence in getting the last word in, about a forty-year old incident you had no direct involvement with, on a mountain you have no direct experience on, seems very peculiar and suspicious, particularly as the original focus was about how Herr used his accident to constructively redirect his entire career path in ways that have created entire fields of technological advance, benefiting hundreds of individuals.
What have you done, either at the cutting edge of your chosen activity, or in volunteering to pay it forward? Intentionally confusing Osius with Osiris?
Did you "head there" on Jan 1 as you stated? What did you learn, pray tell?

I believe the Trump bit was a satirical jab at the man's propensity for condemning the actions of others in trying situations, in the most derogatory terms, while making baseless assertions regarding his own expertise, and certitude about his own flawless behavior in their situation, despite having never been remotely challenged in those ways. Sound familiar?

As for Malemute:
There are thousands of smart professors, scientists, researchers, and technicians, all of whom deserve the title, and none have yet to figure out cold fusion.
You are not the arbiter of scientific stature, as far as I know, so their tenure is secure without your certification.

allanc

climber

Jan 7, 2019 - 05:26pm PT

But what I still find most astonishing -- as a simple "tale" -- is the EXTENT to which he became lost in a relatively constricted area with well-known and fairly simple geography.

It seems "as if" he and companion became afflicted with temporary insanity, considering the elaborate details of their course. Conceivably hypothermia was affecting his judgment though I've never heard speculation to that effect, and certainly he expended a vast amount of energy while getting so lost.

(Herr came to MIT right as I was leaving)
One shouldn't judge the situation quite like that.

When you look at the scale and size of Mt Washington, it's easy to pooh-pooh it. Not much elevation, and everything looks "close" to a trail/road. Some of the conditions there are the worst I've ever seen. We've spent long hours trying to get uphill near Mt Madison in full conditions, when NOTHING would work. ball bearing snow over Thin crust over deep snow. Snowshoes, skis, crampons, nothing. Taking turns digging uphill with a shovel and switching off every 5 minutes made a little progress. And that's ON the trail.

I've done pinnacle gully in 100mph gusts and still been back at the car with daylight. Another time, same winter, same route, same alpine start, and we top out at dark in worse conditions after not being able to get protection OR belays the last 250ft. Couldn't see more than 30ft, couldn't stand up without difficulty, and having to cup my hands and yell into my partner's ear. Sometimes the descent gully is a bunch of verglass that you don't want to touch, and other times you heel down in 5 minutes. The autoroad looked like the LONG but safest bet that day and we dragged in sometime in the wee hours of the morning.

I'm not even sure I would have made that same decision 4 times out of 5. Other options are trying to "walk" across and find the lion's head trail or head down the nelson crag trail or even climb down the ice in Central Gully.

You can spend an hour trying to flounder offtrail 1/4 mile, and then other days able to run through the same place in snowshoes.

I've come down the Six Husbands trail into the great gulf after bailing from a winter presi traverse. Only about 1 mile from the summit down, but lost the trail under heavy snow and ice all over cliffs. It's really rugged terrain and very time consuming in winter. I remember partway down thinking that there was a reason that no one had come down this trail in a long time.