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ron gomez
Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
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Jul 22, 2007 - 01:19pm PT
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I'm "in"???
Peace
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Anastasia
Trad climber
California
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Jul 22, 2007 - 01:55pm PT
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Bump!
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10djam
Trad climber
Chino, CA
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Jul 22, 2007 - 01:59pm PT
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Anastasia - If you and the other cuties are in, then I couldn't miss this either. Micheal would get the biggest laugh. But, with my damn work schedule... gotta prep my excuses :-)
Bob (you'll remember me if you see me) from Stoney Point.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jul 22, 2007 - 11:29pm PT
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Michael did the Access Society here a big favour last year, which I'd like to remember. The Squamish Mountain Festival 2007 ended today, and went well. Michael came and spoke at our festival in 2006, spent a few days at Squamish, and was a great success. Michael's help last year allowed the Access Society and partners to build this year to a larger event. Ironically, I heard about what happened on the second morning, July 14th.
We originally had another speaker in mind for 2006, who proved to be unavailable. So about this time last year we were looking for an alternative. We went trolling on the various internet forums, including ST, to see what the buzz was. Eventually, Rolf said "Let's invite Reardon". So we contacted him, by e-mail and phone, and worked it out with him and Marci. They were quite courteous and helpful, and Michael agreed to waive any fee for speaking, and just be paid expenses.
One day in September, I picked up Michael at the airport, drove him to Squamish, showed him around, and turned him over to my brother. (They had a good time, involving a pub or beer or something.) Michael had a few days climbing - he hadn't been to Squamish before. His presentation went very well, and he was the life of the party afterward.
I knew a little of Michael before he came here. I'd seen him at the trade show in SLC, and chatted a bit. He was a very lively and voluble character, perhaps a bit much for some, but if he had a bit of blarney, he came by it honestly! But Michael spoke a great deal of his family, his climbing roots, his many friends, and his then recent first trip to England and Ireland, which had been very special. (He did admit that he'd been to law school, but I decided that could be overlooked.)
My condolences to Marci, Nikki, and all Michael's family and friends.
Anders
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jiimmy
Boulder climber
san diego
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Jul 23, 2007 - 12:27am PT
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Never met him. Doesnt matter. Sorry to hear of his accident. I was quite impressed with what I read. Irritated with the folks who said he didnt do this or that.
Rest easy
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Jello
Social climber
No Ut
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Jul 23, 2007 - 12:51am PT
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I had heard of Michael Reardon, but hadn't met him.
Hobbling down the aisles of the OR show with my trusty canes(almost three years ago, now), I see the Reardon personna in all his genuine and quite huge blondeness approaching - a pretty girl at his side. He spots me and comes rushing up, Marci keeping pace.
"Mr. Lowe, you don't know me," he bursts out, "but I just want to thank you for all you've done." "I'd like you to meet my wife, Marci."
Thus began an all-too-short friendship, one which will last forever.
Thanks, Michael, for being you. And thank you Marci and Nicki, for supporting the man we've all come to love.
-Jeff
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ron gomez
Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
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Jul 23, 2007 - 03:32pm PT
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bumping for Bachar!
Peace
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JMC
climber
Tucson
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Jul 23, 2007 - 04:09pm PT
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At Stoney Point, I used to run into this shaved-headed guy, Tom Bristow. We had mutual projects, so would boulder with each other during these encounters. Tom would talk about his friend "Mike" who could fire off our projects with ease. Who is this "Mike" guy, I wondered? A year or so later, I run into Tom, Wes, and "Mike" - Mike Reardon, it turns out. I had never met him before despite my countless hours at Stoney. Man, this guy is LOUD, I thought, I hope I don't run into him too often. I continued to run into him more frequently, and got to see how much he stoked people - his personal motivation spilled into his friends, pushing them to bust ass. Irreverent sense of humor, too. One memorable time, as Wes was onsighting some chossy TR/highball below Beethoven's, Reardon was alternating between spotting Wes and joking about how he (Reardon) was going to "leave a DNA sample in Wes if he falls [and dies]." Wes is somehow able to reply to this sperm-related banter and pull up on a rotten flake at the same time. Mike seemed disappointed that he didn't get to violate Wes' corpse. Crazy...
Later that year, out at Stoney, Mike handed me a copy of his new movie (Bachar story), totally unsolicited. His generosity was apparent not only in act, but in seeing how much his bros loved him, his love for them, his love for his family, and his love for climbing. I'm glad I got to meet him.
-John Canby
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mojede
Trad climber
Butte, America
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Jul 23, 2007 - 04:26pm PT
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Hats off to Michael Reardon for showing us how to live life to its fullest.
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Miwok
climber
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Jul 23, 2007 - 04:33pm PT
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I'll see ya on the other side Mike. Be sure to give God some penalty slack for takin ya too soon.
Boldest human being I ever met.
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Anastasia
Trad climber
California
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Jul 23, 2007 - 10:33pm PT
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I am drinking a beer right now preparing for my fligh home while thinking about how Michael would have lived up this moment...
I am sure he would do it better than I, get more fun out of it and come home with the greatest story. There is a castle not far from here overlooking the ocean that has the greatest hand holds... If I only had his guts and skills I would climb it for him.
AF
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ron gomez
Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
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Jul 23, 2007 - 10:55pm PT
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climb it for yourself, then you'll have climbed it for him!
safe passage home
Peace
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ron gomez
Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
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Jul 23, 2007 - 10:56pm PT
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climb it for yourself, then you'll have climbed it for him!
safe passage home
Peace
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RW
Boulder climber
SLC,UT
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Jul 24, 2007 - 01:36am PT
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I am sure he would do it better than I, get more fun out of it and come home with the greatest story. There is a castle not far from here overlooking the ocean that has the greatest hand holds... If I only had his guts and skills I would climb it for him.
AF
i'm sure michael would have been psyched if he knew you thought of climbing that castle wall, naked, in his honour. singing a mojo nixon tune.......
i'm psyched anyway. hug wes for me if you see him.
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immanti
climber
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Jul 24, 2007 - 03:12pm PT
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Bump!
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tom brogan
Trad climber
san diego, ca
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Jul 24, 2007 - 03:14pm PT
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My experiences with Michael are much like everyone else. I had no idea who he was until "Return to Sender" came out. The next weekend after I saw the video, there is Michael in the Tahquitz parking lot brushing his teeth. I said "what the hell" and walked right up to him and introduced myself. He was as happy to meet me as I was to meet him. We talked for quite awhile about the climbs we had in commom (me with a rope). I ran into Michael so many times the next few years that once last season in Josh, I accused him of stalking me. That got a big laugh from him and a few comments (of a sexual nature) not fit to put here. Michael treated me like I was a peer. He made me feel like I was a member of his club. I soon learned that there was nothing special about me, Michael treated everyone like they were a member of his club.
Tom
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Josh Higgins
Trad climber
San Diego
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Jul 24, 2007 - 04:57pm PT
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I ran into Michael many times being a southern California climber myself. He was always excited, full of energy, and off to the next climb. I don't know how many times I asked him about a route I was hoping to climb in the near future. Typically I knew the route was within my onsight ability, but I wanted to know gear beta.... He never had any! "Sorry, I didn't bring gear." Ha!
I didn't know him, but I'll miss running into him during his soloing sprees across southern California. What an amazing man he was!
Josh
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Alois
Social climber
Idyllwild, California
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Jul 24, 2007 - 09:57pm PT
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Pen and I were sitting on top of Tahquitz in June about three years ago when this blond "kid" comes running up, sits beside us and ask who,what,why,how etc. We chatted about an hour about Tahquitz, J Tree, Needles, Sierra. He surprised me by knowing about couple of routes of mine on the Hermit, he knew a lot about routes and places and loved to chat, just like Pen and I. He said he was Michael. Couple months later I got R&I (I believe) and there he was in a big article about soloing. We would run into Michael repeatedly on Tahquitz during the mid week, Pen later invited him over for a coffee. Later yet he would just show up at our door here in IDY, sit on our kitchen counter and just shoot the breeze for a while. Now mind you I'm 59 + and Pen is also my generation, so Michael's interest was a bit outside of his age group. He was extremely easy to talk with, asked questions and even made notes about the 70s and 80s. Last time we saw him was about a month ago, came here Saturday early morning, set up his video and we chatted for almost 3 hours about the "hiking" we did in the 80s and about the continuing evolution of the sport. Ever since I first said hello to him, I thought he was not only articulated, educated man, but also very warm, loving and caring individual. He was a good person and we will miss his smile and laugh terribly. We love you bro...
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