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bmacd
Social climber
100% Canadian
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Jun 12, 2011 - 10:39am PT
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back on topic again - I think … maybe ???
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johnwitt
Mountain climber
winlaw
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Jun 13, 2011 - 04:41pm PT
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Oh yeah...the mouse-infested cabin at Sentinel..forgot. One time when I arrived there, I noticed a half full rum bottle on a shelf containing a dark liquid I thought was a generous gift that was left over from the previous year's teetotaling professional "glacier technician"...I poured a stiff shot and down the hatch..suddenly, the world grew very very dark, death closed in on me and I passed out cold....I had just slurped from some un-labeled horrible poison that some bright light had placed there for unsuspecting idiots like me...when I came to finally, apparently my tongue was black and my eyes were as red and blurred as the Garibaldi sunset....
Great pic of DS...were we really ever that young?
JW
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Jun 13, 2011 - 05:08pm PT
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were we really ever that young?
I don't know. Sometimes it doesn't seem like it. Other times...
Remember that house we shared on the North Shore? Sitting on the porch, you trying to show me that there was more to playing the guitar than three chords? Sometimes I flash on things like that and believe that yes, we were that young once. And I wonder who that old guy is, staring back at me from the mirror.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jun 13, 2011 - 05:31pm PT
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Hey guys! There's a really cool discussion of prostate problems happening right now, over on the other thread. Something that all 20-something hardmen should be interested in.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jun 13, 2011 - 08:19pm PT
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I placed the bolts on that dumb thing, tried it, but for some reason didn't actually do it - although it's basically a three move 'climb', and not very hard. Ghost, were you with me then?
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Jun 13, 2011 - 08:42pm PT
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Ghost, were you with me then?
Nope. I've climbed it, of course, but wasn't involved in the FA.
It's gotta be what? 30 feet? Hard to even call it a "route" but it holds a special place in my memory because it was one of the routes I climbed with Andy (MH2) on my first day of climbing after getting my leg bolted back onto my body.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Jun 16, 2011 - 06:36pm PT
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didn't that come from a drunken bet at climbers night at the cecil?
Yes. See the reference in the second post from the top of this page.
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Darryl Cramer
Social climber
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Jun 16, 2011 - 07:22pm PT
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Crazy crampon pics!
Ghost - Once Andy and I drove up for the day from Seattle. 1985 I think because we had that McKlane supplement. Anyway it must have been around 9:45pm and it was getting dark quickly - we felt a few rain drops hitting us - and Andy instead of calling it a day decided to climb just one more route. It is pouring as he started up some 5.11 crack. He motored thru the crux and then battled the wetness to the top. I was so tired that I fell asleep while eating in a diner just over the border. Maybe it was 1986 because I forgot my shoes and he let me try his Fires! Never wore those EBs again.
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MH2
climber
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Jun 18, 2011 - 05:27pm PT
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Hey Darryl.
I remember it a little differently. We did Short People late in the day but I don't remember rain.
It was a Denny's eaterie we stopped in on the way back.
Yes, we did toss down the one pair of shoes at times, but I remember you climbing barefoot, too.
As I recall, the last climb we did was Feet in the Gravy and I was inspired by your example to try it shoeless.
Here is a picture from that day.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jun 18, 2011 - 05:59pm PT
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In other news, the Squamish Nation (Squamish First People) has now published a dictionary of its language. It contains about 8,000 words, but of the 3,500 or so members (mostly in greater Vancouver and Squamish), there are only about ten left who speak the language fluently. Most of them are elderly.
Pre-contact, about 32 languages (59 dialects) were spoken in what became B.C. (Edit: As quoted from the following.) The Squamish language is classified as nearly extinct by the First Peoples' Heritage, Language and Cultural Council, which is working to record and promote the use of these languages.
Skwxwu7mesh
Perhaps the day will come when books about climbing at Squamish are at least in part in that language.
http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Squamish+Nation+publishes+dictionary+keep+language+alive/4969368/story.html
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MH2
climber
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Jun 18, 2011 - 11:58pm PT
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Considering I got them free and haven't needed to replace any parts after a lot of miles... well, I guess there is a reason we pay for shoes.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jun 19, 2011 - 12:00am PT
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Perhaps Andy is part-hobbit, and likes to skip about without footwear.
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bmacd
Social climber
100% Canadian
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Jun 19, 2011 - 01:17pm PT
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Great revival of this thread all due to a 30 foot piece of granite …. I would like to know who all the folks are in the audience as Don lays down the crampon technique.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Jun 20, 2011 - 12:22am PT
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I was there, but I was a bit further back and higher up so that I could watch both Don TRing Foot in the Gravy in crampons, and Peter C soloing Flying Circus in socks (in the rain).
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jul 17, 2011 - 07:14pm PT
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So the 2011 Squamish climbers' festival is just ending, after a rather wet five days. (http://www.squamishmountainfestival.com/); But much fun was had by all. It is also the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of the Grand Wall, by Jim Baldwin and Ed Cooper. Here are a few photos.
Ed Cooper (L) and Jim Sinclair (R), under the Grand Wall. (My usual specialty is trees growing out of people's heads in my photos, so I promised in this one they'd have the Split Pillar growing out of their heads.) Big Jim was a big supporter of the climb, and of course has been drinking coffee in Squamish and talking climbing for over 50 years.
Ed at the start of the trail to the base of the Grand Wall. The sign, a small metal plaque saying "Baldwin-Cooper 1961", was placed in the later 1960s, and the tree has grown around it. The photographer, photographed.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jul 17, 2011 - 09:12pm PT
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Ed and Jim again. As Jim is 78, and Ed can't be far behind, they're doing just fine. It is interesting that the both have checked shirts on, and Jim's verges on lumberjack style.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jul 17, 2011 - 10:35pm PT
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Ivan Hughes, the mastermind of the festival. Slightly blurred - he moves quickly. He's gesticulating with that plastic box, probably a film festival secret code or something.
(Some of the events are at a small public theatre within the high school - multispacing.)
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jul 18, 2011 - 01:49am PT
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There was also a sasquatch sighting, or maybe it was a troll. Squamish can be a misty, mysterious place, with many secrets.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jul 18, 2011 - 01:44pm PT
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The Mountain Rescue Group did some work on trails at the Chief in the later 1960s - I hope to ferret out the exact date. Possibly working with the Mountain Access Committee, they improved and signed the trail to the bottom of the Grand Wall, the backside trail, and perhaps others. About the same time as the MRG at least started to think about how to do a technical rescue, if needed. I'm fairly sure that the engraved metal signs were made by Paul Binkert, who was quite into trail work, and also very good at working with metal, both in his profession and later as an artist. I know he had the engraving equipment. There are half a dozen such signs around Squamish, and in most cases the tree to which a sign is attached has grown out and to some extent around them. By the 1960s, they'd learnt to not hammer the nails for signs and markers all the way into the tree, to allow some room for growth, and they probably started with a cm or so of 'slack'.
I believe that the original Grand Wall "boat rope" lives in a bucket in the Garibaldi Highlands, together with the plaque for the Errol Pardoe memorial hut. The Squamish museum was given most of the original Grand Wall bongs, made by the town blacksmith at Pat Brennan's request (command), but may have subsequently misplaced them.
Let's not also forget that the weekend's festival, as much as anything, derives from the famous John Howe slide shows. Starting with an annual group slide show in the basement of John's parents' house in North Vancouver, then expanding to rented rooms at UBC, then to the very first climbers' festival in Squamish in 1986 (25th anniversary), and the big 40th anniversary event in 2001. A lot of work for John and friends, especially the big one in 2001. John has also been big figure in Squamish Search & Rescue, and was Squamish's citizen of the year a few years ago for all his efforts. The earlier slide shows were immortalized by a cartoon by Tami.
(The 1986 festival included two parties climbing the Grand Wall, one with equipment and technique similar to that used in 1961, the other by 'modern' means. Comparison. John Wittmayer was a member of the 'trad' team - maybe he can tell us about it.)
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