The Disciples of Gill

Discussion Topic

Return to Forum List

This thread has been locked

Messages 61 - 80 of total 234 in this topic

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

wildone

climber

Troy, MT

Mar 17, 2011 - 08:14am PT

Pat, something you said just upthread about the strength being just an added bonus to a phenomenal rockclimber...
I couldn't agree more. When I watched that video, I was struck by the thought of how precise his body positioning was. In one scene, he's one arm campusing, and there is NO SWING in his body or any unnecessary movement at all. Nothing superfluous at all. It seemed that if his core was a millimeter to the left or right as he pulled up, there would be some wild swing of his legs or something, but no, he was totally locked in to the exactly perfect way to climb. This is what happens, I think, when you devote your life to a pursuit with the discipline of a samurai and try to perfect even the most minor aspects of your craft. A pleasure to watch.

rgold

Trad climber

Poughkeepsie, NY

Mar 17, 2011 - 11:29am PT

Pat, I was referring to http://disciplesofgill.files.wordpress.com.

I chickened out of Fenton's Corner bitd on my only visit to Hagermeisters. Hard, totally insecure, tiny footholds, and (this is what did it for me) high enough to get hurt (no pads or spotters then, of course). But I did get high enough to report that some very serious and totally critical footwork is involved---in those days, in rather floppy kletterschues with decidely non-sticky rubber. You ain't gonna muscle your way up that one, Jack.

I was there with Gill, who walked it. Whatever his limit might have been for such delicate problems, he was nowhere near it on Fenton's.

klk

Trad climber

cali

Mar 17, 2011 - 01:23pm PT

some years ago i spent a really enjoyable day following john around on some of his solo circuit in the mountains above pueblo. it's a lovely granite buttress in the middle of nowhere- not even a real trail for the 40 minute approach --on a fairly complicated ridge.

at no point do you ever really get a good view of the entire buttress, let alone clear sight lines of the entirety of any potential route. so it's one of these deals where you have to take it as it comes, in sections, never knowing if the way above will dead-end or play out. none of the climbs we did had any mandatory climbing harder than maybe one move of 5.9 (and most of it was easy to mid 5th), but none of them were shorter than four or five pitches, and none of them was the sort of thing appropriate for the average roadside cragger who likes to do some soloing. it wasn't trashcan rock at jtree or even royal arches where you can preview the route from below. it was much more like the kind of climbing you get into in a lot of alpine rock climbing.

john was really at home in that environment, and he moved through it like the best mountaineers with whom i've climbed over the years. no high-steps, no wasted energy, lots of small, intermediate footholds, three points of contact, steady, continuous pace. in other words, he moved more like the alpinists i've known than like a more traditional rock climber, if that makes sense.

i wasn't quite surprised by the experience, since i knew john had done a lot of work in the rockies and the tetons and elsewhere. but it brought home to me the way that john's practice in the 50s grew out of a world in which rock climbing was still pretty bound up with alpinism, and it reminded me how much time john had spent up high as well as on the boulders.

it made for a really remarkable counterpoint or perhaps backdrop to the very different movement you can see on the dakota bouldering routes in pat's film.

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 17, 2011 - 02:14pm PT

Good thoughts and insights, those last three entries,
thanks. Rich, yes. Dave Rearick and I went up there
to Fenton's Corner years ago and did a few routes and
"admired" a few. It was pretty awe-inspiring. I went back
later in much stronger shape and did a few more of the
hard ones, but it was a real effort, whereas Gill had
more or less happened along and simply strolled whatever
the mood directed. There are so many Gill areas around
the mid-west, and then all those in the east and south.
People don't realize he was actually a much stronger
climber in those early days than in my film. Those
earlier days were before all the injuries, climber's elbow,
etc.
By the way, Kerwin, I've followed John on that solo, or
something akin to it, and I like your descriptions and
how you liken his techniques to an Alpine climber. Most people
don't realize John did a host of longer climbs in the Tetons,
some of the earliest 5.10 routes, no doubt. Very subtle
and beautiful descriptions on your part. And for those who
think he was all muscle, they should climb in the Needles
on thos tiny nubbins...

By the way, Rich, that "blog" was started by an official
at the AAC, and I don't think it ever got any "play" or
progressed beyond that first page!! It was intended to
raise money for the first film. I never saw a penny.

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 17, 2011 - 11:31pm PT

Update. I'm virtually finished with my second film, just
waiting for some footage shot in the Black Hills decades
ago...
thanks to Mark Powell's wife, Bev...

drljefe

climber

El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson

Mar 17, 2011 - 11:40pm PT

Leggs

Sport climber

El Presidio, Tucson

Mar 17, 2011 - 11:46pm PT

^^ I remember that day well, Jef ... Do you have
his whole sequence?

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 18, 2011 - 01:20am PT

Oh wow. Cool. On my old route. What's with those
pads. That makes it three grades easier!! You have to
fall onto that pointed rock below!! haha.

ß Î Ø T Ç H

Boulder climber

bouldering

Mar 18, 2011 - 03:43am PT

I chickened out of Fenton's Corner ... high enough to get hurt ...

I always looked at that photo like he was about 3 feet off the ground, but you can see it was taken from a low angle. Doubtful the photographer laid on the ground to take it, like they do now-a-days.

go-B

climber

Sozo

Mar 20, 2011 - 01:27am PT

Thanks Pat,
Pullin down, forever young, crimp on brother!

The Doctor Zhivago Film Award

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 21, 2011 - 03:44pm PT

Sold out of the first run before I could even send all
the copies to those who contributed, but the order is in.
I redesigned the front and back cover of the dvd case,
so all those first orders will have a unique, perhaps one day
collector item version, with an autograph. To get right
on this second run, either go to Chessler books or send me
an order through Paypal and have your dvd in the mail virtually
the second they arrive from New York... in a few
days.
Nothing but good reports
on the film so far, which greatly pleases me. I'm not a perfect
person, by any stretch of the imagination, so nothing I do will
be perfect, but the film captured the spirit I had hoped for
(and with the help of my little daughter even more than what
I had hoped).

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 22, 2011 - 07:33pm PT

My daughters are here now with me for spring break,
make me wait on them hand and foot. I don't mind.
Keep those orders coming, friends,

Pat

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 26, 2011 - 11:02pm PT

If you haven't heard, yet, I am working on a second part
to the film, and it's all but done. One little scene I'm
working on. Whatever goes into the first film helps in
the funding of the second, so get your copy of the Disciples
of Gill, if you haven't. patament.org

Thanks to everyone,
Pat

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 31, 2011 - 03:08pm PT

Let's keep this up there, where people can know the dvd is
available. Through patament.org

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Apr 1, 2011 - 08:37pm PT

I thought I would share a few words from the great Bowling Green poet
Howard McCord, who wrote me today:

Dear Pat--- THE DISCIPLES OF GILL arrived today and I have just watched it.
I was much more deeply moved than I anticipated. You really caught the essence
of the magic of rock and the friendships it can create among those who love
that world. It took me back. Your opening and closing scenes with your wonderful
daughter are simply brilliant in their beauty, simplicity, and wisdom. It was
also good to see all those climbers I have read about for years,
but never met. Thank you so much for creating this masterpiece.
Howard McCord

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Apr 2, 2011 - 02:28am PT

Wow that went away fast. Guess I better bump it.

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Apr 2, 2011 - 12:13pm PT

I get it now, it's a game. Everyone who doesn't like me
comes in and bumps several threads, and I'm gone in a heartbeat.
It's a conspiracy, I just know it...