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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Mar 14, 2010 - 08:52pm PT
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Great post, Joe, on the details of wine and editing. Heady days in more ways than one. I wonder if anyone has an image of the Incubus Hills label.
Steve was hell on wheels on editing details. He was fanatical about all aspects of every article. It showed; Ascent was really well done. I recall in an early issue of Alpinist, they published a list of corrections suggested by Steve to Christian Beckwith (it probably embarrassed Steve to have it published in the letters-to-the-editor format). It was spot on and a tribute to Steve's eagle eye for details and style. Steve had read the entire magazine through in a couple of hours. Last time I had a chance, Steve's capacity for good wine and good conversation was not diminished.
By the way, Joe, the rule on ST is that any living character who chooses not to post can be exposed, slandered, and placed into untruthful circumstances with impunity. If you know secrets, expose them; if you don’t, lie with verve.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Mar 14, 2010 - 08:56pm PT
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except that most on the STForum these days would be challenged by verve
Roger, your intellectual affectations are showing again...
I didn't know that "living" was a prerequisite
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Mar 14, 2010 - 09:00pm PT
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I'm reasonably sure that Steve wrote to Christian regarding errors in every issue of Alpinist, not that there were usually all that many. It was something of an in-joke, that a few others knew about. Maybe Katie is around and can comment.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Mar 14, 2010 - 09:09pm PT
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Eddie, right, I too am feeling another Nobel coming on for Roger, this time for Verve. The kid does have it though. I think in Cleveland they probably use that noun often. It would just be better if he let loose with rawer thoughts. Look my desktop dictionary says:
verve |vərv|
noun
vigor and spirit or enthusiasm : Kollo sings with supreme verve and flexibility.
ORIGIN late 17th cent. (denoting special talent in writing): from French, ‘vigor,’ earlier ‘form of expression,’ from Latin verba ‘words.’
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Mar 14, 2010 - 09:15pm PT
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It is better still if Steve corrected Beckwith every issue. The best sort of generational joke.
Ed, Joe can do v#rv@, and slandering the dead is not protected by Chris' terms of use.
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JOEY.F
Social climber
sebastopol
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Mar 15, 2010 - 01:14am PT
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Thanks for that photo, Gene Pool.
Twin Island Lakes to Blue Lake Pass
"The route finding during the next few hours is rather tricky;
consult your map often! Many hikers have become temporarily lost in this section."
Ahem.
and
Amen.
Regarding Bench Canyon,
"Below, winding west in graceful curves, lies Bench Canyon, surely one of the most sublime valleys in the range.
Miniscule groves of conifers harmonize perfectly with shining slabs and glistening brooks.
The view to the east is equally stunning, for the northern half of the Ritter Range fills the sky"
Khanom did the route last year, you still out there?
How about some photos?
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Mar 16, 2010 - 03:17am PT
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Spending time with Roper and Powell can permanently skew your mind set.
"There once was a climber named Powell.
Whose antics were suspect and foul.
In place of a Bong
He used Ropers Dong
While Roper cut loose with a howl!"
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Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
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Mar 16, 2010 - 02:28pm PT
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I first got to know Roper on the back side of Half Dome in 1966. He and Pratt were camped beside us (me and Michael and Valerie Cohen) in preparation for a NW face climb. Both ours and their intentions were foiled and, as it worked out, Steve and I hiked back to Happy Isles together.
That evening in Camp 4 Roper asked if I had ever done Phantom Pinnacle. Nope! I hadn’t, but I was anxious to do it, especially with someone who knew exactly where it was. It was agreed – we would get an early start in the morning.
With Steve rousing me at 6 AM the following day, we were off and running. With no hesitation at any point along the approach (we walked from Camp4), we arrived at the pinnacle. Roper kept asking me if I thought I could lead the final pitch which he considered the crux. Hell, I didn’t know. If he thought I could I would certainly give it a try.
I remember little of the interim pitches – they went by so quickly, but I do remember the final pitch which was my assigned lead. When Steve arrived on top he immediately set up the first rappel while quizzing me on my reaction to the last lead. Three rappels later we were on the ground.
As we approached Camp 4 around 8:30 AM, Steve stopped in his tracks and said, “Come on we’re going back to the Lodge for coffee!” I asked why and he replied, “S##t, if we go back this early no one will believe we did it.”
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Mar 16, 2010 - 03:47pm PT
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lol!!
great stuff about the Bynum Spire! I cross posted that to mudncrud.com.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Mar 16, 2010 - 06:00pm PT
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Roper's writing was so authoritative that I accepted it as gospel. I first encountered the Red Guide (and technical climbing, generally) in 1967. His introduction, now more than 45 years old, with the discussion on bolts, siege climbing and publicity, still rings true to me today.
I'd heard the story of Roper's epic fall from both Galen Rowell and Wally Upton. From Rowell's description, when Roper's slide ended, Sacherer called down, "Are you all right?" Not expecting an answer, Frank was relieved to hear a hesitant "Yeah." "Good," said Frank. "Now come up here and show me how to get down," to which Roper allegedly replied "I'm not that all right!"
Finally, to amplify on the irony of his last name pointed out earlier, I was always amused that the first ascent party of the Center Route of Nevada Flake (in its day, a beginner's aid climb) included both Roper and Tom Naylor.
John
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Mar 16, 2010 - 10:34pm PT
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I just did a big post and went to send, and poof. It vanished.
Must not have been the right one to do. Ok, I'll try something
different.
Roper is an excellent, very fine, photographer. He has many
classic photos. Because such greats and Denny and Frost are on
the scene, a few other photographers get somewhat overlooked.
Steve is one of those undersung photographers. He took one of
me standing with Royal, on a ledge on the West Face of Lembert,
in fall of 1968 (page 276 in Chris' "Climbing In North America."
What I remember most is when Steve suddenly appeared from above,
on rappel. I had moved over the crux twice and, instead of finding
the bucket that makes the next move almost easy, I was reaching
in the wrong place. I hear Steve's soft voice, "You've done a
lot harder, man." It was a warm, encouraging voice. It was the
side of him I really liked and experienced at times. Sometimes
an unfriendlier, almost mean-spirited side would raise its head,
but always just when I would think that was Roper, that other funny,
warm, gentle, great side, that light, brilliant side would emerge.
That's where memory goes now, almost always, when I think of Steve
Roper...
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David Wilson
climber
CA
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Mar 17, 2010 - 12:11am PT
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Galen used to tell a story about Roper as pilot of a small plane . They were en route to the eastern sierra or another mountain range. Galen was soundly asleep as the weather closed in. Roper searched in the thickening clouds for a way down through to what he hoped would be better visibility. At some point he spotted an opening and dove the plane downwards, sensing the moment. The stall warning went off - a shrill whistle. Galen woke abruptly, panicked, and looked to Roper for reassurance. Roper, deadpan, said " we're f*#ked.........."
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John Morton
climber
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Mar 17, 2010 - 12:54pm PT
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Don, your Phantom Pinnacle story is the best description yet of Roper as a climber.
David Wilson reminds us of that whole category of Roper airplane stories. After claiming his inheritance Steve bought a 6 passenger plane, which he flew all over the West, and as far as Alaska and Central America. Being absent from Berkeley in the seventies I never got a ride, but showing up at Delaware St. one time I spotted two propellers on the porch. The tips were bent into a "J" shape, and Steve explained that this was the result of failing to put the landing gear down before landing. I don't know if he was ever impaired as a pilot, but he used to quote the slogan he was taught for alcoholic pilots: "at least 12 hrs. from bottle to throttle".
My favorite tale is the Davis Gulch landing. Roper was in Utah and picked up (I believe) the Cohens, and I think there was another passenger. It was decided to try and land above Davis Gulch, a tributary canyon of the Escalante which is one of Steve's favorite canyon hikes. Doubts were expressed, but Roper decided to land on a sloping area, apparently smooth. As they taxied to a stop he realized the ground was rather softer than he had hoped. This did not bode well for the takeoff, and it's a long way to walk out of there. Steve placed a marker at a measured distance back from the brink of the dropoff to the Escalante, and explained that he needed a speed of at least x at that point, or they would not lift off and should abort the takeoff. He taxied to the upper end of the slope, turned and gunned it down towards the brink. At the marker they were not going fast enough, but Roper just kept it at full throttle and ... well, we all know that Roper and party were not killed in a crash in Utah in the seventies.
If any reader was on that plane, please correct or fill in details.
John
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Mar 17, 2010 - 02:39pm PT
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I posted these bits on a thread last year:
Steve had a Cessna 210 which was a 6-seat, high-performance, retractable-gear, single-engine general aviation plane. Steve would organize flying trips ranging from practicing hair raising cross-wind landings on farmer’s strips in the Central Valley on really windy days; to flights over the Sierra, down 395 and back across the southern Sierra to the Bay Area, also hair raising; and longer trips, such as to South America, landing on beaches and camping. Steve was a very serious pilot and it was fun to go flying with him.
Although I wasn't there, when Steve was learning to fly, he landed on a farmland airport in the Central Valley. Steve remembers it as a pretty smooth landing, and was surprised when he opened the door and the plane was too close to the ground. He had forgotten to put down the landing gear. An airport employee who watched confirmed that it was a pretty smooth landing although he was pretty nervous since he could see the land gear was up. Steve's propeller was bent all to hell and the bottom of the plane had to be fixed up. This is the story John relates above.
To give a flavor of flying with Steve, once, when I was recovering from a bone biopsy on my hand—-a bone in my hand just decided to grow to three times its normal size, interfering with my hand jamming and, of concern to my doctors, possibly interfering with my life expectancy. I had little use of my hand as it healed, but gladly took the co-pilots seat for a look-see of jets taking off and landing at a military base near Sacramento as well as some practice landing on farmer's strips in strong cross winds. (Talk about terrifying: landing side ways to touch down on one wheel then whipping the plane around straight on the second wheel; taxi to the end, turn around, take off and find another strip.)
Above the airbase, Steve assured me that as long as we didn’t fly right over the base we would not be shot down. I was curious about the operation of the plane and Steve took me through the first lessons: flying complete circles with decreasing radii while maintaining altitude. This requires looking at the instruments to maintain pitch and altitude while operating the controls. With the first few wide circles I was fine, essentially flying with my one good hand.
Then Steve ordered me to increase the pitch and the plane started to dive.
As we were barreling for a certain death of either hitting the ground or being shot from the sky for attacking the air base, Steve started yelling at the tops of his lungs:
“Pull up Breedlove. You’re going to f*#king kill us. Pull up, for Christ’s sake.”
He was slapping his thighs and yelling at the top of his lungs and laughing manically.
I was drilling us down.
Finally I croaked, “I cannot pull up. My hand won’t work!”
Steve calmly said, “Let go.” I did and the plane righted itself instantly.
Steve was very serious about flying. But he was bold. He told me once that he had flown across the US to New York City landing at JFK. He figured that as a tax paying citizen he had as much right to land at a big airport in his tiny plane as anyone. As he was approaching, the controller instructed him to "maintain speed," which Steve mimicked in a tense, over-the-radio voice.
"Maintain speed. MAINTAIN SPEED. MAINTAIN SPEED."
Steve said he was going well above normal speed when he touched down.
Then the controller yelled at him to exit left, immediately.
Steve careened his plane off the runway and onto an exit. As the plane turned he could see the underbelly of a giant airliner landing in his wake.
He grinned and said, "Maybe I had the right, but not the good sense in landing at a big airport."
Looking at the Sierra from a small plane and all angles was terrific fun. I missed out on a trip to Central America because I couldn’t get a passport fast enough.
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Mar 17, 2010 - 06:01pm PT
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Roger
Great story-I remember a landing with Roper at the Portland Or airport and having a large jet climbing up our ass as we landed. I wonder if this became a habit for Roper?
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Mar 17, 2010 - 06:17pm PT
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An innovative trailmaker, as well!
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Mar 17, 2010 - 06:40pm PT
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This is a fun Thread to keep alive for a while. No deficit of stories, smut and downright fun lacking with Roper.
The following is another of the infamous letters I received from Steve over the years. Written during his years on holiday with Uncle Sam and unique in that I can post the entire letter without any need of censoring.
cheers
Guido
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Mar 17, 2010 - 07:28pm PT
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No reason to make up Roper, when you have him live, so to speak.
Okay, we have the challenge: Eric Beck to tell the story of freezing in McGehee, Arkansas.
But, please no gratuitous slams on the south: Breedlove is southern (1693 Essex County, Virginia) and my Dad is from Arkansas: the Ozarks; hillbilly Arkansas; proudly Arkansas. His howetown dedicated its library to him. My Mom and younger sister and I visited for the dedication about 20 years ago.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Mar 17, 2010 - 07:34pm PT
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Is "Small One" a form of "Little Joe"?
Also, there's a reference to "the Chief" near the end. I wonder what he was referring to? I don't believe that Steve's ever been to Squamish.
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Mar 17, 2010 - 08:12pm PT
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The worst part, Anders, is the reference to the Rhombus and the Chief in the same sentence. This is subterranean history.
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