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goatboy smellz
climber
boulder county
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Oct 31, 2006 - 01:26pm PT
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HO Jello & eKat! You must be referring to this classic.
Damn if it ever did me a bit a good,
seems like I only made things worse then ended up taking it in to Verner's to fix it
right.
"Idiot proof systems do not take into account the ingenuity of idiots."
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Jello
Social climber
No Ut
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Oct 31, 2006 - 01:48pm PT
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That's the one, Goat!
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crankenstein
Trad climber
Louisville, CO
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Oct 31, 2006 - 02:08pm PT
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Not gonna try to answer the questions, but I can't help but feel disappointed that I never qualified for the status. I quit my job every spring/summer for a good part of the 80's to hit the road and climb. I would put my meager belongings in storage and stow a few hundred dollars in case I wanted to return and go with the thought that I didn't know when or if I would return. Indeed that "was the life". I still reminesce about the great times and great people that I met on the road. It all came to an end when I had kids. Is it possible to get honorary dirt bag status? Nah, I suppose not. But I'm betting that there's a little dirt bag in nearly all of the posters here. Cheers!
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Oct 31, 2006 - 02:43pm PT
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Labels
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James
climber
A tent in the redwoods
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Oct 31, 2006 - 02:49pm PT
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"2 months is a good roadtrip, 2 years is a good vacation, 2 decades and you are living the dream."
-Christian George.
Well said.
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Ouch!
climber
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Oct 31, 2006 - 03:28pm PT
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You can't be a dirtbag if you have the means to be anything else. Otherwise, you are just a pretender with a safety net.
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H. Lea
Trad climber
Canada
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 31, 2006 - 04:27pm PT
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Ooooh, I like that one, Ouch.
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mooch
Big Wall climber
The Immaculate Conception
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Oct 31, 2006 - 04:42pm PT
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Much respected dirtbag of the So. Sierra scene...
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mastadon
Trad climber
Seattle
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Oct 31, 2006 - 04:57pm PT
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"Not all who wander are lost"......
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caughtinside
Social climber
Davis, CA
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Oct 31, 2006 - 05:07pm PT
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H. Lea, I think you have uncovered one of the great fears of climbers who frequent the taco.
Dirtbagsploitation.
But hey, you might be the next eminem?
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TYeary
Mountain climber
Calif.
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Oct 31, 2006 - 05:08pm PT
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For me it's always been a state of mind. Even when I wasn't in camp 4, the pit, or several other place I've thrown down for a month at a time, I have always been"there" since I started the journey called "climbing" Middle class life is no more a uniform than the long hair I sported in the 70's and 80's.(Before it went grey.)Dirtbagging is a way of life initiated by a mind set. Lots of posers out there. Werner was right about Tucker! Very few like him.
Tony
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dougs510
Social climber
down south
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Oct 31, 2006 - 05:23pm PT
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a couple of summers back, I went on a road trip up the northern california coastline.
I had a couple grand and figured by the time I reached my friends in oregon, i'd be sweet. problems started in san fran at larry flints hustlers club the first night.... out of jack by the nights end.
so much for coasting. i had to slip into survival mode. first night out, i managed a bivi on the ocean. next day i needed a shower but had no accomidations, after getting a styrofoam cooler and getting some bread, bologna, and cheap wine, i headed into the redwoods where i found "HELLS HOLE".... coolest place ever. down into the campground i went. no one around, but one camping site had a stack of wood, 5 dollars in dimes stacked neatly, and a bar of soap.... not to mention a cool creek running next to it. ahhhhh... i still remember the awesome feeling of laying by the fire reading under the stars, with my fire crackling, after a cool bath in the creek. that's the life man.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Oct 31, 2006 - 05:45pm PT
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H. Lea, you have received a much larger story then the one you were trolling for. Please don't squander it at climbing™.
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spud
climber
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Oct 31, 2006 - 05:48pm PT
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As a midwest suburban matron my goal by the time I am 55 is to become a vagabond--get rid of the quaint old house in the quaint suburb, get rid of all the stuff that goes along with the quaint suburban lifestyle--live in my tent, climb, hike, backpack and live off very little $$. I don't want to become a "dirtbag", I want to become a vagabond. Real dirtbags don't play on Supertopo all day long posting comments. Sometimes I wonder if real dirtbags are extinct.
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Crag
Trad climber
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Oct 31, 2006 - 08:28pm PT
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My eldest daughter once made a comment, an attempt to rib old dad, that if it were not for her mother I'd be sitting on a street corner smoking a cig & drinking whiskey... I told her that she was only partly right. Money has brought security in things I first never wanted, house, cars and all of the other trappings of my postmodern life. Being an east coaster it wasn’t long before I read about the Vulgarians (Gunks) I new that was a life style for me. Although I never came close to fully emulating Dick Williams, I attempted to follow in their footsteps. Hanging out with the crew at Roy Gap Road (Seneca) was another enriching experience. I used to think this must be a smaller version of C4. Like Camp Slime at the Gunks, there was a real sense of community at these little outposts I had never experienced. Mr. Daly wrote of his experience upon first meeting Todd Skinner and the Pancake breakfast, (see below.) Stuff like this really cuts to the heart of the matter for me at least.
I'll never forget that morning because it was the first time I had randomly met some climber, felt that instant shared heritage and bond and formed a lifetime friendship.
Maybe what I’m getting at isn’t “dirtbagging” at all and just one of the benefits of being a dirtbag climber.
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Tahoe climber
climber
Texas to Tahoe
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H. Lea - First, sorry for the deluge of negative comments from the easily upset masses. Such a deluge implies to me that some people have drifted - or reformed - from their earlier "no worries" dirtbag days.
Second, YES - the fact that one of them hunted for and found your picture on the net is spooky, nerdy, and unnecessary - as was the instant judgement that you weren't "in the dirtbag club."
Here's my thoughts on dirtbaggery, at least as it pertains to climbing:
I think being a dirtbag climber is a huge joke that a lot of people don't seem to get.
Though the literal definition has deep-seated negative connotations - as is clearly expressed by the defensive words of those who consider themselved some of the elite climbing royalty earlier in this thread - my experiences with hearing the phrase are positive.
When a compadre calls another a dirtbag climber, he does it with a wry smile.
Dirtbag climber is a label that people (who have a financial security blanket and limited courage) give to other people (that have the courage to go out and pursue their happiness without it.)
The reason it's a huge joke is that those saying it intend it negatively, but those that really are dirtbag climbers, (or who are just intellectually sympathetic with dirtbag climbers) take it as an elevated compliment. Because it's not easy being a dirtbag climber - it's not safe, by modern society's standards.
It's not the 2-car, 2-kid, house with picket fence definition of happiness that we're spoon-fed practically from conception.
But because it's not easy, to pull it off and do what you love is quite an accomplishment! If it was easy, hell, everyone would be on the dirtbag train! It takes an extraordinary mind to take society's pressures, consider them and the opposite options, then consciously tell society to f#ck off and go do what makes you happy.
It ain't for everyone, but I admire those who pull it off.
-Aaron Kutzer
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happiegrrrl
Trad climber
New York, NY
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"The reason it's a huge joke is that those saying it intend it negatively, but those that really are dirtbag climbers, (or who are just intellectually sympathetic with dirtbag climbers) take it as an elevated compliment."
I have never heard a climber use the term with a negative connotation. And the word "dirtbag," in general usage, is actually archaic, I think. It was in general use back in the 1970's or so, in my memory(which only goes back to the early 1960's). Then, it meant sort of like being a pervert or creep, and had nothing to do with a lifestyle with a very high largesse to financial resource ratio.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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"a lifestyle with a very high largesse to financial resource ratio."
If that's it, I'm a lifer.
Try teaching special for a daily stipend in the land of $700k starter homes. Rolling my bag in the dirt now and then, and climbing what moves me, is my carrot.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Hey Mooch:
EC Joe right?
OK Darnit! Will the real dirtbag please step forward.
How can we know who is really real here...
Shoot, I just can't say,
I'll leave it up to you guys to decide,
But these may have been, once upon a dirty, baggy time, like Real Dirtbags:
hmmmm....
I dunnno.
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H. Lea
Trad climber
Canada
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 2, 2006 - 12:54am PT
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Hey Aaron,
Thanks for the vote of confidence - where did all the grumpy elitists go, anyway?
And thanks for your unique view on dirtbaggin'. I'm with ya.
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