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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Dec 13, 2006 - 11:26am PT
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RRK do you remember the "action wedge" that made the PF flyers so good?
Jello it is a wonder that any of us survived the early days not to mention the very early days. Not long ago, I came across my original 1/4" goldline rapelling prussik set up and a couple of brake bars! Back before leather gloves went out of style for a few decades.
I really love the shoulder belays, so very European! I have always found it interesting that people like Raffi Bedayn were included in climbing teams for new routes specifically because of their belaying skills during your father's era. We take all of that method and technology for granted these days. Nothing too hip about that California belay!
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Chewbongka
climber
लघिमा
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Jun 20, 2008 - 12:30am PT
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bumpity
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Leroy
climber
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Jun 20, 2008 - 06:50am PT
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They still use the shoulder belay in Europe.A few years ago I saw a brochure with a photo of a guide using it.
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captain chaos
climber
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Jun 20, 2008 - 11:46am PT
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Looks like I missed the first posting by a couple years, but good to see it for the first time, great stories and pictures Jeff. It looks like your early days were ugh... a bit thin on the pro and probably anchors and gear in general? which of course brings me to the same question you have, how did you stay alive, my guess is you had/have a guardian angel who looked after you closely. My father was stationed on a boat in the Aleutians during WWII as well, I'll have to ask him if he ever ran into your dad... Hope all is well my brother- Craig
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Ouch!
climber
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Jun 20, 2008 - 12:01pm PT
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Those old body belays and raps could give you some world class wedgies.
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philo
Trad climber
boulder, co.
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Jun 20, 2008 - 12:16pm PT
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Fabulous thread. Undoubtably some of the coolest climbing pictures I have ever seen. Thank you so much Jello man.
Just one question... How did your dad fire up his boys' passion for climbing?
Of my three kids the older two have mad skills but no interest in climbing.
My youngest, Logan, who just turned 9, Is really eager to ascend. My favorite story of him was when he was 5. We were getting an alpine start for ice climbing in RMNP when he toddled out of bed buck naked pleading "Daddy I wanna go, I wanna go, Please". "Sorry Son but you don't have boots or any gear" I replied. He scurried off in a fluster and returned a moment later wearing my vastly too big Sorels and sporting a sling of about 6 or 7 carabiners over his tiny shoulder. Otherwise still in the buff he again pleaded, with puppy dog eyes, "I wanna go!"
I was just pooping green in 57. The Lowe family rocks! You guys should be considered a national treasure.
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Roman
Trad climber
DC
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Jun 20, 2008 - 01:49pm PT
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Jello, I referenced you and your family just yesterday while teaching a friend of mine how to lead and explaining the history of tri-cams. You guys are an inspiration and this thread and pic are absolutely awesome.
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martygarrison
Trad climber
The Great North these days......
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Jun 20, 2008 - 03:52pm PT
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way cool pic!
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scuffy b
climber
just below the San Andreas
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Feb 26, 2009 - 04:00pm PT
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Too cool to believe.
Who's the photographer?
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Double D
climber
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Feb 26, 2009 - 04:55pm PT
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Jeff...that's so cool! So let me get this all straight, basically 1/4" clothesline with a very positive attitude and of course the #1 rule of climbing, "Though shall not fall"
Cool story on your heritage. Thanks.
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nutjob
Stoked OW climber
San Jose, CA
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Feb 26, 2009 - 04:57pm PT
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Wonderful pictures, wonderful stories about dad! I'd really like to hear more of these early adventures.
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scuffy b
climber
just below the San Andreas
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Feb 26, 2009 - 05:03pm PT
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Don't be giving me a shoulder belay, that's all, Nutjob.
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hoipolloi
climber
A friends backyard with the neighbors wifi
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Feb 26, 2009 - 07:31pm PT
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really awesome photo.
How DID you not die?!
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Feb 27, 2009 - 01:31am PT
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Jeff,
Don't make me have to come over there and
sharpen your toenails. I beg to differ with your
initial comment that those old shoulder belays
were useless. That was the best thing going for
a long time, and all the best climbers used them.
I used them for a long time and caught many a fall,
as well. It's logical to have the rope over your
shoulder if the direction of pull on the rope, from
a fall, is straight down. Of course most of this
is tongue in cheek, but partly serious. Look at the
old photos of Rebuffat, for example, with his shoulder
belays and shoulder-crotch body rappels. Or look
at those pictures of Eiger climbers or Saxon, etc.,
and early British photos. Those were
the days. Today climbers have it too easy, all this
technology that robs us of the mystery...
Or whatever...
Your dad was a cool dude. He's the kind of guy I would
like to read about, a real bio... another of our
"greatest generation."
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Feb 27, 2009 - 01:37am PT
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Sorry Pat, no shoulder belay for you.
(I think it's good policy to CATCH your partner.)
As a guy that learned on laid ropes, I'll take all the high tech I can manage.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Feb 27, 2009 - 11:48am PT
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Even the more reliable california hip belay didn't stay hip for long fortunately! It always seems like the precarious lean out over the edge for a better view of the climber below is the source of the real peril.
I personally love the swiss arm rappel and used to use it on the Apron where the normal rules of climbing don't apply! Bergsteigen anyone?
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RDB
Trad climber
Iss WA
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Feb 28, 2009 - 12:00pm PT
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I had seen this thread and knowing what may be coming, I waited.
Jeff, what a great story about your Dad and a tiny bit about your brothers! A wonderful great read, thanks.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Feb 28, 2009 - 12:50pm PT
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Fantastic shots, Jello. As a '61 high-school graduate, they bring back memories...
I went off climbing as a teenager with knowledge gleaned from the few books available at the time, in a pair of mountain boots, a stubai hammer, three soft-iron blade pitons with virtually no taper, a ring angle, maybe six free steel oval biners, a couple of tied quarter inch rope over-the shoulder slings, and a goldline rope that was stiff enough to use as a clip stick if we had ever thought of that. I'd guess that half the belays I set up where well-braced but unanchored. (But they were hip belays. I either learned or decided on my own that shoulder belays made little sense.)
As to why we didn't die, of course some of it is just luck, but another part is that, back in the day, we didn't expect much from our climbing systems, and we climbed in a way that strove not to test them.
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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Feb 28, 2009 - 10:38pm PT
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What a wonder any of us are still around, Jeff! This was taken either 1956 or 1957, perhaps on the Direct Jensen Ridge on Symmetry Spire in the Tetons. I think my shoes were Cortinas, but I'm not sure. They may have been a pair of J. C. Higgins work boots. The rope is attached to a simple piece of webbing around my waist, or maybe just tied with a bowline.
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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A Hudson Hornet. Your dad had good taste in cars.
One of my brothers, Mac, had a 1947 Hornet back in the early 1970s. He also had a 1948 Pontiac straight eight he bought in Sun Valley, Idaho or Utah, I can't remember, as he had gone to Idaho to see his then girlfriend, Muffet Hemingway (yeah, Ernie was her grandad) in a Ford Falcon painted as an American flag. It broke down and he came back with the Pontiac.
In 1971, when I was 15, we drove that Pontiac to Canada with a big red canoe strapped on top, but we were refused entry by the Canadian authorities (the car, our long hair and two of us being minors, Kim - 17 - and me - even though we had our parents permission to travel) the Canucks didn't want us, but that is a different story.
What color was the Hornet Jello? Was it one of those two-tone jobs?
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