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Bldrjac
Ice climber
Boulder
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The thing to recognize in Pete and in many other climbers, many of whom we care about, is that when they can't climb, when they physically can't do what they used to be able to and they don't have a PLAN B, well, they waste away.
The climbing lifestyle can be hard on people. Climbing hard day in and day out with partners who are half your age, compromising making money while trying to keep up not only on difficult routes but also in demanding social situations that might require massive amounts of alcohol consumption does take its toll.
Pete was a great guy and climbing was always the number one priority on his list of things that were important to him. People were very important and climbers were probably the most important to him. But he became somewhat isolated. I think we owe it to ourselves and to our fellow climbers to look out for our brothers and sisters when they begin to take a tailspin and look like they might crater.
It pains me to see someone with Pete's spirit go out in such a sad way but if we learn from his departure and look out for each other then maybe we'll become better people.
I always thought that TM Herbert's "Rock of Ages" home for broken-down climbers who don't fit in mainstream society was a streak of brillance and should be taken seriously. I'll be there soon. Sitting in my rockin chair sipping wine with Pete and Warren.
Jack
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Ksolem
Trad climber
LA, Ca
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BVB,
Your above post is so on the mark it scares me. Not that I am afraid, just a figure of speech. Well said, and good luck.
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rmuir
Social climber
the Time Before the Rocks Cooled.
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Mar 24, 2007 - 11:09pm PT
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rbolton
Social climber
The home for...
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Mar 26, 2007 - 03:36pm PT
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Bump.
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G_Gnome
Boulder climber
Sick Midget Land
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Mar 26, 2007 - 04:50pm PT
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It's all been discussed many times before and we decided we're gonna build dormitories at KP's house in Josh and all retire to our 1 room hovels where no one can escape the ridicule of his/her friends.
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 28, 2007 - 10:26am PT
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Reminding everyone about the memorial on Saturday.
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G_Gnome
Boulder climber
Sick Midget Land
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Mar 28, 2007 - 11:39am PT
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Hey Bob, I hope like hell Pete hadn't paid his 'public peeing' ticket yet!
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Charlie D.
Trad climber
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Mar 29, 2007 - 02:11pm PT
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I learned of Pete’s death from the flyer sent to me this week with the request for photos and memories to be posted here. I climbed with Pete in his first year along with a small group of kids from the LA foothill communities of La Crescenta, La Canada and Montrose. We were the fading remnants of an explorer Boy Scout group named Post 4 Mountaineering. Being too young to drive our supportive parents would take us to Stony Point, Pacifico and Tahquitz. My mother would often perform the duty and patiently wait for our safe return with a book, her rosary beads and perhaps an occasional beer.
Pete was ahead of his time from the start. He was brash and cocky and was soon alienated from the group given the youthful pettiness of his “elders”. Just how talented and ahead of the times he was would soon be recognized as we would bump into him in our mountain rambles. Regrettably he and I never reconnected, although having received the flyer in the mail told me that my message via Neptune Mountaineering years ago made its way to him, a bitter sweet realization.
I got the old slides out last night and clicked through countless images of rocks and mountains with the occasional picture of an old friend from afar and a few rare close ups. I found myself getting closer to the wall seeking a better look at Pete and others now long gone with a desire to reach in and touch them. Our record of events is understandable given our passionate mountain love and youthful innocents but now in retrospect is regrettable. All those rocks and mountains are still here and we catch a glimpse as they age though deep time on each visit, our lives so finite in comparison. We are ephemeral like a passing cloud or developing sunset and as such I recognize just how valuable these friendships and the camaraderie as climbers truly are.
Each year of the 40 + years since those days with my buddies of Post 4 Mountaineering is another installment with compounding interest. I am truly a wealthy man and can easily cry as I recount days of us boys playing like pirates with Pete and Joe, laughing in the sun of yesteryear.
My sincerest condolences to the friends and family of Pete Steres, I wish you all peace with the recognition of your own wealth and an appreciation of Pete’s amassed fortune. The intangible things are what really count in this banquet of life, a hardy Berg Heil to you all.
Regards,
Charlie Downs
Western Slope, Sierra Nevada Mountains
Pete leading ahead, proudly wearing his Tyrolean hat, circa 1966
Our first hanging belay (from a single piton!), circa 1966
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder
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Mar 29, 2007 - 02:25pm PT
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Many thanks Charlie D.
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G_Gnome
Boulder climber
Sick Midget Land
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Mar 29, 2007 - 02:41pm PT
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Ray, are you going to be at the memorial? If so, bring a designated driver and have a couple hits of the vino for me in Pete's honor. And don't spill a drop, nothing Pete hated worse than wasted wine.
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder
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Mar 29, 2007 - 04:19pm PT
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thanks G. Gnome - I'm gonna bow out and think Pete would understand - and I appreciate the thought re designated driver but...I don't drink.
Pete and I were good friends - he was one of the few I trusted to read my prose and understand where I was coming from - one of the few climbers I ever knew who were literary like that.
Still kinda amazing he's gone.
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G_Gnome
Boulder climber
Sick Midget Land
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Mar 29, 2007 - 04:27pm PT
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That actually seems more appropriate. All things in moderation except climbing.
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Dave Johnson
Mountain climber
Sacramento, CA
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Mar 29, 2007 - 05:50pm PT
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I never met your friend, Charlie, but from the posts he sounds like an amazing climber and, most important, an amazing man.
Anyone who began their climbing career wearing a Tyrolean hat while Catholic mothers prayed the Rosary has my respect!
I've known too many people that were so worried about having a "Plan B" that they never took advantage of the opportunities that life gave them. Pete looks like he had a heck of a "Plan A".
Dave Johnson
Ghoulwe Mountaineering Club
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 30, 2007 - 09:56am PT
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My most memorable day with Pete was on Long’s Peak around 1982. Pete was climbing really well and wanted to try the Yellow Wall, a climb with a reputation at the time for being both difficult and scary. The route is located on the Diamond face of Longs, the site of famous exploits, as well as countless inglorious retreats caused by the Diamond’s altitude, difficulty and quickly changing weather.
The Yellow Wall is left of the prominent black corner.
We got an alpine start and the approach and the initial pitches were dispatched without incident.. Around mid-morning, as I set up the belay below the crux pitch, I noticed dark clouds had appeared from the West and were gathering directly above us. When Pete arrived, we exchanged a few words about the clouds, the cold wind that had suddenly arisen, and the need to hurry. Pete was a joy to watch leading that crux pitch, quickly and methodically working his way up, arranging the thin nuts, clipping the tattered webbing on fixed gear, but never hesitating.
I was focused on watching Pete, and so it startled me when the first hail pellet hit my wool cap. Watching the single pellet fall into the depths, I got a queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach because I knew we were in for it. Pete ignored the opening salvo of hail as he finished the lead and set up the belay. I focused on cleaning and climbing with numb hands as fast as possible, but still had time to marvel at Pete’s fine lead. I was brushing away hail and sleet to find the holds as I reached the belay.
After briefly considering the possibility of climbing two more pitches to reach the escape off Table Ledge, we decided retreat was the better choice and started down. It was a nightmare: rappels to hanging stations secured by small nuts behind flakes, frozen hands, frozen feet, wet ropes that almost wouldn’t pull , and other misadventures. When we got to Broadway, hail and sleet were pouring down and it seemed like mid-winter on Longs. The next urgent task was to locate and dig out the rappel anchors leading down the North Chimney to the ground. This was accomplished with difficulty and we finally escaped, shivering and thoroughly thrashed. But we had survived a fierce storm together and the struggle on the Yellow Wall forged a bond between Pete and me that endured over all these years.
We who shared a rope with him were fortunate to know Pete in his natural element, the mountains.
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Kingfish
Trad climber
Boulder, CO
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It was great to see everyone today in Eldo. Here is a picture of the memorial for all those who could not attend.
I really enjoyed all stories.
Peter Holcombe
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G_Gnome
Boulder climber
Sick Midget Land
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I really wanted to be there but it was just too far to go for a weekend. We drank a fine petit sirah in his honor though. See ya Pete!
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john bald
climber
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Many fond memories of Pete's smooth moves in stiff shoes. Master of the "on point" use of those Black Beauties. RIP
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guyman
Trad climber
Moorpark, CA.
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I first met Pete at Stony point way back in 73; I had been a “climber” for about 7 days. Even though we were almost exactly the same age, he was a veteran climber with years of experience behind him, he was always happy to share his knowledge of the sport with me. Little things, like how to stand down on an edge just so, or how to get a finger lock just right so you don’t waste energy. The social side of climbing was very important to Pete and the times spent with other climbers, in cars on road trips, around campfires at night and on hikes to and from the crags was at the core of why he climbed…
A little story: I got invited to a “slide show”, having been a climber for less than a year- I was thrilled to get a call from Pete asking me join him. He gave me the time and place details and finished up by saying….”bring some wine, OK.” So, I show up with some “Strawberry Boons Farm ” ……a couple of bottles of it! Pete takes one look, is horrified and tells me “No, No this won’t do at all” and he proceeds to pore the contents out on the ground! We went to the nearest liquor store and Pete starts the wine lesson. “Wine comes in bottles with corks not screw caps!” - “There are reds and whites, dry and sweet but they all have corks, remember that” …
I spent last Saturday night sitting around a campfire with some good friends. We cracked open more than a few bottles. Pete would have loved it.
RIP good friend. See you soon.
Guy
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 8, 2007 - 11:48am PT
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I was able to locate a few more pictures of Pete.
First two are from Shelf Road near Canon City, Colorado, sometime in the 1980's. The rest are from a marvelous road trip Pete and I took to the Needles of South Dakota in 1986.
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder
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wow Rick those are really good...
I can imagine Pete being really at home in the Needles.
Thanks.
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