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Maysho
climber
Truckee, CA
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Jan 30, 2007 - 04:17pm PT
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I am trying to think of some funny or classic stories but coming up short right now. One moment though has always stayed with me as classic Bridwell. Always looking ahead, envisioning future routes and possibilities, made him appreciate innovation and evolution in the sport by others. As such he was a very early adapter to the sport climbing idea. He attended a film festival in Europe in 1987 and went cragging afterward with Michael Kennedy, as he told it, a couple of French teenybopper girls floated a 7b+ (12c) right next to them, and he was totally impressed. Coming back to the Valley, he was completely out of step with the "Valley Syndrome" attitude, a rather low point in Yosemite hospitality, when some of our best had rudely heckled Patrick Edlinger while he was climbing a Love Supreme, and gave all visiting sportsters a ration of abuse. One morning in the caf we were all hanging out, the usual slag fest decrying the "hangdoggers" "the magazine climbers" and the "lycra clad homo's", Jim walked up to Kauk and said something like, "this is the future, and you are letting it pass you by, you are like an ostrich with your head up your a*#!"
Sometime soon after that Jim visited me in the bay and we went bouldering, he had on lycra and duel chalkbags! Soon after that, Kauk went to Smith, kicked ass and came back a convert.
Peter
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MisterE
Trad climber
White Van
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Jan 30, 2007 - 06:26pm PT
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"Always looking ahead, envisioning future routes and possibilities, made him appreciate innovation and evolution in the sport by others."
That reminds me of another story...
I was working for Entreprise back in the mid-90's, and one of the walls was sold to "Gym Bridwell" in Palm Springs. I flew down and went through the wall installation with Jim, and he told me about his latest project.
He had found a small canyon with little or no holds on the walls near Palm Springs,and had gone to work in classic Bridwell style:
His objective was to create climbs where every move on the climb was representative of the grade, ie, if the climb was 10c, then every move on the climb was 10c, etc...He had put up quite a few routes, he said.
I realized what a process and art that would be with a chisel and drill to make EVERY MOVE the same grade.
Always looking for the next thing...
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Rick L
Trad climber
El Dorado Hills, CA
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Jan 30, 2007 - 11:24pm PT
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Most of the following is true.
I guess I was about 15 or 16 (1966-67) when I got a ride to the Valley with some older friends. We climbed that weekend and the plan was to pick me up in 2 weeks- my first solo in Camp 4. Even then, Jim Bridwell was a climbing god and the unrivaled "mayor" who presided over his boulder-strewn kingdom. As my friends were about to leave Sunday evening, Jim asked if he could hitch a ride with them back to the Bay Area. Before they left, one of Jim's buddies pulled my friends aside and solumnly advised "Whatever you do, don't let him drive" and then walked away without explanation. My friends, fortunately for them, followed the advice and innocently avoided what I later learned would have been a guaranteed "white knuckle" drive. Jim returned to Camp 4 a few days later.
Jim, who has always been generous with his time with everyone- including those without much talent or promise- stopped by my tent and offered to give me a tour of the boulder problems. Shocked and knees knocking, I followed him about the boulders watching in awe and too timid to embarrass myself in front of him.
As it happened, I pitched my tent immediatley adjacent to a group of acid-gobbling hippies. The old road that went pretty close to the talus leading up to the Nose was open then and my hippie neighbors loved to take prodigous quantities of drugs and drive the roller-coaster road at top speed in their beat up VW bus. I went along a few times- without the acid- and it was great fun- an E-ticket ride. Much to my great surprise, Jim was keeping an eye on me during my stay. He paid me a visit one morning after one of the rides and sternly advised that I was hanging out with a bad group of people. As I later learned, I don't think he was concerned about the drugs; rather, he thought they we lazy, aimless and worthless scum.
Toward the end of my two week stay, a group of bikers showed up and moved into the camp site next door. Jim's tent was situated fairly close by and certainly close enough to be distrubed by all of the carrying-on that continued after midnight. The bikers had a big fire blazing and they were yelling, playing loud music and generally being a pain in the ass. I had been trying to get to sleep for hours. I didn't have a tent and had a clear view of the campfire. Here is what I witnessed: Out of the pitch-black comes Bridwell, wearing a pirate's bandana. And absolutely nothing else. He strides past several of the revelers and walks directly over to the biggest, meanest looking guy and stops directly in front of him. He stands there for a long moment,then bends over, gets his face a few inches away and exclaims "I think it's time we all went to sleep. Don't you?" He then turns around and walks back into the dark. The leader Jim chose to address certainly got the message. Those behind Jim around the campfire circle probably got a different but equally disturbing message when he bent over. Everything went dead silent. A bunch of guys with wide eyes and open mouths. Eventually, the noise level went up from dead silence to a normal speaking tone, at which point I could barely hear an urgent, loud whisper: "Shut up, goddammit shut up or that guy is gonna come back." Then more slilence and I finally drifted off to sleep. It was a classic and hysterically funny lesson in intimidation worthy of Clint Eastwood.
Good luck with the book.
Rick
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john hansen
climber
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Jan 30, 2007 - 11:42pm PT
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We met him one day while we were gumbying around on 90 foot wall. Had a top rope set up on a 5.7 when him and a couple bro's walked up and started free soloing the 5.8s and 9s. My brother was just messing around trying to get off the ground on the 5.11 between 'Strontium' and "Retinue" if my memory is correct. He was wearing tennis shoes. Bridwell came up and said "That aint tenny shoe territory" and procedded to pantomime the moves for us, explaning ' right foot,, crimp' ect.
Next day one of my other buddy,s that was there called me and said,"That was Jim Bridwell". Must of been the early 80's.
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old toad
Trad climber
yosemite, Ca.
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bump for the bird
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Apr 14, 2010 - 12:27am PT
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Bump. Bump. Bump.
Here's a great old thread. Required reading for anyone going to the Fest, and for pretty much everyone else too. Even if you've seen it before, it's worth a second read. And a 3rd. And a 4th......
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mountain dog
Trad climber
over the hills and far away
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Apr 14, 2010 - 01:08am PT
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Oh yeah, a story about the Bird. He is shorter than I thought.
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MeatBomb
Gym climber
Boise, I dee Hoe
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Apr 14, 2010 - 01:24am PT
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The Wills story is not true. I was there. Layton (Jims son) was tossing beer bottles at a trash can and breaking them. Lots of them in the campground. Wills told him to stop. Layton told his nutcase Mom who told Jim who asked no questions and dropped Wills with a beer bottle and inflicted some major dental damage. Jim being the standup guy he is never paid a cent nor apologized. You guys think that is something to applaud? Pathetic.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Apr 14, 2010 - 01:28am PT
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"Hamie" being he who did the FA of Church Bowl Terrace with the Bird, in December 1964 (edit: guidebook is apparently incorrect), and so one of Jim's earlier partners. He may have some nice photos of Jim, and I wonder if he might show them here?
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Ferretlegger
Trad climber
san Jose, CA
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Apr 14, 2010 - 03:10am PT
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BITD, perhaps the mid 1970's, Bridwell was working on an FA of a new route on El Cap. It was to the west of the Alcove, I think. Perhaps the Pacific Ocean Wall. It was a STEEP route in any case. He was up about 3 pitches with Werner. Werner was belaying from under a fairly big roof, while Bridwell was doing some sort of heinous nailing above it. Things were apparently pretty tense for a while, and Werner was trying to keep a pretty tight belay. Eventually, after several hours, Bridwell finished the pitch, slammed in an anchor and hollared to Werner "Off Belay!!". Werner, who was pretty hard of hearing in those days yelled back "I've got you Jim!!". Bridwell started yanking on the rope, and Werner responded by choking up on it, sure that Bridwell was about to pitch off to his doom. Jim kept yelling for slack, and that he was off belay, and Werner kept pulling the rope tighter and yelling encouragement. This went on for quite a while, and finally Bridwell had had enough. He untied from the lead rope and rappelled down the haul line, over the ceiling and came to a stop dangling 6 feet out from Werner's astonished face. "OFF BELAY, WERNER!!!!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, while the 20 or so of us watching from the ground dissolved in tears.
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Apr 14, 2010 - 07:14am PT
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Great story Michael. I can hear them both.
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marty(r)
climber
beneath the valley of ultravegans
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Apr 14, 2010 - 10:09am PT
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I want to hear baout SAR guys on acid throwing ropes over the Pratt and his partner's head during a rescue.
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Chief
climber
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Apr 14, 2010 - 10:42am PT
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Spring 1992, we're woken up in the middle of the night in our Cortina hotel rooms by a fire alarm.
When the dust settles it turns out Jim's girlfriend was pissed off at him and lit a bunch of his clothes and stuff on fire on the balcony of their room.
It wasn't much later that Jim showed up for work looking like he'd fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down.
Turns out his loving wife tracked him down at The Orange Bar and worked him over with the heel of her shoe.
Weis had to do a lot of explaining to the bosses.
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Apr 15, 2010 - 12:11pm PT
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Another bump!
I heard that she used a golf club!! [ha ha] or was it a pin hammer?
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Branscomb
Trad climber
Lander, WY
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Apr 15, 2010 - 12:30pm PT
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I remember in the late 70s, walking back to El Cap meadow after baling off The Stone, feeling like I was never going to do this thing and pretty bummed out.
Bridwell and a partner were heading up and he stopped and asked me how it was going. I said, I just know if I'll ever get up this thing. It's really got me down. And he looked up there and back at me and said, well, when you're ready for it, it'll happen. Don't worry about it.
It was a really kind thing to say. I really needed to hear it at the time.
Great, great man, and kind as well. He always knew the current gear beta on any wall in the Valley. He never messed people around.
I have the greatest of respect for Jim Bridwell.
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Chief
climber
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Apr 15, 2010 - 12:56pm PT
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It was definitely Peggy's high heeled shoe, I saw them myself, Jeezuz what a spectacle.
Just more stories in the legend of The Bird.
Wish I could make the fest on the 24th but it's a bit of a drive from Squamish right now.
Best to Big Jim wherever he is today.
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mucci
Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
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Apr 15, 2010 - 05:23pm PT
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Ferret-
That story had me ROLLIN!!
"OFF BELAY!" BWHAHAHAHHA!!
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TripL7
Trad climber
san diego
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Apr 15, 2010 - 07:25pm PT
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WB- "Not many know that Bridwell was a bad ass skier too!"
No s#!&t!!
One day i was at the top of Dave's Run getting ready to drop in and
link a few. And here come Jim and world champion speed skier Steve
McKinney(RIP)skating and tucking along the ridge to get as much speed
as possible and obviously racing each other. Both of them fly off
the cornice of Dave's and drop into a tuck and hold it until they
disappear somewhere down below the face of Chair V!!
They were running T2B's all day long in a tuck('75/76)!
Yea, Jim's was one bad ass skier.
EDIT: "Never turn down free food"...absolutely golden!!
Oh yea, i forgot to mention that they were on 223cm downhill boards!
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Apr 15, 2010 - 10:29pm PT
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I wish that i could tell the story of how Jim acquired his first pair of ski pants, but my lips are sealed. Tease, tease. Ask Jim at the Fest, or one of the Bircheff brothers, they were there too. Hint, no money changed hands.
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TripL7
Trad climber
san diego
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Apr 16, 2010 - 12:33am PT
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Ski pants...the Bird??
Never saw him in anything but an old pair of Levi Strauss!
Thought he started the fad?
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