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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 27, 2011 - 10:57pm PT
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I cannot agree with you more, Rok and Coz. Truly. And in those days Bridwell was extremely influential--- as you say, it continued for another decade or so too. And it even seems a bit of a shame that as humans we almost always have these me-them principles at work interpersonally. Here Jim was, a legend then and still in the making very much, a little marginalized already by eager youth and its insanely myopic nature. In these photos of JB and Jim, already Bachar was identified by all as the Golden Boy, a new messiah practically, albeit in the making. there was a 13 year year difference between these men.
Royal was another one. I would go on trips with what I thought was a really old person, deal with the difficult personality, watch the semi-out-of-it climbing, listen to his midlife concerns, growing more and more anxious to "get back to my own group"--- and yet today, 38 is actually a hot climbing age to be. Many of our best are this age or older. In my heart, I still am 20 and Royal is still 38.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 27, 2011 - 11:04pm PT
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I know Lynnie. Those eyes. It is a huge important subject. Alex really has them too; I think the most I have ever seen on anyone. It is both haunting as hell and a shared ecstasy, looking into them.
The word “enthusiasm” is of course Greek in origin and so stems from enthous, meaning ‘possessed by a god’, ‘full of gods’. And supported since then in the French, ‘enthousiasme’.The gods in question were Dionysus and Apollo.
So in ensuing centuries we naturally had sects, notably the Euchites, who strived for this state, thinking that through the most stringent of practices, endless prayer and meditation, they too could be possessed by the Holy Spirit and that was actually their calling. Further on we even have some Protestant groups (15-16c) taking up this train of belief. And today still, there are men and women engaged completely in life’s joys and mysteries, recalling the Puer Aeternus, the eternal child, the Peter Pan. And for many, there is usually some notion of a regimen, a rite of passage or practice that makes all this possible. "if I try hard enough and don't pause, I will be able to fly".
So although it would be easy to sit sideline, and maintain the opinion that such people in climbing are deluded and will die or burn out shortly, Puer Aeternus people can also prevail, they can win and they can have splendid successful lives, lived fully and to length. There are more than one or two ways to have a good life despite what many would claim.
But if there is anything small-d divine about people, it is every so salient with our climbing elite and especially the soloists.
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Shameless Yahoolihan
Trad climber
west malling, uk
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Thanks, Peter. We were all young and beautiful. Once.
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Bad Climber
climber
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Peter: You're scaring us with your erudition. You're right, of course. Alex's eyes are strange, wondrous pools. The images that have flowed into them! I only hope that Alex takes the hard lessons of Bachar's passing to heart. Thank you so much for the pictures. I can feel the relief of the shade under the oaks, hear the squawking of the jays, feel the hard granite seat under my butt, the blinding light off the stone. Moments of unfettered joy and challenge are good to remember. We all need more of them.
BAd
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Gus
Trad climber
Denver, Colorado
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Very cool.
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ron gomez
Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
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I met for the first time this last weekend a very special person in Peter Haan. I felt a real sense of a TRULY loving person, genuine and real. Thanks for spending time with me Peter, I appreciate the person you are and hope to see you again in the near future. The pleasure was all mine!
Peace
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Strangely I remember doing that climb, somewhere
around the late 1960's, maybe '69, possibly '70. Intense
but not too long.... I love that photo of Bridwell sitting
there with his fist at his headband... very nice portrait...
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jopay
climber
so.il
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A very nice post, reminds a lot of us I'm sure, of their own summer afternoon in 1975.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jun 19, 2012 - 06:02pm PT
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Oh what the heck.
Bump.
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Sport climber
moving thru
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Had the wonderful opportunity to spend a day with Alex and Dave Y. in an attempt on the Bachar/Yerian.
The eyes are still magnetic.
Edit: Tho as you can see, older and wiser. imho
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