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slabbo
Trad climber
fort garland, colo
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Nov 24, 2012 - 05:57pm PT
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I think, Alan correct me, that an old Ed Webster article shows the wedge on Recompense during an ascent around '74 ???
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Nov 25, 2012 - 03:03pm PT
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Third installment...
John,
How did you discover Poke-O-Moonshine as a climbing spot and what was the scene there at the time, if any?
What do you recall about establishing FM? What were you wearing for climbing boots at that point?
Once you picked the plum did you come back to Poke-O for smaller routes?
Cheers,
Steve Grossman
Hi Steve!
At Val David I had met John Brett, the then president of the ACC. He told me of a large cliff near the road south of Plattsburgh, which his friend Fritz Viesner (Wiessner) had carefully looked at, and pronounced unclimable. Such a challenge was impossible to resist, so probably in the spring of 1957 fellow Englishman Hugh Tanton and I went there to take a look. The FM was an obvious line from the top which seemed to peter out about 20 feet above the ground. To access this line from the right, we carelessly overlooked an obvious foothold and took aid from a sling using our right hands. The first free ascent was by Claude Lavalee and Michael Ward. Mike later went on to do the first ascent of Ama Dablam, which had previously killed one of my Cambridge companions, George Fraser.
Footwear varied. Back in the UK, Joe and Don had climbed mostly in old tennis shoes: on the FM Hugh was wearing light leather boots with a thin Vibram sole, whereas I wore PA' s . These I had bought in the shop of their designer, Pierre Alain in Rue St Sulpice, Paris. Pierre as you may recall lead the eponymous 'Fissure Alain' during the first ascent of the Walker Spur. His PA's were short, very tight, partially reinforced canvas, whose thin smooth rubber soles were bevelled at the edges, proceeding half an inch into the uppers. They enabled one to stand on the tiniest of holds, and jammed well in cracks up to 6 inches in width. It is hard to imagine they could be improved upon except possibly for a similar design showing more mercy to the toes. They were soon afterwards imported to Canada, and practically everyone adopted them.
We had a detached attitude towards protection, using pitons in moderation and thread runners where possible. Bolts were considered immoral, and the Montréal group never inserted one during my time. This
Yes, following the success on FM we added Poko to our agenda, along with its slabs which had obviously been overlooked in Wiesner's reconnaissance. Until about 1960 we were the only group active there: the extension of the Thruway has made it more accessible, but some of its charm has been lost in the process.
Thanks to Anders, I am looking forward to meeting Richard Strachan and his wife on Tuesday for the first time in 50 years.
Yours,
John
Late Edit:Jim lawyer wrote to remind me that several great routes were done by Turner and company most of which went to the top of the main wall.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Nov 25, 2012 - 08:06pm PT
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Mostly serendipity, plus modern communications and transportation and a bit of luck. I saw that Steve had been in touch with John, and thought to forward some information about his old friends who'd been mentioned.
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Todd Eastman
climber
Bellingham, WA
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Nov 25, 2012 - 10:13pm PT
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Turner loomed in the distant past to those of us looking in fear at his Poko and Cathedral routes in the early and mid 1970s. Other routes went up sections of cliff that seemed reasonable as we got better and moved up our standards; but Turner routes challenged the steeper and biggest sections.
Imagine a team of Sacherer and Turner...
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Dec 28, 2013 - 08:14pm PT
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Bump for a dangling conversation...
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Ed Webster
climber
beautiful Maine
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Mar 31, 2014 - 10:11pm PT
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I thought everyone should know that this kind and legendary man, John Turner, passed away of natural causes yesterday at his home in England. sincerely, Ed Webster
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Mar 31, 2014 - 10:46pm PT
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RIP John Turner, an inspiration to all.
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MH2
climber
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Mar 31, 2014 - 11:26pm PT
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Memorable, and remembered. Already legend in the East in '68. Glad to hear he lived so long.
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lucander
Trad climber
Shawangunks, New York
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I like to think that old Tumbledown John never fell until March 30 of this year. I fell the first time I tried climbing Recompense.
Never knew the man, but I've respected him since the minute I learned what it meant to tie in.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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This thread stands as a fine memorial; hopefully it will be bumped periodically.
John, those of us who grew up in the shadow of your accomplishments salute you. R.I.P.
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Todd Eastman
climber
Bellingham, WA
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We climb on the efforts of our elders...
... thanks for finding adventures on the rock and leaving legacies for us to chase.
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Blakey
Trad climber
Sierra Vista
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This stands as a fine obituary.
I'd never heard of John Turner's activities in the UK, but climbing histories often seem to forget about those who move away.
It's great that through the contact with folks from ST, he will have realised there was considerable interest in his adventures and routes.
Quite right too!
Chapeu John Turner!
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Dave Hough
climber
Keene, NY
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As a Poko climber, this man gave me boat loads of anxiety as I scratched away at his routes. Thank you sir for the most memorable outings. John now joins Geoff Smith, Poko's other giant, on much bigger walls.
Dave
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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what a great story
there are a lot of these floating in the STForum database... but they eventually disappear only to reappear at some very much later date.
one wonders how they might have a little bit more buoyancy
I'll appreciate it for the moment, don't have to remind most of you that these stories will be lost if they're not told, so tell your stories! it doesn't matter if you think they're important or not. John Turner, I'm sure, didn't think that anything he did was particularly noteworthy, yet he had a tremendous influence on NE climbing.
And don't forget to tell those who have been such important influences how much you appreciate they're contributions, we are all here for only the briefest of moments.
Raise a toast to John Turner! think of him the next time you're having a beer around a fire after climbing... we are all eventually ghosts in the shadows of the flames... remembered by those who can still be warmed by them.
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Gunkie
Trad climber
East Coast US
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A climber's climber.
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steveA
Trad climber
Wolfeboro, NH
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I am so sorry to hear this news.
John Turner was a person I admired growing up. He was way ahead of his time
and even today, I would be be willing to bet, most strong climbers would be
terrified leading a few of his routes, with the protection he had BITD.
Repentance, on Cathedral Ledge comes to mind, a 5.10 off-width, coated with moss. A route rarely done today.
A life well lived!!
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slabbo
Trad climber
colo south
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JT did routes over 50 years ago that people still struggle on...
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steveA
Trad climber
Wolfeboro, NH
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Bump for an important historical thread.
Having done the majority of Turner's routes, I feel that Repentance was perhaps the hardest route in this country when put in. The piton, which was stepped on, was way down below the actual off-width crux move, and the upper chockstone moves were no gimme either. Hats off to Mr. Turner!
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jstan
climber
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Years ago when I talked to Turner he described how he was trying to follow the rule of no more than two pins per pitch. He said he took a couple of bad falls as a result. I sensed those falls were still bothering him.
You know we all can think of very deep people we wish had shared more with us before they moved on. Frank Sacherer, Chuck Pratt, John Turner come to mind.
SteveA:
Definitely try to get a photo of the wedge John Turner used.
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