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Ligur
climber
PD
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Feb 13, 2006 - 10:31pm PT
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Suprised you guys weren't fighting for that one.
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Gramicci
Social climber
Ventura
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Feb 13, 2006 - 10:52pm PT
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Robs, that was a great climb. I hear Clark likes it!
I remember all that Asian studding you were doing led to that name. Also that chrysanthemum var. came from that theme if I recall.
You will probably think its weird but we didn’t fight much, Back in the day
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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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Feb 13, 2006 - 11:21pm PT
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Hey, Rob--
I remember that day very well, and can even remember in my mind's eye pictures of you leading and placing nuts in the crack. But the fact is by that time I had sorta lost my psyche for doing new routes at Suicide--which is a strange thing since I must have done the "Flower" about 10 times since. But not that day . . .
If I can muster the energy some night I'll jot out the really strange experience Ricky, Richard and I had during the first free of Pisano Overhang.
JL
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Jobee
Social climber
El Portal
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Feb 14, 2006 - 12:19pm PT
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Gentlemen;
These tales..holy smokes..palms got sweaty when I saw the photo of Tobin..the brochure..classic..makes the s.t. worth the log on.
All thoughts, all passions, all delights,
Whatever stirs this mortal frame,
All are but ministers of Love,
And feed his sacred flame. -coleridge
Happy St. Valentines Day lads.
jw
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Ca
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Feb 14, 2006 - 12:22pm PT
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Ho man, the wrong side of the trees almost killed us more than once. I actually had to bomb across to the correct side of the road at about 80 one night as about 3 cars popped into view coming straight at us. Mike thought we were dead for sure. One other time we just pulled off the road and turned the lights out so we wouldn't scare the oncoming car too badly. How did we live thru those days?
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looking sketchy there...
Social climber
Latitute 33
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Feb 14, 2006 - 03:06pm PT
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One evening Matt Cox (who was 15 1/2 years old), myself and Steve Emerson were driving up to Tahquitz. Matt had just gotten his Learners Permit, so we figured he could learn best by driving to the crags.
Anyway, just outside of the tiny berg of San Jacinto, we stop to pick up a hitch-hiker. He is thankful for the offered ride all the way to Mt. Center. After he settles in, the conversation goes from this to that and it eventually comes out that Matt is a driver in training. The hitch-hiker seems a little concerned, especially considering Matt's rapid pace on the two lane highway.
After we turn onto Highway 74, Matt asks Steve and I if he should go for the Trees. There is a bit of discussion, but the concensus seems to be "Why not." Steve and I then begin to give Matt some advise about strategies, etc. The Hitch-hiker tries to be casual, but is clearly un-nerved. "What are the Trees?" he asks.
As we are about to explain, we arrive at the "point of departure." Matt veers abruptly into the left side of the highway, which is now divided by a row of large trees for about the next 1/3 of a mile. The Hitch-hiker is pasty white and shouts out "Are you guys crazy!" More of a statement than question.
After "safely" rejoining the right side of the road on the other side of the Trees, the Hitch-hiker is strangely silent. For the next 12 or so miles, he utters not a word. All his focus appears to be concentrated on clutching the armrest, trying to brace himself as Matt develops his driving skills on the winding mountain road. At Mountain Center, he virtually leaps from the car before we come to a standstill. He mutters something which might have been "Thanks," but perhaps not.
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Ksolem
Trad climber
LA, Ca
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Feb 14, 2006 - 03:28pm PT
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I recall one time driving down 74 with a certain stonemaster who was fond of blind passing. Actually he claimed it was not blind, since for an instant one could see a big piece of the road ahead (as if from an overlook) before entering the next turn. Well, he forgot to account for the possibility of a car entering the road from a turn out and coming our way. Ho man! That was a close one.
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Ca
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Feb 14, 2006 - 03:47pm PT
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We probably should NOT start discussing the skateboard rides into town in the evening. People actually got hurt doing that.
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Spencer Lennard
Trad climber
Williams, Oregon
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Feb 14, 2006 - 03:49pm PT
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Dang Rob,
Flower of High Rank is a mega-classic. Which one of you macho freaks did the FA of the infamous Wet Dreams off the top of the Flower? I clearly remember going anerobic on my first lead of that slippery, downpointing off-width slot. Wet Dreams is quite reminiscent of Orangutan Arch at the Cookie cliff in the Valley. Both make ya feel like vomiting.
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Scared Silly
Trad climber
UT
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Feb 14, 2006 - 05:09pm PT
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So not a Stonemaster Story but Randy's mad driving stories to Tahlquitz drug out some memories. In '85 I was living in LA and would drive up on Friday night to Humber Park and make the return drive on Sunday afternoon. After about my third trip I grew tried of the slow line of cars going down the hill towrads Hemet. There was one place along the road where I could look down into the canyon and see all of the up hill traffic. So I started timing cars and figured out approximately how long I could I blindly pass cars until I had to bail back into my own lane before having a head on. I got pretty good at it and could usually pass a fair number of cars. I think once I managed to go a full mile on the wrong side passing everyone. The last time I was up there was too much traffic coming up on a Sunday to even think about trying it.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Feb 14, 2006 - 05:18pm PT
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Anybody else ever feel that the name of that park is kind of creepy?
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Wonder
climber
WA
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Feb 14, 2006 - 06:30pm PT
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I remember the skateboarding down from Humber Park as being quite steep. One time i missed a turn and flew many feet into the trees just missing two trees on the left and right. Sometimes we would skate from Idyllwild all the way down to Hemet. Well almost: to the flats at the bottom of the hill where we would turn around and hich-hike back up. This was a pretty long down hill, like 17 miles. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
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rmuir
Social climber
Claremont, CA
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Feb 14, 2006 - 08:00pm PT
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Why not discuss skateboarding, even if people did get hurt? (So... Let's not discuss climbing, then, either.) Isn't there an old Fish bumper-sticker: "It's only funny until someone gets hurt; then it's fscking hilarious!"?
Ah, yes. The old Gordon&Smith laminate board. Many evenings, and many people into town. What is that, like four miles? Great fun. Many turns.
I used to LOVE "Wet Dreams"! It always was the most excellent last pitch to Flower of High Rank! Graham and I did Flower back in 1972. According to the book, though, Wet Dreams was done several years later by Sorenson and Bachar. I'm pretty sure that Bachar led it first.
Back in the Day... Graham and I did go back and repeat Flower several times in rapid succession, to do three different variations of the upper section. One, straight up. Another, up and right, which I now gather is the usual finish (and still the best). And, thirdly, up and left to eventually join Etude. One of these alternatives is the Chrysanthemum variation that Gramich alluded to, above. (And, for the record, I wasn't "studding Asian" [sic] back then. Oh dear. I was majoring in Asian Studies, and was reading a text about Kabuki at the time. 'Twas said that actors of exceptional talent were said to possess a "flower of high rank". Seemed appropriate...)
I think it was Clark Jacobs that turned me on to Wet Dreams... A great lead for the thinner folk, since you can slot yourself for a great, hands-free shakeout in a most improbable location. And an excellent place to take the unwitting along. Judicious nut placements can make for some OUTSTANDING potential swings, should the second pop out! Simulated leader falls.
Isomata. USC Summer Camp. The best Idyllwild swimming hole on those hot weekends when up-rock wasn't happening... I used to arrange my class schedule to include three-day weekends for more time at the crags. But, some Mondays--when everyone else was downhill--lazing was THE THING down in Strawberry Creek. Remember?
Once, one of the locals told me about this dirt road that you could take down from Isomata that would eventually lead all the way down to join the road in the valley. Now, back then I was driving a vintage '64 VW bus (with a sunroof and a whopping 45 HP engine). Perfect for an adventure like that!
So, one lazy Monday, I start soloing down this unknown dirt road in the Magic Bus. Down, down, down. The road is getting steeper, and windy beyond belief. The dirt is loose, and there's a section I'm SURE the Bus will never get back up. The farther I go, the more committed I get. So after 15 miles of total downhill on this horrific Forest Service (or BLM?) road, I finally get to the bottom. Fifty yards from joining the main road, I'm at a stinking locked gate! (Which is clearly marked, "No Trespassing. Hippies will be shaved, then shot.") No recourse; no return up that too steep road! And the sun in setting...
Fortunately, the Bus is loaded with gear. Including several Chouinard piton hammers. (Remember those?) Ten minutes beating on the MASSIVE padlock, and I'm a free man again.
(Oh, BTW, it'll probably make your systems admin VERY suspicious if you start googling for "wet dreams suicide". Talk about some weirdly off-base hits!)
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rmuir
Social climber
Claremont, CA
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Feb 14, 2006 - 08:20pm PT
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Starting bid, $19. Currently at $22.50. Damn. I've got four or five of those, some with the handle cut off, and the end ground down for cleaning nuts.
Hey, Ricky. Remember the AAC (or was it an Access Fund) auction, where 4" aluminum bongs were being sold for MUCHO bucks? You said we could sell our big wall racks and retire to the Bahamas.
I've got several machine nuts collected from the Clogwyn railway in Snowden. The original nuts. File down the threads and Bob's yer uncle. Starting bids? Hmmm??
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Gramicci
Social climber
Ventura
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Feb 14, 2006 - 08:30pm PT
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Robs you stud! Sorry I caught my spelling afterwards on that.
I’ll take one of those nuts from Clogy! 5 dalla
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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Feb 14, 2006 - 10:46pm PT
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Rob, did you live in Malibu at one time? I remember going to Malibu in someones bus with Tobin. Don't remember why though.
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Spencer Lennard
Trad climber
Williams, Oregon
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Feb 14, 2006 - 11:10pm PT
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Rob,
I'm sure you, Mike, John and Ricky remember the big fallen tree on the way up to Suicide.
On the Sunday after our fateful White Maidenrescue we all hiked up the trail to the crags. About halfway up Tobin took a sidetrack to a huge fallen Ponderosa Pine and proceeded to walk out its' trunk. Always searching for adrenalyn whenever available, he found himself 75 or so feet off the ground while tightroping on the puny tree top. The tree bounced this way and that as Tobin dodged the grim reaper yet again, just for the fun of it
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Feb 15, 2006 - 01:43am PT
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This is not a Stonemaster's story, but a story from that same era. My buddy Mike R. and I drove out to Tahquitz from Claremont to climb (we would have not gone to Suicide because of its "hardman" rep). The car was an early 60's vintage Impala, which got 11 mpg, highway. We were 16 or 17 at the time, and the car was fueled off of $0.25/gal gasoline, bought during the frequent "gas wars" that competing stations would have... in SoCal at the time there would be intersections on which all four corners had gas stations.
Anyway, we got there, and climbed something, can't remember what, but nothing hard I'm sure. It was still the era of pitons.
On our return we coasted from the parking area at Tahquitz down the hill, in neutral with the engine off... to conserve fuel. THAT was a wild ride.
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Wonder
climber
WA
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Feb 15, 2006 - 01:56am PT
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Yes Ed more than once that was done. In the winters the road would get snow & ice & packed and we would get out the flexey flyer sleds @ nite and just bomb all the way.
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Ca
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Feb 15, 2006 - 11:50am PT
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We used to also try to coast from the JT entrance down into town. If you had the right car and were doing about 90 you could just survive the first few turns and if you didn't scrub too much speed off you could just creep over the hill at the bottom and into town. I am pretty sure I scared poor Charles to death one night doing that.
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