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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Oct 24, 2006 - 11:57am PT
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Wow! I'm so bummed.
I only met him once and he was super nice! He didn't just talk to me, he talked to my wife and was truly interested in the climbs she was doing.
I didn't know him that much at all but I'm really saddened that he's gone. I'm sad for his wife and kids also.
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edkeller
Boulder climber
NY
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Oct 24, 2006 - 12:00pm PT
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I met Todd once in Hueco back in the 80s. As everyone on the forum has remembered, he was an incredibly supportive person- he spotted, gave beta on problems, and was all round enthusiastic. Climbing was my life and meeting someone like him, who then took time to talk/demonstrate/hang out- that afternoon made a big impression on me. His climbing and achievements were an inspiration, his personality even more so. He lived a full, intense life and he touched a lot of us, he leaves a legacy that is deep... His family and friends are grieving, his kids will miss him always, perhaps they can take some comfort in knowing what a fine person and inspiration he was to all of us. Thanks Todd and Farewell.
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asioux
Trad climber
pasadena,ca
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Oct 24, 2006 - 12:01pm PT
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Sending my condolences. Didn't know Todd personally. But aware of his climbing accomplishments and admire them to the full hilt. Like with many other great climbers. This is a sad day.
Armando
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Minerals
Social climber
The Deli
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Oct 24, 2006 - 12:17pm PT
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Very sad news. Condolences to all of his family and friends.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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Oct 24, 2006 - 12:17pm PT
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I never had the pleasure of meeting Todd, but after reading what you all have said about him, he must have been a great guy to be around. Every time I hear stories like this it brings a tear to my eye. As a fellow climber I'd like to say, "May God bless you and your family Todd...rest in peace brother".
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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Oct 24, 2006 - 12:22pm PT
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Oh man, I was so hoping this was a hoax...and that this thread would simply wither away the way it should have. But then I logged in this morning and saw it still at the top of the front page. Boy, I thought, even a bd joke about Todd's passing brings out the worst scrounge of ST...
I met Todd in Josh in the early 80's. We climbed together for a couple of weeks, on and off during the days when he didn't have clients. Between Sherman and Skinner, I was in stitches until my stomach could hold the beer no more. Mofat was in the campground just then, it was during his legendary tour of the US when he put all us US saps to shame. At that time, Todd was just a psyched cowboy from Wyoming, eager as ever to get out and crank off the rads. Although strong, he still had a long way to go before he would become one of the sign posts to our sport.
Then as it often happens when you partake in this pastime, I bumped into Todd here and there over the years. Once in Pakistan when he was en route to Cowboy Direct, his dream route on Nameless Tower. Then again at the base of El Cap. I stayed at his place in Hueco a few nights, my jaw to the floor as I watched him and a few other luminaries pull outrageous moves on his home-made woody. They'd screwed pieces of wood together to make holds that looked like they were out of a Dr. Seuss book.
Pink leopard-skin lycra aside, I can't think of anyone else in our sport who pushed the envelope as much as Todd--there's simply nobody in sight as controversial as Mr. Skinner. For this I thank him. Too often we snore too loudly. To be shaken into a viewpoint as a calculated action, we mustn't underestimate it's value.
While Todd was a pretty damn good climber, he was an even better story teller. I still remember a story from when I first met him, about a night out in the snow when all their team had was one ensolight pad. That night, it was so cold their single pad cracked and fell to pieces. As he told the story, the pain on Todd's face as he mimed their pad failing made us all feel the cold of the night snake down our backs.
I also remember sage advice from the tour that Skinner and Piana gave after their free ascent of the Salathe. There, Todd described what he learned on the wall:
"Sitting on those ledges for hours at a time, we finally figured out the three-pronged meaning of our sport. And it is this: To effortlessly crank your hardest projects, to have you fail miserably on ours, and to become the unabashed object of sexual desire to your girlfriends."
Following this with his wry smile, I knew Todd was only partly joking.
Todd, RIP buddy, I hope the flight home was a good one.
:- Kelly
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Bldrjac
Ice climber
Boulder
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Oct 24, 2006 - 12:24pm PT
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This is a huge loss...........I was hoping that this was a troll and not true. I feel tetrrible for Amy, their kids, Paul Piana.
Todd and I had a great friendship that went back a long time. One of my fondest memories was when he stayed with me in Boulder after he and Paul Piana climbed the Salathe free. Paul and I both worked at Neptune's and they were putting their show together to give at the store. My wife Pam and I had a pretty good selection of traditional and modern Mexican music and Paul and Todd would climb during the day and then play songs at night putting together the sound track for their first show. We always had a good time with those guys laughing and dancing to the songs they would choose, drinking beer and telling lots of stories. Their tag-team slide show of that climb still ranks right up there with the greatest (funniest) show I've ever seen. I could tell many more tales. On one of my visits to Wild Iris Todd handed me the first Gri-gri I'd ever seen and gently commanded me to belay him. When I asked him how it worked, he just smiled down at me and with his cowboy grin said, "That's OK, you'll figure it out just fine....." He was right. He'll be greatly missed. I can't think of another climber I've known who could be more encouraging, motivated and just damn friendly even towards those who didn't appreciate him.
My condolences to Amy, their kids and to his many friends. Todd was a good friend and a gentleman.
Jack Roberts
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Bldrjac
Ice climber
Boulder
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Oct 24, 2006 - 12:24pm PT
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This is a huge loss...........I was hoping that this was a troll and not true. I feel tetrrible for Amy, their kids, Paul Piana.
Todd and I had a great friendship that went back a long time. One of my fondest memories was when he stayed with me in Boulder after he and Paul Piana climbed the Salathe free. Paul and I both worked at Neptune's and they were putting their show together to give at the store. My wife Pam and I had a pretty good selection of traditional and modern Mexican music and Paul and Todd would climb during the day and then play songs at night putting together the sound track for their first show. We always had a good time with those guys laughing and dancing to the songs they would choose, drinking beer and telling lots of stories. Their tag-team slide show of that climb still ranks right up there with the greatest (funniest) show I've ever seen. I could tell many more tales. On one of my visits to Wild Iris Todd handed me the first Gri-gri I'd ever seen and gently commanded me to belay him. When I asked him how it worked, he just smiled down at me and with his cowboy grin said, "That's OK, you'll figure it out just fine....." He was right. He'll be greatly missed. I can't think of another climber I've known who could be more encouraging, motivated and just damn friendly even towards those who didn't appreciate him.
My condolences to Amy, their kids and to his many friends. Todd was a good friend and a gentleman.
Jack Roberts
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Oct 24, 2006 - 12:29pm PT
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This is very sad news. My condolences and sympathies to Todd's family and friends.
Roger Breedlove
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Oct 24, 2006 - 12:45pm PT
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My heartfelt condolences to family & friends, & most importantly his kids; I can imagine he must have been a wonderful father.
Back in the ’78-’80 time zone, when various tribes of our age group all convened in the Valley, I recall seeing a circle of Wyoming/Colorado contingents standing in a wide circle in the Lodge Lot; Skinner was one of them, in blue knickered up sweatpants and the most beaming enthusiasm imaginable. That was my first impression of Todd: an image of community & boundless energy.
Over the decades I’d run into him at his various high spots: Salathe Wall, Hueco, Vedauwoo, and Todd, though I am much like most of us, without a big name and no particular close friend of his per se, Todd would always greet with warmth and call me by name. Todd was a very personable character, a bright star, not an easy one to let go of to say the least and a person to be sorely missed.
Via Con Dios Bro.
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Standing Strong
Mountain climber
a dream we dreamed one afternoon long ago
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Oct 24, 2006 - 01:10pm PT
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the stories in this thread are a joy to read. i'm inspired even
more now, to read that he kept up his stoke and positivity always, even in the controversies; that shows he was made of solid gold. the poem "nothing gold can stay" comes to mind. hearing the stories of Todd Skinner, it sounds like he was too bright, too funny, too good for this world.
i know i said this but my heart goes out to you Mrs. Skinner, and to Mr. Skinner Sr. and all of your family and his friends, those days after you first find out are so dark and so hard; i'm sorry that he died, i'm so sorry for your loss.
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chossmonkey
climber
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Oct 24, 2006 - 01:15pm PT
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When I first started climbing Todd was quite an inspiration. I can't say I really new him, but I have met him and somehow that creates a personal link for me.
Having gone through my wife's near death experience earlier this year I have a pretty good idea, but still can't even BEGIN to fathom what his wife and kids are going through right now.
It just makes me get a sinking, sick feeling in my stomach to think about their loss.
My heart goes out to Amy, his kids, his Father, and the rest of his family.
Nate
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mbb
climber
the slick
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Oct 24, 2006 - 01:18pm PT
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Todd Skinner. The name to me conjures images of a wild energetic hilarious and talented man who was an icon from my era of climbing. Todd was everywhere doing it all. I met him in Smith Rocks, Hueco, American Fork, at the old sport climbing competitions, Yosemite, Lander, France, you name it. Whether it was sport, trad, competitions, first ascents, bouldering, or anything else, Todd excelled at every aspect of climbing. I am so sorry Amy and family for your loss, and I hope it is some condolence that even though he was taken way too soon, he died doing what he did best and what he loved. I know that is how any of us would want to go. I will always remember Todd with a big grin, and my heart goes out to his family and close friends.
Sincerely, mike beck
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Bob Palais
Trad climber
UT
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Oct 24, 2006 - 01:20pm PT
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I got an email this morning from John Ackerly, and this was some of my reply, with some editing and addenda:
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Hi John,
God I hate emails whose subject lines are a friend's name. :(
I first met him when he was the caretaker at the quonset hut at hueco before it was reoccupied, on my first trip with Chuck Wheeler in 1986 and told some hilarious stories at night - I was Just thinking of his describing his attempt to pronounce "Ou est Buoux?" where is Buoux? in french "Ou eh Beuuuuuuuuuu? To which the Frenchman replied, "Are you looking for Bukes?" (Which is surprisingly how it is pronounced...) Later, constant ethics debates over Scrabble at an apartment he and John Sherman rented - the hold that broke off the last great Mushroom boulder problem - glue it back? (Sherman launched it into the distance to try to prevent this...) And the mutual affection between Todd and the family that ran the quonset hut in later years, Pete and Queta Zavala, some great Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners there. Stayed at his A-frame house the last time I was there with Sam Tingey about 5 years ago, same scene, lots of hilarious stories, training, and motivation.
I had my first Tibet table at an AAC meeting in Las Vegas in 87, he was going to Everest, with his dad's Wyoming expedition to free-climb the 2nd step, and I said he should be aware of and help the Tibetans, because it was a situation like the American Indians (referring to cultural/literal genocide...) and he said, "But Bob, I'm a Cowboy!" with such a big grin I could only give a weak combination amused and horrified stare. It was the Cowboys on Everest expedition, and Todd ended up not going and did the Salathe instead, or else it was the accident at the end when the summit belay anchor boulder rolled and they were saved after a long fall and broken bones by one afterthought backup piece. (A previous post reminds me I was also lucky enough to be in Boulder to see that first show at Neptune's, where they credited Gary for his `sponsorship'. To get enough Poptarts and krazy glue for their flappers to finish.) From an email from a friend I was looking back at last night before I heard the news: "Also got lots of micro-info on the various Salathe free ascents. Jim (Herson) is a fan of Todd/Paul and points out various flaws in the Huber and
other ascents."
Well, then there was the connection with Galen, the Lotus Flower trip, with stuffed Grizzly Bear shenanigans photos making it into Galen's slide shows, and they always were grateful Galen was there for the off-width. Some free Grade VI in the Winds with Todd, Paul, Tim Toula, Galen - Mt. Hooker? And I think Galen did photos on Direct NW Face of Half Dome. Todd had become a highly regarded fun motivational speaker. I saw him and Paul and Amy and Heidi up at Wild Iris a few times in the last decade up in Lander, always warm, funny and hospitable. I'm sure some other episodes will come to mind as well. (I think the last time I may have seen them was waving/honking as we were both driving up I-80 toward Evanston a couple of years ago.) I first heard of him from a mutual friend Mark Sonnenfeld when Todd living in a teepee near Devil's Tower and they and Steve Hong and Beth Wald were putting in some classic routes there, and Todd was also getting to the Needles in S.D. Oh, and even before the Salathe, he shared some notoriety in the Valley with Alan Watts for working and doing the Stigma!
Well, what has already been posted says it all - Todd was a great human being who not only inspired a lot of us with his visionary ahead of his time ascents, but also actively helped many of us in our own efforts with his kindness, wisdom, hospitality, and humor. It is fortunate and inevitable that his spirit lives on.
Bob
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Michael Kennedy
Social climber
Carbondale, Colorado
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Oct 24, 2006 - 01:33pm PT
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Sad, sad news.
Todd was not only the most psyched but also one of the the most generous climbers I've known. When we were in the Needles of South Dakota many years ago he and Paul Piana showed us around, got us onto routes we'd really enjoy, and generally played the host. Hayden was 2 years old at the time, not yet climbing but very much digging the whole camping scene, scrambling around in the dirt, and bouldering on little slabs.
One afternoon, Todd and Paul came by and led the three of us on a magical mystery tour through the spires, ending up at one of their favorite secret spots, the Orc Cave. They'd come by earlier to set the whole thing up, so when we crawled inside the cave was festooned with bones and spider webs and arrowheads, and lit by candles. Hayden wasn't quite sure what to think of it, but Todd and Paul's enthusiasm and infectious energy won him over and he was soon fully into their fantastic stories about orcs and goblins and battles. How many of us would have done so much just to delight a friend's child?
Heartfelt sympathy to Amy, his kids, and his many friends around the world.
Michael, Julie, and Hayden Kennedy
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Michael Kennedy
Social climber
Carbondale, Colorado
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Oct 24, 2006 - 01:33pm PT
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Sad, sad news.
Todd was not only the most psyched but also one of the the most generous climbers I've known. When we were in the Needles of South Dakota many years ago he and Paul Piana showed us around, got us onto routes we'd really enjoy, and generally played the host. Hayden was 2 years old at the time, not yet climbing but very much digging the whole camping scene, scrambling around in the dirt, and bouldering on little slabs.
One afternoon, Todd and Paul came by and led the three of us on a magical mystery tour through the spires, ending up at one of their favorite secret spots, the Orc Cave. They'd come by earlier to set the whole thing up, so when we crawled inside the cave was festooned with bones and spider webs and arrowheads, and lit by candles. Hayden wasn't quite sure what to think of it, but Todd and Paul's enthusiasm and infectious energy won him over and he was soon fully into their fantastic stories about orcs and goblins and battles. How many of us would have done so much just to delight a friend's child?
Heartfelt sympathy to Amy, his kids, and his many friends around the world.
Michael, Julie, and Hayden Kennedy
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Jonny D
Social climber
Lost Angelez, Kalifornia
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Oct 24, 2006 - 01:35pm PT
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I cannot find the words to express how sad I am. I feel much richer to have met Todd. Rest in peace brother.
Jean De Lataillade
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Amelia Rudolph
Trad climber
Kensington
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Oct 24, 2006 - 01:52pm PT
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I am very sad to hear this. My condolences to Amy, the kids and other family. Todd was such a bright light for climbing and so contagious about it. I met him back in CityRock days and at his place in Hueco Tanks and always found him kind and inspired. Yes, this has been a hard year.
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pc
climber
East of Seattle
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Oct 24, 2006 - 02:01pm PT
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My deepest condolences to Todd's family and friends.
While I didn't know Todd, his passion and energy wound their way into my heart through the many stories and anecdotes about him that have become part of climbing lore. One story in particular inspired and tickled me to no end. I believe it was posted here by Clint Cummins a short time ago. His answer to the "grease" will always put a smile on my face.
http://www.climbingwashington.com/features/walkinthepark.htm
Sincerely,
Peter Claassen
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