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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Jul 11, 2017 - 11:01am PT
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"Thanks dirt claud for putting that whole gig together. Awesome memories."
Lynne, Thanks for the shout out, but I did not have anything to do with the 1st Woodson shindig a few years back. I believe Gary McKay and others may have done it. I would also be willing to help on another one as well with a celebration for BVB and would not mind getting something started.
Perhaps we can start a thread on it and see how the response is.
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kunlun_shan
Mountain climber
SF, CA
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Jul 11, 2017 - 12:21pm PT
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I really would like to have met you, BVB. Will certainly miss you.
Always enjoyed your posts to the Taco, your humour and outstanding writing. American Legend indeed!
My sincere condolences to your family and friends.
Thanks for posting that video, Tarbuster. Bob's coolness lives on!
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snyd
Sport climber
Lexington, KY
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Jul 11, 2017 - 01:22pm PT
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Bob was cool. I'll miss him. XXXOOO
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GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
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Jul 11, 2017 - 03:21pm PT
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This thread hurts.
As someone always feeling pulled to the mainstream, to conformity, constantly battling what I feel is right for me and what I feel compelled by outside forces that don't know me, I need people like Bob who say f*#k it, I'm doing me. It's a constant struggle and seeing someone just be themselves is refreshing in a way that lets me be OK with who I am. Bob was one of the very best at that.
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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looking sketchy there...
Social climber
Lassitude 33
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Jul 11, 2017 - 03:50pm PT
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Bob was one talented and funny guy. His wit was super sharp and he had a great way of seeing through all the BS to the heart of the matter.
He was one of the core San Diego group of hard crack climbers. Our paths often crossed at Josh or the Valley, or when he would give us the tour of the many desperates at Woodson.
At the first Josh Reunion, his Hanna and our Hannah (both red-heads of same age) bonded while the parents partied.
This news is very sad, particularly so for his children. Sending you love in the great beyond.
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Trad climber
Will know soon
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Jul 11, 2017 - 04:00pm PT
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GDavis, I resonate with your post.
dirt claude, you're right, it was Gary. I am the worst at avatar's.
I like your idea. We all need to appreciate "the community campfire" while we can.
If you kick off a thread I will help. As far as dates perhaps next spring? If we pick a school holiday I could kick out the family and we could use my home again. lynnie
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Trad climber
Will know soon
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Jul 11, 2017 - 04:04pm PT
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And obtw, GDavis, great idea for a tee shirt for the Woodson-BVB fest.
"F#@~k It, I'm doing me!
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dee ee
Mountain climber
Of THIS World (Planet Earth)
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Jul 11, 2017 - 04:14pm PT
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Bob was one of the first people I ever met from the San Diego climbing community. This was way before I moved down there and was welcomed into their posse.
Thank you sir.
You live on in our hearts and memories.
More recently, when we became Facebook "friends," he told me "if you ever post pictures of food I will unfriend you immediately!"
I took that to heart.
40+ years ago.
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Jul 11, 2017 - 04:23pm PT
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I've been thinking about him on and off all day. I only hung out with him for a couple of days in all, even though we are both from San Diego and both of us particularly enjoyed bouldering at Mt. Woodson. I know him mostly from here. Here, he made himself a character that we all loved -- Everybody Loves BVB.
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Off White
climber
Tenino, WA
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Jul 11, 2017 - 04:40pm PT
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In the fall of 1968 this gawky new kid arrived in Miss Schlappi's 5th grade class at Cadman Elementary in San Diego. He wore glasses, had a wacky grin, a manic manner, and wore a plastic eyeball on a string around his neck, swiftly earning the nickname Crazy. Mrs. VanBelle went ballistic the first time I called the house and asked to speak to Crazy, even though she knew exactly who I was asking for.
We were pals, same boy scout troop, part of the neighbor pack of kids that seethed in suburban San Diego, part of the last gasp of the boomer bulge. I think it was the happenstance of having the same Spanish class in 7th grade right before lunch, the common cause of coming from the same elementary school in the new larger Junior High, and the joint sprint to the cafeteria for lunch that finally bound us so tightly. We became constant companions.
I think Bob and I would both aver that we had an enormous influence on the shape of each other's lives. I started climbing in 1973 because of Bob, he might never have left San Diego if I hadn't quasi kidnapped him with the collusion of his mother Lillian, who long ago forgave me for the impertinent nickname. Without each other, our lives would not look anything like they have, and we would each have been the poorer for it.
As his closest and most stalwart friend I've been pretty intimately involved in the travails of his last decade, and in the broader sense of things I've been anticipating his death for several years. The array of challenges he's faced is complex and defies easy exposition, but he's come close to the edge on several occasions before he quietly slipped over it yesterday when no one was expecting it. I was surprised to find that my emotional preparation has done nothing to stem the flood of grief I feel. He was my friend and I will miss him until the end of my days.
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Trad climber
Will know soon
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Jul 11, 2017 - 04:45pm PT
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Off White....words fail me, but your words did not fail. A word picture few of us will ever forget.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Jul 11, 2017 - 05:22pm PT
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Can't forget the Draw bishes! He'd have our ass in a sling for not reprazentin!
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deepnet
Boulder climber
San Diego
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Jul 11, 2017 - 05:25pm PT
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...nice words offwhite.
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Jul 11, 2017 - 05:40pm PT
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I was surprised to find that my emotional preparation has done nothing to stem the flood of grief I feel.
I never got to know BVB, but he was obviously a person more of us should have known.
Offwhite's quote there hits me hard, I had the same experience last January when my stepdad passed. He had been declining for several years and I was emotionally prepared, except I wasn't. I get it now, albeit through sad events and a wise post.
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drF
Trad climber
usa
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Jul 11, 2017 - 05:57pm PT
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Loved his posts and personna
Definitely an American Fu***in Legend
RIP Bob
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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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Jul 11, 2017 - 06:23pm PT
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A major dude. Had some good conversations with Bob. A character with a capitol C!
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Jul 11, 2017 - 06:26pm PT
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"It's the tiny details and asides and gestures and facial expressions and humor and giddy reflective amusement that the storytellers bring to life and that make the story worth listening too."
-bvb
I think he was talkin' about you offW.
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Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Jul 11, 2017 - 06:38pm PT
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Off White, that's quite an elegy.
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Tom Patterson
Trad climber
Seattle
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Jul 11, 2017 - 06:43pm PT
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Off White - thanks for that beautiful recollection and tribute. He was quite a guy, and so much a fixture of the San Diego scene.
Don't you have a black and white of you guys sitting on the picnic table at Big Rock? Am I remembering that correctly?
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Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
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Jul 11, 2017 - 06:43pm PT
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Great writing OW, thanks for that. Love the reference to Miss Schlappi, she is still around, also quite the character, but the opposite of Bob.
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