Trip Report
old walls-Atlantic Ocean
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Monday February 9, 2009 6:39pm
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another blast from the past! me and johnny barbella on the big stone...
deuce4
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About the Author
deuce4 is a climber from Hobart, Australia. |
Comments
pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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Bitch'n
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
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Wow! cool stuff, John. That roof sequence was wild.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Wow, best quality photos of all so far! Did you use a different camera?
(The climbing looked really cool, too).
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
sawatch choss
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This may be the best one yet!
The new ground, the roof, the trundle, arriving at the belay to eye the next pitch. Bag toss, the free gun in the Fires. I love it! Thanks Deuce.
(So how much of that thing is still up there?)
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yo
climber
Mudcat Spire
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Sickness.
(Too bad Skully missed this one. Right, Skully?)
Edit: What's the story on this Barbella cat? Seems like homeboy ticked every other sick route on EC.
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Bruce Perschbacher
climber
Carbonale,Ill. 62901.
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Superb photos of way cool stuff. Thanks again John for sharing with the rest of us.
Cheers,
Bruce.
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drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
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Exploring a sea of stone, rad.
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TKingsbury
Trad climber
MT
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Somehow missed this one too....really nice! Glad it resurfaced!
EDIT: now that I look at the photos again, and look at the timestamps on the posts, I'm confused on how I didn't see this earlier today...crazy how stuff slips by you...
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Trad climber
Will know soon
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Dude, totally GRATE stuff and totally serious Jazz ! Yo pics brought me BITD when my dudes were doing this. Grate memories. Blessings to yo ..... special !!! lrl
Edit: Some of those flakes looked a little unhinged....glad they didn't decide to "dance" when you were there. Peace.
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Mr_T
Trad climber
Northern California
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The Bag Toss is teh awesome! I have ALWAYS wanted to do that, but figured I'd kill someone on the ground...
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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PRICELESS!!!!
This is just awesome Deuce.
I have not seen Barbella in such a looong time. What a cool mellow guy he is.
He did a lot with Avery Tichner when he was alive. I remember when they got the hell stormed out of them on the Mushroom and managed to finish.
I wish I had some audio tape of Avery on one of his rants. He was one of a kind for sure!!
If you ever talk to Barbella, please say hi for me.
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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Feb 10, 2009 - 12:21am PT
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This ain't no goddamn winnie roast!
Love the pic where you're standin' on that #2 friend ...
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Feb 10, 2009 - 11:47am PT
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Definitely the best yet, probably because the photos are actually in order!
I like the cleaning photo with the three poinked-out heads on the rope.
Do you have any photos from the first three pitches that have since fallen off? I would really like to see what used to be there, and what you guys actually climbed to reach El Cap Tree. I walk over those first few pitches from time to time.
And what were you thinking climbing up there without helmets??? Sheesh.
P.S. concur with poster below - would love to hear the stories!
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Feb 10, 2009 - 11:50am PT
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John,
You need to get in here and participate in your threads a little more brother.
How about some stories? We need some meat to go with all this pudding, and then you can be counted amongst us Shameless Self Thread Bumpers!
PS. All should go read Reillys "Thread of Life" thread.
What a story!
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
Wyoming
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Feb 10, 2009 - 01:07pm PT
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Gee Survival, Deucie has posted a zillion photos in the last several weeks and you want MORE! (tongue in cheek).
Fun aside, Deucie, you should at least also post your account here about enduring the 100-year storm while on the back of Half Dome. Truly one of the strongest accounts ever of The Ultra-Hideous.
Been so loving your photos. Thanks tons for all that scanning too!!
best ph.
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deuce4
climber
Hobart, Australia
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Author's Reply
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Feb 10, 2009 - 03:29pm PT
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Bump disguised as a story, or story disguised as a bump? No matter.
Hmm, AO story. Yep, that was a wild fall Barbella took with those poinked heads. He was up, maybe 20-25 feet, knowing it was going bad. I think he was trying to outrun them. Then, whoosh, back to the belay, I pulled a yard of rope in and he stopped about 2" above the small ankle twisting ledge we had the belay on.
Now that I see all the photos, I wonder what Alpinist has done with my missing photo on the roof. Somewhere out in magazine land, I suppose. There's a shot in Alpinist 25 shows me wildly hanging--that was posed, as I just got my first good piece. Another thing I remember about the roof is that I had to nail at the base of a huge cantilevered block. I called it the Tombstone. I am gobsmacked that thing is still there. The only connection of the 10 foot long block was about a foot or so of its base, right where you had to nail, otherwise the thing was fully suspended.
Pete--the first pic--that's the only pic I have of the start-- where you can see one of us jugging a rope to our belay over the roof (if you look closely). There was one belay which was all knifeblades in a thin crack (we weren't hauling at that point, so it was ok for body weight), and the wall was popping and cracking and making sounds I've not eard before or since--ominous sounds.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Feb 11, 2009 - 07:10pm PT
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Wow. Your story bump worked Deuce!!!
I just missed it the first time around, or I would have posted then. Did you ever know Avery T.? I was trying to poke a comment out of you. I thought you knew him.
I'm tryin' to keep this wall up front John, it deserves it!
Bruce
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Feb 11, 2009 - 07:52pm PT
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I'm wondering how the poli-trolls can out post one of our own with sixty photos of a first ascent of El Cap on a climbers web-site.
I see why guys like R_ _ _ and S_ _ _ _ _ bail out.
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scuffy b
climber
heading slowly NNW
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Feb 11, 2009 - 08:00pm PT
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"Cleaning" photo with plinked heads...
I see there are 4 heads there, at least.
So, what's next? He just goes up again and hopes they
stick better on the 2nd try?
Thanks, John. Awesome set of shots.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Feb 11, 2009 - 08:06pm PT
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Barbella was mellow and stoic.
'Dude had massive lats too, just in case he wanted to free climb...
Nice rollout John.
I sort of like that there is not a single word to go with it along the way.
This way we just keep quiet, look & listen to the big space...
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T2
climber
Cardiff by the sea
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Feb 11, 2009 - 08:15pm PT
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Great pictures John, Thanks so much for taking the time to post them up. Rick Lovelace and i did an early ascent of the AO and climbed the original pitches that are now at the base. We to were not hauling through that section. I remember having a very uneasy feeling climbing through all that loose rock.
Funny side note: Rick and I had done the route and were trolling the base afterwards in a altered state of mind picking up trash and sh#t bags (this was back when it was acceptable to chuck your sh#t.) Anyway you may recall that there was a big wide horizonal see through crack, maybe some 20 feet off the deck and traversing like 40 or 50 feet. There was a guy aiding across this huge expanding looking crack big cams and all. We asked what he was doing and he explained how he was practicing some aid climbing. We were trippin out on his choice of rock to climb on. That crack now rest's under all that rubble.
This may be up on the Turn pike section
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Feb 11, 2009 - 08:31pm PT
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'Could do a whole thread on Lovelace right?
One of those guys that had a single-minded feeling about El Capitan.
He hit it pretty good too.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Feb 11, 2009 - 11:26pm PT
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Nice job T2.
Thanks for adding your pix and thoughts.
How many ascents has that thing had, and what is done for the bottom section now?
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deuce4
climber
Hobart, Australia
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Author's Reply
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Feb 12, 2009 - 01:35am PT
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wow, the thinly disguised bump worked. All the usual suspects posting up though, heh, heh...
SuperPundits Unite!
(I think I'll see 'bout posting sometin' on one of Survival's threads now...)
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
ne'er–do–well
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Feb 12, 2009 - 02:39am PT
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Oh !
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 12, 2009 - 02:49am PT
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There are some great shots here! Thanks, but it seems somebody 'shopped' (brightened the shadows, etc) them from the first time I looked at 'em. They look much better, or maybe I'm getting more blood to my eyes than normal...
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Russ Walling
Social climber
from Poofters Froth, Wyoming
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Feb 12, 2009 - 02:57am PT
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T2: That probably is the Turnpike section. This looks like the same pitch from our Iron Hawk outing, where it hits the Turnpike too. The topo calls it pitch 14, A3+ heading to rivets.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Feb 12, 2009 - 09:13am PT
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Did I miss something?
What do people do on the bottom section now?
Scary stuff reading about you guys climbing through that BITD.
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Delhi Dog
climber
Good Question...
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Feb 12, 2009 - 09:50am PT
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Whoa thanks for sending this one back up!
Fine shots.
"I sort of like that there is not a single word to go with it along the way.
This way we just keep quiet, look & listen to the big space..."
I'd have to agree.
It work.
Thanks for sharing!
Cheers,
DD
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Feb 12, 2009 - 04:15pm PT
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WHAT DO PEOPLE DO ON THE BOTTOM SECTION NOW?
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deuce4
climber
Hobart, Australia
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Author's Reply
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Feb 12, 2009 - 04:31pm PT
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I reckon you can just climb El Cap Tree...
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Camster (Rhymes with Hamster)
Social climber
CO
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Feb 12, 2009 - 04:53pm PT
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John, Remember running into Alex Lowe coming down off the AO in 1993? He'd been trying to guide it. Remember his client? "Yeah, he could do it, I couldn't." But Alex blamed hot weather or some such. What class.....
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Feb 12, 2009 - 05:05pm PT
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Thanks, John. AO is still on my Hit List. I think these days I would prefer a rope gun for the finish - that scared the livin' bejeepers outa me when I soloed Iron Hawk.
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deuce4
climber
Hobart, Australia
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Author's Reply
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Feb 12, 2009 - 05:18pm PT
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Cam, yep I remember that. What a guy that Alex.
Pete- yeah, but soloing that thin face is a lot different than having a partner down below... I've led that thin face twice, and it's most likely 5.10, 30 foot runout stuff, sort of like the 5.9 over on Middle.
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jiff
Ice climber
colorado
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Feb 12, 2009 - 05:22pm PT
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Wonderful pictures! thanks for sharing.
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T2
climber
Cardiff by the sea
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Feb 12, 2009 - 11:08pm PT
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Russ: Yea my pic is taken probably right where you are at in yours. The shadow in you pic is really cool
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Feb 12, 2009 - 11:16pm PT
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"but soloing that thin face is a lot different than having a partner down below"
No doubt! IH was my first solo, and I was using a Solo Aid. I didn't know how to pay out slack one-handed, so I just pulled out 30 feet and went for it. Holy Factor Two, Batman! [I have since switched to a Grigri]
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
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Feb 12, 2009 - 11:26pm PT
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Maybe Russ should post some more shots...I know he's got 'em!
Cool thread though. Aid climbing used to seem like cheating to me but some of the shots John and Mussy post obviously are likely to disprove that.
20 foot falls on the belay would make most free-climbers sh#t their pants...and then pray to God. Let alone 40, 60 foot falls!
I respect you weirdos.
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freerider
climber
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amazing to see these photos... thanks!!
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Myles Moser
climber
Lone Pine, Ca
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Oh baby... Bump!
God I love this Game!!
thank you Senor Middendorf
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Kalimon
Social climber
Ridgway, CO
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Thanks for the well documented "old school" radness!
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Finally got the tick on A.O. this spring with Neil. Great route, highly recommended.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Here we go - PtPP on the roof pitch
Photo by Neil Chelton.
Superb route! Now someone go back up there, and put the first three pitches back up.
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
On the road.
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I thought the AO Wall was a great route. One of my favorite outings on El Cap.
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thebravecowboy
climber
The Good Places
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Aug 26, 2018 - 09:00pm PT
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stellar meat sauce
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Radish
Trad climber
SeKi, California
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Aug 28, 2018 - 04:27pm PT
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I've known John Barbella for many years and he's the real deal! We both attended the Supertopo Launch Party way back in 2001 I think?? and afterward walked the streets of San Francisco with Steve Schneider and friends looking for a place to have a late night breakfast.. Cool to hang out with your hero's!! His daughter Alex just earlier this year climbed 'Ten Years After' on the Washington Column. One of Johns routes. She is defiantly following in his footsteps!
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deuce4
climber
Hobart, Australia
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Author's Reply
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Aug 28, 2018 - 06:55pm PT
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Fun to see this thread get bumped. Cheers!
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skywalker1
Trad climber
co
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Nov 13, 2018 - 05:25pm PT
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Bump!
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maus
Trad climber
Seattle
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Nov 24, 2018 - 12:27pm PT
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I knew Avary quite well. We met in college, and did many climbs together. I heard some of his stories about how he met JBarbella, and then climbed with him. I was really depressed when he died so young.
His rants were hilarious...no one today could tolerate them...unless you knew him.
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