Gumby Encounters with 'famous' Climbers
Melissa
into 'famous' or very accomplished climbers, and, having no clue who
we were talking to, proceded to jabber about whatever we were up to
much the same as we would any other similarly inexperience person
encountered at the crags. The parties in question have almost always
been at a minimum polite, but more often have offered a lot of great
advice and encouragement. However, there is always this lingering
sense of embarassment borne out of our initial ignorance of their
abilities. And, from embarassment flows humor...
My favorite of these stories actually happened to a friend of mine
recently. He'd just finished leading the the 4th pitch of Nutcracker.
This other guy had cruised up 2 or 3 pitches in the time that it took
him to do that one and ended up sharing a belay with him. Kind of
tweaked still, my friend looked to his belay-mate for a bit of
comiseration on the difficulty of the roof move. He says that this
guy tried to find something supportive and not insulting to say about
it, and eventually settled on..."Yeah, I thought it was kind of
grippy." The guy introduced himself as Chris from Santa Cruz, to
which my friend says "Hey, isn't Chris Sharma from Santa Cruz?" Well,
I'm sure y'all know what the answer was.
My second favorite story still doesn't involve me...but does involve
the same friend! (Poor guy.) He walked up to Tiffany Levine Campbell
in Nomad at Josh while she was reading a magazine, just thinking she
was a pretty climber girl, and teased, "Are you in there?" At which
point she showed him a couple of places where she could be found and
then pointed out her husband on the cover. What a ceramonious way to
get turned down!
For my own best story, the tables were turned. (The names have been
omited to protect the embarassed.) A friend of mine (whom originally
I met with a flourish of indignity by asking for directions to the
Prow while he was heading up to free a new line up the Column) brought
a certain climber back to the Bay Area to catch his plane back to
Germany following his anual stint in the Valley. He asked me to be
cruise director for a night on the town. Anyway, I'd be lying to say
that I wasn't a little nervous about entertaining this big-shot
climber guy when a night at the clubs is something that I have not
intentionally sought out in probably 2 or 3 years. So at the last
minute I call up a girlfriend who does this sort of thing on occasion
and asked her to come to my rescue. As I am giving her the relevant
info, my friend and the German big-shot arrive at my door. In a
moment of chaos, I wave them in, continue my conversation with my
girlfriend, and marvel at how very tiny the big-shot climber (who
looks huge in photos) is. His sense of self is quite large though,
and before I can get off the phone, he confidently strides across my
living room to go out on my balcony. The sliding glass door was open.
Unfortunately, he picked the wrong side to walk through, and he wound
up dazed on my living room floor.
It's funny how even the glossy pin-up climber boys can have moments
where they are the blundering klutz. And funnier yet that reputations
can so affect the way we interact with each other or feel about a
particular interaction.
Anyway, anyone else have any funny stories of their own?
Melissa
Dawn Alguard
>
> Anyway, anyone else have any funny stories of their own?
Not funny exactly. The worst belaying I ever saw was done by the
most famous climber I ever met. I won't name names, obviously.
Dawn
Bruce (HiJincs) Henderson
Lizard. It's been rated 5.11b with a pretty intense, overhanging crux, and
it is still my hardest redpoint. A year after I put it up, Katie Brown and
her mom rolled into town and someone suggested she jump on my route. Katie
flashed the route with absolute ease and while untying, asked my girlfriend,
"Where was the crux?" Then, her mom jumped on it and flashed it also.
sigh . . .
Bruce (knocked down a notch or two) Henderson
"Melissa" <iamthew...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:f6c038f0.02071...@posting.google.com...
> Several times over the past year freinds of mine or I have had run
> into 'famous' or very accomplished climbers, and, having no clue who
> we were talking to, proceded to jabber about whatever we were up to
> much the same as we would any other similarly inexperience person
> encountered at the crags. The parties in question have almost always
> been at a minimum polite, but more often have offered a lot of great
> advice and encouragement. However, there is always this lingering
> sense of embarassment borne out of our initial ignorance of their
> abilities. And, from embarassment flows humor...
>
Snip
Melissa
Well, if not names, how 'bout details?
Melissa
Dawn Alguard
>
> Dawn Alguard <da...@tradgirl.com> wrote:
> >Not funny exactly. The worst belaying I ever saw was done by the
> >most famous climber I ever met. I won't name names, obviously.
>
> Well, if not names, how 'bout details?
The belayer was having trouble pulling rope through his belay
device fast enough to keep up with the climber (slingshot belay
type situation), so he started pulling down on the rope with both
hands above the device, such that all the rope was pooling
between his hands and the belay device. Of course, it was just a
slingshot TR. Maybe he could have held on with his bare hands.
Dawn
Tom Stybr
> Anyway, anyone else have any funny stories of their own?
The first (and only, to date) free soloist I ever shared a route
(Bastille Crack) with is a rather famous speed climber. He asked to pass
and I asked him to wait until my partner was off belay. He was cool with
that and was soon joined by his co-soloist. They chatted it up about
soloing Chasm View Wall and other such nonsense. I asked if either of
them was someone I should know. "Tim" confessed to being the subject of
a "beat off" picture in a recent mag.
A year later I saw a picture of "Tim" in conjunction with a Yosemite
speed climbing story and, though he wore a beard in the photos and was
clean shaven in Eldo the previous year, I recognized him immediately.
His nose is far to prominent to hide behind facial hair.....
I joined ropes with the co-inventor of the 2Cam for the descent off The
Yellow Spur. He showed an early prototype to my partner and I.
Tom Stybr
Mike Garrison
>
> Several times over the past year freinds of mine or I have had run
> into 'famous' or very accomplished climbers, and, having no clue who
> we were talking to, proceded to jabber about whatever we were up to
> much the same as we would any other similarly inexperience person
I attempted Rainier in Aug 2000. While we were in Camp Muir
I chatted with a pretty woman who was part of a large group
who all had matching gear. She said they were EMTs and
police officers from Indianapolis. They were acclimatizing
themselves and enjoying the scenery. They planned to make
their summit attempt the day after us.
The next day we moved on to Ingraham Flats. That night, when
we were going to summit, a lightning storm came in. We
called off our climb and descended the next day.
When we got down, we found out that Al Gore was climbing the
mountain that day (the day the group at Muir had said they
were going to climb).
"EMTs and police officers from Indianapolis" -- right....
-Mike
Lynne
they have some stories.
When I met Jimmie Dunn on the approach to Castleton, I said, "you look so
familiar. Have we met?" He said, "well I'm Jimmie." It didn't dawn on me
just who he was until I was finishing the first pitch of North Chimney and
he was already off Kor Ingalls and chatting up my partner on the ground. He
was too modest to enlighten me. I thought that was very cool.
"Melissa" <iamthew...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:f6c038f0.02071...@posting.google.com...
Tim Stich
Yeah, I experienced something like that as well. Seems the well known
are falible just like the rest of us, which isn't surprising.
I got killed by a famous climber once. Got shot, blown up, and then
taunted. It was humiliating and made me dizzy, too.
-Tim Stich
N42461
>Anyway, anyone else have any funny stories of their own?
Back in the early 80's, I was a doorman at a restaurant at Snowbird in LCC.
Been really climbing for maybe a year, and was deep in the book 'n history
phase.
In Utah at that time you needed a "club card" to get an adult beverage in a
restaurant. You took $5.00, wrote the customers name on the card, and let them
in.
A lady with about 5 kids comes in, and wants her husbands name on the
card....."Yvon Chouinard" she says.
"THE Yvon Chounard?" I ask.
"Well it's not a real common name" she said and smiled.
He arrived about 5 min later with Brasheers. Brasheers was on crutches , not
from a mountaineering accident, but from being hit on a cat track by a speeding
yahoo.
Turns out there were a whole flock of famous climbers there for a pre "7
Summits" meeting of some kind. Drooled shamelessly for a week I did.
I also used to clean Dick Bass's office at the Cliff Lodge. A genuinely nice
person.
nathan sweet
Frank Stock
> Anyway, anyone else have any funny stories of their own?
>
> Melissa
I got all drunk next to Ron Kauk and fell of my chair laughing and
landed on him while watching raccoons climb up the side and down into
the chimney at the Curry Village pizza place on the deck. He was cool
about it.
Same trip Alan and I were bouldering around camp 4, and Alan were
watching four people try a hard problem when we figured out one was
Chris Sharma. Alan was walking over to say God only knows what when
he kicked a tree root, causing him to swear profusly and hop wildly on
one foot before falling on the ground at Sharma's feet. Chris looked
down at him quizically and asked "are you all right?" To this day,
all Alan will admit is he had a conversation with Chris Sharma.
Cheers,
Frank
Gnarling
Hey, that's no fun! We want names, Melissa and Dawn! Mel, are you
talking about one of the Huber boys?? Ah, delicious.
My most intense encounter with a famous one was when Kurt Diemberger
was introduced to me (because I could help with German) and shook my
hand with his mamed one (K2-horrid 1986 disaster). A very odd
feeling. He was missing a lot of digits... I got to know him well
over a period of 3 days at the 1995 AAC meeting in Oakland and the
crowning episode was me, Al Steck and Kurt shopping in the downtown
Oakland Emporium. Diemberger was wildly digging in large bins along
side black ladies with acrylic nails, looking for a leisure suit for
his daughter. He'd be pulling one out, had me model it and then
turned to Steck to model various "designer" shirts for his son in law.
Steck hated it, of course, but suffered Kurt patiently.
Priceless, so to speak.
Inez
Mike Garrison
>
> Melissa wrote:
> >
> > Several times over the past year freinds of mine or I have had run
> > into 'famous' or very accomplished climbers, and, having no clue who
> > we were talking to, proceded to jabber about whatever we were up to
> > much the same as we would any other similarly inexperience person
>
> I attempted Rainier in Aug 2000. While we were in Camp Muir
Oops: Aug 1999.
-Mike
A. Cairns
Melissa wrote:
> Several times over the past year freinds of mine or I have had run
> into 'famous' or very accomplished climbers
Why the quotes? Back in the Gunks I remember seeing Jim McCarthy
coiling his rope after doing Matinee, something of a comeback climb
for him at the time, after his famous accident on the Stovelegs. His
status among the Gunks locals would be closer to 'god', or 'Hercules'
than to 'famous'. He also had that thing of being friendly or at least
polite to mortals and said hello to me when we happened to cross paths
in Steve Komito's boot shop a few years later.
Last weekend my partner happened to mention that in '69 when he was
climbing the Nose, the haul bag knocked off a football-sized rock in the
Gray Bands. Later they noticed that a rescue was taking place, below.
After the climb they lay low for a couple days until they were reassured
that the rock and the accident weren't connected. Yup, the accident was
Jim McCarthy.
As for 'funny' in the sense of embarrassing, the first time I got a ride
from
Chicago to Devil's Lake we picked up someone else on the way. I was
saying something about, "How much climbing can there be, in Wisconsin?"
when a voice from the back seat answered, "Oh, about 2,000 routes." It
took time for my humility to develop. Pete Cleveland may have
exaggerated,
but there was enough climbing to keep me busy on a weekend basis for 6
years.
Is Bill Zaumen 'famous'?
Andy Cairns
Melissa
>> Several times over the past year freinds of mine or I have had
>run
>> into 'famous' or very accomplished climbers
>
>Why the quotes?
I guess I use quotes because one need not look too far outside of the climbing
world before many of these 'famous' climbers become unknown, grungy vagabonds.
Even amongst climbers, name recognition seems to go farther than face recognition.
On one of the day at the Prow that I mentioned in my post I met 6 climbers
at different times ranging from somewhat well-known to 'famous' and didn't
recongize one of them or even guess that they were bad-ass. Heck, I had
no idea who either 'famous' climber was that you mentioned. I rarely recognize
the big mountaineers names.
It is interesting to me that there are the 'famous' people out there whose
accomplishments inspire us and maybe even fuel debates on this NG, yet somehow
we fail to recognize these same folks when meet them in person...sometimes
resulting in humorous foot-in-mouth issues.
Is Zaumon 'famous'? Around here, I'd say yes...well, infamous anyway. That
kind of illustrates my point. You are famous when everyone knows of you.
You are 'famous' when only those in your particular microcosm do.
Melissa
Tom Cikoski
>Anyway, anyone else have any funny stories of their own?
So it's January or February of 1964. A bunch of us had gone to Mouth of
Seneca to do some caving (I think our goal was Cass), but it turned
bitter cold. Someone suggests that we go intrude on the Pittsburgh
Social Climbers, one of whom rented a house nearby. It's late when
we get to the house, but the PSC folk are there. They tell us we're
welcome to use the porch, but they've got a visitor arriving
soon so nothing is free inside the house. I don't pay much attention.
Not long afterward, a big yellow International Travelall rolls up.
Out pops a stocky guy, his wife and a few kids, already in jammies,
who had been sleeping on a big mattress in the back. The stocky
guy had dashed out of his office in DC so fast that he had not
read his mail, so he proceeds to open and comment on it as we
watch. Jeez, I think, this guy is the champeen name dropper of
all time. It's "Vivian Fuchs" this and "Ed Hillary" that, and
on and on, and the PSC folk are drinking this stuff up like
mother's milk. I'm thinking that this guy is quite the stuffed
shirt, and the fact that he has the smallest feet I've ever
seen on a man his girth does not make a big impression.
There were circumstances at that time where I would have
taken on such a pompous display in order to deflate it, but
never as a guest in someone's place. That would have been
rude. So I kept mum.
Eventually we decide that if we're going to be outdoors anyway
we might as well go back to Princess Snowbird. On the way
I ask blithly "Who was that asshole, anyway."
"Oh, that was Barry Bishop."
One of the rare times I have kept my mouth shut when it mattered.
--
( )_( )
\. ./
_=.=_
"
V
:> Several times over the past year freinds of mine or I have had run
:> into 'famous' or very accomplished climbers
I've run into quite a few famous Australian climbers both here in
Australia and abroad. My most memorable encounter was with Brigitte Muir
(7-summitteer and author of "The Wind In My Hair" for those that haven't
heard of her). I met her at camp 1 on the Relinchos glacier. When I
next saw her I was in a terrible state, maybe 500m from the summit --
nauseous, frostbitten and dehydrated, about ready to give up. She gave
me a handful of Glucodin tablets before cruising on up to the summit
with her client. I made it to the summit, and I'm still grateful for
those extra calories of glucose! If I said anything stupid at the time
(quite likely) I can't remember because I was hypoxic.
V :-)
John Davis
many poms residing (and climbing) here in NZ. Two xmas's ago she went on an
extended trip back home to Manchester to see friends/family. Now of course
it's the middle of winter - but wanting to keep her climbing fitness up for
her return here (middle of our summer) she was frequenting one of the larger
gyms in Manchester quite a lot mid-week (since everyone else was back at
work and there was little else to do).
She got talking to the people in the gym, and mentioned she really
needed people to partner with, so they merrily suggested she talked to
'John', a guy she'd noticed was in there a lot during the week too
(obviously some good for nothing scumbag climber!). Anyway, they ended up
climbing together, and amongst her better questions were "You're quite a big
guy for a climber", "do you climb much outdoors" and our fave "how good are
you?" (too which he replied "the best in the UK I guess"). I'm sure John
Dunne probably found it quite amusing to not have someone going all
sycophantic over him (and she said he really is a nice guy).
My own incident involved another well known UK 'John' - who emailed me
saying he was coming over to a comp.sci conference in Dunedin, but would
have a weekend free in Christchurch and wondering if there was any chance of
meeting up and going climbing at Castle Hill Basin. Anyway, we spent the day
watching him onsight all the 26s (5.13+) up there, the best being see him
cruise the crux on 'Gas Krankinstation' only to get to the last bolt and
realise he was out of draws - so he calmly downclimbed the crux (deathly
crimps), pulled the last draw off, diassembled it one handed and went back
up thru the crux using single carabiners on the last 2 bolts. All day I'd
had this nagging feeling I'd seen his picture somewhere - a quick check of
some back issues of OTE revealed of course it was _the_ John Arran, at that
stage still on the British World Cup Climbing Team (and definitely the best
onsight climber I've ever had the pleasure to watch at work).
- John (un-famous and totally crap)
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|o John Davis phone:+64-3-3642461 mobile:+64-25-6223326 fax:+64-3-3642110 o|
|o j.d...@chem.canterbury.ac.nz o|
|o (Depart)mental Programmer,Chemistry Department o|
|o University of Canterbury,Christchurch, New Zealand o|
|o NZ Climbing Info - http://www.geocities.com/nzclimbing/ o|
forrest
break from school. a big group of us drove down, including my regular
partner's then-girlfriend. I will admit up front that "S" and I didn't get
along very well. Among other annoying attributes, she was in the
"self-righteous trad climber" phase, and missed no opportunity to slag sport
climbing, sport climbers, bolts, etc. (Sometimes amusing in a crusty
old-timer, this is kind of hard to take in someone who had been climbing for
maybe 2 years).
Anyway, we had a couple of days of rain and the sandstone routes were
considered too friable to climb until they dried out, so we got directions
from some locals to a limestone crag right on the outskirts of town, I think
it's called urban crag? This was a pretty new place then, and didn't have a
lot of routes, and given the conditions it was very crowded.
So S heads up a bolted route (that's all there is), grumbling all the way,
belayed by J. At the top, rather than lower off the bolts, she decided that
it would be very trad to lead up the chossy ledges above and descend by
scrambling down somewhere, so she brings J up to a hanging belay at the
chains with a rack and heads off. Meanwhile, we do several routes, trading
off on our section of wall with Alison Osius, famous climber (I think she
was at that time also associate editor at Climbing?). It was a cool vibe, we
commented on how it was a small world, since we had ended up climbing on
adjacent routes at Donner Summit the previous summer. Just like climbing
next to anyone else except for the matching set of quickdraws (still a bit
of a novelty) and the fact that she was warming up on routes that we were
hangdogging in the worst possible style.
Suddenly, showers of gravel begin to trickle down. We had all thought that S
was long done with her route through the loose 4th class above, but was in
fact just moving very slowly. Ms. Osius makes a few disparaging comments,
and to my horror I find myself in the position of defending S's conduct, sin
ce she's part of our group, the girlfriend of my partner who I'm at that
moment belaying. "I'm sure she's trying to be as careful as she can" I say,
meanwhile silently praying that nothing else comes down. But the rain of
pebbles gets worse, and when it's followed by a couple of actual rocks,
Alison has had enough and shouts up something polite but firm like "Hey,
please watch out for the rockfall."
A short silence, then S's voice, which echoes throughout the entire
quarry-like area "Then don't climb below us!" Obviously pissed off, Alison
yells back "There's people down here!" Another pause. Everyone in the
vicinity is listening. "Climbing is dangerous. Maybe you should get a
helmet." I was absolutely mortified. Everyone within range quickly packed up
and moved to safer ground, looking daggers at me and my friend. I felt like
shouting out "She's not my friend, I don't like her either!" but instead
emerges from the haze of my embarassment is "Hey S, just try to be careful
OK?"
Ms. Osius glares at me and their group moves on, probably to this
considering me just another careless rock dropper day (in the unlikely event
that she remembers the incident at all). Oh, the shame!
--
forrest
___________
forrest underscore m at hotmail dot com
Hal Murray
>coiling his rope after doing Matinee, something of a comeback climb
>for him at the time, after his famous accident on the Stovelegs. His
>status among the Gunks locals would be closer to 'god', or 'Hercules'
>than to 'famous'. He also had that thing of being friendly or at least
>polite to mortals and said hello to me when we happened to cross paths
>in Steve Komito's boot shop a few years later.
Back in the 60s, climbing hadn't been discovered and the place wasn't
crowded. Everybody at the Gunks was friendly. It was no big deal
to talk to anybody/everybody. It's not like people were lining up
so they could say they had talked to xxx or ask for an autograph.
The gods even talked to me, a total nobody.
--
The suespammers.org mail server is located in California. So are all my
other mailboxes. Please do not send unsolicited bulk e-mail or unsolicited
commercial e-mail to my suespammers.org address or any of my other addresses.
These are my opinions, not necessarily my employer's. I hate spam.
Karl Baba
was talking about a recent one-day ascent of Mt. Watkins and made it
sound super doable and the approach not-so-bad. I was just starting to
think about going for it when I asked what his times were on some other
routes so I could gauge the relativities involved in doabilities. Cedar
Wright then interjected that his times were usually "the records"
Later on Timmy ONeill managed to do Watkins again in a day along with
Half Dome and EL Cap! I couldn't hike up all those things in a day!
Peace
Karl
--
Guide Guy
http://member.newsguy.com/~climbing/
stinkwagen
news:3D35F029...@intergate.ca...
>
> Melissa wrote:
>
> > Several times over the past year freinds of mine or I have had run
> > into 'famous' or very accomplished climbers
>
> Why the quotes?
>
> Is Bill Zaumen 'famous'?
>
HAAW! LOL! i just figured this was a good opportunity to start another
Zaumen thread OK
Christian :?)
I couldn't hike TO those things in a day.
Cheers,
Christian :?)
Although I must say that hiking/rapping tenaya canyon from the meadows
to the valley was one of the most magestical days I have ever spent on
our public lands. Started out from a native american ceremony site and
ended with the crowds at the lake. Should be on the ASCA hit list for
replacing anchors though.
Mad Dog
>Anyway, anyone else have any funny stories of their own?
Not very funny, nor amusing, but I'll spout anyway:
My wife and I had just done 3 days in the Cathedral group of the Tetons and were
preparing to go back in the next day. Our friend Jim invited us to meet him and
his friends at Blacktail Butte for some evening cragging. When we got to the
parking lot below the crag, we didn't see Jim's truck, so Karen walked up the
trail to see if he'd ridden over with someone else while I threw our gear in a
pack. As I was packing up, a large motorhome with a satellite tranceiver on top
pulled up. A well-dressed woman, a guy with a pro video camera and a
well-tanned guy got out. The lady took the mic and began talking to the camera.
I was wondering if it was a news crew and some climber had died. For some
reason, the tanned fellow looked familiar and I was trying to remember if I'd
seen him on TV.
So the lady walks up and asks if she can ask a few questions. Sure, sez I. She
asked what kind of gear I used to climb. I showed her our Chouinard Bod
harnesses, biners, stoppers, hexes figure 8's, etc. Then she asked about my
clothes. I was wearing Patagonia baggies shorts (we'd just been swimming) and
Tevas. Then she asked about how we chose the gear we bought. I talked about
how baggies dry quickly, how comfy the Bod is, reputation for reliability, etc.,
etc. Then she asked if I'd answer the same questions in front of the camera. I
wanted to know why and she told me they were with Entertainment Tonight and were
doing an article about the growth of adventure sports (this was in the mid-'80s,
not long after Bridwell's client died in the Tetons). So I did the interview
over by the motor home and kept trying to get a good look at the tanned guy but
he was staying mostly out of view.
After they were done taping, he started to walk up. With a good view of his
face, it was easy to recognize Chouinard. He told me that he should hire me to
work in his marketing department and thanked me for the endorsements. He then
asked me where we were from and what we were planning to do. When I mentioned
that Northeast Snowfields was up next, he got serious and told me to move fast
and early to avoid rockfall. He was really polite, softspoken and positive. I
wish I'd taken him up on that marketing possibility, but at the time, I thought
he was teasing.
The lady then asked if they could film me climbing. Queasy feeling invades
stomach. I told them there were some strong climbers at the crag and how about
they film them? No, they wanted the common man from Podunkville, not some local
hot shot. So the filmed me falling off the Arch in grand fashion. The best
part was watching the lady in her heels and the camera man getting up the
scree-lubricated trail - this was before the deck project went in. Chouinard
was nice enough to compliment my climbing up to where I got spat out, saying how
greasy and polished Blacktail is. I don't watch much TV and I don't think I've
ever watched Entertainment Tonight, so I've never witnessed the tragedy of that
failure.
DSD
were rapping off a route in the Grimsel Pass is Switzerland. It had
gotten my undies in a big bunch with very runout friction climbing
(1-2 bolts per rope lengtt of sustained 5.10ish climbing). I'd just
taken what felt like 9 1/2 hours to lead the crux pitch, spending tons
of time fiddling in useless little rps and tcus. I was on the 1st
belay, organizing for the final rap, and Brooke was on the ground. I
looked down to see 2 people charging up the trail at high speed. The
leader barely pauses at the base of the route, stopping just long
enough to pull on a beat up pair of Ninjas, slap 2 draws and a
cordalette on his harness, and proceeds to SPRINT up the 1st (and
crux) pitch.
As he leaves the ground, Brooke politely mentions that it's kind of
thin climbing, there's VERY few bolts, and that some little pro might
be extremely useful. The leader smiles at her, and in a very
friendly, polite tone says "oh, thanks so much. I appreciate the
heads-up, but I think it'll be OK". He turns to his partner,(who's
still sorting out the rope) and says "you can just put me on belay
whenever" and heads up. Roughly 18.5 seconds later, he's at the belay.
As I rap buy him off to the right, he waves, but never breaks stride.
"He's climbing very well", I think to myself. Not just "very-talented
recreational-climber" well. This is clearly somebody special. I
still haven't gotten a clear look at his face, but the tall, lean
frame, the tossled black hair, the energy and enthusiasm positively
radiating out of him is beginning to stir recognition in me. As he
reaches the anchors and clips in, he yells "off belay" to his partner.
Just as I put it all together, his partner replies "you're off,
Alex!". Alex Lowe. Of course. He and a client had just landed in
Switzerland from the US for a couple of weeks of guided climbing, and
had driven directly from the airport to Grimsel because Alex
absolutley needed to get some climbing in.
Back on the ground later, Brooke, having realized who she'd just given
racking advice to, sheepishly apologizes. Alex smiles broadly, and in
his typical gracious and humble way, says "oh, don't worry about it!
I really appreciate it. That's what climbers do...we look out for
each other."
Epilogue-
Fast forward a few months. I'm at a party for the start of the
Adirondack Mountain Festivel. Alex is there, talking with a mutual
friend, Nick. As I wander over to say hello, I hear Nick asking Alex
about our chance meeting in Switzerland. Alex smiles broadly again,
and says "oh yeah...I remember. That was that scrawny American kid
and his girlfriend. Nice folks!".
That may be my only claim to climbing fame. I've been called
"scrawny" by one of the best climbers to ever tie in to a rope!
-D
Michael Golden
"How do you do, Mr. Amos," I politely said. "Please," he deferred,
"call me Famous."
Hah!
(I really did meet him, though...)
Is Hans Florine famous? In any case, he's pretty cool.
Karl Baba took my friend Monty and I climbing at Church Bowl one fine
day, and there was Hans Florine. Karl called him over, teased him
about his freshly-cut-short hair, and then introduced us to him. We
said howdy. Hans was going to free solo Bishop Terrace in approach
shoes, but it was too crowded for him. Monty and I were duly
impressed.
So I've met one famous person and two cool climbers -- Famous Amos,
Hans Florine, and Karl Baba.
-Michael Golden
Firstname dot Lastname at AMD dot com
Jason Liebgott
<snip>
> Is Hans Florine famous? In any case, he's pretty cool.
I'd say 'accomplished' describes climbers better than famous. Hans works at
Berkeley Ironworks on occasion - used to teach a core-strengthening class
that I would take every once and while. He also gave me and my partner our
belay-test at the gym a few years back...
I had been climbing three times a week for about 6 months and thought I was
ready for the gym's lead test. You know, I'd freaking lead trad stuff
outside already - the gym routes were easy, right? Hans brings us to a nice
looking 10b route and says okay, do your thing. I climb up the sligtly
overhung route and clip two bolts. Climb up a bit further and there is a
move I just can't do. Needless to say I'm getting pumped and decide to try
to make the next clip above my head. Pull up two big chunks of slack try to
make the clip, blow it and wheeeeeee! I'm hanging below my partner who was
yanked to the first bolt. I'm dangeling 4 feet off the ground and Hans
totally serious says, "way to go for it." He then showed us how to do the
move in his flip flops - campusing back down the moves.
After neither of us could do the route and with tail tucked under legs... he
passed us and told us not to kill ourselves.
so there's a nice gumby meets hardman story for ya...
j.
Tom Stybr
>
> He was cool with that and was soon joined by his co-soloist.
I think Mr. O'Neill's partner that day was Gary Ryan but I'm not sure.
Jeremy Pulcifer
news:ah6t75$qesm5$1...@ID-86199.news.dfncis.de...
> "Michael Golden" wrote ...
> <snip>
> > Is Hans Florine famous? In any case, he's pretty cool.
>
> I'd say 'accomplished' describes climbers better than famous. Hans works
at
> Berkeley Ironworks on occasion - used to teach a core-strengthening class
> that I would take every once and while. He also gave me and my partner our
> belay-test at the gym a few years back...
>
I actually think he does more than "work" at IW, but that's neither here nor
there.
I've climbed near and with Chris Sharma, Katie Brown, and a few others. Met
a bunch of other "famous" climbers as well, but never was over-awed or
"blown away" by any of them, just found that most were pretty laid-back and
friendly.
Until I moved to California. I immediately got in contact with Inez, who's
at least famous to me. She invited me to go gym climbing at lunchtime at
Ironworks. When I got there, I noticed that there was a group of older men,
plus a loud middle-aged looking guy climbing together, giving each other
grief and teasing on another. Inez strolls up and says, "Hi Allen. Meet my
friend Jeremy...".
Allen Steck, Dick Long, and Steve Roper (the loud middle-aged guy). I was
stammering like a first-time groupie.
My wife and I also went to Galen Rowell's gallery. In strolled Galen, who my
wife quickly cornered to ask about his experiences in Tibet.
- Sumo
DJ
been great learning experiences. I did run into one asshole, and I'm
not afraid to name names because the experience pissed me off so much
I tell everyone about it.
I was in Ecuador last year on Cotopaxi. While setting up in the
public hut, I notice an obviously well-heeled guided-group walking
into the shelter. The guide, hearing my friend and I talking to each
other in English, walks over to introduce himself. "Hi, I'm Phil
Erschler!" (sp?) I didn't recognize him but knew his name as a
well-known RMI guide and he once (maybe still does) held the record
for the most Rainier climbs, at over 300. He also had done extensive
guiding on Everest. He seemed like a fairly nice guy in the short
chat I had with him, a bit cocky, but I don't begrudge someone that.
The next morning, we are getting ready to make a summit run, as is
Erschler's guided group. We are down in the common area of the public
hut packing our gear. I've leaned my pack up against a table where
apparently Mr. Erschler has set up food items for his clients to take.
My pack wasn't in anyone's way, but apparently Phil didn't like it.
As he approaches the table to get something, he grabs my pack and
throws it into the far corner of the room. I'm watching this and I'm
incredulous. "Hey! That's my pack asshole!" I say. "This area is
for my clients, you guys need to take your crap somewhere else," he
replies. I had to resist the overwhelming urge to rap him upside the
head with my iceaxe. My climbing partner steps in front of me to calm
me down while I am having thoughts of becoming infamous for punching
this wanker in the head. It just torqued me that here we were in a
*public* shelter and this guy thinks he owns the place. Nothing more
came of the episode and we picked up our stuff and headed out.
Maybe Phil was having a bad day, maybe he wasn't feeling well. I
don't know, I don't care either. Neither is reason for behaving like
an ass.
Jason Liebgott
> Allen Steck, Dick Long, and Steve Roper (the loud middle-aged guy). I was
> stammering like a first-time groupie.
I met Allen and Steve at Berkeley Ironworks as well. Allen climbs really
smooth still; he's climbing 5.10 and making it look easy. I asked Steck
about a million questions... he was very cool. I was telling everybody I
knew "That's Allen Steck!" - returned by blank faces. "ALLEN STECK!" -
damned gym climbers. ;-)
j.
Melissa
spammon...@yahoo.com (Michael Golden) wrote:
>Is Hans Florine famous? In any case, he's pretty cool.
I'd say he's both. Hans is my landlord/coworker/friend/occasional ropegun,
so I don't have any exciting foot-in-mouth stories where he's concerned.
Here's a little one from a couple of weeks ago that was personally significant
to me that I'm not sure I've yet relayed to him though...
In the spring of 2001 on my first multipitch route ever and one of my first
leads ever (After 6 in Yosemite), he free-solod past me _twice_ in the course
of one pitch. I think we got the anti-speed record that day. It was exciting
at the time to know that we were in this super-historical climbing place
on the bumblie wall and still were sharing it top-notch climbers.
Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I took a friend on After 6 for his first multipitch
climb ever. It was the first time that I'd re-done the route since my first
turtlesque ascent of it, and I was enjoying a feeling of ease and confidence
and was recognizing the contrast to how I'd felt when I'd been there before.
Then, as I was moving along on the second pitch I hear, "Hey, Melissa!"
Hans had just scooted up After 7 and was going to finish jogging up After
6 for a little morning excersize before meeting some friends who were doing
the Nose that morning.
I guess I'm now quite aware of the straightforwardness of this route for
someone of his abilities, so I wasn't impressed exactly that he was out for
a morning free-solo on it. It was however meaningful for me to reexperience
a bit of my own personal climbing history by seeing him dash by me just as
he had the first time I was on the route. It was also a humbling reminder
that although I've come quite a ways in the past year with my own climbing,
my own accomplishments are very, very tiny on the scale of what is possible.
Melissa
dak_wak
I'm semi-comatose at the belay as I wait for my partner to figure out
whether to go right, left, up, down, or just stand there in the vicinity of
the second bolt. I turn around when I hear voices nearby. Glancing up
behind me I see this enormous forearm. It is shaking and gesticulating.
I'm thinking,"an arm like that must belong to someone who's done a lot of
old school climbing". I can't quite make out the words, but the arm's owner
seems to be regaling someone about this and that line. I stand up and we
make our greetings. I say my name's Dave, and he says,"I'm TM". Turned out
it was TM Herbert. We kept running into him for the rest of that time we
were at JTree. Even stranger, I kept running into him all that season. At
Tuolumne, in The Valley, everywhere...he was like "where's Waldo?". Really
nice guy.
Ran into Bob Kamps on a trip to the Needles once. He was climbing with Herb
Laeger. It was kind of cool, we ate together at the Ponderosa...their wives
Eve and Beverly were along. He was a crack-up and very laid-back. Gave me
his business card which read Bob Kamps, Entrecrappeur. I guess he dealt in
a lot of second-hand (crap) goods. That guy was cranking mid-elevens at
Dome Rock post-retirement. That was a standard-setter for me.
And to end with another story...I was at the Pinnacles one Satruday morning
when the two guides and their little sherpa came by to set-up what I assumed
would be one of the few classics on the Discovery Wall as a TR session for
their beginner students. I was ready to get all chapped about them hogging
a route. Then they began to set-up something I've never seen anyone do.
They were very careful not to get in anyone's way, or otherwise cause the
type of problems that situation can result in. After I topped out on a
nearby line I chatted with the sherpa about their anchors. I found out his
name was Chris. I had never been around such a pleasant group of guides
before (sorry to say). I ran into him again at the end of the day and
complemented him on the way the whole crew conducted themselves. I was
about half-way home when it hit me. He said he was Chris from Santa Cruz.
Doh! It was Sharma! I felt like an idiot (which I'm not, I just play one
on usenet sometimes).
On the regretful side...my partner and I had a kind-of fantasy that we would
drive to Bishop, look up Smoke Blanchard, and try to get him to take us on
one of his bouldering circuits in the Buttermilks. Too late for that.
Dave
Guillaume Dargaud
In 2000 on Cho Oyu there was the usual 40 something expeditions. Among them,
the only climber worth of my admiration was also our nearest tent neighbor,
come with his (very strong) wife to snowboard the mountain. Names witheld,
but let's just say that he climbs grade XI mixed, and he's also a much nicer
(and humble) guy than all the critics say... Well, all this to say that my
wife was thrilled of having gone higher on the mountain than him ! Altitude
sickness to blame here. Or maybe the lack of grade XI mixed ?!?
Second story was a long time ago, in a mountain range far away. On my third
mountain climb ever I took up the Gabarrou-Albinoni couloir, up the Mt Blanc
du Tacul. A guide and a client showed up as we were starting the 1st pitch
and the guide starts right on the heels of my partner. I chat with the
client and he's all proud of climbing the route with Gabarrou himself. I'm
impressed too (this guide is very famous around Chamonix but doesn't seem to
have much of a PR department otherwise).
When I get to the belay, my friend is chatting with the guide and calling
him by his first name, Patrick, so I assume he knows who he is. And my
friend is a very competitive and fast climber and there's no way he'll let
them pass in this narrow (and often vertical) couloir without a good fight.
So we just raced, leader next to guide, client next to second (me) the
entire route, taking only seconds at belays, not even taking time to comment
on the two avalanches that hit us hard.
On the way down from the summit, next to the hut, the guide said he had to
go back to the base to recover their skis and left the client with us on the
glacier. My friend offered him the use of our snowshoes but he declined
saying that he would ski down from there.
Later that night we got a 'thank you note' through another guide coming the
opposite direction. It was signed 'Patrick Gabarrou' and I only gave it a
cursory glance, but my friend turned green and had to sit down: "You mean I
raced the entire route with the man himself !?! I should really have placed
more pro !"
--
Guillaume Dargaud
Colorado State University - Dept of Atmospheric Science
http://www.gdargaud.net/
"Suicide is the most sincere form of self-criticism."
A. Cairns
Melissa wrote:
> I had no idea who either 'famous' climber was that you mentioned.
Good.
When I'm asked if I have a 'favorite book':
http://www.fishlakia.com/john1.htm
Andy Cairns
Brutus of Wyde
> The belayer was having trouble pulling rope through his belay
> device fast enough to keep up with the climber (slingshot belay
> type situation), so he started pulling down on the rope with both
> hands above the device, such that all the rope was pooling
> between his hands and the belay device. Of course, it was just a
> slingshot TR. Maybe he could have held on with his bare hands.
I once stopped a partner on a 30-foot fall on an old 1/4" bolt
(Wall of the Worlds, first face pitch, Calaveras Dome)
using the same technique. Would have been a 45 footer
except for the 15 feet I reeled in during the fall.
No I don't think this is a safe technique, I do not
recommend nor advocate it, I'm NOT going to say what the force
was that I held, whether it was 50 lbs or 100 lbs or
some vastly different number (so Ken and Bill please stay
away from this!) but my two hands locked tightly on the
rope did not slip.
Brutus
Brian
first pitch belay. I was on Arrow. I thought he mentioned something
about crossing over in front of me. Thinking he may not be familar
with the route I told him he was on Limelight. It was Dick Williams.
(My partner told me.) I was talking with him while climbing the next
pitch. A nice guy.
Brian
iamthew...@hotmail.com (Melissa) wrote in message news:<f6c038f0.02071...@posting.google.com>...
> Several times over the past year freinds of mine or I have had run
> into 'famous' or very accomplished climbers, and, having no clue who
> we were talking to, proceded to jabber about whatever we were up to
> much the same as we would any other similarly inexperience person
> encountered at the crags. The parties in question have almost always
> been at a minimum polite, but more often have offered a lot of great
> advice and encouragement. However, there is always this lingering
> sense of embarassment borne out of our initial ignorance of their
> abilities. And, from embarassment flows humor...
>
> My favorite of these stories actually happened to a friend of mine
> recently. He'd just finished leading the the 4th pitch of Nutcracker.
> This other guy had cruised up 2 or 3 pitches in the time that it took
> him to do that one and ended up sharing a belay with him. Kind of
> tweaked still, my friend looked to his belay-mate for a bit of
> comiseration on the difficulty of the roof move. He says that this
> guy tried to find something supportive and not insulting to say about
> it, and eventually settled on..."Yeah, I thought it was kind of
> grippy." The guy introduced himself as Chris from Santa Cruz, to
> which my friend says "Hey, isn't Chris Sharma from Santa Cruz?" Well,
> I'm sure y'all know what the answer was.
>
> My second favorite story still doesn't involve me...but does involve
> the same friend! (Poor guy.) He walked up to Tiffany Levine Campbell
> in Nomad at Josh while she was reading a magazine, just thinking she
> was a pretty climber girl, and teased, "Are you in there?" At which
> point she showed him a couple of places where she could be found and
> then pointed out her husband on the cover. What a ceramonious way to
> get turned down!
>
> For my own best story, the tables were turned. (The names have been
> omited to protect the embarassed.) A friend of mine (whom originally
> I met with a flourish of indignity by asking for directions to the
> Prow while he was heading up to free a new line up the Column) brought
> a certain climber back to the Bay Area to catch his plane back to
> Germany following his anual stint in the Valley. He asked me to be
> cruise director for a night on the town. Anyway, I'd be lying to say
> that I wasn't a little nervous about entertaining this big-shot
> climber guy when a night at the clubs is something that I have not
> intentionally sought out in probably 2 or 3 years. So at the last
> minute I call up a girlfriend who does this sort of thing on occasion
> and asked her to come to my rescue. As I am giving her the relevant
> info, my friend and the German big-shot arrive at my door. In a
> moment of chaos, I wave them in, continue my conversation with my
> girlfriend, and marvel at how very tiny the big-shot climber (who
> looks huge in photos) is. His sense of self is quite large though,
> and before I can get off the phone, he confidently strides across my
> living room to go out on my balcony. The sliding glass door was open.
> Unfortunately, he picked the wrong side to walk through, and he wound
> up dazed on my living room floor.
>
> It's funny how even the glossy pin-up climber boys can have moments
> where they are the blundering klutz. And funnier yet that reputations
> can so affect the way we interact with each other or feel about a
> particular interaction.
>
> Anyway, anyone else have any funny stories of their own?
>
> Melissa
Thor Lancelot Simon
Brutus of Wyde <bbin...@ebmud.com> wrote:
>
>I once stopped a partner on a 30-foot fall on an old 1/4" bolt
>(Wall of the Worlds, first face pitch, Calaveras Dome)
>using the same technique. Would have been a 45 footer
>except for the 15 feet I reeled in during the fall.
>
>No I don't think this is a safe technique, I do not
>recommend nor advocate it, I'm NOT going to say what the force
>was that I held, whether it was 50 lbs or 100 lbs or
>some vastly different number (so Ken and Bill please stay
>away from this!) but my two hands locked tightly on the
>rope did not slip.
What did you do *after* stopping your partner this way? With the
rope piled up in front of the belay device, and the climber's weight
on both your hands, what'd you do to get the guy down from where he
ended up?
--
Thor Lancelot Simon t...@rek.tjls.com
But as he knew no bad language, he had called him all the names of common
objects that he could think of, and had screamed: "You lamp! You towel! You
plate!" and so on. --Sigmund Freud
Mike Garrison
encounter in the mountains someday is Bruce Bindner....
-Mike
Melissa
Mike Garrison <mike.g...@boeing.com> wrote:
>I have decided the famous climber I would most like to
>encounter in the mountains someday is Bruce Bindner....
I had the good fortune of meeting him once at the gym. Looked nothing like
I would have imagined. Working at the Berkeley gym I ended up meeting scores
of rc'ers.
Dawn was once recongized by my partner in Joshua Tree on the basis of her
signature red hat.
When I heard a guy being called "Rex" on Washington column, I guessed that
the chances of it being Rex Peiper were pretty good. They were and it was.
Last November the guy at Nomad in Josh was turning me away for lack of proper
ID to use my credit card. I remembered Robert Fonda saying that we could
ask for him there, so I dropped his name. Just as the counter guy was picking
up the phone to call Robert, he walked through the door. We'd never met
in person, and if he didn't recognize my name, he at least played along nicely.
I recognized Karl Baba's 'voice' once at the base of El Cap before we had
ever met in person. That was strange, indeed. There was something in what
he was saying as they passed behind me that made me pretty sure that it would
be him...and it was!
Many rec.climbers are definately famous w/in our little sphere. I also find
that I end up recongizing them more easily than the magazine kids, even though
I've never seen even pictures of most of them.
Melissa
Greg
Brian wrote:
> While climbing at the Gunks in June a climber came up Limelight to the
> first pitch belay. I was on Arrow. I thought he mentioned something
> about crossing over in front of me. Thinking he may not be familar
> with the route I told him he was on Limelight. It was Dick Williams.
> (My partner told me.) I was talking with him while climbing the next
> pitch. A nice guy.
My third ever climbing outing was at the Gunks with my dad. After we had
done a couple of very easy climbs, Dick Williams comes along and invites
my dad to join the rope for Son of Easy O (5.8). My dad passed but
volunteered me. There I was, with perhaps ten pitches under my belt
(career total,) and I had the opportunity to climb with the man who
pioneered many of the local routes and wrote the guidebook the I had
moments before been reading. I jumped at the opportunity. The problem
was, I had never climbed anything harder than 5.4 or so. While Gunks 5.8
is probably a breeze for most of the readers of this group, it can be
pretty burly for a rank beginner with no style at all. However, in my
anxiousness to demonstrate my prowess to the local demi-god, I cranked
up the first pitch crack as fast as I could, paying no attention to foot
holds. I was quite pleased with myself until I realized that the crux
was on the second pitch and my pathetic weak arms were like jello.
Well, the move was somewhat overhanging (I think; it's been almost 20
years now) and I didn't have the juice left. However, I would not let go
because I was terrified to fall (never having done so before).
Eventually gravity won and I fell. It was no big deal; we were a team of
three and I was belayed from both sides! Being so pleased to be
completely undamaged I repeated the fall about 20 more times, in the
first (but certainly not last!) hideous thrutchfest of my career. After
some inordinately long time Dick gave me a strong "power belay" and I
made it through. I arrived at the top with my tail between my legs, a
young teen punk, cut down to size. Dick was a perfect gentlemen. I'm
sure that I doubled the amount of time that he and his partner would
have spent on the climb without me, but if he minded, he didn't show it.
Watching someone who, at the time, I thought was really old, climb with
smoothness, grace and power, while my young strong body thrutched and
thrashed demonstrated to me the importance of skill rather than brawn.
That climb also completely cured me of any fear I had about falling as a
second. Definitely a growth experience.
-Greg
Chris Jain
> cursory glance, but my friend turned green and had to sit down: "You mean I
> raced the entire route with the man himself !?! I should really have placed
> more pro !"
So who won the race!?
Chris
Back in '85 when I started climbing, I was stuggling up one of those 5.3 or
5.4 climbs just past the Uberfall (Gunks), when suddenly I was engulfed in
dirt and rocks from above. I hadn't noticed anyone above me so I dusted
myself off and continued on. Then again! More dirt and rocks. This time
bombardment kept coming, and a had to make a move or two to get out of the
way. Below me, my partner was getting nailed too and he thought I was being
careless on a ledge. Then a guy appears above me and starts climbing down
the crack that I'm standing in. And he keeps coming like I'm not there. So I
step out of the way and let him past, too astonished to say anything. I
figured he was French. He goes right on by without a word and disappears
below. When my partnet got up to the belay he told me it was John Stannard,
the guy who freed Foops. I'm not sure if it was, so John, if you're reading
this and it wasn't you I'm sorry for slandering your good name.
Also, I used to see Lynn Hill there all the time guiding clients in the
Trapps.
CJ
Steven Cherry
hang out here a lot.
We're down at Sandrock one day, and he's talking me into leading
Walking the Dog, telling me that it's in the 5.7+/easy-8 range
(it's 5.9, though only Sandrock 5.9, and my hardest lead ever at
that time was Gunks 5.7. But that's another story.)
He says "I just saw some girl climb something around the corner and
it looked nice, and not too hard, so I'm going to jump on it."
So he goes off to lead his thing and I lead mine. Back on the ground,
he says, "Well, it turned out to be pretty damn hard, and the girl
turned out to be Shelley Presson."
-steven-
--
<ste...@panix.com>
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
I have GOT to get out soon and get on some rock. There's only so
much fishing, couch potato-ing, and dark beer guzzling that a man
can take. I've yet to find out how much that is, but I'm getting
close to capacity. -- Tradman, waiting out some bad-weather
weekends, rec.climbing, June 1997
Julie
> While climbing at the Gunks in June a climber came up Limelight to the
> first pitch belay. I was on Arrow. I thought he mentioned something
> about crossing over in front of me. Thinking he may not be familar
> with the route I told him he was on Limelight. It was Dick Williams.
> (My partner told me.) I was talking with him while climbing the next
> pitch. A nice guy.
I spent some time one day with Mr. Williams, and though I won't repeat
the story/circumstance (personal), I will confirm that he is a
consummate gentleman.
JSH
Guillaume Dargaud
mean I
> > raced the entire route with the man himself !?! I should really have
placed
> > more pro !"
>
> So who won the race!?
shorter. We topped out at about the same time and walked down the tacul
together.
I've met a few guides and he's certainly one of the nicest. And best.
--
Guillaume Dargaud
Colorado State University - Dept of Atmospheric Science
http://www.gdargaud.net/
"One method of getting loved ones to look more fondly on your climbing is
to tell them that since you've started climbing you hardly do drugs
anymore." - David Harris.
kellie mcbee
>
> Melissa
I once sat on Miles Smart's lap when my partner and I drove him to the
Exum offices from the trailhead for the Grand Teton in my overstuffed
car after he locked his keys in his car.
What was cooler was climbing at Eight-Mile Rock in Leavenworth a few
weeks ago next to Stimson Bullit (local Cascades legend---I think he's
83 now; he started climbing at age 50 and has done some pretty badass
stuff). He was teaching a woman who looked about 30 years younger
than him to climb cracks. He was all scabbed up, too---he's clearly
still out there 1) climbing hard or 2) getting into bar fights. Or
both. I wanna be like that someday.
Kellie
Steven Cherry
Richard Goldstone
may never have knocked a loose rock off in his life. Your partner was
almost certainly wrong.
There is an old Jewish proverb about slander. A man slanders a rabbi
and comes to regret it. He goes to the rabbi and apologises and says
that he would like to do something to make amends. The rabbi tells
him to take a down pillow up to the highest hill outside of town, rip
it open, scatter the feathers to the winds, and then return. The
slanderer is surprised by this task, which seems both pointless and
easy, but nonetheless complies. When he returns, the rabbi says, "now
retrieve all the feathers and replace them in the pillow, for this
task is easier than undoing the harm that slander spreads."
Shame on you.
Alex Chiang
> Anyway, anyone else have any funny stories of their own?
Not really funny, but my brush with greatness came one evening at
a climbing gym in Dallas, TX.
I was there last summer on one of my regular nights, just
bouldering around and waiting for my partners to show up. One of
the employees was chatting with a silver-haired gentleman, and
then called me over and asked if I minded being his partner for
the night. He was introduced to me as George.
Slightly annoyed at the imposition, nonetheless, I agreed.
We climbed mostly moderate to slightly difficult routes, and I
had to catch him a few times on one of the more difficult ones,
all the while feeling slightly embarrassed for him, as he was
wearing those shorts that marathon runners wear -- diaphanous and
way too short -- the way that older men sometimes unabashedly
wear clothes of questionable style.
Plus, his harness was hiking up his shorts, and I was getting
occasional unwanted glimpses of his more private bits.
Anyhow, I shouted some beta up at him, and he finished the
route. Upon getting lowered, he said that he used to climb a lot
more, but didn't have much time these days.
As we finished up our session for the night, he told me that if I
was ever in Golden (or was it Boulder), CO, to look him up and we
could go climbing together.
"The name's George Lowe," he casually remarked as he walked to
his car.
The next time I was at the gym, I saw a poster that I'd never
paid attention to before -- a shot of George Lowe on some first
ascent of a Himalayan peak.
/Alex
Bill Zaumen
<ach...@nyx.net> wrote:
> * Melissa <iamthew...@hotmail.com>:
> > Anyway, anyone else have any funny stories of their own?
>
Well, there's the first(?) time Yabo talked to me in Yosmemite.
Yabo said, "What are you famous for?" and I quipped, "I'm the
guy who, when he gets up something, it becomes a trade route."
Everyone laughed, and Yabo said, "Sometimes I feel that way
too."
Bill
--
As an anti-spam measure, my email address is only provided in a GIF
file. Please see <http://home.pacbell.net/zaumen/email.gif>.
Adam
"Bill Zaumen" <nob...@nospam.pacbell.net> wrote in message
news:nobody-2107...@adsl-209-233-20-69.dsl.snfc21.pacbell.net...
> In article <slrnajm4df....@nyx3.nyx.net>, Alex Chiang
> <ach...@nyx.net> wrote:
>
> > * Melissa <iamthew...@hotmail.com>:
> > > Anyway, anyone else have any funny stories of their own?
> >
Once in Bishop 5 or 6 years back I met Mick Ryan at a slide show given by
some poser named Peter Kraft or something like that. Mick even let me come
to his house and get the then-semi-secret-beta directions to new volcanic
areas being developed. Brush with greatness!
A.
Jeremy Pulcifer
news:nobody-2107...@adsl-209-233-20-69.dsl.snfc21.pacbell.net...
> <ach...@nyx.net> wrote:
>
> > * Melissa <iamthew...@hotmail.com>:
> > > Anyway, anyone else have any funny stories of their own?
> >
>
> Well, there's the first(?) time Yabo talked to me in Yosmemite.
> Yabo said, "What are you famous for?" and I quipped, "I'm the
> guy who, when he gets up something, it becomes a trade route."
> Everyone laughed, and Yabo said, "Sometimes I feel that way
> too."
>
> Bill
Does anyone else consider it astounding that it has taken Zaumoron this long
to jump into this thread?
- Sumo
Sparks
iamthew...@hotmail.com (Melissa) wrote:
> Anyway, anyone else have any funny stories of their own?
I took a crap in the same bucket as Reinhold Messner in Greenland...does
that count?
________________________________
Remove S.P.A.M in email adddress
Climb <at> mac <dot> com
________________________________
Bill Zaumen
<jpul...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Does anyone else consider it astounding that it has taken _____ this long
> to jump into this thread?
>
> - Sumo
Are you having a bad hair day or did your significant other just dump
you, Jeremy?
Elvis
the "Bakery" in New Paltz when a white haired gentlemen gracefully
corrects us - yes Dick Williams. Humble pie.
nob...@nospam.pacbell.net (Bill Zaumen) wrote in message news:<nobody-2107...@adsl-209-233-20-69.dsl.snfc21.pacbell.net>...
Melissa
Sparks <S.P.A....@mac.com> wrote:
>In article <f6c038f0.02071...@posting.google.com>,
> iamthew...@hotmail.com (Melissa) wrote:
>
>> Anyway, anyone else have any funny stories of their own?
>
>I took a crap in the same bucket as Reinhold Messner in Greenland...does
>
>that count?
Did something funny happen? Or, like a nine year old boy, do you still find
that saying "taking a crap" out loud is humorous and shocking?
Melissa
Jeremy Pulcifer
news:nobody-2107...@adsl-209-233-20-69.dsl.snfc21.pacbell.net...
> In article <ahfuv1$skhks$1...@ID-79183.news.dfncis.de>, "Jeremy Pulcifer"
> <jpul...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> >
long
> > to jump into this thread?
> >
> > - Sumo
>
> Are you having a bad hair day or did your significant other just dump
> you, Jeremy?
Nope, that was what we around here call "honesty". I seriously was astounded
that you hadn't jumped into this thread already, given your well-exercised
proclivity towards name-dropping.
And I just got a haircut, so that can't be the reason, either.
- Sumo
Sparks
"Melissa" <iamthew...@hotmail.com> wrote:
I actually prefer "pinch a loaf" when trying to be funny...jeez, as some
might say--you really must chill.
Mark Heyman
news:BuL_8.4000$LS3.3...@e3500-atl2.usenetserver.com...
> I took a crap in the same bucket as Reinhold Messner in Greenland...does
> that count?
Duno, did you take it home?
Mark H.
kreighton
> "Sparks" wrote
> >"Melissa" <iamthew...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > Did something funny happen? Or, like a nine year old boy, do you still
find
> > that saying "taking a crap" out loud is humorous and shocking?
I actually prefer "pinch a loaf" when trying to be funny...jeez, as some
might say--you really must chill.
Nah, you just need to get some new material, Sparks. Best one I've heard was
from a soon-to-find-his-true-calling-as-an-investment-banker friend who once
met me some 20 minutes late in the university library, and hollered, "Sorry
man, I had to lay some fuckin' cable!" across the room to explain his
tardiness.
kreighton, wondering if famous climbers talk about encounters with
gumbies...
N42461
> Best one I've heard was
>from a soon-to-find-his-true-calling-as-an-investment-banker friend who once
>met me some 20 minutes late in the university library, and hollered, "Sorry
>man, I had to lay some fuckin' cable!" across the room to explain his
>tardiness.
Ah good....thread degeneration........
You really need a profession that involves a lot of waiting vs panic (motion
picture, fire fighting, ect) for good scatologial terms, but a few of my
favorites:
"Gotta give birth to a sportclimber/trad climber/boulderer"
"I have a turtle's head pushing against cloth"
"Gotta shoot soup" (crosslinked to the Giardia thread.)
Contribute folks. This one is worthy.
nathan sweet
Eugene Miya
I just got fan mail from Middendorf.
Quite amusing.
I'll put it next to my $2.56 from Don Knuth.
D a v i d E m r i c h
"N42461" <n42...@aol.com> wrote in message news:20020723011651...@mb-mj.aol.com...
>
> "Gotta give birth to a sportclimber/trad climber/boulderer"
>
> "I have a turtle's head pushing against cloth"
>
> "Gotta shoot soup" (crosslinked to the Giardia thread.)
>
> Contribute folks. This one is worthy.
The one I always use (because it's not vulgar): "Gotta do some paperwork."
I think I'll be "giving birth to a <whatever style of climbing I can't do>-climber"
in the future though.
David
Eugene Miya
kreighton <kreighto...@NOSPAMhotmail.moc> wrote:
>wondering if famous climbers talk about encounters with gumbies...
No question.
Haston is quoted in a Ascent article written by a gumby after he did
the S. Ridge on Denali. Allen Sanderson used to use Haston's quote
just search for "pucky" on the groups.google.com server and you will see
the quote.
Jason Liebgott
> >kreighton wrote:
>
> > Best one I've heard was
> >from a soon-to-find-his-true-calling-as-an-investment-banker friend who
once
> >met me some 20 minutes late in the university library, and hollered,
"Sorry
> >man, I had to lay some fuckin' cable!" across the room to explain his
> >tardiness.
>
> Ah good....thread degeneration........
>
> You really need a profession that involves a lot of waiting vs panic
(motion
> picture, fire fighting, ect) for good scatologial terms, but a few of my
> favorites:
>
> "Gotta give birth to a sportclimber/trad climber/boulderer"
Drop the kids at the pool.
Melissa
n42...@aol.com (N42461) wrote:
>Ah good....thread degeneration........
Yeah...and to think that just yesterday when Zauman and Sumo started at each
other, I was afraid it would become another Zauman-bashing thread!
Keep up the good work, boys.
Melissa
PS If Olga was here, she'd probably say that 'pinch a loaf' lacks creativity
and originality but still provides a nice visual. What the heck happened
to Olga?
David Kastrup
There is actually a climbing-related metaphor in German that does not
pass PC: "Ich geh mal einen Neger abseilen", "Going to lower a negro"
(more or less).
--
David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum
Email: David....@t-online.de
Crotch Robbins
> >kreighton wrote:
> >"Sorry man, I had to lay some fuckin' cable!"
> Ah good....thread degeneration........
> "Gotta give birth to a sportclimber/trad climber/boulderer"
>
> "I have a turtle's head pushing against cloth"
>
> "Gotta shoot soup" (crosslinked to the Giardia thread.)
>
> Contribute folks. This one is worthy.
All thread drift should lead to potty humor.
A few years ago, I stepped into one of the toilets at Hidden Valley
Campground- the one between Stem Gem and campsite #1 on the main loop-
to take care of the morning business. Often, I'll step in there and
be pleasantly surprised by a some burning incense, or a climbing mag
left by some kind soul to help me work through my morning
calisthenics. Well, on this occassion, I was rewarded with a wall
full of graffitti, each line being a different climber's addition to a
list of euphemisms for shit. The intro read something like "welcome
to the pit of despair"
The usual ones were there: laying cable, laying pipe, dropping the
kids off at the pool, crap, dump, shit. One entry read:
"Annie Overlin works the overhanging crux of Pit of Despair. 5.13a/b"
But my absolute favorite was "negotiating the release of the chocolate
hostages."
I was delighted by my good fortune and thought about grabbing the
camera and taking a pic as the list sported at least 30 different
euphimisms for defecation, but alas I postponed the photo mission to
go climbing. The next morning, I returned with camera in hand, but
the rangers had already painted over the masterpiece.
Crotch
Phil Box
>
> > Best one I've heard was
> >from a soon-to-find-his-true-calling-as-an-investment-banker friend who
once
> >met me some 20 minutes late in the university library, and hollered,
"Sorry
> >man, I had to lay some fuckin' cable!" across the room to explain his
> >tardiness.
One only needs to spend a short amount of time around a building site to
come up with some gems, 'hatching a brickie' comes to mind, referring of
course to the universal loathing of bricklayers by all other trades. The
best graffiti I`ve seen in a site dunney is as follows, on one wall is
written toilet tennis, for details see opposite wall. Of course written on
the opposite wall is written the exact same message. The number one graffiti
on toilet walls is "These walls soon available in paperback".
...Phil...
Brian Reynolds
> >kreighton wrote:
>
> > Best one I've heard was
> >from a soon-to-find-his-true-calling-as-an-investment-banker friend who once
> >met me some 20 minutes late in the university library, and hollered, "Sorry
> >man, I had to lay some fuckin' cable!" across the room to explain his
> >tardiness.
>
> Ah good....thread degeneration........
>
"pinch off a grumpy" (and related "grump" and "frownboy")
"I'm crowning" (the "king tortuga")
"Release some hostages"
on the giardia thread -- not particularly inspired but quite
descriptive: "sewer butt" or "sewer ass"
And finally, are my friends and I the only ones in the world who refer
to our farts as chuckwallas? (as in "hey, did you see that
chuckwalla?" "no, I think I heard it though." "elusive bastards")
With a bit of practice, you find that your ability to detect
previously unknown species of chuckwalla will increase -- the spotted
sierra chuckwalla, alpine chuckwalla, aquatic chuckwalla (the jacuzzi
back at home), etc.
It's shockingly contagious.
br
Adam
"Brian Reynolds" <fredal...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:766eb38c.02072...@posting.google.com...
> descriptive: "sewer butt" or "sewer ass"
I'm partial to "butt vomit" myself for describing that particular situation.
kreighton
> "N42461"
> >kreighton wrote:
> > Best one I've heard was
> >from a soon-to-find-his-true-calling-as-an-investment-banker friend who
once
> >met me some 20 minutes late in the university library, and hollered,
"Sorry
> >man, I had to lay some fuckin' cable!" across the room to explain his
> >tardiness.
>
> Ah good....thread degeneration........
> Contribute folks. This one is worthy.
>
> nathan sweet
Man, you never know what the cat will drag in.
Anyway, I heard this little gem over the weekend, waiting for Cirque du
Soleil to start. Being a bit of a fancy pants show, the row of porta potties
there pretends to be of a higher quality - they are prominently labeled
"Super Bowl" on the outside, and there were rows and rows of them.
We were with a not-too-regular rc poster, and his sometime lurker wife.
Seemingly out of the blue, he announced, "Well, I'm gonna go see the browns
at the Super Bowl."
You know who you are, and it was brilliant.
I used to try and put something together like "Rosencrantz and Poopenstern
have risen from the dead!", but it never really worked.
kreighton
Sparks
fredal...@hotmail.com (Brian Reynolds) wrote:
> And finally, are my friends and I the only ones in the world who refer
> to our farts as chuckwallas? (as in "hey, did you see that
> chuckwalla?" "no, I think I heard it though." "elusive bastards")
don't forget the classic "do farts have lumps?"
A. Cairns
N42461 wrote:
> You really need a profession that involves a lot of waiting vs panic (motion
> picture, fire fighting, ect) for good scatologial terms
It wouldn't be hard to get going on this. But it wouldn't be pretty.
The Life Cycle
1. Youthism: I'm doing number two.
2. The healthy eating years: I have to make a payment on a high fiber loan.
3. Long Term Care Facility: Supp with results
Andy Cairns
Erik Sandelin
> that count?
Yes! I have a friend collecting photos of famous climbers taking a
crap! His most precious gem is a photo of Doug Scott taking a crap on
Fitzroy.
Erik
AdeBK
>Shame on you.
Well, on a related note...shame on me, for not being smart enough to get into
Mr. Goldstone's math class in high school.
Anne in 2 plus 2 equals NYC
AdeBK
>"Gotta give birth to a sportclimber/trad climber/boulderer"
>
>"I have a turtle's head pushing against cloth"
>
>"Gotta shoot soup" (crosslinked to the Giardia thread.)
>
>Contribute folks. This one is worthy.
>
>nathan sweet
>
Party".
Seems like a regular guy, though.
Anne in NYC
fourokies
fourokies
Oh and I forgot new from the duckblind this year, "taking a
Dumplstiltskin"
brooke
Going to the show.
TP is referred to as tickets.
When you get that feeling, your ticket window is open.
Brooke "Need to go to the show" Hoyer
Mad Dog
>"Gotta give birth to a sportclimber/trad climber/boulderer"
>Contribute folks. This one is worthy.
Here I sit, my cheeks a flexin'. Just gave birth to another Texan.
Boy, did that one get my ass kicked proper in Pasadena. But at least it took 3
of them good ole boys to do the job. Wussies.
Mad Dog
>I quipped, "I'm the guy who, when he gets up something, it becomes
>a trade route."
So THAT'S why there are so few trade routes.
Chiloe
>
> .... And funnier yet that reputations
> can so affect the way we interact with each other or feel about a
> particular interaction.
>
> Anyway, anyone else have any funny stories of their own?
Back in the early 70s one of Yosemite's Most Famous Climbers
visited Boulder, and for reasons I don't recall I found
myself belaying him on Castle Rock's Final Exam. The Most
Famous Climber led this easily, then lowered off leaving one
small wired stopper with a carabiner as the only anchor. It
was now my turn to follow and clean. Peer pressure being
strong stuff, I started up while thinking hard about that
anchor. I told myself that (1) this guy's climbed every
wall in the Valley, he surely placed one bombproof stopper;
and (2) if it happens to pull out, I'll land with both feet
on the MFC's head. Neither thought was fully comforting, so
I further told myself (3) don't fall, man. When I reached
the anchor I saw that (3) had been the best idea.