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Batrock
Trad climber
Burbank
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 20, 2010 - 01:56pm PT
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Found this article in a 1953 edition of Desert Magazine, the trip takes place in 1937. Norman really got around.
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Hardman Knott
Gym climber
Muir Woods National Monument, Mill Valley, Ca
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Jan 20, 2010 - 02:23pm PT
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Hey I remember this movie,...oh,wait. No that was Ernest goes to Hollywood. Sorry
Friend of Sir Knott
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apogee
climber
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Jan 20, 2010 - 02:44pm PT
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Clyde really did get around. A true climber and adventurer of the highest order.
I've done El Picacho del Diablo twice- failed once via the 'normal' route in icy conditions (we were unprepared for such a thing in Baja), and succeeded via Pinnacle Ridge on my 30th birthday. A memorable adventure with my best friend on fantastic granite!
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Klimmer
Mountain climber
San Diego
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Jan 20, 2010 - 02:56pm PT
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Post up if you have climbed Picacho Del Diablo!
We got snowed out the first time. Didn't even get close to the mountain. There was about 2 feet of snow on the Sierra San Pedro Martirs when we finally got there.
2nd time: I did it back in the 90s with my good friend from Canada. We did it from the traditional camp below the W/NW face. Class 3 fun route.
I would like to do it again but stay on the exposed SW/S arete the entire way to the summit. Probably class 4/easy class 5. Lots to do down in Baja!
I hate it that the drug wars have made it dangerous to go down there. I hope one day that whole situation gets worked out. Baja is very special. I miss it.
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Batrock
Trad climber
Burbank
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 20, 2010 - 04:26pm PT
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QINTL,
Great find. I have been thumbing through old issues of Desert Magazine today while it pours outside. I have found tons of cool articles, mostly from the late 1930's issues on climbing desert peaks and the early rock climbing pioneers that did them such as Eichorn, Underhill, Mendenhall to name a few. Between desert spires and lost gold mines I am going to have my work cut out for me this spring.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Jan 20, 2010 - 04:52pm PT
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Nice find. I knew Norman had done Picacho but now I get
to enjoy the telling.
Back in the 70's I saw a coffee-table book like the Sierra
Club books on the Baja mountains shot by some dude with a
giant camera that was so incredible. I still remember how
well it was written. Sadly, I don't know by whom. I guess
I could start searching by myself but I expect somebody here
knows it intimately.
Sadly also, I would hesitate to go down there these days unless
I flew a small plane into one of the ranchos' private strips.
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Batrock
Trad climber
Burbank
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 20, 2010 - 05:38pm PT
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I have the entire Desert Magazine library right in front of me, handed down from my grandmother. Here are the first 30 years or so stacked deep in our bookcase.
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diablo
Trad climber
sd,ca
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Jan 20, 2010 - 07:03pm PT
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We did pacacho (5 of us) from the east side 3 years ago on cinco de mayo ....very wild.
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Klimmer
Mountain climber
San Diego
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Jan 20, 2010 - 07:08pm PT
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BajaAndy,
Great TR.
Also very nice panorama with stitched images you put together here:
http://c0278592.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/original/290955.jpg
Yep, the right skyline to the summit would be great to do. Would sure beat the descent in Canyon Diablo and aesthetic good climbing to be done. Better view the entire way looking at the Sea of Cortez to the East most of the time too.
Very cool.
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Batrock
Trad climber
Burbank
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 20, 2010 - 07:14pm PT
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Diablo, great picture. Reminds me of some of the gorges in the Sierra's here in Cali such as Middle San Juaquin.
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diablo
Trad climber
sd,ca
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Jan 20, 2010 - 07:24pm PT
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Here are a couple of more pics. I got more , i just need to find them.
We drove down on a thrusday and got back in san diego sunday night...beat up .
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bajaandy
climber
Escondido, CA
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Jan 20, 2010 - 07:31pm PT
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Diablo, you guys were there the same weekend we were there. We came in from the west side the day before you guys did. (We didn't make the summit that trip. Came back and nabbed it the next year.) I remember you guys because of Jack. Think you (or one of your party) posted some shots over on the BajaNomad page. Cool shots you got there.
And just to get back on thread... that Norman Clyde dude was one hard man. That mountain STILL kicks your butt, and we've got all the cool lightweight gear and sh#t. Props to 'ol Norm.
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Brian Hench
Trad climber
Anaheim, CA
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Jan 20, 2010 - 07:55pm PT
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Batrock, you might look through the issues from the late 30's to early 40's for articles written by Marshall South. I have a book about him that was largely taken from the pages of Desert Magazine.
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Batrock
Trad climber
Burbank
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 20, 2010 - 08:20pm PT
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Brian,
If I remember Marshal had a monthly article in Desert for about 8 years in which he relayed the daily battles of living off the land as the Native Americans did. They made their own cloths, if they needed cloths, captured their water, made their own home and all while raising some very young kids. I think the article ran as you said from something like 38 thru 46 or there abouts. I have yet to read the entire series he wrote but thanks for the reminder.
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dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
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Jan 22, 2010 - 11:51am PT
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I climbed Picacho in 1973 with a Sierra Club group led by John Robinson (guidebook author) when I was 15 yrs. old. I had been doing Sierra Peak Section trips to get to the mountains since I was 14 or so. About 50 people showed up for the trip, it was way too many. Including driving it was supposed to be a 5 day round trip.
We took one day to drive down, 2 days to go up the canyon to a high camp, one day to bag the top and one day all the way back down. On summit day I was with the front group of 4, including Club legend and master of the pun, Cuno Ranshaw. It was very icey and snowy and class 3-4 near the top, semi dicey. We outdistanced the rest and didn't see them till the way down. Only a couple of the other 45 or so made the top.
One of the adults I had ridden down with (Sam) had turned back the second day, he wasn't in great shape. On the last day we found him near the waterfalls at the bottom with a broken leg. He had been sitting there for awhile. 5 of us rigged a carry system with him sitting on a stout branch and carried him out the last couple miles.
Sam and Jim Blackmon and I jumped in his VW squareback before the rest got out and took off to get him to a hospital in the US asap. We took a major wrong turn and headed about 20 miles the wrong way where the oil plug fell out and we lost all our oil.
Jim and I left Sam with the VW and decided to hike back towards the trailhead in hopes of running into someone from our group. We were out of food and water. We hiked most of the night stopping to sleep for a couple hours. Early in the am we tried starting a signal fire with bushes and car tires we found along the road. We had quite a blaze going with much black smoke.It seemed pretty futile so we resumed hiking.
In the mid morning we came to a small Rancho. We told the family there what had happened and they fixed a huge Rancho style feast for us including frijoles, tortillas and giant steaks! We gave them some clothes and assorted backpacking equipment in thanks.
We left the Rancho mid morning and continued hiking back (the Mexican family had no vehicle). A mile or so later we heard honking and along came Sam in the VW. He had carved an oil plug and hammered it into the drain hole. Soon after sunrise some off roaders came by and filled up his oil.
We blasted back to the border and called my mom and Jim's wife just in time to stop the search party they were sending down to find us.
We heard later that someone else behind us on the hike out had also broken a leg which also required a rescue. The Sierra Club initiated some new policies regarding party size and member screening after the fiasco.
That was my last Sierra Club trip.
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Batrock
Trad climber
Burbank
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 22, 2010 - 12:17pm PT
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dee dee what a great TR and a great experience for you at such a young age. 50 people on a peak bagging trip to Baja!!!
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bajaandy
climber
Escondido, CA
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Jan 22, 2010 - 01:49pm PT
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Wow Dee... an epic at age 15. Cool TR. I love those Baja fixes... carved an oil plug. Classic.
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dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
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Jan 22, 2010 - 06:55pm PT
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Thanks you guys,
There is something about going to Baja/ Mexico. It just about always guarantees an adventure!!!
I have been down there quite a few times and sure enough! Every GD time.
DE
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bajaandy
climber
Escondido, CA
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Jan 22, 2010 - 07:20pm PT
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Hey Apogee, if you don't mind, I'd like to know more about your Pinnacle Ridge ascent. I'm gonna start planning a trip to do that route. Shoot me an email if you want. Thanks.
DE... I know what you mean about going to Baja. Always, and I mean ALWAYS an adventure in one way or another. That's a big part of the charm.
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