Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
| Messages 1 - 3 of total 3 in this topic |
two-shoes
Trad climber
Auberry, CA
|
|
I've got a crazy memory regarding the movie "The Mountain".
At one time, back in the 80's, I used to climb occasionally with a guy by the name of Bruce Price. He had lived in Foresta for many years, and then moved to the Kings River bottom area not far north of 180, and Reedley. It seems that, whoever you climb with, they may have something to teach you, whether it be good or bad. Bruce had a few things to offer with his many years of experience. He had taught himself and a friend or two to climb as an adolescent youth in North Carolina's Linville Gorge starting in 1959. Climbed in the Alps in the mid 60's, as well as Yosemite starting in the late 60's. You can even find his name on a few notable routes such as "The Moratorium".
One of the things that Bruce had to offer was a different way to belay. He invited me over one evening to watch an old movie with him. It was "The Mountain", starring Spencer Tracy. Well, I found it rather dull, for the most part. But, we got to a scene where Spencer Tracy had to belay this guy, and he just held the rope in his bare hands! He didn't wrap it around his body in any way. He got this horrendous bloody rope burn while holding this epic fall when his partner took a huge, huge winger. Bruce stopped the movie right there, and told me that the early Swiss guides actually belayed like that. I didn't, for the life of me, think that he was serious. He says, "No sh!t, I'll show you this weekend. Well, Bruce was half full of sh!t anyway, so I didn't really believe him. One thing that I did eventually learn about Bruce was that when he preceded his sentence with "no sh!t", then he was really on the level, otherwise he could just be totally full of sh!t! Bruce had so many whopper stories you never new what to believe. One time I called him on one of those tales. I said, "You're totally full of it'. He looked at me, shrugged his shoulders in disbelief and said, "Oh hell, I never expected you to believe that one!" One thing I learned though was Bruce actually did some of those things. The problem was getting to know him and knowing when he was for real.
That weekend while we were trying to put up a small slab route in the Shaver Lake area, I got out a little further than I would have liked, looking for a hands free drill and hammer stance. I was looking at a big fall, and scared to down climb. When I came off, I was expecting to come close to the ground, but I didn't fall much lower than the bolt? He asked me if I hadn't expected to fall a little further than that. I looked down at him, he was sitting on the ground, with a few arm loads of rope in his lap. What I later learned from him was that he had simply dropped the use of his sticht plate when he was certain that I was falling. He instantly had made quick karate chop motions at the lead line, while still watching my fall, locking off with his bare hands right before impact, while sitting down at the same time, and then letting both arms take a small dynamic pull upward at impact, so as not to rip the rope from his grip. He told me that this was a technique that had been used to some extent in Yosemite on slab routes, in order to do long runouts.
I told my good buddy Dwight Kroll about what Bruce had taught me. We decided to experiment with the technique at Courtright Reservoir, and eventually perfected it enough through the years so that it started feeling like second nature to us. Dwight coined the name of the technique "Spencer Tracy".
A few years later I learned from Chris Cantwell that they had actually used this technique somewhat on some of the horrendous runouts falls on the Hall of Mirrors.
I can't recommend the Spencer Tracy belay technique to anyone as that would be criminal. Especially with todays skinny ropes!
It's worth watching "The Mountain" , though, just see how the old swiss guides could actually catch a fall on a silk rope with their bare hands!
Have fun out there, and be safe!
|
|
jgill
Boulder climber
The high prairie of southern Colorado
|
|
Kind of a cheesy film, but entertaining. I was never a fan of RW, especially in TV series. I wish someone would post a copy of The Unconquered on YouTube, but it may have been lost in the big fire at the studios some time back. Gilbert Roland was good as a corrupt mountain guide.
|
|
| Messages 1 - 3 of total 3 in this topic |
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!