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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - May 11, 2016 - 08:50pm PT
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Valley Walls: A Memoir of Climbing and Living in Yosemite by Glen Denny - just came out on May 10.
Excerpt story of the first ascent of The Rostrum - North Face with Warren Harding in a heat wave:
http://www.rockandice.com/climbing-news/valley-walls-a-memoir-of-climbing-and-living-in-yosemite-glen-denny
Available through Amazon, IndieBound, Barnes & Noble, or Yosemite Conservancy.
http://www.amazon.com/Valley-Walls-Memoir-Climbing-Yosemite/dp/1930238630?ie=UTF8
From the Inside Flap
Before the first free ascent of the Dawn Wall on El Capitan captivated the world, a rag-tag group of innovators built the sport of modern American rock climbing from a makeshift home base in Yosemite’s Camp 4. Photographer Glen Denny was a key figure in that Golden Age of climbing, capturing pioneering feats on camera while tackling challenging ascents himself. Now, in prose both exhilarating and poignant, he gives us true tales of colorful characters and a legendary locale, of brotherhood and sky-high quests, and of living cheap and dodging park rangers.
Denny learned the game with the mythic Warren Harding, hauled water in glass gallon jugs up the east face of Washington Column, dangled overnight on El Capitan’s Dihedral Wall in a lightning storm, and felt “rock that had not been touched since it emerged from the ice a million years ago, clean and white.”
A young man comes of age in these pages, at the dawn of a new era.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
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May 11, 2016 - 09:00pm PT
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Wow, looks like it would be a good read!
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BruceHildenbrand
Social climber
Mountain View/Boulder
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May 11, 2016 - 09:08pm PT
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And we finally get to find out how Desert Frank got the knickname 'Desert Frank!' Warren Harding gave him the name, but why?
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BruceHildenbrand
Social climber
Mountain View/Boulder
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May 11, 2016 - 09:12pm PT
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Also, what I think makes this book even more interesting is that Glen isn't looking back 50+ years and trying to remember what happened. He wrote many of these stories right after they occurred so the details were still fresh.
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
sawatch choss
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May 12, 2016 - 06:22am PT
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I'm really thirsty now.
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crankster
Trad climber
No. Tahoe
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May 12, 2016 - 06:54am PT
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Ordering today. I met Glen only once, at an early showing of "El Capitan", years ago. Great guy.
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BigB
Trad climber
Red Rock
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May 12, 2016 - 07:54am PT
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Just ordered. Can't wait to read it!
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PhilG
Trad climber
The Circuit, Tonasket WA
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May 12, 2016 - 08:08am PT
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Thanks for the post.
Looking forward to a good read.
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steelmnkey
climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
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May 12, 2016 - 08:08am PT
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Thanks for the heads up Clint. Can't wait to read it.
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phylp
Trad climber
Upland, CA
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May 12, 2016 - 08:40am PT
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Thanks, Clint. I had the good fortune to sit at a table with Glen Denny at an Access Fund dinner in Berkeley some years ago, and hear some stories from him. What an nice man!
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Prod
Trad climber
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May 12, 2016 - 10:38am PT
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Just ordered mine...
Prod.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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May 12, 2016 - 11:03am PT
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Glen's eloquence using black and white film should have no trouble transferring itself to the black and white of text.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Colorado & Nepal
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May 12, 2016 - 01:37pm PT
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I just ordered my copy !
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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May 12, 2016 - 01:55pm PT
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The sparks from those hammers. . .ignited it all.
Jan,
in the thread about the old Crews @ Jtree,
You mentioned - Hauser- & tying him off, leaving him hanging for a bit,. .
.What "Hauser" was that ? (did his 1st name begin with D? )
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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May 12, 2016 - 01:58pm PT
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Looking forward to this, tfpu Clint
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BooDawg
Social climber
Butterfly Town
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May 12, 2016 - 02:17pm PT
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Glen is certainly one of the "Un-sung" heroes of Yosemite's "Golden Age." I have thought, for many years, that a book about his presence during this special time would be definitely worth someone's effort (perhaps my own!). His humility is more than matched by his climbing achievements! I look forward to reading this book and seeing the climbing imagery that it most certainly contains.
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Fuzzywuzzy
climber
suspendedhappynation
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May 12, 2016 - 11:48pm PT
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Ken, thanks, those are great shots!!!
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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May 13, 2016 - 07:25pm PT
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Denny-one of my fav of the old crowd. Many a fun adventures together. Couple of blasts from the past.
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F10
Trad climber
Bishop
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May 13, 2016 - 08:17pm PT
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Looks great. I remember seeing his photo display at Mountain Light Gallery here in Bishop.
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