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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 1, 2008 - 12:28pm PT
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Rob and Mike started sorting equipment at the cars.
I was aghast. It was like the Antiques Roadshow. Rob had a series of ancient carabiners including a legitimate museum piece, a Raffi Bedayan. On these relics were hanging hexes and some prototype Friends, probably hand made by Jardine himself. Mike had ancient Chouinard biners (circa 1978) which was scary enough, but then he tried to reassure me, “They’re seconds, but I have never had any problem with them; I got ‘em for free when I worked at Chouinard; ” Sure enough, each had the number “2” stamped on it. I imagined Yvon in his blacksmith apron, standing over an anvil with a ball peen hammer, stamping each one to ensure that they could never, ever be sold. I urged Rob and Mike to invest in some newer gear, perhaps something manufactured in this century.
Sundance was our goal. A classic up the middle of the Sunshine wall, done in the days when Chouinard was a young lad. Mike’s son, Ian, led the short first pitch to the ledge.
Mike and Darrell led Rob, Wendy and I up the great second pitch, first done by Pat Callis, Charlie Raymond and Larry Reynolds in 1967.
Rob and Wendy.
Impressive for its time, Sundance endures as a sterling climb. We made sure to thank Darrell, who with Kevin Powell made it a personal mission decades ago to replace the old quarter-inch bolts on this and most of the routes at Suicide.
Darrel at the 10.b crux off the ledge.
It took a while to get back into the small hold face climbing techniques of crimp holds, toe edges and smearing in minor indentations. But with a top rope it was easy to appreciate the incredible golden rock, and to rediscover how seemingly featureless passages revealed workable edges and smears when studied with a discerning eye. The dike finish of the third pitch was new to me and really good.
Then it was on to 10 Karat, on the low angle, but smooth, Weeping Wall.
Mike and Darrel on the first pitch.
After being away from the crag for 30 years, it was nice to appreciate the old stories of mastery of this route: Darell was so honed he used to regularly solo up and down the first pitch.
Another of Darrel on the first pitch.
And in the middle of the second,” Window Pane” pitch, it was sobering to imagine Randy Vogel committing to this featureless feature when he was the first to solo it.
Thanks to Darrel for motivating the group to stop talking about it and finally get together.
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L
climber
Just surfin' the tsunami of life
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Nice, Ricky!!!!
I just noticed Henny is in those superbly stylish knickers...what a break with his traditional ill-matching, ill-fitting, Salvation Army rejects (heh-heh-heh...that should get him posting up...).
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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good on you guys!
Kick Ass!
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graham
Social climber
Ventura, California
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Hey, Old gear rules!
Well some of it anyways…
Here’s Rick on the second pitch of Sundance.
With Robs and Darrell at the belay.
It was quite a party!
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Rick
Sometimes it's nice to be on the Antique Roadshow!
(some of us are considered antiques, remember that)!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Superb TR!
Several of my old pals are packing museum hardware too! I started a concerted campaign to at least clear out the deathbiners with a little "wouldn't you feel stupid if...." speech.
The worst was an early generation Chouinard that had flaked open at the spine and was well on its way back to mineralization! Uhh, when was the last time you checked your gear dude?!?
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rmuir
Social climber
the Time Before the Rocks Cooled.
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Given our political discussions over margaritas that night in the bar, I'm thinking that this thread should be called "Hostile Elder Outing at Suicide (TR)." Ya think?
Antique Roadshow, indeed. Over 164 years of (in)experience in that team!
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Nice report! Though, given its title, I guess Rick is currently on the run from Mike and Rob. :-)
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graham
Social climber
Ventura, California
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yeah we're banning Rick from the Bingo game!
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Mike Bolte
Trad climber
Planet Earth
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I hear you Rick on the rack thing. This summer, for the first time, people were making remarks about my rack and exchanging looks behind my back (I'm pretty sure about that). I don't carry straight-sided stoppers (OK, I've got three of the biggest ones on perlon, but they are pretty useful) or hexentrics. I finally asked somebody what was tipping them off and it turns out that it was the rigid stem Friends with the tied slings (OK, I DID buy some of them from Ray at the Housekeeping boulder pre-Wild Country). Who would have known? I thought they marked me as a modern climber.
But, when I did a little research online I found out that the rigid-stem babies are on sale (turns out they are discontinued) -- with sewn slings! Too bad the sewn slings don't match my size-color scheme.
And - nice report, thanks for posting!
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Russ Walling
Social climber
Nutsonthechin, Wisconsin
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Good stuff!!!
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Perhaps we should have a thread about museum gear on museum climbs. (No need to mention anything about 'museum' climbers.) http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=447487
I must have some stuff around, though I'm going to try to foist some of it on Ken at the FaceLift. Eventually old junk morphs into treasures.
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henny
Social climber
The Past
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L - are you trying to say something? As a famous climber once told me, "Hey, don't worry about it - 'cause this ain't no fashion show, babe."
Actually, those "superbly stylish knickers" are the ticket. Get a pair, and your leading instantly improves by a couple of letters, maybe even a grade or two. OK, maybe not... But they really are the ticket.
And yeah, that gear was scary. Lucky for me the pitches I led had bolts and I didn't need to place any of it.
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dogtown
climber
Where I once was,I think?
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More Please!
Bruce
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dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
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Looks like the new hotties missed the old hotties up there!
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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superb climbs!
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henny
Social climber
The Past
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DE -
Cool picture. An outside edge high step step through. Wow.
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rmuir
Social climber
the Time Before the Rocks Cooled.
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Apropos, and worth reposting...
From an original 8"x10" black-and-white taken by Larry Reynolds. ...Ivan "Bud" Couch leading Sundance, circa (I'm guessing) somewhere in the late sixties. FA: Callis, Raymond and Harrell, 1967. And, if I recall correctly, Larry indicated that it was taken during a early repeat of the route, so maybe this was taken in 1968/69.
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henny
Social climber
The Past
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Robs,
Where did you get that picture from?
A few things that jump out at me:
1) There doesn't appear to be very many dead trees in the background. I remember when it looked like that prior to the bark beetles. Wish it still did.
2) Look at those shoes! (It even looks like the leather uppers in the toe areas might be blown out.) I was initially thinking how cool it would have been to be able to climb there with all that unclimbed rock everywhere you looked. Then I realized, Hohoho Man, what am I thinking? I wouldn't be able to step off the ground in shoes like those!
3) Sundance really was a brilliant route, a statement route, for when it was done, wasn't it? In particular the sizable runout from the last bolt to the belay. 1967. In that footwear. Impressive.
4) How wierd. It's strange to look at the Sunshine and not see the vivid colors of the rock.
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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absolutely great pic, Robs.
Thanks for posting.
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