Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
Mtnmun
Trad climber
Top of the Mountain Mun
|
|
|
Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 7, 2007 - 01:19am PT
|
"Benedicto: May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. May your rivers flow without end, meandering through pastoral valleys tinkling with bells, past temples and castles and poets' towers into a dark primeval forest where tigers belch and monkeys howl, through miasmal and mysterious swamps and down into a desert of red rock, blue mesas, domes and pinnacles and grottos of endless stone, and down again into a deep vast ancient unknown chasm where bars of sunlight blaze on profiled cliffs, where deer walk across the white sand beaches, where storms come and go as lightning clangs upon the high crags, where something strange and more beautiful and more full of wonder than your deepest dreams waits for you—beyond the next turning of the canyon walls."
"Cactus Ed's" writing career spanned almost 40 years. Some of his fiction titles include The Brave Cowboy (1956), (the basis for the western movie Lonely Are the Brave, which starred Kirk Douglas as Abbey's recurrent character Jack Burns), Fire on the Mountain (1962), Black Sun (1971), The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975), Good News (1980), The Fool's Progress (1988), and Hayduke Lives (1989). Nonfiction titles include Desert Solitaire (1968), Down the River (1982), Beyond the Wall (1984) and One Life at a Time, Please (1988).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6Y6lzXUt2o&mode=related&search=
|
|
climbrunride
Trad climber
Durango, CO
|
|
Longwinded, but totally worthwhile. Several of his books should be on everyone's 'must read' lists. The first two sentences from a few essays out of "Down The River":
"Those who love it call it "The Canyon"- the canyon - as if there were no other such topographical feature on the earth's face. But we know better."
"Starving cattle stumble across the cow-burnt range. Above the cattle the vultures swarm like flies, attracted by the sight and smell of dying meat."
"One cold evening in February I checked into the Tri-Arc Travelodge in Salt Lake City, a respectable-type hotel in a decent, law-abiding town. I was dismayed to find the place swarming with hairy ruffians in cowboy hats, greasy down vests, wool shirts, boots."
"Where is Carl Sagan when you need him most? While he indulges his fantasies of life on other worlds in gorgeous color TV, his scientific coworkers here on poor beleaguered planet Earth are making practical preperations for the extermination of life on this world."
"We met one evening in the streets of Santa Fe (Holy Faith!), New Mexico, in the springtime of 1959. A good year that one, excelled - at least in my experience - only by 1960 and each succeeding year."
"Each precious moment entails every other. Each sacred place suggests the immanent presence of all places."
"Not another river trip? Yes."
He just draws you in, to keep reading on and on. And his descriptions of nature paint pictures which are better than photographs, making you feel that the only thing better would to be right there, right now.
|
|
climbrunride
Trad climber
Durango, CO
|
|
A few more random quotes:
"To live life is to take risks; to always be safe and secure is death."
"I have been a lucky man. But someone has to be."
"The air is gelid, not far above freezing, but the butane heater inside the trailer keeps my back warm,the rising sun warms the front,and the coffee warms the interior. "
"A man could be a lover and defender of wilderness without ever in his lifetime leaving the boundaries of asphalt, powerlines, and right-angled surfaces. We need wilderness whether or not we ever set foot in it. We need a refuge even though we may never need to go there. I may never get there. We need the possibility of escape as surely as we need hope: without it the life of the cities would drive all men into crime or drugs or psychoanalysis."
“Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit”
“The missionaries go forth to Christianize the savages - as if the savages weren't dangerous enough already”
“There is science, logic, reason; there is thought verified by experience. And then there is California.”
“Climbing K2 or floating the Grand Canyon in an inner tube. There are some things one would rather have done than do.”
And here's one for Radical, not that he'd understand it ;-)
"There's something about winning at poker that restores my faith in the innate goodness of my fellowman."
|
|
Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
|
|
Berg heil Ed.
Hope you like the tower I named for you.
I know that Joy took you past it five times. You and her must be having a high old time.
See you soon enough.
|
|
happiegrrrl
Trad climber
New York, NY
|
|
I have to admit to only being being recently introduced to the guy's writing(when Piton Ron made that thread about The Monkey Wrench Gang being finally started as a movie).
Didn't think anything more until I read this article, in Orion Magazine.
http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/173
(By the way - if you don't know about the Orion Society, it's a pretty cool thing, I think. In my blog, I wrote about how I came across it, in the link below. It's one of my bookmarked resources now.
http://happiegrrrlclimbing.blogspot.com/2007/08/found-orion-society.html
So.....after reading that article, I immediately went out and got The Monkey Wrench Gang, and have been picking up another of his writings as soon as I finish each one.
In The MWG - I peed my pants laughing at the description of Hayduke's getway from Bishop Love, by rapping with his jeep off the cliff.
The book is hilarious, so frick'n funny I couldn't get enough.
Next I chose "Hayduke Lives" and again - incredibly good writing. What a story.
Next I picked up the one with some of his letters sent over his life, "Postcards from Ed". That was not only entertaining, but helpful in seeing a bit about the man as a human. Very interesting to see the connections between his personal life and some of the passages in his fiction, and the recurring themes, genesis' of ideas, etc.
"Desert Solitaire," I finished a week or so ago - and now....I feel a bigger need to go out west, beyond my JTree vacations. I think he does a good job setting up the book when he writes, in the beginning, about the place I'm about to read about being extinct; that the book I am holding is a tombstone. And then....don't just sit there - do something and throw a rock at something big and shiny(paraphrasing).
I'm about halfway through "Good News" now. That book has an incredible start off. Every sentence is perfectly crafted.
The man sure could write.
EDIT: Oops....I put the wrong title as my current read. It's "The Fool's Progress." I was debating which book to get at the store and guess I got confused on that detail.
|
|
xkyczar
Trad climber
denver
|
|
"The 17th Annual Edward Abbey Memorial Special"Annual tribute to ol' Cactus Ed. Also marks one full-year of Hoots on 1moeradio!
http://1moeradio.com/Hoot%203-24-07.mp3
play list:
Set 1 (Hour 1)
Chris Proctor – Mountaineer Creek
Ed Abbey – Cowboys
Bill Miller – Two Hawks
Shannon McNally (live) – My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
Ed Abbey – Cowboys
David Bromberg – Whoopee Ti Yi Yo
Neil Young – Are There Any More Real Cowboys
Ed Abbey – Cowboys
Texas Tom Weatherby & Dennis Golden – The Basque
Set 2 (Hour 1)
Bryan Bowers – Bristlecone Pine
Ed Abbey – Fire Lookout
Gibson Brothers – Mountain Song
Ed Abbey – Fire Lookout
John Prine – Yes I Guess They Oughta name A Drink After You
Ed Abbey – Fire Lookout
Tom Russell – Rayburn Crane
Ed Abbey – Fire Lookout
Robert Earl Keen & Butch Hancock – Morning Goodness
Set 1 (Hour 2)
Slaid Cleaves – Below
Ed Abbey – In Defense Of The Redneck
Kieran Kane – Dirty Little Town
Chuck Brodsky – Seven Miles Upwind
Ed Abbey – In Defense Of The Redneck
Michael Martin Murphey – Desert Rat
Ed Abbey – In Defense Of The Redneck
Tom Russell – The ballad Of Edward Abbey
Set 2 (Hour 2)
Marshall Tucker Band – Fly Eagle Fly
Ed Abbey – Dead Man At Grandview Point
Walkin' Jim Stoltz – Food Chain Song
Ed Abbey – Dead Man At Grandview Point
Corb Lund – The Truth Comes Out
Ed Abbey – Dead Man At Grandview Point
Don Edwards – I Wanted To Die In The Desert
Set 3 (Hour 2)
Ed Abbey – Freedom & Wilderness
Tom Russell – Benediction: Edward Abbey
Don Edwards - Coyotes
|
|
Mtnmun
Trad climber
Top of the Mountain Mun
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Oct 8, 2007 - 02:38pm PT
|
Hey Piton Ron,
Did you personally know Ed and his wife? Do you have any good stories to share?
Thaks for the links Happiegirl.
Climbrunride...cool, see you soon.
|
|
F'ueco
Boulder climber
San Jose, CA
|
|
I thought the best of his writings was The Fool's Progress.
My introduction was through Desert Solitaire during college. It was almost mandatory reading for someone considering becoming a park ranger. Not that I ever got into the field!
|
|
Trashman
Trad climber
SLC
|
|
question for you PR, since you've obviously spent time in similar places and frames of mind.
how do you view his writings wrt their impact on the places he loved? i loved DS, but cringe every time i see it held up as a "must read book" b/c everyone's reaction seems to be the same.
"I've got to get out there and see these things"
|
|
John Moosie
climber
|
|
“The missionaries go forth to Christianize the savages - as if the savages weren't dangerous enough already”
That one makes me laugh out loud.
I have read most everything he has written. The man rocks !!! One of the nicest gifts I received was a framed copy of his benedicto. I love it. Its on my wall above my bed.
|
|
Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
|
|
Never met him but when I took up with Joy Ungritch I know he knew about my climbing.
She was more than his favorite river guide, sort of an adopted daughter. Once she came down from SLC after lunching with him and telling him she was off to climb in Zion with me, said he was curious about some of the technicalities.
Joy told me that they had done Cat 5 times by way of the Labyrinth, so I know that they passed right under the towers at Bowknot, the nicest one I named for Ed when Mondeau and I climbed it in May, '89 shortly after his death.
|
|
Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
Otto, NC
|
|
Unless of course they put in at Mineral Bottom. Those are some sweet-looking towers, Ron-- do they have any cracks in 'em?
As far as writing attracting people to places best left alone goes, Abbey was pretty good about being nonspecific about the locations he wrote about-- compared to the legions of guidebook authors ( hiking, climbing, Anasazi, canyoneering, river, what have you) who have succeded him. Nonetheless he did a fine job of generally romanticizing the Colorado Plateau. But what are you gonna do? If people don't know about a place, they won't bother to try and save it. Hence, Lake Foul.
Right now, the BLM is trying to railroad through 7 (seven) separate regional planning documents for the entire state of Utah. Each is several hundred pages thick, and each will have a mere 90 (ninety)- day period for public comment. Basically, the Bush people are trying to ram through as much access for the energy industry and the 4-wheeler manufacture lobby as they can before their time is up in 470 days, and they're hoping you don't care. So WAKE THE FUK UP AND GO TO WWW.SUWA.ORG if you want to do something about it, cuz those bastards will do more damage in the next three months than a hundred years of windshield tourists can pull off.
|
|
Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
|
|
They didn't, but I was there a week ago.
Abbey Tower went free at 11c in the late nineties.
|
|
Trashman
Trad climber
SLC
|
|
i hear ya rhodo, but you've traveled the state enough to understand the devil's advocate thinking i'm about to lay out.
first, "if they don't know about it, they won't save it."
-i've heard the "bring them to nature so they'll understand why it needs to be saved" arguement a lot. it didn't work on Glen canyon(despite the best efforts of some amazing photographers), didn't work with Hetch Hetchy(despite the efforts of one of the nations best nature writers/advocates). The list goes on(blanking on the name of the resevoir that drowned a reservation up in Wy at the moment)
second, better stewards? who's demand keeps Foul in place these days? it's not worth anything stored water wise, and we could produce the same amount of hydro power w/ out the damn.
meanwhile, the coal and gas extraction industry haven't managed to destroy or too badly despoil the desert around the middle part of the state, despite the presence of oil rigs every few miles. i'd argue that it's some of the best "wilderness desert" left in the state.
not saying that i think we should turn it all over to industry, but the recreationalists haven't exactly been kind to the lands around Ed's home town.
definitely check out http://www.suwa.org, i'd drifted away, but you're right, this last battle has been enough to get me signing with them again.
edit to add; after re reading this post, i guess i come off a bit pro industry. really, i'm not, but i do think outdoorsy types spend a bit too much time patting themselves on the back for being good citizens.
|
|
Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
Otto, NC
|
|
|
Oct 15, 2007 - 04:10pm PT
|
I haven't spent much time in the middle [western] part of the state, unless you count driving through, but:
Oil rigs in Labby? If that place was anywhere else in the country, it would be a national park. Screw that.
ORV registration is what, 20x what it was fifteen years ago? Regulation needs to keep up with the times. And let's face it, we're not talking about the most considerate user group here. Enough of those guys- and it may be 1%, who cares- seem to feel that they have the right to go any place they damn well please, with no thought for their impact both present and future. The desert just isn't set up for that. Even if their little rigs were dead silent, didn't smell, and I never saw one again, we'd still have donut circles through the crypto for the next hundred years.
About a quarter of the currently issued drilling permits are actualy being used-- sounds great, right?-- and yet they still need more? At some point we need to balance the energy gain from all this extremely marginal terrain vs. the permanent damage being done to an irreplaceable and unique landscape, habitat, and dare I say it, tourist attraction. And that point has long since passed.
Utah public lands are in the hands of the hydrocarbon lobby, and we need to change that.
|
|
Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
|
|
|
Oct 15, 2007 - 04:30pm PT
|
But it doesn't matter because, haven't you heard, the end is nigh.....
|
|
Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
Otto, NC
|
|
|
Oct 15, 2007 - 04:46pm PT
|
What am I thinking, we were given dominion over the earth and all its creatures.
Never mind.
|
|
creetur
climber
CA
|
|
|
Oct 15, 2007 - 05:59pm PT
|
for all the fellas in this forum, whom i've never met, but who nevertheless remind me of the kind of fella i think of when i read this:
"There goes the night. We'll get no sleep
tonight. We're going to make fools
of ourselves tonight, thinking of this girl,
this oleander air, the sky,
that chromium planet on the west
signifying love, going down in the rose
of the sun..."
from *earth apples*, abbey's book of poems
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!