:: SuperTopo Rock Climbing Discussion Topic

Discussion Topic

Return to Forum List

This thread has been locked

Messages 21 - 38 of total 38 in this topic

<< First | < Previous | Show All | Next > | Last >>

jogill

climber

Colorado

Dec 4, 2010 - 12:50am PT

Great letter, Randi. Thanks for sharing. I bet the AAC might like to put it in their archives, but then so would the Yosemite museum (I suspect). Decisions, decisions. Were it mine, it would be hard for me to part with!

tom woods

Gym climber

Bishop, CA

Dec 4, 2010 - 11:03am PT

I was curious- he said that the young climbers can afford to more than he ever did, yet there he is in Africa.

What does he mean? I always wonder if we are more wealth than our grandparents or is stuff cheaper and more available? I mean, my grandparents didn't have a lot of neat stuff like computers and digital cameras, but they could afford a home.

This letter is a time capsule of climbing history.

I certainly don't think of the 70's climbing bum as being able to afford more than a guy in the 50's. But maybe ropes, shoes, and biners were far cheaper?

I don't think of homemade pins as being expensive in money, though time is a factor.

I get interested in this stuff because I wonder what we will be able to do in the future.

survival

Big Wall climber

A Token of My Extreme

Dec 4, 2010 - 11:15am PT

Randy, How did I miss this before?? Maybe it has a title similar to something I thought I had read...I don't know.

Wow man, this is absolutely priceless. Thanks so much for sharing this.

I got a nasty letter from animal control, wanna trade? HA!!

PhilG

Trad climber

The Circuit, Tonasket WA

Dec 4, 2010 - 11:42am PT

Excellent post.
Thanks so much for your contribution to ST's history collection.
Bergheil! How many years has it been since I heard that expression?

guyman

Trad climber

Moorpark, CA.

Dec 4, 2010 - 12:02pm PT

Randi thx for posting this.

I have been very lucky, and have been able to see the mans name on some summit registers.

Spanish Mt. from the bottom.... outrageous!!!

He sure could climb.

Ksolem

Trad climber

Monrovia, California

Dec 4, 2010 - 12:06pm PT

I recall that Anton Nelson was among the early pioneers who climbed many summits in The Gorge of Despair, Kings Canyon. So I pulled out my Secor guide and found this. Keep in mind that this place, especially the north side of this formation, is truly a wild and remote area.

Northwest Face of the Cobra Turret, F.A. 7/26/1951 Dave Hammack and Anton Nelson. 5.8. Follow a ramp past two fixed pins to a bolted belay, and take the crack or knobby face from there to the summit.

Secor also records them doing three significant climbs the previous day, a 5.4 up the Crystal Turret and a 5.7 up El Commandante and a route up Corporale.

Then on the 27th they climbed a 5.7 up The Fang, and the remarkable 4th class ridge to the summit of The Silver Turret.

They were the first climbers to visit this place, and they bagged the F.A. of every significant summit in three days!!

Bergheil!

klk

Trad climber

cali

Dec 4, 2010 - 01:16pm PT

wow, awesome, i missed this first time around.

you in town right now?

mooser

Trad climber

seattle

Dec 4, 2010 - 01:21pm PT

Thanks for this thread, Randisi! This is one of the kinds of threads that really sets ST apart.

Disaster Master

Social climber

Born in So-Cal, left my soul in far Nor-Cal.

Dec 4, 2010 - 01:29pm PT

Anton "Ax" Nelson

Was he involved with a small climbing journal caled "THE CLIMBING ART"?

Bergheil!

The editor I corresponded with at that mag in the early '90's used that same expression. The same person? Some relaationship?

Curious. Here is a link:

http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/1335110/Magazine-The-Climbing-Art-Remember-it-Got-copies

Evel

Trad climber

Nedsterdam CO

Dec 4, 2010 - 01:29pm PT

BergHeil Randy!

I remember you sharing your letter with me years ago. I agree with guido that you ought to consider donating to the Yosemite museum.

Cheers buddy!

Mix

tom woods

Gym climber

Bishop, CA

Dec 5, 2010 - 07:42pm PT

Bump for a classic. Ksolem- I noticed the same thing for the gorge of despair. Nelson got around on those west side crags. He has an ascent of castle rock spire too?

Reilly

Mountain climber

The Other Monrovia- CA

May 11, 2011 - 11:41am PT

Wow, that is so cool! What a treasure.

"By experience I learned to avoid those who need the stimulus of tobbacco"

When Fridtjof Nansen did his ski traverse of Greenland in 1888 he forbade
tobacco and coffee. He wanted good steady level-headed guys. He did allow
them a cup of hot cocoa on Sundays!

nutjob

Gym climber

Berkeley, CA

May 11, 2011 - 03:22pm PT

This caught my eye immediately, but I never noticed it before! I guess sometimes the really cool stuff slips down the pages too quickly.

Thanks for sharing Randisi

LilaBiene

Trad climber

Sep 9, 2012 - 05:46pm PT

Wow wow wow. Thank you for sharing.

My favorite story out of all of the books I've devoured so far is his article "Climbing the Lost Arrow" (from Steve Roper's Ordeal by Piton). Talented climber, for sure; I'm already a great admirer of his ability to write, as well.

Risk

Mountain climber

Olympia, WA

Jul 12, 2013 - 11:22pm PT

I had the good fortune to accompany Ax on a Sierra Club outing as a teenager. My memory is of driving with him in his old pickup, up the Kings River Road above Pine Flat Resrvoir. He drove that twisty road with his torso hunched over the steering wheel - forearms in full contact with the upper half of the wheel - And talking the whole time! I wish I could remember the stories, I just remember the man...nobody else like him!

I couldn't say it better myself. This is exactly how he was. I too was once scrunched in the middle on a drive with Ax in his old pickup on a Sierra Club outing out of Fresno about 1967, and I too heard the stories and felt the vibe.

Found this one, too.