One armed solo ascent of Mt Starr King

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micronut

Trad climber
fresno, ca
Dec 10, 2009 - 04:37pm PT
Awesome thread. That last photo is amazing. Any of yall done it in winter. I always thought it would be a cool ski approach. By the way Eric, how is Lori doing?
BBA

Social climber
West Linn OR
Topic Author's Reply - Dec 10, 2009 - 05:09pm PT
Dave Brower and Joe Specht did the first recorded winter ascent on March 9, 1937 on skis. For some reason there was a wave of patriotic climbing in January 1976 (Bi-centennial). Someone along the way also did it by cramponing up. I need to get a searchable version of the register to find things more easily.
Fuzzywuzzy

climber
suspendedhappynation
Dec 10, 2009 - 11:34pm PT
Guido -

There is a David French who lives in Bishop - old climber type.

Anyone know what aspect Messick skied?
tuolumne_tradster

Trad climber
Leading Edge of North American Plate
Dec 11, 2009 - 12:22am PT
BBA - thanks for posting that photo. I had no idea the original cairn was that tall.

BTW, the 5.9 west face route on Mt Starr King is high quality.
BBA

Social climber
West Linn OR
Topic Author's Reply - Dec 12, 2009 - 05:58pm PT
And if Dave French is a computer user, ask him to take a look here at supertopo and tell us what he recalls about his climb. The stories people come up with are great.
dmalloy

Trad climber
eastside
Dec 12, 2009 - 08:19pm PT
The David French who lives here now teaches at Bishop Union High School and still does some carpentry and other woodcrafting, he works at a shop right down the street sometimes. I know he has done a whole lot of backpacking, but have never heard him talk about climbing. But if I see his truck at the shop tomorrow, I will poke my head in and ask him...
DrDeeg

Mountain climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
Dec 13, 2009 - 01:56pm PT
Guido & BBA,

I knew Dave French in the 60s. Al Macdonald helped me start climbing when I moved to Berkeley for school in the Fall of 62. In the summer of 1963, Al, Dave French, Gary Westernof, and I did the FA of the Northwest Face of the Lost Brother. Gary and I were still beginners; I led just one pitch. It was also my first rock climb with a bivy (although Al and I had done a bunch of descents in the dark -- it wasn't till later that I realized you could finish a climb in the daylight).

Dave moved to the Palo Alto area after graduating, and I ran into him once in the early 70s at one of the bouldering areas on the Peninsula. I left the Bay Area in the fall of 74.

And, since this thread is about Eric Beck during his one-armed recovery period following his fall on the DNB, I remember his arm in a cast with a right-angle bend at the elbow. When eating fried chicken, he could not lick his fingers.

Remarkable coincidence that Eric soloed Starr King one day before Bruce Cooke did it. I am not sure how old Bruce was then, but he was an old guy compared to any of us. At Indian Rock, he would do one of the overhanging routes without using his feet, just letting them dangle while he did a succession of pull-ups and quick grabs to the next hold.

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