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franky

climber
Davis, CA
Feb 5, 2010 - 10:29pm PT
I'm actually in Bishop right now. Drove past you last night after almost getting stuck at travertine hot springs on my way down from kirkwood. Jobless and looking for activities that don't involve me spending money!
Cpt0bvi0u5

Trad climber
Merced CA
Feb 5, 2010 - 11:55pm PT
Cragman this is great stuff! Thanks for posting!
franky

climber
Davis, CA
Feb 6, 2010 - 01:49am PT
Hey thanks for the invite cragman!!! I'll get in touch if I can make it up. Great photos again
Todd Gordon

Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
Feb 6, 2010 - 02:38am PT
One of my favorites...(My bachelor party;...Kings Bottom Campground, Kane Springs Rd., Moab, Utah Tucker Tech and the late Tom Burke

Todd Gordon

Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
Feb 6, 2010 - 11:20am PT
A few of those (dead soldiers) were Grants too.....That was a Sunday to Wednesday supply;....(It was supposed to last all week...but no such luck....)....
slabbo

Trad climber
fort garland, colo
Feb 6, 2010 - 09:27pm PT
me , about to blow off grandma peabody WAY before pads
slabbo

Trad climber
fort garland, colo
Feb 8, 2010 - 04:03pm PT
An old one , maybe '77 or so of my long time climbing partner Tom Callaghan ay Ragged mountain in CT. I think the climb is faceout 5.8 R We were both 17 at the time
MH2

climber
Feb 8, 2010 - 04:41pm PT
So c'mon, let's post 'em here, ideally with some tidbit of info on the shots!

Thanks for taking that ball and running with it, Cragman. A great retrospective and with 15,000 please pace yourself but keep at it.

This is to answer your call and give the prayer wheel another turn.





My first road trip. To Colorado from Oklahoma City. The rock was shiny. Lightning hit near our camp. Couldn't make any sense of how cold the water was in the creek. That's about it for memories. Probably 1954 plus or minus a year.



A few years passed. I was now in Seattle, climbing to the sky.








Then we moved to Toronto.






It wasn't that bad. There was still climbing. The Pumphouse.




My worst climbing accident (to date) happened at the above location. 4 foot fall onto concrete. Broken heel bone.






I also met a kid at the pumphouse. He wanted to climb and so did I.








We took a trip to Devil's Glen, a limestone outcrop in woods north of Toronto. There was a climb called How Elevators Changed Paris. I am still trying to find out how elevators changed Paris. FA David Smart and Michelle Lang.

We also did a 5.8 handcrack called Nutcracker. The kid learned that a handcrack can be secure when wet. While belaying at the top I turned my head and a branch neatly poked one lens from my glasses. It was lost in talus at the base and driving home was weird.





The usual destination for Toronto climbers is Rattlesnake Point.







The kid and I also went to Metcalf Rock. The black flies were bad. We had a head-net for important times like racking up but it wasn't necessary for climbing.

The kid led a climb called Agitez Bien. It goes up a corner and then out left under an overhang. This was the most scared I have ever been climbing. I was belaying on the ground and the kid went up the corner and out left. I could see it wasn't easy for him and it began to look like a fall would smash him back into the corner. My mouth went dry and tasted of gunpowder. You never want to have to explain to a parent how their kid got hurt, maybe died, in the company of a responsible adult/experienced climber. I suspected the kid hadn't told Mom we were going climbing, either.

Agitez Bien
FA Helmut Microys, Eric Marshall
FFA John Kaandorp, Pete "Pass the Pitons" Zabrok (pronounced zaw - brock)









We made trips to Lion's Head. My road tripping had come a ways since the 50s but some things were the same.







Back in the Cascades, climbing was a game where you always had to pay attention. The approach, the climb, and especially the descent demanded alertness. At Lion's Head you walk out a level trail to the top of a limestone cliff, rap down to just above a big overhang, and climb back to the top. When you are done you just walk straight back to the car.


They still try to be careful.


?





The cliff overlooks Georgian Bay, an arm of Lake Huron. The water is usually a blue-green color and from the clifftop you can spot large fish. You get the urge to shout down to fishermen, "Hey, over there!"







Looking back up from the start of a route




From the ground, the reason routes usually start above the initial overhang












A cliff a little north of Lion's Head has The Monument, a roof crack.



No one was on it when we visited, so I had trouble guessing, but I would say it is several body-lengths out the crack to the lip.






The kid really picked up on climbing. He and a friend took a trip out West to Yosemite, JTree, Red Rocks, and other places. They simul-climbed a bunch of long routes. In JTree the kid led what he thought was a new route, placing bolts on lead. As the story was told to me, Bachar chopped the bolts because he had previously soloed the climb. However, the kid talked to Bachar about it around a campfire and each acknowledged respect for the other.

slabbo

Trad climber
fort garland, colo
Feb 8, 2010 - 05:08pm PT
Is that Monument ???? (last photo). The Buildering photo reminds me of my girlfriend (now wife) back around '85 (photo). we were climbing at the MIT outdoor brick wall and she got a bit freaked. So i said 'just hop off, I got you" of course I am barefoot on pavement and her heal makes my big toe go SPLAT ! I mean crushed. Still got married and still are.
hoipolloi

climber
A friends backyard with the neighbors wifi
Feb 11, 2010 - 03:52pm PT
great thread bump
Dirka

Trad climber
SF
Feb 12, 2010 - 01:59pm PT
Wow, super pics. Thanks for posting up!
corniss chopper

Mountain climber
san jose, ca
Feb 12, 2010 - 02:19pm PT

climbinginchico

Trad climber
Modesto, CA
Feb 15, 2010 - 08:27pm PT
Ha, my wife has a photo from my running track days, when I was about 40lb of muscle bigger, and keeps saying, "This is who I married!"
MH2

climber
Feb 15, 2010 - 08:54pm PT
Good storytelling Cragman.

Brought tears to my eyes; mostly humor, a little pain.


An addendum to the Ontario sequence above:
(Yes, slabbo, as far as I know that is Monument)

The Monument seen from below


Reilly

Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
Feb 15, 2010 - 09:25pm PT
" Let's see s'more of what ya got people!!!"

Ok, ok, keep yur pants on!

The Washington Pass area of Washington from back
before there was a highway. There was a road but you
needed 4WD sometimes. It was really special to be there
all by your lonesomes - never ever saw a soul!


Liberty Bell Mt - not too shabby, eh? ('73 or '74)
Yeah, it's that big.



Don Leonard - my main man for a few years - hookin' and bookin'!

mangdangler

Mountain climber
Bellingham, Wa
Feb 16, 2010 - 12:03pm PT
Bulldog in Southeast AK

mangdangler

Mountain climber
Bellingham, Wa
Feb 16, 2010 - 12:06pm PT
Another one of Bulldog and Willie(on top) on Rabbit Ears Spires, Mendenhall Towers, Juneau Icefield.

mangdangler

Mountain climber
Bellingham, Wa
Feb 16, 2010 - 12:10pm PT
Cragman, Bulldog is my partner there, The route name escapes me, it went free at 5.11c or d, we were practicing aiding that day on the wet rock, the start is dependent on the tide, Ive been soaked on that route a time or two..
mangdangler

Mountain climber
Bellingham, Wa
Feb 16, 2010 - 12:14pm PT
Willie is free!

mangdangler

Mountain climber
Bellingham, Wa
Feb 16, 2010 - 12:16pm PT
Cragman.. very chill.. and one of the most peacefull crags ive ever climbed..
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