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marty(r)
climber
beneath the valley of ultravegans
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Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 18, 2005 - 12:21am PT
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Time to dust off your dog-eared copies of Mountain, Schlock and Vice, and High. What have been the "essential" readings of your time climbing?
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JuanDeFuca
Big Wall climber
Chatsworth
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Oct 18, 2005 - 12:31am PT
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Largo,
The Only Blas-Phony.
Classic. Tobbins car blowing up.
The time it takes a butterfly wing.
The Rolling Stones - Valley Boys
Juanito
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Russ Walling
Social climber
THIS SPACE FOR RENT
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Oct 18, 2005 - 12:35am PT
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"States of the Art"
Juanito, you should go read this again. It will help you with your quest for a clean lead of Double Cross.
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JuanDeFuca
Big Wall climber
Chatsworth
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Oct 18, 2005 - 12:42am PT
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Anyone have that photo of Lynn hanging off the Innsomnia Jug?
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WBraun
climber
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Oct 18, 2005 - 12:54am PT
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Ed I read a passage from That "1972 Chouinard Equipment Catalog"
Interesting ........
Equally serious is a moral deterioration. Armed with ever more advanced gadgetry and techniques the style of technical climbing is gradually becoming so degraded that elements vital to the climbing experience - adventure and appreciation of the mountain environment itself - are being submerged. Siege tactics, bolt ladders, bat hooks, bash chocks, detailed topos and equipment lists, plus a guaranteed rescue diminish rather than enhance a climb.
Even now existing techniques and technology are so powerful that almost any climb imaginable can be realized, and the fear of the unknown reduced to rote exercise.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Oct 18, 2005 - 12:57am PT
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yes Werner, I read that in 1972 and it deeply affected the way I thought about climbing, and still do...
I have the copy that was mailed to me free upon a request to Chouinard Equipment. Amazing that they stayed in business as long as they did.
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WBraun
climber
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Oct 18, 2005 - 01:04am PT
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That was a very good catalog. And I found the pack that Bev Johnson was making back in the day.
The Jensen Pack.
Mine lasted till the eighties
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maculated
Trad climber
San Luis Obispo, CA
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Oct 18, 2005 - 02:31am PT
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The only climbing article I've ever read that's affected my life was written about Largo and it was just a little blurb by him, but since then it's affected my life and thought processes a great deal - but has nothing to do with climbing. Does that count?
:)
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misty of the mountain
Social climber
San Dimas, California
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Oct 18, 2005 - 02:34am PT
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Yea it probably counts.... but what was it about and how did it effect your "thought process"?? So I can be sure it counts!
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Lambone
Ice climber
Ashland, Or
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Oct 18, 2005 - 02:45am PT
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"Staying Alive"
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maculated
Trad climber
San Luis Obispo, CA
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Oct 18, 2005 - 04:01am PT
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He said something off hand in the article about overachieving being an addict behavior. I'm an overachiever, so I was curious as to how it was. Thanks to the Internet I got to ask him about what he meant and the rest is history. : D Gotta read more Aalmas, and the like, though. Soon, soon . . .
It was nice finding out that the inklings I'd had about self improvement and awareness were actually something that people have organized teachings about - not alone out there in my feeling that there's more to life than action-reaction.
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426
Sport climber
Wartburg, TN
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Oct 18, 2005 - 11:17am PT
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Largo. "Three Little Fish"
Jaybro. "Lucille"
For me...
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Ca
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Oct 18, 2005 - 12:02pm PT
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I learned to climb by reading the Coonyard catalog. Sure changed the face of climbing. Add in Robbins' Basic and Advanced Rockcraft and one needed nothing else. I see people getting guided instruction now days and just laugh, you immediately know that they lack one of the key ingredients to be a good climber - initiative!
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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Oct 18, 2005 - 01:20pm PT
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"the innocent, the ignorant, and the insecure: the rise and fall of the yosemite decimal system" -- ascent magazine, bridwell
"the whole natural art of protection" - '72 GPIW catalog, doug robinson
"state of the art" and "art of the states" -- max and mark's two-parter in mountain mag -- got a lot of people psyched to train harder...
"the guidebook problem" -- dave roberts, panel discussion in ascent magazine
"the games climbers play" -- ascent mag, lito tejada-flores
"night driving" -- mountain gazette, dick dorworth -- best essay on the lifestyle EVER.
"the only blasphemy" -- so short, seems almost tossed-off, but it still resonates quite loudly all these years later.
"brave new world" -- bridwell, mt. mag -- opened my eyes, period. rocked my world. i started doing a lot of pull-ups...
"middle cathedral commentary", mt. mag -- the best of the "commentary" series, and a seminal read that heavily influenced my love affair with all things middle cathedral.
i know i'm missing a few, but i've read each of these 100+ times, so they must mean something to me...
last, and best of all: "the greatest climber in the world", mt. magazine, i think, by bernard amy. still THE essential climbing read for me.
i know i'm missiing a few others...
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John Vawter
Social climber
San Diego
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Oct 18, 2005 - 01:44pm PT
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The Climber as Visionary, Robinson
runners up
The Whole Natural Art of Protection, Robinson
Eleven Domes, Roper
Smiley’s Last Climb, Robin Smith
On the Profundity Trail, Doug Scott
The Messner interview in Mountain
Brave New World, Bridwell
P.S. BVB's pick Night Driving! I forgot about that one. Read it many times. What happened to Dick Dorworth?
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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Oct 18, 2005 - 01:59pm PT
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Dorworth is staiil around, still writing, at leats he was as of 6 or 7 years ago.
the messner interview was titled "the murder of the impossible", and was when he coined the phrase "today's climber carries his courage in his rucksack" (referring to bolts). classic stuff. published right after he lost his toes on nanga parbat and his future as a climber was in question. little did they know...
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Oct 18, 2005 - 02:29pm PT
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The Innocent, the Ignorant, and the Insecure, Bridwell,1973 Ascent
-required reading for anyone doing a first ascent and rating it
The Only Blashphemy -Largo
- it enters my internal dialog every time I solo
An article in 'Off belay?' about climbing Tulgy Wood @ Devil's Tower by a guy from Duluth, he describes his own Internal dialog while climbing his biggest climb-"They died so young."
This guy got it down right!
The Diary of the Soloist Climber, Jeff Long (?) '72(?) Ascent -surreal
-Doroworth has published in Mountain Gazette in the last year or so
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wildone
climber
right near the beach, boyeee (lord have mercy)
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Oct 18, 2005 - 10:25pm PT
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Everyone (almost) has mentioned the '72 catalogue, but didn't this man:
write the influential article in that catalogue, on clean climbing?
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Roger Breedlove
Trad climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Oct 18, 2005 - 11:05pm PT
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Is that Doug Robinson? Looks like the East Side.
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Roger Breedlove
Trad climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Oct 18, 2005 - 11:12pm PT
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Just caught this--"middle cathedral commentary", mt. mag -- the best of the "commentary" series, and a seminal read that heavily influenced my love affair with all things middle cathedral.--from bvb's post.
Thanks for the compliment.
All the best, Roger
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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Oct 19, 2005 - 12:11am PT
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roger, i can quote passages from that article from memory. the photos of freewheling, quicksilver, east butt, and the writing that to this day evokes everything that makes middle stand out, unique, from every other crag/wall/formation in the valley...
no, thank you, sir.
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marty(r)
climber
beneath the valley of ultravegans
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 19, 2005 - 12:22am PT
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Yabo's obituary by J. Long
"Poontanga" by Geoffry Childs, and "Janus" (the article with all the b/w photos of 'Death and Transfiguration') by Bob Godfrey from Ascent, 1976
*Actually the whole mag is rad--Chris Jones on North Twin, Rowell on Mt. Dickey, and that classic shot of Robinson at the "get right with god" crack at Mill Creek Station oustide Bishop.
"Justification for an Elitist Attitude" by Marc Twight
Krakauer's profile of Fred Beckey for Outside. Most classic line, "ummm, ummm, not bad...even if it does look like horse dick!" F.B. describing free samples at a grocery store. second best line, "In the morning, Fred is a bundle of aches and wrinkles with legs. It hurts to see him move."
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can't say
Social climber
Pasadena CA
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Oct 19, 2005 - 12:26am PT
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bvb, I ran into Dorworth in Sun Valley ID, a couple of years ago on a ski trip. He's writing for the local paper in Ketchum and looks healthy and skis as great as ever.
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WBraun
climber
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Oct 19, 2005 - 12:31am PT
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And he "could" ski, he was the coach. Taught me a lot. Great man! (Dorworth)
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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Oct 19, 2005 - 12:33am PT
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cool, pat. the guy is amazing writer.
marty(r), for the longest time i had that soliqouly that largo wrote taped to the filing cabinet netx to my desk. aimed straight from the heart, and breaking the heart at the same time.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Oct 19, 2005 - 01:40am PT
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For those who would like to see some of the above mentioned articles:
Breedlove, Roger, "Middle Cathedral Commentary":
http://www.supertopo.com/images/temp/MiddleCathHistory.pdf
Bridwell, Jim, "Brave New World", Mountain #31, 1973:
http://www.stanford.edu/~clint/yos/brave.htm
NIAD experpt from Jim Bridwell's, Climbing Adventures, ~1998.
http://www.stanford.edu/~clint/yos/nosebrid.htm
Hill, Lynn, "El Capitan's Nose Climbed Free", AAJ, 1994:
http://www.stanford.edu/~clint/yos/nosehill.htm
from the website: http://www.larsonsworld.com/library/articles/mnt_gazette_retrospective.html
We careened along the Idaho/Nevada desert night, through Contact, Wells, Elko, Battle Mountain, Winnemucca - drinking, eating, pissing, laughing and talking our way into some of the first, full-on-but-faltering-steps toward knowing ourselves - and sometime in the morning, after the harsh sun had turned the just-dark land into a glaring sea of changing desert colors, which brought out the shades, we gave our friend Jim Gilbert his worst moments of the trip. Somewhere around Lovelock we emptied the last glass bottle of the case we front-seaters had between us. At this point, we had been driving for about ten hours, drinking for eighteen and awake for nearly thirty; and our fifteen- and sixteen-year-old minds must have seemed pretty strange to our back-seat friend, completely sober and the elder at seventeen. We called to the back for the second case of beer. Jim didn't like that at all, but he eventually passed it over. This presented us with more than fifty bottles in the front seat, since there had been a few beers besides the cases, half of them empty. A crowded situation. Warren, blond and chubby, with an uncombed flattop, saddle shoes, Levis and a T-shirt, peered silently through chic prescription shades into his own endless highway, puffing on the constant cigarette of his habit. As the driver, he had the heaviest responsibility; and it takes a lot of concentration to destroy yourself and still keep things on the road. No company there at the moment. Gilbert, trustworthy and a friend, was on an entirely different track. What to do? What to do? What to do with yourself and a front seat full of empty bottles when you're fifteen years old and blasted out of your brains and barreling down the great American highways of being a teenager in the 1950s when you know - even though you are on your way back to your boyhood home - you know because you can feel you are going to spend long, hard miles on these endlessly lost asphalt paths that appear to lead everywhere but end nowhere and answer nothing because there is no time to change on that lost highway taken by the human mind sighting down a hood ornament at a world moving by so fast it can only be aimed along, never perceived or touched or felt or merged with or learned from. Even at fifteen, you know there are lots of dues to pay on the roads of America and the rest of the earth before the last key is inserted in the last ignition and turned on for the last, last time.
 Dick Dorworth, "Night Driving: The Invention of the Wheel and Other Blues"
"I understand the only blasphemy -- to willingly jeopardize my life, which I have done, and it sickens me..." -- John Long
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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Oct 19, 2005 - 01:51am PT
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"Dance of the Woo Lee Masters" -- Yikes!
BTW, thanks for the references to the Bridwell (and other) articles. Does anybody have a reference to:
"the innocent, the ignorant, and the insecure: the rise and fall of the yosemite decimal system" -- ascent magazine, bridwell
Thx...
:- k
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Oct 19, 2005 - 02:15am PT
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"Does anybody have a reference to:
"the innocent, the ignorant, and the insecure: the rise and fall of the yosemite decimal system" -- ascent magazine, bridwell"
Just grabbed it out of the other room
"Ascent-A Sierra Club Mountaineering journal" Volume 2, No 1 July1973
Glad to look at it again, a great B&W collection of classic Offwidths accompany that peice: 1096, The Owl, Pratts crack, Moby left, Crack of Doom. That article seared itself into my brain before I ever even thought about climbing an Ow. I had those photos of Outer Limits runing through my cranium, first time I did that one, though.
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slobmonster
Trad climber
berkeley, ca
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Oct 19, 2005 - 10:46am PT
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"Running Stairs," a little piece in _Climbing_ in the early 90s by Jeff Long (I think) afforded me a perspective I don't think I would have grasped alone, at least at the time.
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aldude
climber
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Oct 19, 2005 - 03:42pm PT
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TRICKSTERS and Tradionalists by Tom Higgins,AAJ.The truth will set you free!
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sr
climber
Bay Area, CA
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Oct 19, 2005 - 04:45pm PT
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Dick Dorworth also gave a very moving tribute to Galen and Barbara Rowell at their memorial service in Bishop.
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LittlePinkTricam
Trad climber
Providence, RI
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Oct 19, 2005 - 04:48pm PT
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Thanks you all so much!! There goes my schoolwork for the next few days...
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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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Oct 19, 2005 - 05:02pm PT
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The Lonely Challenge, Herman Buhl
In its own way, the '72 Chouinard catalogue also influenced me (then 18) because it seemed to distill and frame a kind of climbers lifestyle by melding both surfing culture (close to me growing up in So Cal) with Yosemie Big Wall 'tude. Now the copy seems a little smug and preachy but I enjoyed the sermon at the time--a sort of "ain't we cool" vibe that felt rightious as a teenager.
JL
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Oct 19, 2005 - 05:28pm PT
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Yeah that '72 catalog, the cover, and the guy doing a front lever in Dachstein mittens, always stick with me. After reading that, and advanced rockcraft I pretty much gave up on pounding pins on free climbs.
Nice Rolling Stones, & Pablo Casals quotes, too.
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maculated
Trad climber
San Luis Obispo, CA
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Oct 19, 2005 - 05:37pm PT
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Ohhhkay - what's it going to take to get a girl to see this magnificent catalog?
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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Oct 19, 2005 - 06:18pm PT
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i'll show you my copy anytime, you red hot chili mama you.
or, alternatively, they go for about $100.00 these days, depending on the condition. chessler gets 'em in once in a while.
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maculated
Trad climber
San Luis Obispo, CA
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Oct 19, 2005 - 07:00pm PT
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Rwwwoooowwwwr, baby. I may have to make a trip to Flag one of these days. :)
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Ca
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Oct 19, 2005 - 07:43pm PT
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Just ask John if you can see his.
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Oh, not that one!
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Oct 19, 2005 - 07:51pm PT
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ain't no Big Thang, but you can borrow mine if you promise to send it back, send me a pertinent e-mail.
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marty(r)
climber
beneath the valley of ultravegans
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 19, 2005 - 10:34pm PT
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ClimbAZ has a looong tribute to the 72 Chouinard catalog at :
http://climbaz.com/chouinard72/ch_cover.html
If you happen to be around Boulder, Neptune has a copy on a lanyard for folks to check out.
Sometimes East Side Books in Bishop gets in old copies of Ascent and Mountain. I've picked up several great editions there. Beats the hell out of eBay.
Um, Mountain 106 with the shots of Mike Geller OWing in San Diego, and Charles Cole's piece on Queen of Spades will make you shake for hours.
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the Fet
Trad climber
Loomis, CA
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Oct 28, 2005 - 02:38pm PT
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Five Days and Nights on the Lost Arrow. Anton Nelson. 1948
Not only did this climb shift climbing from a summit mentality to a 'it's how you do it that counts' mentality and usher in rock climbing as opposed to mountaineering in America; the article addressed many of the ethics/style issues we still argue about incessantly.
Some excerpts:
Justification for the use of expansion bolts is not required on a climb as the Arrow. They are a waste of time, however, as a ladder up just any sheer cliff. They are never a substitute for pitons. Their use is fair, it seems, when one is bridging a holdless, flawless, high-angle rock face on sound rock to a place where pitons or holds can again be used.
Bombproof belays were in order and unprotected leads of more than 10 or 15 feet were out of order...the leader would take a controlled fall and go right back to work.
Danger must be met - indeed, it must be used - to an extent beyond that incurred in normal life. That is one reason men climb; for only in response to a challenge does a man become his best. Yet any do-or-die endeavors are to be condemned. Life is more precious than victory.
One thing that in not an adequate motive for climbing; this is egotism or pride. Yes, most of us who climb usually play to the crowd, as such an article as this may demonstrate. However, mere self-assertion alone has a low breaking point. The keep going day after day under heart-sickening strenuousness requires a bigger, more powerful faith than in oneself or in any concept of superiority.
Human limitations are indeed more serious than the natural ones to be faced.
End excerpts.
Also the circumstances of the first ascent party are inspiring. Two former competitors joining together to make an ascent of the Arrow, in good style, starting at the base of the wall. That to me is the Spirit of Yosemite. Competition driving standards and accomplishments ever higher with animosity taking a back seat. It's kind of like speed records today. When someone beats someone elses speed record, the first party now has an even loftier goal to aspire to. Bitchin' if you ask me.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Nov 24, 2007 - 07:49pm PT
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In this thread I learned of the existence of the Dick Dorworth essay "Night Driving; Invention of the Wheel & Other Blues" and tried to find a copy. Even emailed the current editor of Mountain Gazette all to no avail...
....thanks to [url="http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=483648&msg=483689#msg483689"]TKingsbury[/url] in the "How Long Does it Take to Drive to South America" thread I learned of the new anthology of stories from Dick Dorworth. It came soon after I ordered it (like 2 days!) and so far it has been a wonderful read.
The essay itself "Night Driving; Invention of the Wheel & Other Blues" is evocative of every long night drive I have ever taken... a sort of moving meditation technique, as the world slowly closes in around you, light failing, and your partners dozing off into sleep, the lights of the dashboard, the reflectors on the road beating their optical rhythms, the music playing, and time unfolding as you guide the projectile on its path...
...anyway, you should get the book and read it, cover to cover...
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marky
climber
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Nov 24, 2007 - 08:26pm PT
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can't recall exactly, but mayb someone remembers the article in which L-T Flores or maybe YC wrote about the "super-alpinist" who would develop his skills in Yosemite and then export them to the greater ranges
also, an article on Mendel-north face published in some defunct publication
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slobmonster
Trad climber
berkeley, ca
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Nov 24, 2007 - 11:39pm PT
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Jeff Long's "Running Stairs" still haunts me.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Nov 24, 2007 - 11:49pm PT
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What was that trilogy of articles in Climbing back in the seventies called something like "Climbing Reconsidered" and had Taylor's Kilimonjaro epic, Scott and Bonnington's stroll down the Ogre, and a third happy story I can't remember right off the top of my head. I believe it was in the same issue that had some extreme skiing obits. That trilogy is way up there for me...
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mojede
Trad climber
Butte, America
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Nov 25, 2007 - 12:09am PT
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I'm influenced by anything that gets me motivated to go into the unexplored regions of my area and find/climb new stone.
So far it's netted me over 15,000 vertical feet of FA in the A-B wilderness. Always looking for the next inspirational read.
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Jim Wilcox
Boulder climber
Santa Barbara
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Nov 25, 2007 - 12:19am PT
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Yosemite Climber
I'll admit that I like to look at the pictures ;)
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Nov 25, 2007 - 12:43am PT
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[copied out of Ascent 1973. I'll post more soon]
THE INNOCENT
THE IGNORANT
AND THE INSECURE
The Rise or Fall
Of the
Yosemite Decimal System
By Jim Bridwell
Downtrating the difficulty of climbs is an insidious and debilitating practice, but it is not a new game in the climbing world. Its history is long, but it has recently gained new popularity in Yosemite Valley. The reasoning behind downrating varies, but the results are the same, a breakdown of reliability in the basic climbing language.
Practitioners of downrating fall into three main types: the innocent, the ignorant, and the insecure. We are not too concerned with the first because of its rarity. The second can be cured through education. The third is extremely difficult to remedy, as it is based in a fundamental emotional immaturity; its roots are in the instincts of all individuals.
The Yosemite Decimal System (YDS) is founded upon the accepted ratings of individual climbs by the founding fathers of the system. In order to have a system, it is necessary to respect the ratings that form its foundation. Units of time are not changed because some people run the mile faster than others. Chaos would result if everyone’s watch had different length minutes. It is not possible to rely on a rating system unless order is maintained within it.
Granted, rating a climb is relatively abstract. Fair rating of a climb implies a moral obligation, on the part of the climber, to consciously be as accurate as possible. A climber who downrates is stating that he is better than another climber. It is a practice as old as the first war. If a climber says a climb is 5.9 that another climber says is 5.10, then the first climber must be better. This is an example of individual competitive climbing.
Group pride, or the pack instinct, exhibits itself when an entire area is downrated. The climbers here are better than the climbers there, because the climbs here are rated harder. Some climbs in certain areas are rated 5.10 or 5.10+ though they have been climbed only once or twice, after innumerable attempts by one of the area’s foremost climbers. This could be a gross mistake, or it could be a gross ego-trip.
The most common motivation behind downrating is protection of the downrater’s self-image. Avoid the ridicule of having one’s climbs downrated. Downrate first and be safe. This type of game causes its most dedicated players to fool even themselves. Move rating is an outgrowth of this syndrome. Breaking a pitch into individual moves and rating the pitch by the hardest move is nonsense. A hundred foot lieback with no move over 5.9, but none under 5.8, and with no place to rest is not a 5.9 pitch!
At present 5.10 and 5.11 are the most abused ratings. This is because these are the most prestigious free-climbing categories, and also, because they are the most vulnerable to anatomical idiosyncracies.
[……..to be continued…..]
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Nov 25, 2007 - 10:00pm PT
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Thanks, Ed
You've got 'em all there. Nice!
My copying's not wated, though. I'd been rereading Jim's piece a month ago, appreciating it as bold and clean; typing it out was a good meditation.
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Jello
Social climber
No Ut
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Nov 25, 2007 - 10:05pm PT
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"Climber As Visionary", Doug...when you gonna finish the book?
-JelloWantsToReadIt
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Nov 26, 2007 - 02:03am PT
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it was meditative for me too.... and a different way to learn the pieces...
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Tomcat
Trad climber
Chatham N.H.
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Nov 26, 2007 - 07:30am PT
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'72 Chouinard...yes! Still fun to tell Tradchick about those wooden shafted Zeros,the pine tar and klister and wool mittens.Quite a departure.I recall reading about chalk,but not knowing the purpose at the time.
Not an essay,per se,but CLIMB Colorado affected me deeply.I spent perhaps a hundred hours studying every aspect,every climb,every climber,every rack.
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Watusi
Social climber
Newport, OR
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Nov 26, 2007 - 07:39am PT
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I saw at the beginning of this thread that Juan de Fuca mentioned "Valley Boys" from Rolling Stone...It was kind of funny...
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ontheedgeandscaredtodeath
Trad climber
San Francisco, Ca
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Nov 26, 2007 - 12:40pm PT
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An article about climbing in N. Az. published in R&I circa 1987. It included topos of sandstone spire climbs in Sedona, which I, a newbie college boy climber hacking it out on 5.8s at the overlook, did not know existed. These mysterious climbs, put up by low key and hard climbing locals, captured my imagination and changed the direction of my climbing.
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Nov 26, 2007 - 01:38pm PT
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Hi Jeff,
The Alchemy of Action is stalled but not forgotten. I've been making films, which you know is a black hole for time and attention, though fun and seductive -- such a powerful medium.
Filmed last summer on a brilliant new route on the South Face of Half Dome pushed by Sean Jones and Sarah Watson. Article with good photos in the next Rock & Ice, due out next week or two. I'm excited about the piece, since it sweeps up 40 years of history of the whole backside of the Dome -- everything but the NW Face.
So I've been writing a lot this year, like working the script for Half Dome. That film includes a lot more than the South Face FA. I have good interview with Royal about the 1957 FA of the NW Face, footage of both his partners and their homemade pins, and Bridwell yarning the FA of the Snake Dike. Both of those climbs are in it. So is a chunk of the material from the Alchemy book, about why climbing gets us high.
Every week or so I add a little writing to the Alchemy book. It gets closer, but honestly isn't a priority right now. Making a living, you know...
But...I want to read it too! Back to work...
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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Nov 26, 2007 - 11:31pm PT
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The 72 opus.
The hammer became an unused and soon to be discarded appendage after that.
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Jello
Social climber
No Ut
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Nov 26, 2007 - 11:38pm PT
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Well, Doug, I do understand. My own project: THE ART OF RISK, has been simmering and boiling over in fits and starts for years, now, too. Still, you've always inspired me in word and deed and thought. When the ALCHEMY OF ACTION finally sees print, i know the wait will be worth it.
'Til then, toil on, lad, toil on. Just like we all must do.
-PatientJello
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Nov 27, 2007 - 12:02am PT
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Thanks, Jeff
Can you tell us a bit about The Art of Risk?
Sounds a bit similar. Guess you could call mine "The Reward of Risk." The literal, perceptual, juicing-up-brain-hormones, gettin' all excited and paradoxically serene at the same time.
Which aspect(s) of risk are you working?
Just An Excitable DR
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survival
Big Wall climber
arlington, va
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Nov 27, 2007 - 09:41am PT
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Tom Patey, couldn't agree more. So much clever stuff.
The Solo Man Gambit is great. "The tension traverse was a bit thin.....a rope would have been useful" Ha!
The Ice Man Ploy- A humorous friend of mine used it for half a summer in the Valley.
The Chossy Climb Ploy- Nothing is up to his standards....
The Too Much Like Hard Work Ploy
The Responsible Family Man Ploy- "Can't take the same risks, wouldn't be fair to the kids..."
Good stuff for us old timers! We've all known those guys. (or been those guys!)
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Festus
Mountain climber
Enron by the Sea
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Nov 27, 2007 - 01:06pm PT
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Vertical World of Yosemite, and everything in it.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Sep 16, 2009 - 09:30pm PT
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this should make another round
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
Boise....
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Sep 16, 2009 - 11:06pm PT
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Whoa.
Some damn good shizz there.
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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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Sep 16, 2009 - 11:20pm PT
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Bump for good shizz to quote: "Captain or Skully"
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Sep 17, 2009 - 02:57am PT
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Sorry I'm late to this one, but I just saw it.
The introduction to the 1964 (Red) Roper Climber's Guide to Yosemite Valley will always influence me, probably because it was the first one I read about modern Yosemite climbing. His discussion of the philosphy of climbing still stands the test of time.
I think DR's article in the 1972 Chouinard Equipment catalog, together with various ones from jstan, influenced almost everyone who started climbing before 1972. The speed with which clean climbing took over is a testament to the strength of their arguments, writings, and lives (I don't think we'd have followed them if they didn't practice what they preached).
Bridwell's "The Innocent, The Ignorant and the Insecure" in the 1973 Ascent remains highly relevant today.
"The Murder of the Impossible" by Messner and "The End of the Mountains" by Chris Jones also remain important and relevant today.
Robbins' articles on soloing the Muir Wall in Summit and the AAJ (two very different ones) inspired a love of soloing in me that I retain to this day.
Finally, Patey's brilliant "The Art of Climbing Down Gracefully" is one whose study would surely benefit me now.
Thanks for the thread.
John
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TomCochrane
Trad climber
Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay
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Bump
Growing up in the Idaho Sawtooths established love for the mountains
Disney's movie 'Third Man on the Mountain' tantalized
Herman Buhl's 'Lonely Challenge' inspired
'The White Spider' educated
A National Geographic article on national parks contained a map with a tiny name 'Exum School of Mountain Climbing'...my first inkling of climbers in this country (I went to the CCC Camp at Jenny Lake and met Gill, Fitchen, and Robbins; but never had direct contact with the Exum School)
Climbing with Gill, Royal, Jane Taylor, Chouinard, Margaret Young, Sacherer, Baldwin, Powell, Kamps, Higgins, Fredericks, Schmitz, and Kor confirmed climbing as a way of life
Returned to lonely challenges...
Making the 'Solo' movie with Hoover told my story without words
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