Ron Fawcett's

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Messages 1 - 28 of total 28 in this topic
klk

Trad climber
cali
Topic Author's Original Post - Feb 24, 2010 - 01:44pm PT
new book is out in March. There's a decent excerpt over at UKC:

http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=2495
nature

climber
Tucson, AZ
Feb 24, 2010 - 02:39pm PT
bump... cuz it's climbing related.
Norwegian

Trad climber
Placerville, California
Feb 24, 2010 - 02:45pm PT
we're sorry.
the finer aspects of a domestic life should be bludgeoned.
otherwise adversity is not allowed her fair and sustaining position within us.

thank you ron for tipping the horizontal on it's side and then treading those paths of ascension.
bhilden

Trad climber
Mountain View, CA
Feb 24, 2010 - 02:48pm PT
I remember when Fawcet climbed Strawberries at Tremadog. That was big news back then.

Bruce
Norwegian

Trad climber
Placerville, California
Feb 24, 2010 - 03:21pm PT
because if you're not living in the absurd,
you're fooled.

if you haven't noticed, the status quo... the accepted norm... the soft feathery thing that's supposed to be reality....

is only a song.
Norwegian

Trad climber
Placerville, California
Feb 24, 2010 - 03:32pm PT
speaking from experience here folks,
from within. not from with-out.

i limped thru college on 5 dollars a day... voluntarily.. in america.
i lived in my vehicle beneath the concrete interstate... voluntarily...in america.

i handbuilt my first house with no power or hydraulics... voluntarily...in america.

we homebirthed our children... no western medicine... voluntarily in america...

we housed my deceased father-in-law... for a week... voluntarily... in america...

hmmmm.. that's all. as far as the rest.. im purty much thick blooded murican..

well, i had no heath insurance for years.... and traveled the byways with significant injuries and held only fortitude's hand thru those... in america... voluntarily...

THIS IS A SICK COUNTRY WHOM BELIEVES EXCESS TO BE NECESSITY, AND WE, AND THE WHOLE WORLD SUFFERS FOR OUR MIsinterpretations....


hey, go and buy ron fawcets book...
i will soon as my beer buzz subsides and i analyze my finances...
Peter Haan

Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
Apr 4, 2010 - 09:42am PT
I am sure it is worth buying and worth a read. Ron Fawcett was an amazing Brit climber and with Livesey had considerable influence in the Valley as well. Very very bright and incisive. Great to see the book out, thanks!
squatch

Boulder climber
santa cruz, CA
Apr 4, 2010 - 04:23pm PT
bump for climbing
Largo

Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
Apr 4, 2010 - 08:50pm PT
Very good read from a seminal free climber. RF was a legend.

JL

BG

Trad climber
JTree & Idyllwild
Apr 4, 2010 - 10:54pm PT
Peter Haan

Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
Sep 14, 2010 - 10:34pm PT
Here's our man this year:

Jaybro

Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
Sep 14, 2010 - 10:40pm PT
"Ronald, I am fatigued."
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Sep 15, 2010 - 06:49pm PT
Nice portrait of the Bodymachine, Peter!
Thomas

Trad climber
The Tilted World
Sep 15, 2010 - 07:21pm PT
Good question, Randisi.

I know that Fawcett is a legend, but who has read the book and gives it two thunbs up?

I am a sucker for climbing literature and will likely buy the book, but I ask because I recently got burned on the Huber book...

There are only so many pennies in the piggy bank.

Cheers!
klk

Trad climber
cali
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 15, 2010 - 08:05pm PT
it's not deathless prose, but it is engaging. i wouldn't rank it with the classic climbing memoirs.

if i had limited funds to spend on books, i'd probably buy either of the two big bios jim perrin has done before i'd purchase this autobiography.
Peter Haan

Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
Sep 15, 2010 - 08:56pm PT
Agreed, Klk, but thankfully, our libraries might be able to take a few more. Perrin in my opinion and obviously yours as well is really really good and quickly becoming an international treasure. I shall be unfaithful though and will read Fawcett right away too; I found the man extremely cool. He was not quite as cool as Livesey but then who was?? Pete was the ultimate Brit and both Pete and Ron were just stunningly good climbers bitd.
donini

Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
Sep 15, 2010 - 09:04pm PT
What's he writing about, Fell Running? Livsey and Fawcett failed on Overhang Overpass shortly after I did it. Livsey claimed I couldn't have done it- interesting in that I never climbed with him until I went to England a few years later. Have always thoroughly enjoyed climbing with Brits with the exception of Pete. Unlike most Brits he had the personality of a fire hydrant- taciturn, glum and sarcastic. Never really got to know Ron.
edit: Peter, I found Pete the ultimate non-Brit. Rouse, Carrington, Minks, Mo Antoine, Cunningham, Mc Hardy etc. were the ultimate Brits. They all had great senses of humor and could laugh at themselves.
klk

Trad climber
cali
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 15, 2010 - 09:11pm PT
. . . our libraries might be able to take a few more.

heh

im giving paperbacks away and hardbacks are soon to follow. literally not enough room here or at the office.

never met fawcett. i'm sorry now that the few days i had in the peak i didnt just cold call him. but my schedule was messed up (like the weather).

the way things are nowadays, he'd have done his first autobiography at age 29 and he'd be on his 4th or 5th by now. messner has written like 6 of them. bonington, etc. everyone does their life in installments. pretty soon the teenagers will be publishing their autobiographies.
BG

Trad climber
JTree & Idyllwild
Sep 18, 2010 - 09:16pm PT
couchmaster

climber
pdx
Sep 19, 2010 - 07:52am PT
Nice high stepping picture!
duncan

climber
London, UK
Feb 5, 2013 - 12:10pm PT
Some classic Ron Fawcett films have just appeared on UKBouldering / YouTube:

Thread

[Click to View YouTube Video]

[Click to View YouTube Video]

[Click to View YouTube Video]
Peter Haan

Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
Feb 5, 2013 - 12:50pm PT
You might query why you and I had diametrically different experiences of Livesey. Denz was another character that exposed this difference between you and I.
Rick A

climber
Boulder, Colorado
Feb 5, 2013 - 02:42pm PT
I am enjoying the book, especially the observations on people I have known and the other characters active in British climbing at the time.

I never knew Fawcett or Livesey so won't comment on the Donini/Hahn disagreement, but I'd be pretty incensed too if someone questioned me like that.
donini

Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
Feb 5, 2013 - 02:57pm PT
Peter, i would bet that we would be in agreement about most climbing issues and people. We do seem to have had opposite experiences with Livsey and Denz. They were both formidable climbers with strong personalities.....i applaud you for having had good experiences with them. They are no longer with us but both left their mark....each in his own way.
jaaan

Trad climber
Chamonix, France
Feb 5, 2013 - 03:35pm PT
I think you're wrong about Livesey, Jim. He had the driest, most mischievous sense of humour of any of his contemporaries. His writing reflects this beautifully. Maybe it was the fact that he wasn't an architypal (I'm thinking along the lines of the Whillans model here) Brit?
Rudder

Trad climber
Costa Mesa, CA
Feb 5, 2013 - 03:36pm PT
Probably in one of the posted videos or mentioned elsewhere, but one of my favorite lines from one of his old videos was:

"Me' arms! Me' arms!"

We still say that all the time. lol
Peter Haan

Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
Feb 5, 2013 - 04:50pm PT
Yeah we apparently did have very different experiences of Bill and Pete. Exactly my point and an opportunity, Jim, to consider why especially when so many found Pete to be so splendidly witty.

Ricky, put a hat on it; Do know that Jim and I are very old friends; since 1969-1970 and do not fool around when we chat.
Marlow

Sport climber
OSLO
Jun 11, 2015 - 10:08am PT

The Fingertip Phenomenon (1984)
[Click to View YouTube Video]
Messages 1 - 28 of total 28 in this topic
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