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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Topic Author's Original Post - Feb 25, 2010 - 12:56pm PT
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I received an e-mail from a high school classmate a few weeks ago asking me if I would help get the summit register from Lower Cathedral Spire (May 1964 to late 1973) to a rightful place. My friend had received it from a mutual friend from 40 years ago, but no one seems to know its whereabouts for the past 37 years or so.
I will send it to Ken Yager, but I scanned a few pages. It is 80 pages long, 6 inches by 3 1/2 inches, bound memo style pages. Some of the pages, and the cover, are water damaged or have faded ink and I cannot make them out. But the one's I scanned (two pages per scan) are fun to read.
The Lower Spire is not hard to get up and it has to be one of the most spectacular summits in the Valley. It is obviously a great place for a fun outing.
Many of the same qualities as reading SuperTopo. Life was so much slower then.
Summer 1965. Sheridan Anderson cartoon. Ascents by Pratt, Frost, McCarthy
Herbert, Sacherer, Fredricks, Marshick. Bob Ashworth and friends. One of several ascents by Tom Kimbrough.
Jim Madsen with Tom Hargis. Dick McCracken and friends. Roman Laba. Antiwar protest.
Prowar. Oh, shutup!
Ed Leeper, friends and numerology. Alan Ruben and Loyd Price. (Edited with assistance of Alan's eagle eye. See below.) Joe Kesley. The Wilsons.
Lichtman. Richard Hechtel. Pratt and friends. "Beautiful, beautiful fall day" (Maybe also beautiful women.)
Dennis Hennek.
Jani and Steve and Dick and Judy--we were all single once. And Steve is always taking heat for his guide books.
Summer, 1969. Bugs McKeath. Reference to 'Wall of the Early Morning Light."
I have been up there twice in this period and several more times afterwards.
Snow is not always fun!
It is always about a bit of land, a pack of cigarettes, and a girl as Mike White and Michael Farrell point out.
Blessings and Marx.
The cover has writing on it. Anyone have special restoration skills?
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Feb 25, 2010 - 01:25pm PT
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Guido discovered that the papyrus used in the register made for a good smoke.
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Gene
Social climber
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Feb 25, 2010 - 02:00pm PT
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Nice.
June 24, 1967 - Jim Morrison
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scuffy b
climber
Where only the cracks are dry
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Feb 25, 2010 - 02:01pm PT
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Dennis Mehmet and Bruce Morris, too.
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Alan Rubin
climber
Amherst,MA.
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Feb 25, 2010 - 03:31pm PT
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It is nostalgic to see my scawl in there--6/11/'66--with Lloyd Price, complete with our rattler encounters, squeezed in a few days after Leeper and 2 before Hudson, Kelsey, and Meitzler---seems like it was yesterday. Well, my handwriting surely hasn't improved!!!!
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 25, 2010 - 04:29pm PT
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Sorry I missed that Alan. I would never have read Loyd's name in that scrawl. I have seen more names that I recognize as I have read through it again. I will consider scaning the whole book and posting it.
Does anyone know about a movie titled "Barefoot by Moonlight?" John McMain and Eric Ahola have several entries in the last pages related to the making of a climbing movie.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Feb 25, 2010 - 04:33pm PT
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WOW!!!!
Thanks for the history, Roger!
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Happy Idiot
Trad climber
Santa Fe
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Feb 25, 2010 - 05:00pm PT
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Is it curious how a quote from Alice's Restaurant is on a page from 1965??? Or was it added retroactively?
(or, is that passage from something else? yes, I'm a yung 'un).
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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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Feb 25, 2010 - 07:40pm PT
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Under the page marked "Dennis Henneck," you'll see the name "Jack Schnurr."
He taught me the ropes.
JL
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storer
Trad climber
Golden, Colorado
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Feb 25, 2010 - 09:31pm PT
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That's amazing that I'm reading the summit register again and here's a picture of Dick Nelson taken on the climb of the first entry. Thank you!
When you get long in the tooth you really cherish old memories of climbs and friends.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Feb 25, 2010 - 09:54pm PT
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the Alice's Restaurant Massacree purportedly took place in 1965 on Thanksgiving Day. The album by Arlo Guthrie, Alice's Restaurant was released in 1967 and the movie followed in 1969. That entry seems to be a direct quote, it could have been added later...
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 25, 2010 - 10:11pm PT
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Cool picture, Jon.
With the personal connections from Alan, John and Jon--all of which I missed in deciding which pages to scan--I will scan the whole book. What I posted is about one third of the total.
As a guide, I really liked this route. Most of the climbing is easy. But traversing off the giant ledge above all of that air really gives everyone a jolt. Then easy face climbing and you are on one of the best summits anywhere. I guided it many times.
I had one client, a high end investment banker from New York when there weren't so many as now, who wanted to climb the Lower Spire. He was a good climber but was terrified of heights. I warned him that the pitches off the ledge might be impossible for him but he was insistent. I took extra gear to get us down if we were all strung out. I think it took him a full hour to make the first move. He was elated when he got to the top. Great guy.
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 25, 2010 - 10:42pm PT
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I think the "I'm not surprised" at the top of the page and the "I want to kill, kill, kill!! Eat dead burned bodies!" was added later by Bob and Tom Bauman who climbed the "N.E. Chimney route and the crux of the reg. route all done free" on Aug 24, 1967.
It is the same handwriting and in the same pencil.
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Feb 25, 2010 - 10:46pm PT
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Ah Bugs, RIP
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John Morton
climber
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Feb 27, 2010 - 12:12am PT
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Thanks Roger, I hope you are inspired to scan the other pages. So many names not seen for years! I spotted Andy Lichtman, and instantly remembered that Pratt liked to call him "Andrew Dorkus Nauseum". (He was OK, just annoyingly young.)
John
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Feb 27, 2010 - 01:10am PT
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Thanks Roger, for sharing with everyone
If you scan the whole register, I hope it will encourage others to do so as well.
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Scared Silly
Trad climber
UT
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Feb 27, 2010 - 01:18am PT
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Way cool ... great to see a few pictures to match the register.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Feb 27, 2010 - 01:47am PT
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Very nice!
Should there be a statute of limitations or something, on the more embarrassing things we might have written or drawn in such books? Let's just say that not all of it is necessarily publishable literature. :-)
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Salamanizer
Trad climber
The land of Fruits & Nuts!
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Feb 27, 2010 - 02:11am PT
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How incredibly cool...
I always like to read summit registers. I always forget to look for them when I'm up somewhere one might be.
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Feb 27, 2010 - 03:25am PT
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Scared Silly
I can contribute a couple of photos and I am sure there are others out there that can lend a hand to match up the names with the faces and the places.
Ferrell on the right toking
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 28, 2010 - 06:40pm PT
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Cover
Cover and page 1
Page 2 & 3
Page 4 & 5
Page 6 & 7
Page 8 & 9
Page 10 & 11
Page 12 & 13
Page 14 & 15
Page 16 & 17
Page 18 & 19
Page 20 & 21
Page 22 & 23
Page 24 & 25
Page 26 & 27
Page 28 & 29
Page 30 & 31
Page 32 & 33
Page 34 & 35
Page 36 & 37
Page 38 & 39
Page 40 & 41
Page 42 & 43
Page 44 & 45
Page 46 & 47
Page 48 & 49
Page 50 & 51
Page 52 & 53
Page 54 & 55
Page 56 & 57
Page 58 & 59
Page 60 & 61
Page 62 & 63
Page 64 & 65
Page 66 & 67
Page 68 & 69
Page 70 & 71
Page 72 & 73
Page 74 & 75
Page 76 & 77
Page 78 & 79
Page 80 & 81
Page 82 & 83
Page 84 & 85
Whew!
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Feb 28, 2010 - 07:33pm PT
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Oct 17, 1970
Cindy Holmes -> Topless
you go girrrl!
Wonderful stuff Roger. I know two of those old fogeys from 1969 - 1970
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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get the register (thread) back on the summit (page)...
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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It might have been more popular then than now.
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Wow, what a great history thread.
Thanks Roger!!
P.O.D. lost his virginity on the flake pitch
I LOVE that one!
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Thanks for sharing this - many cool names from the past and present.
5/22/71
5.6 Reg Route
Scott Edmondson
Jeffs (first climb) Schoen
Eric
Nice climb. Someday do a
harder route
:-)
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Milkl
Sport climber
San Jose, CA
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Jan 30, 2015 - 09:32pm PT
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This is totally random, and I hope it is not too late to mention, that I watched the movie "Barefoot by Midnight" at Eric's home in California. Eric is my father-in-law's friend from kindergarten. When Eric found out that I climbed, he got all stoked to show me this movie he made (still on VHS).
Let me know if you are interested in getting in contact...
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Jan
Mountain climber
Colorado, Nepal & Okinawa
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Jan 31, 2015 - 12:35am PT
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Thanks for scanning all the pages. So nostalgic to see the names of all those long ago friends.
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BBA
Social climber
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Jan 31, 2015 - 06:33am PT
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Great of you to post the register. I saw an entry for Dave Harvey on 6/29/1968 with several others. He was the guy who got me into climbing. On 5/28/1960 rattlesnakes defeated us on the approach to Split Pinnacle so we switched to the shady side of the Valley and climbed Lower on 5/29/1960, my first climb on my first trip to the Valley over Memorial Day. Got there by Greyhound bus from LA after finals at UCLA.
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PhilG
Trad climber
The Circuit, Tonasket WA
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Jan 31, 2015 - 08:07am PT
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Ditto what Jan said.
I can smell the bay leaves while going up that long, and usually hot, approach.
Thanks, Roger
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Jan 31, 2015 - 11:28am PT
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It would be good to see the early register for Higher Spire as well. Any leads?
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MikeL
Social climber
Southern Arizona
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Dec 19, 2017 - 07:08am PT
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Thx for the bump, Mouse. I never saw this. It's almost made me speechless.
Thx, Roger. Wow.
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Dec 19, 2017 - 08:58am PT
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Mouse
Thanks for the info. I have a friend who used to work as a librarian at the Bancroft. She still lives in SF. I'll send her an email.
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Dec 19, 2017 - 12:59pm PT
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So much has changed in the last half century... but some things stay he same: people still disagreeing about politics and still asking others to get their gear back :)
Maybe prehistoric cave drawings were actually political disagreements, or disagreements about the ethics of spear hunting with bare hand vs the aid of a leather strap.
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