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djsulli
Boulder climber
Truckee
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Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 3, 2010 - 10:24pm PT
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... Would anybody have the topo for Smoke Blanchards rock course at the B'milks?
thanks!
//DJS
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amfibius
Boulder climber
Reno
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Oct 16, 2010 - 11:42pm PT
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anybody?
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herm
Trad climber
Bishop
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Oct 16, 2010 - 11:45pm PT
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maybe easier to get Becky's little black book.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Oct 16, 2010 - 11:58pm PT
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I believe it is exclusively a wetware item.
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tom woods
Gym climber
Bishop, CA
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Oct 17, 2010 - 11:26am PT
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Doug Robinson still knows it I hear. The late John Fischer knew it. Both of these guys have shown a lot of people, but I'm not aware of a topo that exists outside of people's minds.
It could be out there, and at this point, maybe someone ought to write it down.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Oct 17, 2010 - 11:37am PT
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Oct 17, 2010 - 11:56am PT
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Yeah, DR totally knows it and even is maybe going to write something on it soon.
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BooDawg
Social climber
Polynesian Paradise
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Oct 17, 2010 - 02:55pm PT
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The day after DR's first wedding (1972), Smoke took a small group of us on a portion of his “Course.”
Following Smoke Blanchard through The Course was a very lovely combination of walking and easy climbing(up to about 5.5) which we could do unroped, so we got an excellent workout without having to bother with all the clatch of climbing. We wandered all over the maze of the Buttermilk, and it makes me wonder what the best way to create a guide to “The Course” would be, whether or how a traditional topo could actually work. Most topos are vertical “maps.” However, I think The Course will need to be mostly a horizontal map where various “pitches” are located along The Course which is so convoluted that the traditional way of making a map would take forever and not be accurate.
My thought on this is that DR (and friends) could do the entire course with a GPS unit that is laying down a “track” as they proceed along The Course. At each climbing section, a waypoint could be made and a description of each climbing section is recorded, perhaps most easily by using a digital audio recorder which would record the conversation among the participants at the top (or bottom, if it were a down-climbing section) of each “pitch.” The audio recordings could then be transcribed, either by hand or perhaps using voice-recognition software. After all the data is gathered, the track and waypoints could be downloaded into a GIS program, and a map could be made there.
I have both a GPS and a digital audio recorder, and I’d LOVE to spend the time necessary with DR to help create such a map-topo. But I probably won’t get back to the East Side until next year…
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Oct 17, 2010 - 02:57pm PT
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great pix
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The Wedge
Boulder climber
Santa Rosa & Bishop, CA
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Oct 17, 2010 - 03:15pm PT
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THere was a description of it in the Eastside Magazine about a year ago.
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Brian
climber
California
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Oct 17, 2010 - 06:40pm PT
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I've wondered this for most of the 28-29 years I've been climbing, or at least since I heard of it. Once upon a time my wife, then girlfriend, and I would camp at the Buttermilks pretty regularly and I'd climb around imagining where it might go. Later, when I spent a few seasons living out of the car and spent a bunch of time on the Eastside, I put together my own walkabout/climbabout route through the Buttermilks, but never did have anyone offer to show me Smoke's course.
That being said, even as someone who as never done the course and very dearly wants to, I'm not sure I'd be psyched on a GPS trail map for it, or even a topo. I definitely think it should be saved for posterity, but I'm not sure a GPS-Supertopo is the way to go about it. Kinda removes the mystery and all.
Just my two cents.
Brian
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Oct 17, 2010 - 06:42pm PT
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Well done BooDawg!
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Oct 17, 2010 - 07:08pm PT
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Right on Brian
Boo-I am going to take your GPS away from you. Bad bad boy.
"We don't need no stinkin GPS and no stinkin topo." Where's the mystique, adventure and agony?
I do love the photos of DR first wedding-great time by all and I remember the garbage cans were turned upside down and percussions ruled the night away. Then there was DR second wedding and then the third and............................... .....................................
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Oct 18, 2010 - 12:06am PT
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'Shud be scribed on parchment, treasure map style.
Mebbe' kept in one of those puzzle box-rubic-cube-type hard to open thangs...
... & resting shotgun style at a dive bar in the seedy quarter of the forgotten city.
(Tom's place evun, or, better... a ramshackle garage, tucked intah 'old Studebaker glove box out in Benton)
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Doug Tomczik
climber
Bishop
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Oct 18, 2010 - 01:08am PT
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Some people know sections of the course. The entire course takes all day and I don't know of anybody who remembers it entirely. That being said, the chimneys, slabs, and jumps are all still there...go out and link them. But please, no GPS or detailed topos. Buttermilking isn't an objective, there are no stopwatches or record books. Access the area without an agenda. Roam around under the last rays of the setting sun or go about the full moon scramble. Let the spirit of buttermilking guide you even if the course is locked away in the recesses of faded memories.
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BooDawg
Social climber
Polynesian Paradise
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Oct 18, 2010 - 01:14am PT
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The Wedge: Can you post a link to that article? Was it merely a description of its existence?
Brian and Guido: We are forever caught between the opposing goals of preserving our heritage for posterity and removing the mystery and adventure from climbing. For those who want that preservation (DR?-After all, it’s probably up to him!), I merely offered a relatively simple and accurate way to achieve that goal. For those who want the mystery and adventure, leave the route-map behind and go and have fun!
Doug: Good writing! I'm with you!
My biggest fear is that eventually there will be a trail of chalk laid down upon The Course by those who can’t climb without it, psychologically, who think it’s “too hot and my hands are sweating,” so they need to rely on chalk, rather than their own inner resources, to make them feel more comfortable with the climbing. That’s reason enough NOT to make a map of the course because that would destroy the mystery and adventure. The chalk trails are bad enough in most of the popular bouldering areas in the U.S., including the Buttermilk. I guess I’ve talked myself out of this project. I think it’s best if people learn The Course the way DR, and John Fischer learned it, by being guided there by someone who knows it. Or the way Smoke learned it, by exploration and adventure. Thanks Guido!!
Want more photos? OK!
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Oct 18, 2010 - 01:36am PT
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Chinchen
climber
Way out there....
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Oct 18, 2010 - 01:57am PT
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I for one would LOVE to go on Smokes course and would be proud to carry it on the way it should be, by passing it on by the action of doing.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Oct 18, 2010 - 01:14pm PT
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I as well would love to take a run through the Grade IV Buttermilk Scramble.
111 SUSHI FEST !!!
Of course, Doug Robinson will lead, (if he does not get WAY-laid en route to the event) while the rest of us will engage the approach blindfolded, so as to preserve the arcane and devoutly sequestered course plot ...
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Oct 18, 2010 - 01:24pm PT
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The Wedge
Boulder climber
Santa Rosa & Bishop, CA
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Oct 18, 2010 - 01:26pm PT
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BooDawg, I will see if I can dig it up. It may be on the eastside mag web site or you may be able to contact those guy there and they can get it too ya.
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426
climber
Buzzard Point, TN
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Oct 18, 2010 - 01:26pm PT
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Cool stuff, one can always "make it up as you go along" out in those hills...we often did, looking for actual "routes" out of the old blue east side guide.
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karodrinker
Trad climber
San Jose, CA
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Oct 18, 2010 - 01:35pm PT
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I've got a course I do through Castle Rock State Park. Hell of a workout, just runninig around and 3rd classing easy stuff. The Buttermilks look perfect for it.
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Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Oct 18, 2010 - 01:50pm PT
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Great thread. I've always been curious about the course too. It almost saddens me to say this, but given the crowds, trash, posing, pads you now see at the Milks on many weekends, I'd be against putting it out there. Sadly, too many in the sport now seem to have a playground attitude toward the crags and don't feel a need to preserve or protect. A pity really.
Anyways, great to see photos of guys you'd always read about like Mort Hempel, etc. More please.
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Oct 18, 2010 - 01:54pm PT
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A lot you guys know about my checkered past. Jeez! That was my SECOND wedding...
But who's counting?
Nice photos Boo! Rare to see Hempel. That's a treat. I remember an intense evening of talking with him around then, in the bar at Whiskey Creek. (Not the current bar. For those of you new to Bishop since the 70s, the old Whiskey Creek bar was kinda like the old Mountain Room Bar in the Valley, an airless room with Naugahyde booths.)
Your shots bring that day roaring back. It was an honor to have Pratt marry us. Also kind of a necessity. Heidi kept going back and forth between us until I didn't trust her instinct to marry me. So I asked Chuck to be the officiant. But then because Chuck was there she wouldn't sleep with me on our wedding night. Not an auspicious start for #2. And I can imagine my 17-year-old saying, "TMI, Dad."
I like your shot of Smoke leading up the Big Slab pinnacle. Jaybro will remember that just last month we were debating which of the three chimneys Smoke took. Photographic evidence, just in time.
While I certainly agree we should toss out the GPS, a lot of folks seem to appreciate seeing exactly where Smoke's ingenuity wound his course through those rocks. After all, it took him years to develop. Years! Years when he was kind of lonely, being the only climber in Bishop.
I'm impressed by the groundswell of new interest in Smoke's Rock Course. I go through it with a bunch of climbers each time now, and everyone seems to want to hear the tales of what Smoke called each segment, and the stories he would tell about incidents along the road toward building his Rock Course.
For instance, how the Mercedes Boulder got its name is a popular story. Smoke didn't write that one down. And how the Atlas Boulder, which Smoke came close to calling "impossible" (actually he knew far better than to use the term), had a FA by Okies.
And then there are guys like Marty Hornick, who has wandered the many hectares of that bedrock maze so thoroughly he has his own little private spots and personal passages throughout. And he is basically against guidebooks. But then Marty had put up thinly protected 5.11s in the Alabama Hills, boldly leading off from small wires and not reported them, only to see modern climbers come along and bolt 'em up. So now Marty too is eager to find out just where Smoke took the Rock Course. And to see it published.
So I feel like it's worth resurrecting Smoke's line through those rocks. It's pretty ingenious. And the more I look for it these days, the more I discover that while the conscious memory is often erased, somehow my feet seem to know where to turn even when my head is lost.
Maybe it's one of those Lessons in Life. Anyway, I'm sure having fun searching for it, teasing out the old line. And enjoying the company of other pilgrims, eager for a taste of Smoke's style, his vision of Mild Mountaineering.
It leads to a string of climbers winding through the maze of rocks. Jaybro's shot from the back of the group tells part of the story. What you can't see in his photo of descending The Owl is that we had just loafed and told stories for half an hour on the summit, then broken out the rope -- a slightly updated version of the traditional "Smoke's String" -- where we each in turn tied in for a belay down a blind 5.9 move with a death fall if you blow it. Even the baddest first ascentionist of the first 5.13 OW was happy to accept a TR on that bit, just as the great Chuck Pratt, himself the cutting-edge OW wizard of his day, once humbly accepted a belay from Smoke, himself, simply because The Master had suggested it.
I know I'm loving this surge of interest in reviving the Rock Course. Enjoying as much as Smoke ever did the company, laughter and wide-ranging chat that flows so naturally out there. Also the technical standard. Smoke's so-called "mild mountaineering" turns out to be stout. Hard mantles. Relentless exposure. Technical chimneys. An exposed 5.8 OW variation that we roped up for, and are now wondering if it was an original part of the Rock Course. Or not. Smoke had his own variations, and he was hip enough as a guide to the abilities of his followers on any given day that I know he would vary the Course accordingly.
And, yes, I'm writing about this retro-revival, and wondering whether it means anything in the larger scheme of Climbing Itself (what happened to the bouldering craze, anyway? Or is this just a thing for old farts?). And, yeah, how do we record a thing like this? That article in Eastside Magazine certainly showcased the new interest -- and gave us a glimpse of John Fischer working to revive the Rock Course -- but it had no details about where it actually goes. Topos certainly won't work. They're better adapted to the vertical, and work for more of a single monolithic face.
Actually, it's not entirely old farts out there. Tai takes time out from putting up 5.12s in Pine Creek to focus on the Rock Course. And the last time through Miles and Amy showed up. Twenty-somethings, they are clearly the resident guns of the Whitney Massif right now (also pumping out the delicious fries at the Whitney Portal Store). For instance, they spoke of simul-climbing the 17-pitch East Ridge of Mallory (13,770'), which is a Grade V, 5.9, and running down in time for another shift of flipping burgers. It's hard to lure them away from Lone Pine, but mention Smoke's Rock Course and they show right up.
Cool!
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HighTraverse
Social climber
Bay Area
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Oct 18, 2010 - 02:11pm PT
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Well at first I was not in favor of GPS'ing it. I'm still not. Was even against documenting Smoke's course. By the way, I didn't get to do it when I was out at Buttermilk last year for Highball when Doug led a group.
Doug, you've convinced me it should be "documented" but I also hate to take away the adventure. What about a photo documentation? Photos from key points along the way. Rather like a photo in a magazine of any other long climbing route. Except a series of pics because you can't see it all in one photo. And leave out drawing the route on the photos.
It's not like a long rock route where if you get off route there may be consequences.
I presume anytime you get lost on Smoke's route you're not really lost. Would probably be a good idea to make a note of the 5.9 OW death fall as a good place to belay. But please don't put in ratings.
Otherwise let us wander around. Keep the adventure alive. It might take someone a week to put it all together for themselves. So much the better. What's the hurry?
If you also wrote a "guide" with the pics I'll be you'd be able to sell it in the shops around town. Maybe SuperTopo would sell it online as an edocument so you it doesn't have to be physically published.
Or possibly to Alpinist. Or a submission to AAJ. Rather than a traditional guide, don't tell us where to turn left or look for the hidden hold. Tell us instead the stories. Keep the traditions alive.
Fred Glover
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Chinchen
climber
Way out there....
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Oct 18, 2010 - 02:20pm PT
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Doug, I'm even more inspired now! Please let me know when you plan to be in town again, I would be honored and so stoked to follow you!
Jason
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HighTraverse
Social climber
Bay Area
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Oct 18, 2010 - 03:24pm PT
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gf
I too like the idea of the oral tradition. However all tales get altered in the telling. The oral tradition will continue to evolve even if it get's written down at some point. I'd like to see a historical snapshot of Smoke's Course route and stories.
I think there's a whole lot of climbing been done on the East Side that could be better documented. SuperTopo of course is recording a great deal but in a disorganized manner. Almost like an oral tradition but with an audit trail.
I really hope ChrisMac has this site regularly and reliably backed up offsite and has made it possible for someone other than himself to get access to those archives. There are some wonderful historians contributing here. I can't begin to name them all.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Oct 18, 2010 - 03:37pm PT
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That day was so much fun, Doug. It was great to scramble around and get to talk with you more.
Of course anyone could go out there and scarmble around and find fun/sppectacular feature link up. But it its fun to try to follow where someone who was into it has gone before, to think why you might go a certain way, back then in Pivettas, or kronehoffers, when back in this century Acopa Scramblers, want to find their own way.
i'd love to spend more time there exploring and aproxiamting the key.
Doesn't someone have a moderate to severe special ed job waiting for me, somewhere on the eastside?
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Oct 18, 2010 - 08:13pm PT
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We gotta get together and grovel, wallow, tiptoe, mumble, chatter and dance our way over this thing.
It would be an occasion well suited to a high order of merriment!
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Oct 18, 2010 - 08:15pm PT
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^^^^^^^
word
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Oct 18, 2010 - 08:40pm PT
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August 17th 2011?
Too hot?
May?
September???
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nutjob
Trad climber
Berkeley, CA
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Oct 18, 2010 - 08:47pm PT
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I think heat tends to create more intimate experiences in nature. Fewer heads punctuating the landscape, easier to blame the hallucinations on heat rippling off the desert floor, and more of a feeling of accomplishment to survive until the evening when the desert sunset looks all the sweeter casting its warm honey amber glow.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Oct 18, 2010 - 08:59pm PT
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I too like the idea of the oral tradition. However all tales get altered in the telling. The oral tradition will continue to evolve even if it get's written down at some point. I'd like to see a historical snapshot of Smoke's Course route and stories.
Yeah, oral tradition tends to change. Nice post and a nice summation of the issue. "Fixed texts" are rare in oral tradition. But then, I'd also be skeptical that Smoke's course was originally a fixed text. I'd wager it developed and changed over time.
Honestly, the photos with all the trains make me a bit queasy. On the one hand, I think it's wonderful that a larger world is discovering Smoke or even taking some interest in the sort of circuits that were popular back in the last century. On the other, it makes me a bit anxious to drive up to the Milks and see 3o to 4o cars and the hillside crawling with pad ants. With a bit of work, we can polish up the Smoke circuit the way we've polished up HIdden Valley classics.
I love DR's writing and would love to hear more from him on all sorts of things, including Smoke. But I'm not crazy about the idea of a Supertopo for this particular bit of history. It's not like it's an impenetrable mystery. Folks really want to work it out, it's not like they can't. It would take some work. But so what? Part of the nice deal about the original is the thought process that was involved in puzzling out the route.
I'd leave this one alone.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Oct 18, 2010 - 09:03pm PT
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That's the spirit Nutjob!
Ha !!!
I won't in this case, however, be leaving blame for my hallucinations to something so haphazard as heat rippling off the desert floor ...
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Oct 18, 2010 - 09:12pm PT
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November ?, 2010?
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Chinchen
climber
Way out there....
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Oct 18, 2010 - 09:44pm PT
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November it is.
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Brian
climber
California
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Oct 18, 2010 - 11:20pm PT
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Glad to see some others share my general concerns about how this is passed along.
And I'd be super psyched to be allowed in on the course next time Doug take folks through. Like I said, I've been wanting to do it for decades now. And while I had a blast exploring and imagining on my own, it would be something special, after having read and heard so much about Smoke, to walk and climb that path. So, if folks are game, keep me on the list.
Brian
I'm out of town the first weekend in November, but after that...
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tom woods
Gym climber
Bishop, CA
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Oct 19, 2010 - 12:21am PT
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I've wandered around a bunch on that hill. There's a lot of ins, outs, and what have yous on the dome.
I bet the course could be described with a start point, an end point, and a few key features along the way. The key features could have stories attached to them.
Then let folks have at it. If they get it wrong, who cares. If they get it right, all the better.
I bet it won't be as popular as people think, but for those that want the info it will be there. For those that know portions of the course, they might learn a few new things.
Can people who really want to know the course still find the info? Can they figure out the names of things and maybe the story behind the names?
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BooDawg
Social climber
Polynesian Paradise
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Oct 19, 2010 - 05:51am PT
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Seems like there's general agreement on how to proceed with The Rock Course...
And the last of the pix from Doug's wedding:
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Oct 22, 2010 - 02:09pm PT
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Thanks, Adam I will indeed look into it. I was on Edjoin today and it didn't show...
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F10
Trad climber
e350 / Bishop
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Oct 26, 2010 - 10:55pm PT
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bump for the good stuff
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BASE104
climber
An Oil Field
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Oct 27, 2010 - 12:30am PT
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Hey Doug,
I have an idea. Jaybro knows Pamela Pack, who is a cartographer. Maybe we could figure out some groovy way to map it without it getting too numberized and all that.
Hell, I make maps myself. But they are a mile to four miles underground. Same principle, though.
And dude. I need to get with you for some wine repayment...and wine bouldering. Sam just turned 18, will be flying the coop soon, and I am all hot to go buy a wingsuit.
My how time flies.
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waharry
Boulder climber
AR
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Wow. I'm jazzed, with the pic's and the names I haven't heard in years. I just happened along this site when I did a google search for Smoke. You see, I was born and raised in Bishop. My family were neighbors and good friends of Smoke and Su. I say my family because my mom and Su were really close. Bob, Smoke's son and my older brothers would hang together as kids. I grew up wandering around Buttermilk, bouldering and naming rocks with my friends and brothers. It's truly a delight to know that the foothills are an admiration to so many people. My mom and two of my five brothers still live in Bishop. My older brother Ed still boulders and wanders Buttermilk when work isn't getting in his way. I must make a pilgrimage back to Bishop soon to regain that spiritual feeling that the Eastern High Sierra can only give. Thanks for rekindling my spirit and love for Buttermilk.
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Hey Base Man,
Underground maps, eh?
You know, we get 50-80 feet deep in chimney-tunnels out there...
And that's without even trying. Tunneling along master joint plane, as it were. Then there are a few water-sculpted elevator shafts -- quite beautiful -- that no one seems to be bold enough to have led.
Wine, yes! Smoke made a point at times of bringing white wine for the ascent, red for the summit. But then we need to whittle down the 1500 miles between us first.
Glad Sam is launching. Tory too. A couple of hours ago I bailed him out of locking his keys in the car, and he thanked me with a bottle of homemade raspberry beer.
Those wingsuits look like the sh*t. I wanna watch.
Cheers!
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Mammoth job filled, but they anticipate more openings in Sped!
I will talk with 'the tiny Dancer' about her dry ground mapping skills.
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surfstar
climber
Santa Barbara, CA
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Feb 17, 2012 - 12:27am PT
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Good read bump and with a photo courtesy of Bruce Willey via Mountain Project, captioned "Doug Robinson 'skindiving' on a tour of Smoke's Rock Course."
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Feb 17, 2012 - 02:49am PT
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GPS is problematic... brought mine along last trip and didn't get a useful path...
my guess is that the best way to mark it with GPS is to just run it when your up on the ridge, but even there the signal scatter seemed to be difficult to deal with...
so we're probably safe...
Doug was talking about a route card
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schwortz
Social climber
"close to everything = not at anything", ca
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Feb 17, 2012 - 02:54am PT
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thanks for bumping this up
heading to bishop tomorrow....often wondered about smokes rock course....just a plus one here for people who'd love to be guided through it sometime....wandering on one's own has its own rewards....but there is something to the historic experience and storytelling of another era as well...as much as i'd like to have someone show it to me...i'm not sure i'd like to see a guidebook for it...that would just ruin the mystery a little too much
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Klimmer
Mountain climber
San Diego
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Feb 17, 2012 - 04:03am PT
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Combining classic GPS, images, and topo would would work to get a fairly accurate rendition of "The Smoke's Buttermilk Course."
Sooo who's gonna do it?
I would like to do the route. Having it guided would be awesome but c'mon will that happen with every-one's schedule? Probably not.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Feb 17, 2012 - 11:12am PT
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A topo of Smoke's course would go against Smoke's very philosophy of life, wouldn't it?
don't know, by his own account it took him a couple of decades and a half to develop the course, and then he was happy to guide people through it... it could be passed from person to person in the same manner, and it could be left for people to discover themselves... but reading his book:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=1383032&msg=1633469#msg1633469
it would seem that there were few constraints regarding the course: "I must hasten to add an important message: the Buttermilk Course has always been just for fun. We have but one rule: don't fall off."
My own experiences with obscure climbs is that many people express a desire to have the adventure, but few actually act on that desire.
There is a lot written now, and many images produced of the course if you search around on this site to put together a pretty good day... here's one that I had on the course back in October:
http://vimeo.com/34451549
even with that treatment, I doubt it gives much away...
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Doug Tomczik
climber
Bishop
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Feb 17, 2012 - 12:45pm PT
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I think it is worth noting a couple points. Firstly, nobody, that I am aware of, remembers the entire course. Secondly, Smoke pioneered multiple variations to the route, with the route in its entirety rarely buttermilked.
For those that are interested, Eastside Mag published a short article about the course a few years ago. It was a write-up by someone (Marty Lewis, I think) about his foray with John Fischer and others. The article included a Google Earth image showing several of the summits.
If you have not read Smoke's book, "Walking Up and Down in the World - Memories of a Mountain Rambler," I highly recommend it. The book is out of print, but is not that hard to find.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Feb 17, 2012 - 12:54pm PT
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I find it instructive that those who knew Smoke and know The Course have not published a topo of it.
Some things are meant to be handed down companion to companion , not on a written page.
Like a metaphor of life, there's no straight path and we each have to work through the twists and turns in our own way.
Nothing stops anyone from going and working out their own variation of it. Might take you a dozen tries. Smoke didn't work it out all in one go.
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t-bone
climber
Bishop
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Feb 17, 2012 - 01:00pm PT
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It's cool to read about the history, but I think some are making it out to sound way more complicated than it is.
Just connect the highest points. The path of least resistance is a fun and easy adventure, and I bet you are on "Smoke's Course" most of the time.
Other than learning the historical names a "topo" is kind of pointless.
Good fun to explore back there.
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jfailing
Trad climber
Lone Pine
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Feb 17, 2012 - 01:36pm PT
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Some things are meant to be handed down companion to companion , not on a written page.
Amen - I think the rock course should stay this way.
With that said, I'd love for someone to show me!
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Klimmer
Mountain climber
San Diego
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Feb 17, 2012 - 01:48pm PT
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Ed,
Thanks for that video. Good job!
Yes, I suppose I could scrape together all notes, images, videos, Google Earth it, etc. etc. and come up with somewhat of a close rendition. I understand that there are many variations. I have his book.
I understand the reluctance for someone to not give away the keys. Hey, I'm a master at keeping my mouth shut and not giving away my favorite private "fishing holes" in the climbing world. I have participated in that game and continue to do so, and for good reason. Some places you just don't want to see changed or to allow them to change very slowly to minimize impact and to be able to share it privately with friends for as long as possible.
But we all know where "The Buttermilks" are. It isn't secret. It would be nice to know a fairly accurate course. In a way it wouldn't be that much different than giving someone a prescribed list for your favorite bouldering circuit at a well known hardman climbing local like Woodson or Rubidoux. Yes, I realize there are those who even covet that kind of information. Just ask a "Stonemaster" for a great list for their personal and favorite bouldering circuit for Rubidoux that they have worked-out over the years. Lol.
I hear the sound of crickets.
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Batrock
Trad climber
Burbank
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Feb 17, 2012 - 03:50pm PT
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How about blue bots dots every 10 feet?
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michaeld
Sport climber
Sacramento
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Feb 17, 2012 - 08:15pm PT
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I'll be in the buttermilks tomorrow morning...
It'd be cool to do this course.
Anyone ever done or heard of Petch's course at Lover's Leap?
Something about a birth canal...
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Feb 17, 2012 - 08:39pm PT
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I think Vedauwoo needs a course (coarse?) like that.
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KabalaArch
Trad climber
Starlite, California
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Feb 19, 2012 - 09:31pm PT
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A neighbor of ours retained a local guide service to lead him through the course,or at least one of its variations.
Apparently, some long jumps are required to clear chasms. One of these found him flatfooted. He tore out both Achilles tendons, and wore a boot brace contraption for the better part of a year.
How about blue bots dots every 10 feet?
Now that you mention it my wife and I, then my g/f, accepted some bad beta, when our HS buddies recommended the Sargant's Ridge as a feasible route for an ascent of Shasta - we were only 15, 16.
Sargant's leads up the climber's right of the old Shasta Bowl Ski area, still in existence at that time. It leads, well out of the way, I'd add,to what later maps have assigned the placename "Shastarama Point," on which I was to spring hike and sskie, many years later, with one of the new ski area's partners, up from the east slopes, after a lengthy traverse from the Everret Memorial Hwy's snowline, up to the Konwokation Glacier.
Anyway, this line took us all day to get nowhere. But what kept leading us on to the proper ridge and gulley leading up to Red Banks, were these tiny red dots, every 30 to 50 feet, along the natural line of these ridge tops. Subtle, too, about 1/8" in diameter, at consistently placed at fairly uniform intervals. These trail blazes, on one of our very first mountaineering episodes, left us completely sandbagged, forcing our retreat.
Vengence was to be ours the following summer, when we opted for the correct route on that aspect of the Mountain. We were rewarded for our 10:00 am alpine start with one of the most spectacular alpenglow sunsets we've ever seen from any summit.
Unfortunately, we didn't make it back to the car until 3 am the following morning.
So much for the "Red Dot Route."
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Feb 19, 2012 - 09:53pm PT
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Did he buy the Brooklyn bridge, too?
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bubble boy
Big Wall climber
Mammoth, CA
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BUMP for getting off the chalked holds!
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MisterE
Gym climber
Being In Sierra Happy Of Place
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Aug 28, 2015 - 07:37am PT
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Went on this last year with Tai and others - Tai has added some fun variants at the start of the course.
The chimneying section (pictured with Doug) definitely made me glad I was roped up!
Great video, Ed - I know most of that crowd!
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NicoleRowellRyan
Social climber
Plymouth, CA
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Aug 22, 2016 - 01:01pm PT
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I was at that Buttermilk wedding of Doug and Heidi back in 1972. I was a little kid, but I remember it well. It is so cool to see the photos of my Dad from back then. I don't remember seeing these before. Thanks for sharing them.
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