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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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