The Great One

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Anastasia

climber

hanging from a crimp and crying for my mama.

Nov 15, 2010 - 05:37pm PT

Nope Ron, I haven't. LOL! It sounds so extremely "interesting" that I just might pass on that.
AFS

wbw

climber

'cross the great divide

Nov 15, 2010 - 05:40pm PT

Being an Eldo guy, I've done a bunch of Mr. Kor's routes. I've also done some of his desert climbs and have always been amazed at the lines he was picking off so long ago. I believe the general public has an exaggerated view of how wild climbing is, but take a look at a Kor route and I think it typifies what the average Joe would imagine as a rock climb: steep beyond belief, and right up the center or wildest feature.

The first time I met The Great One, it was from a distance. I had just finished Rosy Crucifixtion, and as I topped out on the Upper Ramp I noticed a very long climber on the fourth pitch of Ruper. He waved to us, and as I recovered from the impression that I was hallucinating, it dawned on me that I might just be seeing God.

the albatross

Gym climber

Flagstaff

Nov 15, 2010 - 06:27pm PT

That was a fun climb with Layton on the Spire of Fire last May. In the photo he was amping up to lead the last pitch to the summit. Leave it to Kor to bag the tallest spire in the area. Ron remember how he got up at first light and started ambling up towards the tower? I think he waited an hour for the rest of us to arrive at the base.

Layton loves fishing and talks about it often. Not sure if he is into the fly side, but know he is still aggressively chasing down the fish. I know he would like to have more fishing partners.

It is great reading what a tremendous impact he has had on so many folks.

Albert

Toker Villain

Big Wall climber

Toquerville, Utah

Topic Author's Reply - Nov 16, 2010 - 10:26pm PT

He tries to pretend it doesn't tick him off when I tell him it isn't hard for me to reach his bolts on the SFWC.

N0_ONE

Social climber

Utah

Nov 16, 2010 - 10:53pm PT

Awesome Ron!

So glad you invite me along on these outings!

Clint Cummins

Trad climber

SF Bay area, CA

Nov 17, 2010 - 01:59am PT

> He tries to pretend it doesn't tick him off when I tell him it isn't hard for me to reach his bolts on the SFWC.

Unfortunately when somebody replaced the bolts on the Kor Roof of Washington Column South Face in the 80s, they added extras, so it's a lot easier to reach between those. Maybe people had suffered enough by then? :-)
When I did it in 1988, the old ones were still in place just to the left, but I didn't try to use them - looked way hard to reach and I'm 6'.

But you probably did it well before that, Ron.

I heard a cool story from Chris Kaiser about somebody who tried it in the mid-70s. He just couldn't reach the bolt at the lip, after cinching up on everything, etc. So he wrapped a sling around his wrist and clipped an oval into it, then commenced to swinging back and forth and trying to lunge for the clip. After some tries, the biner caught. But his body kept swinging out and he found himself hanging by the wrist sling with one arm from the lip bolt, his aiders back out of reach on the previous bolt. Twisting in the breeze.... Somehow he managed to get his wrist out and went for the plunge....

Toker Villain

Big Wall climber

Toquerville, Utah

Topic Author's Reply - Nov 17, 2010 - 04:28pm PT

May, '76

The trick is T-ing off from the 1.5 steps.
Made it with almost 2" to spare. I seem to recall he used those Gerry "flip top" hangers.

Just spoke to him.
Last week he wanted to go climbing by Vegas, but now he is on a course of antibiotics not doing too well.