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Disaster Master
Social climber
Born in So-Cal, left my soul in far Nor-Cal.
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Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 29, 2010 - 02:27am PT
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Years ago I worked as the climbing buyer / dude at Adventure's Edge in Arcata, Ca. A lot of Earth First-ers came in for gear and advice on how to climb and save the trees without dying.
I sold one dirt-surfer a discounted pair of Titanium Ushba Ascenders. He asked why they were so cheap. I told him (as a joke) that they were made from the melted down hulks of russian subs and were radioactive from the nuclear reactors that were on board.
I guess he thought I wasn't joking. The next week people started asking how I could carry such radioctive gear in good concience! People who owned the things wanted to return them! It took a lot of explaining and when I said I started the rumor, most people did not believe me. They thought I was covering up the facts! Ha, ha, ha.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Nov 29, 2010 - 02:58am PT
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Humboldt!
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michaeld
Sport climber
Near Tahoe, CA
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Nov 29, 2010 - 05:29am PT
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Tony Bird one of them? :D
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Captain...or Skully
Big Wall climber
leading the away team, but not in a red shirt!
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Nov 29, 2010 - 07:25am PT
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Stupid radioactive ascenders!
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Nov 29, 2010 - 07:54am PT
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Tube chocks were made from control rods for nuclear reactors.
Chalk is ground up sport climber bones.
You don't even want to know what's in Red bull™!
By accident? No, I don't think so.
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Madbolter
Big Wall climber
I used to be hard
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Nov 29, 2010 - 02:01pm PT
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I bolted Double Cross.
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Ihateplastic
Trad climber
It ain't El Cap, Oregon
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Nov 29, 2010 - 02:12pm PT
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I often repeated a story Bachar told me about Deuce on the SFHD. The story always got rave reviews. After about a year I asked Deuce for more details. turns out it was only 80% true... that other 20% was pretty cool though!
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WBraun
climber
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Nov 29, 2010 - 02:51pm PT
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Yabo had these jumars once and he asked me what I thought about them.
I eyeballed them thoroughly and handed them back to him.
Then with a serious straight face told him I see some hairline fractures.
LOL Hahaha
He walked away looking for those hairline fractures ......
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deuce4
climber
Hobart, Australia
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Nov 29, 2010 - 03:56pm PT
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My favorite was how I described in the Big Wall Tech Manual about how to "X-em, Rock-em, Paste-em, and Sniff-em" when placing heads. The "Sniff-em" part was a joke --"if it stinks, get off it!"
Then the Mountaineers in Seattle completely plagiarized my work in the 5th Edition of Mountaineering, Freedom of the Hills. They took the "Sniff-em" part literally, and described in detail how a bad copperhead would emit some sort of special odor.
I wrote to the Mountaineers, one, to complain about the unacknowledged and blatant rip-off of my written work (about 20 pages of Freedom of the Hills was my work, paraphrased), and two, to point out to them their ridiculous error. I never heard back from them.
For years afterward, I heard climbers talking about the special odor of a bad copperhead! Even by some experienced wall climbers who had actually placed a head (not like the plagiarizers at the Mountaineers, who had obviously just rewritten my work without any real knowledge of aid climbing).
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Disaster Master
Social climber
Born in So-Cal, left my soul in far Nor-Cal.
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 29, 2010 - 07:58pm PT
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Then the Mountaineers in Seattle completely plagiarized my work in the 5th Edition of Mountaineering, Freedom of the Hills. They took the "Sniff-em" part literally, and described in detail how a bad copperhead would emit some sort of special odor.
OMG!!
I remember that. I remember distinctly reading that in Freedom of the Hills. Made no sense then. Now I understand.
Any more, anyone?
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Nov 29, 2010 - 08:15pm PT
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I didn't get that one, upon hearing the litanny out loud from a Fishy source,until Freddie rolled his eye and mentioned something about it being a euphemism.
I learned to look at everything in climbing and life itself, differently, and more poetically, after that...
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Disaster Master
Social climber
Born in So-Cal, left my soul in far Nor-Cal.
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 29, 2010 - 08:28pm PT
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Avalanche Poodles, for sure!
Yeah, I've been ripped off too by An 'Author' at "Fakin'", er, I mean Falcon Press.
I ended up at the Salt Lake OR show in a wheelchar with blue hair, arguing with the publisher to pull the guide. Threatened to go to the industry newspaper. They pulled it.
Post on!
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BooDawg
Social climber
Polynesian Paradise
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Nov 29, 2010 - 09:34pm PT
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Climbing limericks are mostly rumors tho there is often some basis in fact.
For example:
There once was a climber named Bridwell.
When climbing grade ones, he did well.
But on a grade six,
He got in a fix,
And rappeled to the talus and hid well.
This limerick commemorates an attempt on Camp 4 Terror (Grade 5, BITD). And Jim certainly didn't hide after coming off it. (BTW, I did not compose this one.)
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Nov 29, 2010 - 09:44pm PT
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Boodawg, that's a good one. Hadn't heard it before.
heh
Now, Tami, as fer yer "Well I started the Avalanche Poodle thing"
that's just an outright lie and malicious slander. Everyone knows that avi poodles, were know to exist in ancient mussypotamia. The ancient cuticleform tablets spell out in detail how to use hemp to secure the avi poodle when crossing the snow fields of Mt. AreWeFat.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Nov 29, 2010 - 09:50pm PT
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I thought it was;
There once was a climber named Bird
Of who many rumors were heard
Like the starlet all leggy
Discovered by Peggy
And why all her clothes he then burned
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go-B
climber
Revelation 7:12
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Nov 29, 2010 - 10:34pm PT
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Did you hear who just freesoloed the Nose?
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Spider Savage
Mountain climber
SoCal
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Nov 29, 2010 - 10:45pm PT
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I read that "sniff the copperhead" thing in a Fish catalog. So it went even further. Knowing Walling's writing style, I didn't fall for it.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Nov 30, 2010 - 01:08am PT
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Does the person who has contributed the most to climbing in our collective lifetime live behind the zion curtain? or in the greenie state?
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Captain...or Skully
Big Wall climber
leading the away team, but not in a red shirt!
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Nov 30, 2010 - 01:25am PT
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Maybe he lives in an Ark on the Moon?
Naw. I'm not very good at this, huh?
ok. As you were.
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graniteclimber
Trad climber
The Illuminati -- S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Division
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Nov 30, 2010 - 01:33am PT
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My favorite was how I described in the Big Wall Tech Manual about how to "X-em, Rock-em, Paste-em, and Sniff-em" when placing heads. The "Sniff-em" part was a joke --"if it stinks, get off it!"
Then the Mountaineers in Seattle completely plagiarized my work in the 5th Edition of Mountaineering, Freedom of the Hills. They took the "Sniff-em" part literally, and described in detail how a bad copperhead would emit some sort of special odor.
I wrote to the Mountaineers, one, to complain about the unacknowledged and blatant rip-off of my written work (about 20 pages of Freedom of the Hills was my work, paraphrased), and two, to point out to them their ridiculous error. I never heard back from them.
For years afterward, I heard climbers talking about the special odor of a bad copperhead! Even by some experienced wall climbers who had actually placed a head (not like the plagiarizers at the Mountaineers, who had obviously just rewritten my work without any real knowledge of aid climbing).
It's in the 6th Edition also:
"5. Sniff it. If the head emits a metallic odor, it is underdriven or overdriven; do not use it. The smell arises from the cutting or cracking of the head rather than its molding to the rock."
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Roxy
Trad climber
CA Central Coast
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Nov 30, 2010 - 01:38am PT
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"5. Sniff it. If the head emits a metallic odor, it is underdriven or overdriven; do not use it. The smell arises from the cutting or cracking of the head rather than its molding to the rock and is a sure sign that you're gonna die."
there, that edit should help
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Ihateplastic
Trad climber
It ain't El Cap, Oregon
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Nov 30, 2010 - 02:19am PT
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I will resist the oral sex joke...
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Nov 30, 2010 - 02:25am PT
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If a copperhead is clumsily placed, especially in mineralized rock, the blows of hammer on rock, and hammer on copperhead on rock, could create a sulfuric odor. Kind of like the scent from boulder trundling. Not very likely, and somewhat OT, but possible.
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Avajane
Trad climber
Seattle
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Nov 30, 2010 - 02:29am PT
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Down in the Valley, I used to pick out a spot on a big wall and tell a tourist it was a climber and then watch the crowd gather, point, and talk about whatever they thought they saw. Glacier Point from Camp Curry was the best spot, because of all the broken rock and dark spots and ledges. If you looked hard enough you could see anything!
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nutjob
Trad climber
Berkeley, CA
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Nov 30, 2010 - 02:43am PT
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I remember reading this stuff in Freedom of the Hills and thinking to myself "now wouldn't the metallic smell be there even when the metal deforms, not just when it cracks? How will you really know if it is placed well?"
'Twas a puzzle, but I memorized it.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 30, 2010 - 03:01am PT
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Having lived in Seattle and climbed in Washington for many years it comes
as a bit of a shock to hear that people who have actually climbed things
other than Midway or Disappointment Cleaver have read that book!
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Oplopanax
Mountain climber
The Deep Woods
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Nov 30, 2010 - 11:27am PT
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I have been guilty of starting unfounded rumours about bad ice conditions (to keep other climbers away from the routes I plan to climb on the weekend) and then, a few days later, finding myself unable to track down a willing partner because "everyone knows" that the ice conditions are bad where I want to climb.
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Disaster Master
Social climber
Born in So-Cal, left my soul in far Nor-Cal.
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 30, 2010 - 11:33am PT
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These are great!
Any more?
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bob
climber
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Nov 30, 2010 - 12:13pm PT
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I started climbing 20 years ago, and between then and now the rumor that I'm a sandbag blossomed. Completely unfounded.
Rumors, I tell ya!!!!!
Bob Jensen
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Nov 30, 2010 - 12:24pm PT
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Duece's story takes the cake so far.
We could actually start a whole separate thread on mis-information printed in Freedom of the Hills, Falcon Press bloopers or: "Plagiarists- You Know Who You Are". ;)
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Disaster Master
Social climber
Born in So-Cal, left my soul in far Nor-Cal.
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 30, 2010 - 12:34pm PT
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This is starting to sound like a confessional.
No, worries, I AM an ordained minister....
So continue, my son..
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deuce4
climber
Hobart, Australia
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Mighty Hiker--were YOU the one who wrote the Freedom of the Hills aid climbing section??
just kidding.
but it is funny imagining someone not really familiar with the technique trying to think of why a copperhead would "stink", and why that would have an effect on it's strength.
By the way, the "X-em, Paste-em, Rock-em, Sniff-em" was the ongoing mantra for the Valley big wall dirt bags in Yosemite for many years. If asked for the actual origin of the saying, I would have to say it was Fish, though Walt and Willy Joe might have also have had some input on the original genesis of the saying.
Here's the big wall tech manual text ("published" in 1988), which explained big wall techniques, which followed in the footsteps of Doug Scott's overview of techniques in Big Wall Climbing and of course Royal's Advanced Rockcraft (both from the 70's): http://www.bigwalls.net/climb/BigWallTechManual.htm
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