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skcreidc
Social climber
SD, CA
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Sep 21, 2014 - 06:47am PT
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I bumped into Keith a number of times up at Woodson in the early 80's. He was always friendly and very helpfull as I remember. He knew where all sorts of problems were...stuff I still can't find now. Just a great guy! Sorry to hear about his passing. My condolences to his frends and family.
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ground_up
Trad climber
mt. hood /baja
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Sep 21, 2014 - 08:16am PT
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Keith was a great guy . So sorry to hear of his passing.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Sep 21, 2014 - 08:48am PT
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Wow, Keith sounds like a great climber that many here knew and admired.
Sorry to hear of his passing.
My condolences to his family and friends that clearly had a good man in their midst.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Sep 21, 2014 - 09:47am PT
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Condolences and cheers, Charolette! Sounds like a life well lived.
I have that guidebook, well thumbed, in my collection, thanks Keith!
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Sep 21, 2014 - 11:37am PT
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Very sorry for the loss of your father and my condolences to your family.
Rick Accomazzo
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rlf
Trad climber
Josh, CA
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Sep 21, 2014 - 11:54am PT
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Charolette,
I'm so sorry to hear of your fathers passing. I used to take him out climbing when his knees were starting to give him problems.
He was a wonderful, intelligent man. We had a common friend, Murray Gel Mann. Your dad and Murray worked on a project together years ago. I was fortunate enough to know the Gell Man's as a kid.
We used to chat about engineering and physics. He told me once that since he retired he never got to have these kinds conversations and that he enjoy our talks. I was flattered to say the least.
One day he commented to me on the way home from climbing that he was sorry he couldn't climb more because his knees were bothering him. My response, "Keith, if I can still go to the bathroom by myself at your age, I'll be happy."
He was 82.
My condolences
Robert & Hilde Fonda
Joshua Tree CA
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looking sketchy there...
Social climber
Lassitude 33
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Sep 21, 2014 - 12:02pm PT
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Sad news indeed to hear of Keith's passing. He was a regular fixture at Mt. Woodson in the 70s and 80s and we often ran into him at Josh and Idyllwild. He was very passionate about climbing and had an encyclopedic knowledge of routes, boulder problems and crux moves. Obviously a brilliant scientist, he seemed to approach climbing with a similar passion. Not mentioned above, but the climber in the cover art on his Woodson guide was none other than himself, and a good likeness. My sincere condolences to all of his family and friends.
Randy Vogel
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Sep 21, 2014 - 06:00pm PT
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Some one with Physics’ Chops please... Weigh in.... Edit ...oops.. Waited to long thanks... Ed H. can you say any more about K.B.’s contributions to Physics!?
For me I remember that he was Revered by all the diverse climbers at JTree who sand bagged me.
We met while I was out on an extended southern Cali road trip solo. I told him that I would be stuck near LA he had this thin red book he gave one to me. Older and wiser, he said I should go find a partner at Mount Woodson and come back to JTree.
RIP seems trite and not enough ...I hope That All his days were high quality..He was one of a kind.
A great one, that made it seem like I was not just wasting time if this was the Caliber of thinker that was to be found Climbing rocks. My father was impressed when I showed him that book. He really was impressive, a real well known scientist.
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Klimmer
Mountain climber
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Sep 21, 2014 - 06:15pm PT
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I'm truly, truly sad.
I'm so sorry for your family's loss.
Countless memories of bouldering with him up on Mt. Woodson in the late 70s. I would jam up there in my little Toyota truck after school (Poway HS) midweek and think I'd be the only one on the mountain. Nope. So many times Keith would be up there alone bouldering also and we would bump into one another and we would do some climbing together.
Never talked physics with him. What did I know? I was just a HS kid. But we talked climbing and he witnessed many of my early high-ball solos, when I thought no one was looking or even up there to watch. (Probably not the smartest thing to do. But I was young and invincible. Lol)
He had a great set-up for protecting his solo climbs.
I sure miss those great times.
Klimmer
Keith, and my close climbing buddy Tim, looking on. The tall lanky one with Army pants would be me. Someone remind me, the other really good climber and geologist from UCSD would be ...
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Sep 21, 2014 - 06:17pm PT
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tx for that aip link, ed. i see that he trained at berkeley during the glory years--
i met keith back in socal in the early '80s-- never got to know him, really. like largo, i used to see him or sometimes chat with him out at suicide, where he was always running laps on routes with a jumar solo set-up, ignoring the snarky comments from some of the younger regulars.
i always thought it was really cool-- he seemed ancient, white hair and beard, but looking at his b-day i can see he wasn't much older than i am now. i was really impressed that he was climbing at what i thought of as a really advanced age, and that he was climbing in a style entirely at odds with what the young hotshots thought of as cool, and he didn't care.
very sorry to hear of his passing.
condolences to the family and close friends.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Sep 21, 2014 - 06:20pm PT
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Say, Ed, that was a fine pair of interviews, located at the bottom of the page on your second link.
I remember my father coming home from the office with 'homework' and having his slide rule handy. The math done for all of these old school physics were all accomplished using that method, one must assume.
That seems hard to believe in the age of itty-bitty technology. Ironically, the first pocket calculator that I used was from TEXAS Instruments.
Thanks for posting some good history. See you at Facelift.
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little Z
Trad climber
un cafetal en Naranjo
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Sep 21, 2014 - 06:57pm PT
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Sad to hear of his passing. Sounds like a life well lived. Condolences to his family and friends.
Reading his wikipedia page, it seems striking that there is no mention of his life as a climber, the importance of climbing in his life, etc. Obviously his major mark was made in physics, but after reading this thread it would seem an appropriate addition to his biography. Or would that seem trivial to the outside world?
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rlf
Trad climber
Josh, CA
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Sep 21, 2014 - 07:04pm PT
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For the most part it's important to us, we're climbers. He was an accomplished one at that. As a physicist he was up there with some of the greats. Believe me, I'm no physicist, just a dumb engineer.
Rest in piece my friend!
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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Sep 21, 2014 - 07:57pm PT
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Sorry to hear this.....rest in peace, Keith......we appreciate all he gave to the climbing community..
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Scole
Trad climber
Joshua Tree
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Sep 22, 2014 - 04:35am PT
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I am sorry to hear that Keith passed away. During the 80's we climbed together many times in JT and at Woodson. I got my first tour of Woodson from him. Rest in peace.
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allonom
Trad climber
Oxnard, CA
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Thank You. I am very sorry for your loss. I ran across Keith many times on Woodson and many times at UCSB. He is one of the truly humble persons I have encountered. Many physicists are climbers as that is the only way to free the mind. I feel honored to have walked among a GIANT!
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Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
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So sorry for your loss Charlotte.
I climbed frequently at Woodson from the mid 80s on. Never had the pleasure of meeting your father, but the guy was an icon. We all used his guidebook. Didn't know too much about him except what others told me, it was obvious that he was an amazing man.
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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Used to see the Brueckster out at Woodson every damn time we went there -- which was a LOT. Not a part of my crew, or any crew for that matter, but no lie, he was about as hard-core a local as I ever met, or ever was. Pretty good climber as well. Great footwork. Knew how to sink a jam. Easy to talk to, no attitude, amazing given his background. Kinda hard to imagine Woodson without him, actually.
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