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Fletcher
Trad climber
from the place of breath
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Usually, anything with even a smidgen of DR's writing is worth the cost of entry.... But this is the whole real deal. Just ordered the book myself... Looking forward to curling up with it.
Great thread!
Eric
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Many thanks to "The Cobblers"!
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 8, 2011 - 02:12am PT
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Bob Swift,
I believe your photo is Chuck Pratt following Smoke!
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 8, 2011 - 02:21am PT
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Here's a little closer look at the medal of Smoke that the cobblers from The Rubber Room in Bishop had cast. Notice it's taken from Jan Tiura's photo on the card, but where on the Rock Course is that?
Smoke loved hat pins. In Bill Bechtell's photo from Austria, you can see his red "East Willow Alpine Club" pin on his hat.
Here's Smoke's quote inside that card from the cobblers; these words end the section on the Buttermilk
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Swifter
Social climber
Flagstaff, AZ
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Bil Bechtell: OK, that confirms my recollection of the name's origin. (Someone reportedly said that no one on the Eastside drove his rig faster or his VW bus slower than Smoke!) The driving yarns could fill another book. He'd given up pipe smoking by the time I met him. Apparently at one time he was driving a hazardous load (explosives) that required the driver to have a safety manual on the seat beside him; and Smoke's pipe had burned a hole in the cover. But the last straw came when crossing an RR trestle. He had climbed down into the support structure to yield right-of-way to a passing train. One hand was needed to maintain balance, and when he noticed he was trying to re-charge his pipe one-handed with the free hand, he decided that was enough and quit.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Dougie that can’t be Pratt. The guy has an upper body like Chuck but there just is too much hair, dude. This guy has loads of it and it's wiry--- definitely though a climber. I was thinking of Colliver or Mike Loughman.
Now Pilgrims, Doug brings up what he evasively calls “a medal” of Smoke when in fact it was a brooch, a haute couture brooch from BITD. There was also a musette AND some swagging that went with it, mostly lost as most of the musettes became in a confused sort of way, chalk bags--- all that leading of course to Russ’s whole enterprise and Tarpaper’s recent research as well. And the swagging--- actually sort of Mr T starter kits---- were usually pawned for granola and new shoes.
But that did not hold Dougie down. He went on to produce his own festive line of personally commerative medals--- Tarbaby helped. Here are the only two extant. Doug was under the impression that it was not illegal to make your own Nobel Prize medals.
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 8, 2011 - 10:42am PT
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What? You never herd of a Nobel Prize awarded for Dirtbagging?
(Maybe it was just an Eastside thing...)
And, Dude, that's Chuck's wool hat! Covering his hair-challenged pate, don't you know, and of course out of respect for Smoke, who is setting a stiff sartorial standard for the Buttermilk. In scrambling to keep up, Chuck is already somewhat compromised in knickers while Smoke is up-to-the-minute in trucker pants.
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H
Mountain climber
there and back again
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Thanks for posting up for Smokey, Doug. Its a great read and makes you want to go exploring the east side for all the hidden camps that were spread out. Sure looks like Chuck to me.
I was introduced to the Buttermilks in 89. We were taking a break from climbing in the Gorge. Went there to warm up.
I'll have to pm Cobbler for the specifics on the medallion. Peter let me know when Doug's meddle of honorable dirtbagging gets made I like to be put on the list.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Crap, I caught live ones! Love it. Yes of course it is Chuck--- you can tell with the cute transitorized facial features in profile there--- he and Fredericks were so pleasantly gnomic.
Maybe, H, we should start a thread similar to that Hurricane Drill Holders thread or the Hammer Project thread where people could put in for a brooch and we get HighTraverse to grunt a batch out in his shop. They are goodlooking and have that certain finesse you see. Thinking also they are very well defended too.
Dingus, the Smoke book is easy to get. I just got one from Alibris. It was cheap, in perfect shape. In between your numerous hikes through unusual areas, you should bag one.
I often wonder what Dougie would have looked like, had he not met Smoke and met Pratt---- just dangled helplessly by himself in a fashion void. So I searched the Web Pilgrims and finally discovered the truth--- a shot of Doug before The Influence began. It must be around 1962. This was when corn was still grown in Los Altos:
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 8, 2011 - 12:04pm PT
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Interesting. I never thought much about the link between Smoke and Bartholomew. Both of them chose that self-effacing style, the come-on that says "nothing to see here folks, just blending right into these lumpy little rocks." Orland Bartholomew was so good at it he practically disappeared until Gene Rose unearthed his unpublished journal (from his son), and managed to wring a book out of that and -- mostly, it seemed -- Bart's great self-portraits taken on the trail (no mean feat of early self-timer photography).
Smoke's writing is surfaced by understatement too, of course, but under that is such a rich texture of sly kidding, and a catch-me-if-you-can sort of commentary on the whole climbing world taking itself -- go figure! -- too seriously. Since starting this thread and writing a long piece (not yet even edited) about re-discovering Smoke's Rock Course with a lot of help from Jaybro and Em Holland among many others, I dove back into Smoke's book.
This time around I can scarcely believe how rich and wonderful is Smoke's commentary. It's like I missed a lot of who he was and what he had to say when I first encountered him and he was right in front of me. So busy in my way being a buff kid, a 20-something full of self-importance as a Valley Guy cruising the quaint provinces, that I actually bought into Smoke's modesty and took it at face value. He got me!
Going back into the text now, it means far more to me than when I was hearing the stories firsthand while chasing him down Buttermilk passageways, or even twenty years later while writing that Foreword and leafing through the as-yet-unpublished manuscript as I balanced my already-worn Olivetti portable on my knees in a Mill Valley back garden.
Just the section on the Buttermilk now seems full of portent. It's only 3 pages long, but lately I've about worn them out cris-crossing the little references for clues to follow out there on that bewilderment of stone that, like Smoke himself, by turns hides and reveals its passages.
Bob wondered upthread how Smoke revealed the ending of their St. Elias trip. He said he'd look it up, so I'll leave that to him. But I can't resist how Smoke described setting off when "it was my goal to walk from the sea to the top of the tallest coastal mountain on earth":
I had no intention of wetting my toes in the ocean, as Seton Carr did in 1886, or I. C. Russell in 1891. It seemed legitimate to use an airplane to avoid the risk of landfall from a small boat in the surf, as long as the airplane transported us no farther than the beach under the mountain
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 8, 2011 - 12:36pm PT
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Since we're meddling with what Peter is wont to call "brooches" here, I guess I have had a perhaps-unconscious fascination, though developed later than my "cornfield phase."
The story unfolds when my brother, a Ranger in the Forest Service, was posted to Mammoth. He was assigned a trailer in the slightly low-rent sort of living compound that seems to trail off into the woods behind every one of their installations. Smokey in front, suspect living quarters to the rear, don't you know.
It was Halloween and as usual I was completely unprepared, lack of forethought being one of my more trustworthy attributes. But I was thirsty, you see, and hearing the siren call of the old Village Inn -- long since gone 'the way' -- just up the street. What to do? I couldn't just walk in unadorned.
That's when I espied my brother's Ranger badge on his dresser. Nicely cast in bronze, you see, with one of those little pins on the back to affix it to the chest like a -- how you say? -- brooch. A ready-made, federally-sponsored disguise for a long-haired dirtbag.
It passed impressively at the watering hole up the street, though in the end my brother, usually so fun-loving, pitched a fit. Something about impersonating a Federal...
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FeelioBabar
Trad climber
One drink ahead of my past.
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I have always wanted to do Smoke's Buttermilker "course", but have never been shown.
Can't wait for the write-Up!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Mar 12, 2011 - 01:29pm PT
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Little Smoke Bump!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Mar 26, 2011 - 02:46pm PT
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Where there's Smoke there's FUN...Bump!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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May 14, 2011 - 03:10pm PT
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Adventure bump...
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
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May 14, 2011 - 03:33pm PT
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DR...I remember you had a brother , in the early 80's , that worked for the green gestapo...I remember he was one of the higher ups....would that have been charlie..? That's when the FS had employees with gumption...Rj
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Klimmer
Mountain climber
San Diego
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May 14, 2011 - 03:43pm PT
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I have always wanted to do Smoke's Buttermilker "course", but have never been shown.
Can't wait for the write-Up!
DR,
Me too. When is the write-up expected and where will it be published? Thanks.
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east side underground
Trad climber
Hilton crk,ca
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May 14, 2011 - 04:18pm PT
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Hey Doug, Is it true that You and Smoke were at the Palisade school camp on a 4th of july when a certian group of murrys went ballistic with the fireworks at third lake? Heard a rumor but never knew if it was true.
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frog-e
Trad climber
Imperial Beach California
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May 15, 2011 - 12:40pm PT
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Wow this a really cool historical thread -
like to learn more about the "climbing
course", too.
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Topic Author's Reply - May 15, 2011 - 02:30pm PT
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Just this week I finished editing the article about Smoke and his Rock Course. I'm stoked! It's a good long piece, 5000 words, and goes into detail about remembering Smoke, his take on climbing, being on the Rock Course with him, and all the effort over the last couple of years to find the Rock Course again. Including help from Jaybro, Em Holland and many others.
It's going to be in Ascent, which is being revived after -- what? -- hasn't been one since the Nineties. It was pretty classy and well-produced back in the Sixties when Steck and Roper got it going. A lot like Alpinist is now. It's going to be really interesting to see how it looks this time around, edited by a good crew from Rock & Ice.
They have lots of photos to choose from, including classic black & whites of Smoke on the course by Jan Tiura and one by Boo Dawg, plus modern shots by Andy Selters of some of the days spent working on the rediscovey. I got treated to a Cessna ride over the Buttermilk, and my daughter Kyra took a nice aerial that shows where the course goes.
Well,sort of where it goes anyway. It has turned out to be harder than I thought to show that on paper. Which just means that we will have to crank up some more Buttermilking (as Smoke called it) parties this summer. Stay tuned.
Yeah, my brother Charlie worked for the Forest Service as a Rec Officer, first in Mammoth and then Lone Pine. He's down on the Los Padres now out of Ojai and about to retire so I can get him out skiing more.
I guess I missed the fireworks back in the Palisades. Must have been in Bishop...
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