| Messages 1 - 67 of total 67 in this topic |
Disaster Master
Social climber
Born in So-Cal, left my soul in far Nor-Cal.
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 18, 2011 - 08:18pm PT
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I never met John "Yabo" Yablanski. I think I would have liked him. We have some things in common, including an off-kilter personality. We are both Preacher's Kids.
Why, though, do we seem to speak more fondly of those like Yabo who took their own life, or died doing something like soloing? Is it the music star / rock star syndrome?
I like wild stories. I tell them. And from what I hear, when I am not around they are often told about me. But I wouldn't want to be remembered more longingly because I off-ed my self than if I died old and happy.
http://www.joshuatreeclimb.com/members/History/Profiles/yabo.htm
Don't take this as a slight against a good man and great climber. I simply wonder if he would be as lauded if he had lived out the rest of his life.
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mynameismud
climber
backseat
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Jan 18, 2011 - 09:07pm PT
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Just cuz
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The Warbler
climber
the edge of America
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Jan 18, 2011 - 09:11pm PT
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I think the people who really knew John don't idolize him, seems the ones that do idolize him didn't know him.
The question remains.
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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Jan 18, 2011 - 09:17pm PT
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Don't you blaspheme in here - - - - DON'T you blaspheme in here!
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TYeary
Social climber
State of decay
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Jan 18, 2011 - 09:19pm PT
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Kevin nailed it.
TY
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socalbolter
Sport climber
Silverado, CA
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Jan 18, 2011 - 09:21pm PT
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Ditto what KW said above...
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QITNL
climber
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Jan 18, 2011 - 09:25pm PT
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Some people like other people who are a little different. Climbers by nature are a little different. I didn't know Yabo, that's just a guess.
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Bullwinkle
Boulder climber
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Jan 18, 2011 - 09:26pm PT
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Wade Icey
Trad climber
www.alohashirtrescue.com
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Jan 18, 2011 - 09:52pm PT
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Yablonski.
We don't.
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Double D
climber
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Jan 18, 2011 - 10:02pm PT
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Kevin nailed it. Yabo had some incredible talents but I don't think anyone who really knew him idolized him, rather they tried to help him out of compassion.
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le_bruce
climber
Oakland: what's not to love?
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Jan 18, 2011 - 10:10pm PT
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OP: Read Lynn Hill's memoir? Good read, and some material on Yablonski from her point of view.
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Chief
climber
The NW edge of The Hudson Bay
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Jan 18, 2011 - 10:12pm PT
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Ditto for what Kevin said.
I remember Yabo as an enigma and a veritable force of nature with a huge heart.
He was someone to marvel at, not idolize.
Wish he didn't have to leave the way he did.
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Spider Savage
Mountain climber
SoCal
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Jan 18, 2011 - 10:33pm PT
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I met him. He could climb really well and did some bold things. He was not that friendly to me and perhaps to some others but his work has earned the respect.
We'd like him even more if he choose to stick with it and work through the difficulties and keep climbing.
In my garage, in a box of artifacts, I have a chalked up hold he pulled off B3 project he was working on: "Boy Elroy" on "Jetsons' Rock" at Stony.
In some future sci-fi scenario a mad scientist could use skin cells from this artifact to make an army of Yabo clones. He could release them on the world and all the boulder problems would be climbed leaving no FAs left for anyone.
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Jan 18, 2011 - 10:35pm PT
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Big ditto for several posts here. No idolatry here, just respect for a beautiful, yet troubled soul.
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ec
climber
ca
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Jan 18, 2011 - 10:45pm PT
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I think the people who really knew John don't idolize him, seems the ones that do idolize him didn't know him
Says it all...
 ec
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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 - Jan 18, 2011 - 11:07pm PT
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All excellent responses.
Post On. :)
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Anastasia
climber
hanging from a crimp and crying for my mama.
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Jan 18, 2011 - 11:13pm PT
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From those who knew him, all I hear is how they still value his imprint upon their lives. He was greatly loved and they will not forget him.
As for Yabo the legend... Well, people need folk heroes which they can have a connection to. Especially ones that excelled despite their troubles. It helps us have hope when we face our own demons. Maybe with Yabo in mind, it will somehow help a person not fall as far... Especially since most climbers can see how much nicer it would have been if he had stuck around.
AFS
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rincon
Trad climber
SoCal
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Jan 18, 2011 - 11:23pm PT
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I wouldn't say people idolize him. More like respect him, for being a bad ass climber. At least that's how I regard him. And I don't think the way he left, has anything to do with it. I never met him.
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ß Î Ĝ T Ç H
Boulder climber
bouldering
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Jan 19, 2011 - 12:12am PT
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...in a box of artifacts, I have a chalked up hold he pulled off B3 project he was working on That itself, prettymuch debunked the op's topic title right there. Yabo's rep and all that was fully established long before he died. I don't know what you are trying to intimate with this thread. You could spell his name right while you're at it.
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GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
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Jan 19, 2011 - 12:27am PT
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My little brother shares a lot of personality traits with Yabo, including many of the dark ones that I am sure bore on him every day. All I can say is love the ones around you and hope they see it.
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mastadon
Trad climber
quaking has-been
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Jan 19, 2011 - 06:25am PT
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Yabo was a good guy (with self esteem problems). He'd give you the shirt off his back if he thought you needed it.
Mike White said it best, "Loan him 5 bucks? Sure I'll loan him 5 bucks, it might buy him the last meal he'll ever eat".
Yabo would always pay you back.
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Dingus Milktoast
Gym climber
CALIENTE!
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Jan 19, 2011 - 06:35am PT
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Never ever met the man. I only know of him what others have written. The following is an impression, or maybe a vision.
Think back toward your youth, to some perfect summer's day. The sun is shining bright, so bright it hurts your eyes and makes you squint. Think on it some and I expect you'll find that perfect day.
Everything was new and fresh under a young sky. Grass grew tall and green, trees enveloped in their mantle of leaves. A breeze surely blew for how could it be a perfect day without breeze? It blows across honey golden fields of wheat, first rolling the tall stalks one way and then another.
You are strolling around with your honey on your arm, dressed for the occasion and proud as a peacock. This might be down at the beach, up in the the mountains, out in the desert, on the deck of a cruise ship - I don't know. Its your vision and your memories, not mine. Visions can jump from fields of wheat to decks of cruise ships, no problem.
This perfect day of your youth, when your mind was filled only with possibilities and none of the later 'I can't do that' negativity that experience brings. There is so much to do and so much that could be done, often you feel manic and want to run about all over the place and DO IT ALL!
This day, this bright sunny perfect day in your youth... it might have gone on forever? If only forever existed, eh?
The seemingly tragic but at once beautiful flaw to this perfect day of your youth?
It came to an end.
It was finite.
It could not last.
This image, this fleeing image, of being young in a universe of unlimited possibility, strong and young and beautiful, flowing through time, tasting it all and then....
the sun set and the day was over.
A person can sometimes think back on those days with varying degrees of pride, regret and pleasure. Some might think you idolize that perfect day and perhaps you do just that... but it is your guilty pleasure and your memory of that perfect day and I for one think you are probably entitled to remember your youth any way you wish.
How's that?
DMT
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Jan 19, 2011 - 06:38am PT
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With John, the words "care for" seem more appropriate than "idolize."
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Jan 19, 2011 - 07:18am PT
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Disaster.......uh, we dont idolize our friends, we love them in one way or another and fill up our days alongside. In fact I bet no one is idolizing Yabo but many are fascinated by the wildass doings of the man. Among many things, Yabo was a phenomenon, and we often have phenomenon-type climbers in our history. Tobin was another. Waterman another. Gary Hemmings in the sixties. The stories that came out of these characters really are legendary; they are accounts from the nearly superhuman. So some idolize but probably as I say, their own fascination with them is personalized. And in all these cases, Tobin and John, Gary and Waterman, theyre sadly dead which is what you (Disaster) are also dealing with here I think, dear bro. That which makes the idolization of Yabo even more likely for some is they are finding symbolic his life and undoing.
If nothing else climbing should never be forgotten to have stemmed from the Romantic Tradition, going back to Byron and others. And so idols seem to stand in our landscape and contain powerful value and meaning to some.
Here, Wikipedia says it well:
The Byronic hero presents an idealised, but flawed character whose attributes include: great talent; great passion; a distaste for society and social institutions; a lack of respect for rank and privilege (although they possess both); being thwarted in love by social constraint or death; rebellion; exile; an unsavory secret past; arrogance; overconfidence or lack of foresight; and, ultimately, a self-destructive manner.
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TYeary
Social climber
State of decay
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Jan 19, 2011 - 07:32am PT
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And now Peter has nailed it.
End of thread.
TY
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dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
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Jan 19, 2011 - 08:20am PT
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Dingus, Peter AND Bullwinkle nailed it.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Jan 19, 2011 - 08:21am PT
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Kevin defines it
Peter refines it
Dingus reminds us
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Branscomb
Trad climber
Lander, WY
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Jan 19, 2011 - 08:45am PT
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He was a great guy, really fine climber, and had a good heart. He had a lot of demons inside, but he remained a good man. That's the finest any of us can hope for in our own lives.
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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Jan 19, 2011 - 09:48am PT
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My comments are on my take on his legend, not the person, who I didn't know.
I've known a couple of people who were really fascinated by his legend. These seemed to me to be the aspects of his that they envied:
1. He climbed like he wasn't afraid of death.
2. He went through with it and was remembered well.
Although I've had way too many friends and acquaintances kill themselves and a few more who seemed close to the edge in the last few years, I think even happy, emotionally solid people are drawn to empathize with a way of feeling and being that is pretty far outside of our own.
Fearlessness, recklessness, whatever he had that most don't, had it's upsides. While hardly anyone would want his emotional pain, he was able to do some things that our careful/fearful ways keep us from achieving or experiencing.
His legend is of the sort of climber that most of us want to be and never want to be all rolled into one, so it gives us a lot to consider.
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hooblie
climber
from where the anecdotes roam
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Jan 19, 2011 - 09:48am PT
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wow peter, you've got more than a knack for putting your finger on things and then getting the point across.
yabo laid himself so wide open to others one could see his gyro spin.
that alone was enough to make me care for him, but in a paternalistic way
that summoned some discomfort at being called upon to promote those pesky issues
surrounding prudent constraint of wild ambition.
it's a pleasure really, to see him mythologized beyond the grave.
that his life force should spin on in creative ways seems right,
and if i may presume, would spark that sly, redeeming grin ...
and scores as success
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Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Jan 19, 2011 - 10:25am PT
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I grew in up OC and spent most of my weekends at Josh in the early 80s and suumers in the Valley/Meadows during the same period, so it was pretty much impossible not to see Yabo often. However, I and the guys I climbed with--Eric Held, Bob Cox, Andre Olibri, Bob Critchfield--were several years younger than that core crew of Sheepbuggers, et al., and so, for me at least, I never really got to know him.
From that perspective some of Yabo's behavior seemed a little off, especially since I didn't have that friend-type interaction with the guy to counter balance it. He wasn't a bad dude, he just seemed to occupy a different level than most.
I think the most unfortunate thing about him (apart from how he died) is that the overblown and often untrue legends that sprung up about him have defined him more than his friends warm recollections of him.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Jan 19, 2011 - 10:31am PT
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I think the people who really knew John don't idolize him, seems the ones that do idolize him didn't know him.
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Mark Not-circlehead
climber
Martinez, CA
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Jan 19, 2011 - 11:36am PT
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I knew Yabo....
Also, I would like to point out (as some poeple are suggesting he died while soloing...) that he committed suicide, and did noit die while climbing.
Truly a sad event for someone who was as full of life as anyone i've ever met.
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rich sims
Social climber
co
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Jan 19, 2011 - 01:01pm PT
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With John, the words "care for" seem more appropriate than "idolize."
Too true
I like him from the start even if he lost (or gave to someone else) my head lamp I loaned him for TD.
I only wish I had met him the time I set up my tent below a problem on Colombia Boulder. After I move my tent I may have ended up climbing a few years sooner.
I found many really great climbers open and generous with us noobs of the 70s. Can't say I ever loaned John money after the head lamp but I know we shared a lot of meals. I liked to cook John liked to eat (he was not alone Ha Ha)
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Heloise Pendergrast
Social climber
Tahoe City
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Jan 19, 2011 - 01:03pm PT
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because he's the only dude who actually ASKED to see my bare breasts. politely i might add. you got to hand it to the guy.
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mastadon
Trad climber
quaking has-been
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Jan 19, 2011 - 01:10pm PT
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Heloise Darling,
So did you??
Call me!!
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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 - Jan 19, 2011 - 03:52pm PT
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Excellent! Smart posts about a very interesting person. People agreeing instead of flat out arguing....
Is this Supertopo?
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Jan 19, 2011 - 05:17pm PT
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I knew John Yablonski and climbed with him some. I didnt idolize him, but respected him. Camp 4 was a meritocracy and no matter how offbeat the personality, a person was respected if he or she could climb well. And of course, John could climb as well as almost anyone back then.
He could also be crazy and obsessive, as chronicled elsewhere. But I had times with him when he was a different person than the one usually talked about. He could be as earnest, kindhearted and eager to please as a child. I prefer to remember that side of John.
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eKat
climber
http://www.ecokath.com/
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Jan 19, 2011 - 05:20pm PT
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He could be as earnest, kindhearteed and eager to please as a child. I prefer to remember that side of John.
Well put, Ricky. We knew the same YaBlowMeOutSki.
:-)
eKatHerOutThereNess
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Jan 19, 2011 - 05:29pm PT
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Disaster, you might enjoy having Yabo's short climb, Soul Sacrifice, pointed out to you.
It is on Lower Cathedral Rock. Three distinct cruxes in a single 100ft lead, 5.11c. Quite a cool route and highly respected though not often climbed. Down at the toe of the North buttress route. It is in Donny Reid's guide for example.
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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 - Jan 20, 2011 - 07:10am PT
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WOW.
Some of the responses to my question are well written, indeed.
I was thinking of John because I was just in J_Tree. And I always hear stories of him there. Oddly enough, options / end of life issues were also on my mind. So the two converged in my head.
I love a real conversation on this place, instead of a fight. It seems that thereare two responses here:
-the real John.
and
-the ledgend john.
I am glad we got a chance to hear more about the real John, instead of the "I can't believe it" fireside stories.
Extremely moving thoughts here.
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Ihateplastic
Trad climber
It ain't El Cap, Oregon
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Jan 20, 2011 - 10:15am PT
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John was a ball of nervous energy. Strangely, he could be a voice of reason among a camp full of bloated egos.
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Silver
Big Wall climber
Nor Nev
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Jan 20, 2011 - 11:18am PT
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Is it true he once jumped out of a car at full speed on the highway? I heard this from a lady who was dating him at the time and i just thought that now way did he do that and live. Open door jump out at over 60? Dud e must have been a little off but from reading above it seems you had to get him on the right day and you got the goods instead of the bads.
Anyway the guy had some mad skills, and some huge balls. RIP
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Jan 20, 2011 - 06:13pm PT
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Idolize him? I remember more chastizing him! Like for not doing the dishes when that was the agreement for getting an otherwise free Clean Dan meal. Darn fool kid...
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looking sketchy there...
Social climber
Latitute 33
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Jan 21, 2011 - 10:39am PT
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As others have said, I don't think most people who knew John idolized him at all. But, for some of us, John reflected a part of our own nature and we felt a kin-ship with him.
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billygoat
climber
Pees on beard to seek mates.
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Jan 21, 2011 - 11:39am PT
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From Lynn Hill's piece in the Stonemaster book, "As crazy as Yabo could sometimes be, he made me think a lot about living life to its fullest. Though Yabo is no longer with us, he had a radical effect on my life as well as the lives of many others. Yabo has become legendary, even among people he never met. Signs have been posted and graffiti written on boulders that says, "Yabo lives!" I can attest that in some form, Yabo's spirit does live on."
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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Nov 12, 2012 - 04:58pm PT
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Found this today in a box while cleaning out my closet ........
Yabo owes me $60...............(Catch you on the flip side, Yabo...you can pay me then...)...
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guyman
Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
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Nov 12, 2012 - 05:18pm PT
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Todd....
is that autograph worth anything????
Keep it for next SM auction/ fundraiser.
And Yabo would give you the shirt off his back if you needed, he was that kind of a person.
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eKat
Trad climber
BackInTheDitch BackInTheDirt BackInTheDay
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Nov 12, 2012 - 05:31pm PT
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I gave him the shirt off my back one time and it, quite literally, rotted off his.
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FRUMY
Trad climber
SHERMAN OAKS,CA
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Nov 12, 2012 - 05:34pm PT
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A couple of years ago while talking about Yabo this Hawk lands on Yabo's mantel, struts all around boulder 1 & slant rock, looks everyone square in the eyes & flies off.
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toadgas
Trad climber
los angeles
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Nov 12, 2012 - 06:45pm PT
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-
At Stoney I bouldered a few times with John Yablonski, and he hung out with us for a week in Yosemite, when it was raining hard; and I shared some meals with him at Hidden Valley campground.
I thought he was very modest and intelligent, and really funny. Great sense of humor. He never mentioned his ropeless heroics, but he freely confessed any (climbing) weaknesses that he felt he had.
I read the Greg Child/Lynn Hill account of his death, and my impression was that he took his own life to prevent himself from again physically assaulting his ex-girlfriend...maybe a heroic act, in its own way
RIP, Mr Yabo!
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rick sumner
Trad climber
reno, nevada/ wasilla alaska
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Nov 12, 2012 - 06:50pm PT
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His hold on life was much like his climbing, tenuous and shaky.I climbed with him in '74 and i was in a cast from an "in effect solo fall" myself the day i watched his first solo of Leave it to Beaver (at a certain point i ducked behind a rock refusing to watch what i thought could well be a suicide in progress).His climbing often was not a thing of beauty to behold, but you had to admire his unbridled determination.
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Nov 12, 2012 - 07:07pm PT
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Yabo had a big heart and was kinda wild, larger than life. He was "idolized" in a way, well before he killed himself. We all know he had as many demons as super powers.
here's a little story I wrote about Yabo back in Rec.climbing days
+++++++++
Meeting Yabo
In the early 1980ıs my best compromise between living and climbing in
Yosemite while avoiding poverty and parental heartbreak was to work for
Curry Company. For three years, I was the Night Housing Supervisor, in
charge of all the Curry employee housing areas between the hours of 5pm
and 1am.
In some ways, it was a dream job for a climber. I had a private tiny
cabin in Yosemite and was free to climb until 5pm every day. There was
a downside though. I was in charge of enforcing a plethora of rules and
keeping the company facilities free of exploitation by unauthorized
persons, particularly climbers.
I was a climber. Curry Company hated climbers. Resolving the dissonance
between these realities nurtured diplomacy in Karl and, eventually,
fostered tolerance within Curry Company.
Curry Companyıs strict grooming code made it easy to divine the
difference between the dorm residents and the Camp 4 residents. I
remember a funny cartoon on the wall of an employee bathroom. It showed
a guy with long hair and a crazy and confused look on his face. The
caption read "Before" Next to it was a drawing of the same crazy and
confused face but this time with short, clean cut hair. The caption
read "After" (employment) Years of the clean-cut company culture
inbreeding made it easy for long-term employees to adopt the attitude
that long hair or a beard were marks of dereliction.
The ex-marine president of the Company was chief among the those who
were pissed at climbers. After some random act of vandalism attributed
to climbers, he took a tour through Camp 4 to the boos and jeers of the
campers.
The behavior of the climbers sometimes didnıt help matters. Besides
snaking showers and drunken deli rudeness, some climbers would camp out
in the cafeteria and scarf leftover food, or shoplift from Curry
Stores.
Worst of all, climbers seeking comfort and love as part of the same
deal would seek out girlfriends among the Curry Employees. Many a young
damsel would be seduced into supporting the lifestyle of a "Park Bum"
or PB as it was abreviated. Now it wasnıt as if there were enough of
these beauties to go around. These were OUR women! Just like in
Alaska, in Yosemite, if youıre a women, the odds are good, but the
goods are odd!
As for me, I definitely had friends on both sides of the fence. I lived
across from Camp 4 and climber friends would come hang out with me. I
tried to encourage a bit of harmony by taking different managers
climbing. I started taking the Manager of Employee Housing climbing and
he got pretty good. We even climbed the grade 5 North Buttress of
Middle Cathedral in a day. One time I had numerous managers and
supervisors camped out on Yosemite Point and dragged them across the
Tyrolean Traverse to Lost Arrow. I hope I played some role in teaching
the Company that climbing wasnıt intimately linked with acts of
vandalism and dereliction.
At night, I tried to strike a reasonable balance between protecting the
companyıs facilities and allowing people to live their lives with
minimum harassment. I wouldnıt bug John Bachar about his Saxophone
playing or hanging out with his girlfriend in the dorms, but when a
world famous cranker emptied a fire extinguisher in the hallways, we
ran him off.
One night I got a call on the radio that there was a violent
disturbance at the Womenıs dorm. I headed my company truck straight
over there with a mix of excitement and trepidation. Responding to
unknown chaos revs the adrenaline, but also the humbling anticipation
that some drunk idiot might be inspired to break beer bottles over my
head. As a standard precaution in potentially violent situation, I
radioed the NPS to send a ranger to the scene as well.
When I arrived, I met a muscular guy of medium height at the foot of
the steps of the dorm. He looked battered. Next to him was a high-end
road bike that looked battered as well. He was reasonably calm. I
asked him what happened. He said his name was John Yablonski and that
he BEAT HIMSELF UP! Naturally, I wanted a further explanation. Yabo
said that his girlfriend lived in the dorm, she dumped him and was with
another guy at the moment. He was so upset that he kicked his own ass!
I thought he was pretty lucid for a guy who just whuuped himself, but
Yabo said he was a non-violent kind of guy who wouldnıt hurt anybody
but himself. He really did an impressive job of hitting himself. You
could tell he was headed for black and blue.
I quickly confirmed the story with Yaboıs girlfriend (and her male
companion) and, since no more conflict seemed eminent, called off the
rangers before they arrived. It seemed like the last thing the
heartbroken Yabo needed was an encounter with the law.
I went back and met with Yabo again. He also managed to totally destroy
his $1000+ (1981 dollars!) road bike that he won in the "Survival of
the Fittest" TV contest. I told him to throw his bike in my truck and I
would give him a ride back to Camp 4. We talked about life, climbing,
and women. Before he got out of the truck he asked for $1 for a pack of
cigarettes. I gave it to him even though I am a cheap bastard and hate
smoking to boot. Somehow, my heart just told me it was the right thing
to do.
The next time I patrolled the womenıs dorm, I was surprised to find a
$1 bill lying on the ground at the very spot that I first met Yabo. It
stuck me at the time that I was being repaid by the Spirit of All
Things for my gift to Yabo.
In the course of years since then, I heard a number of amazing stories
of Yaboıs larger than life existence. Apparently, he would go
free-soloing in fits of despair over relationships. He wouldnıt always
make it. He would always miraculously survive. One time he was caught
in the branches of a tree after falling off an 11c crack! Werner Braun
said "The Angels were watching over Yabo."
Sadly, tragically, Yabo eventually took his own life. He said if
natural forces wouldnıt take him, he would have do it himself. The
incident involved a woman and a relationship, but ultimately, it was
just Yaboıs inner demons. I thought he was a great guy in many ways.
Unfortunately, we are all a bit nuts and those of us with an extra dose
of energy and passion can sometimes be even more nuts. May his Spirit
reach the Summit after a dramatic climb.
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SCseagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Nov 12, 2012 - 07:12pm PT
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^^^^^ wow Karl
Susan
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Nov 12, 2012 - 07:16pm PT
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Yeah. As many people as I know who figuratively beat themselves up. He was the only one who did it literally....
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Edwardmw
climber
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Nov 12, 2012 - 08:29pm PT
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Bullwinkle, can you post up that short slide show with music and Yabo photos you showed at Yosemite Facelift a couple years ago?
Ed
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Russ Walling
Social climber
from Poofters Froth, Wyoming
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Nov 12, 2012 - 09:24pm PT
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ec
climber
ca
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Nov 12, 2012 - 10:11pm PT
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FISH pants!
'Like the Housekeeping ledge too!
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Nov 12, 2012 - 10:36pm PT
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Thanks Karl!
I met Yabo a couple times at Stoney Point but he was always occupied. Your story is a great insight.
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Fletcher
Trad climber
Fumbling towards stone
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Nov 12, 2012 - 11:51pm PT
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I come from the perspective of someone who never met Yabo. But I've always had the strong impression that those who knew him or encountered him pretty much saw him from a place of compassion rather than idolization.
Appreciating the stories and conversations here.
Eric
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can't say
Social climber
Pasadena CA
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Nov 13, 2012 - 05:34am PT
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I knew Yabo pretty good. He was a tortured yet happy soul. I never saw any hate in him and he was in many ways emblematic of what I think of as a "wild child", always in conflict with the society he came from and happiest when he was in his natural environment which of course was climbing.
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phylp
Trad climber
Millbrae, CA
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Nov 13, 2012 - 09:23am PT
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I really love the story and photos of the hawk.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Nov 13, 2012 - 03:29pm PT
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Weird,
I never met Yabo, nor Karl, but Karl's dorm story reminded me of one or two of my misadventures chasing after Curry Dorm girls.
And even more odd, this morning my wife was telling me the Los Gatos theater is being remodeled (I've been away for two weeks). Which made me think of Yabo since I believe his Dad owned or ran the theater and Yabo had worked there.
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Mark Rodell
Trad climber
Bangkok
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Nov 13, 2012 - 03:34pm PT
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Yes, his dad ran the theater and owned the sweet shop next to it.
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splitter
Trad climber
Cali Hodad, surfing the galactic plane
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Nov 13, 2012 - 05:01pm PT
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First time I ran into Yabo was either 1971 or 1972. It was my first trip to the Valley, so I am pretty sure it was 1971.
Him and another young guy were camped fairly close to us. The whole camp (C4) was talking about these two young guys (13-14, or so) who were going to do the Salathe Wall. It turned out to be him and his friend. I was kinda doubtful about the reality of the whole situation, since back then that (their young age) was totally unheard of (as far as I new). But when i went over and talked to them and looked at their rack, etc, it seemed more of a plausible (i think they had done some other grade V, or whatever).
We left the Valley the next morning so I have no idea whether or not they were successful. Of course John was not even "Yabo" yet, let alone anyone I would have heard about. But I did recognize him as the kid I spoke with when I saw a pic of him leading "Orangatan Arch" a few years later ('73/'74).
I also recall him as being a very nice guy that very first time i met him. Very friendly.
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