StoneMaster Stories (Part 4) continued onward farther

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WBraun

climber
Topic Author's Original Post - Feb 24, 2006 - 12:48am PT
It was requested to continue onward here from Part III. It was getting too long again ( very rapidly actually).



Part III can be retraced here; (Many nice photos in this part)

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=155821&f=0&b=0



Part II can be retraced here;

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=150211&f=0&b=0



The original starting thread by John Long (Largo) here;

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=145850&f=0&b=0

Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
Feb 24, 2006 - 12:56am PT
Trees!

...
er,


Tradition!

...

shux- nothings happening.
Gramicci

Social climber
Ventura
Feb 24, 2006 - 01:04am PT
Sorry Werner, I scared everyone off with that one

I could of sold thousands of those
WBraun

climber
Topic Author's Reply - Feb 24, 2006 - 01:05am PT
It will sell .....
Wonder

climber
WA
Feb 24, 2006 - 01:07am PT
now where was i. do you remember the rope swings at the pine cove house. Fred east & igor & many others lived there. we had platforms & many drugs to start your ride.
Klimmer

Mountain climber
San Diego
Feb 24, 2006 - 02:08am PT
More history from down south San Diego way . . .

So where are they, what are they now doing (sadely I know some have passed away), and who among them was/is considered a Stonemaster either directly or at large?

I would really like to know. It would really help fill-in missing San Diego, and Stonemaster history. I know many who are very interesting in this information down here in SD. Thanks.










Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
Feb 24, 2006 - 09:48am PT
Klimmer-
That's a great shot of Mike Paul on the right, when he had all that long red hair. Long Live the Watusi!

(BTW KL:saw YES at red rocks, Golden CO, last year, every bit as good as the first time I saw them, in '77, [-Just after I rolled my truck on I 99 heading North on first trip to the valley, w/LLoads. Larry crawled out of the wreckage in his japflaps, delerious, began gathering debris and loading it into the Kangaroo pocket of his Cagoule. First guys on the scene, with no hesitation said "man, looks bad, cops'l be here soon, better toss yer pipes and weed" The CHP helped us push my ride up onto the rubber side again- said "you boyz are going home right?" After all, we were now pointed South. The suspension was so tweaked, Larry now sat a full 6 inches below me to the right- every time I looked over(& down) at him, or even thought about the incident(for a full year), I'd laugh hysterically. We got to THE VALLEY, had an aborted attempt at the Harding Route on the Apron, after which Larry rolled endless oilers for us at a table in the Pines]).

Wonder,
Igor=Greg Thill and don't say that I#or thing too loud man! (hehe)
Rick A

climber
Boulder, Colorado
Feb 24, 2006 - 09:59am PT
Here is a memory prompted by mentions of Burton and Sutton. These guys were building houses in Idyllwild, around 77-78. A British climber who worked for them one summer described to me a letter he received from his mother back in merry old England. Here is a paraphrase of it:


“I notice from your recent letter that you are staying in a town called ‘Idyllwild.’
I must say that you seem to have found a place appropriate to your character.”

Rather sums it up nicely for all of us back then, doesn't it?
Ed Bannister

Mountain climber
Victorville, CA
Feb 24, 2006 - 10:40am PT
Largo-
How bout Tobin doing The Green Arch with the cord tied to his neck, with a hangman's knot no less....?
Ed
Gramicci

Social climber
Ventura
Feb 24, 2006 - 10:46am PT
I love how legends and myths spawn!

Ed Bannister

Mountain climber
Victorville, CA
Feb 24, 2006 - 10:54am PT
Perhaps a lie, a myth, a legend, an exaggeration...
David, "Willie" Williams told me he "belayed" Tobin doing just that.
Ed Bannister

Mountain climber
Victorville, CA
Feb 24, 2006 - 10:56am PT
Then how 'bout Largo tells on himself: one route, two first ascents, his own version has to be the best.
Largo

Sport climber
Venice, Ca
Feb 24, 2006 - 11:56am PT
Mr. Alpspitz--

I'm prone to that name since the first "mountain climber" boots I had were Lowa Alpspitz. I even climbed the Open Book with them. But friend, I can't really follow your questions.

There was never any need to rev up Tobin stories since they were in their most basic form the most out there events you could imagine. And Tobin following the Green Arch with a noose on is hooey. If fact, when we first did the Green Arch free (an amazing lead by Ricky), Tobin literally fell his way up it.

One of the things I've always been curious about is the generation before us (Charlie Raymond, Pat Callis, etc.) who did many first ascents at Suicide. I never met any of those guys and never heard their stories.

JL
scuffy b

climber
S Cruz
Feb 24, 2006 - 12:05pm PT
Largo
A comparative old-timer told me, like thirty years ago,
that Charlie Raymond was the most natural crack climber he had
ever seen.
He said that when watching Pratt climb cracks, you could imagine
the wheels turning in his head, calculations being performed.
He said watching Raymond was like watching water flow.
sm
Wonder

climber
WA
Feb 24, 2006 - 12:24pm PT
yeah Tar, i havent seen those bros in 15 years.
Off White

climber
Tenino, WA
Feb 24, 2006 - 12:49pm PT
Gramicci said: I liked it (your logo) book says you’re the illustrator, you do it?

I was the guilty party on that bit of blatant hero worship and plagarism. Though I don't think I ever saw the Stonemaster logo, but the S and lightning bolt was described to me. I toyed with adding a lower case "b" made out of a lost arrow profile to lessen the copycat effect, but graphically it just didn't work.

In the seventies, it was clear that a tribal approach to climbing, like the Stonemasters or the Vulgarians or hippie communes, was the motif to emulate. You wound up with an interconnected pool of partners and developed a shared history, you could be a rugged individualist but not have to walk alone.

Scumbag was born at a late night session at the Tu-Vu drive-in, three bucks a carload for three movies. We were stoned as you could get on Columbian and watching the Groove Tube. One of the skits had a woman bellow "F*#k you, you Rumanian scumbag" and we were instantly enamored of the term.

The name of our loose association saw official life in the couple of vanity press publications I did, as well as the name of my first company, Scumbag Mountaineering, which produced cheap pile clothing back when the stuff was still new. I mostly sold locally (I had moved to Olympia, WA) and made periodic road trips to the valley with big duffle bags, selling out of the Lodge and C4 lots. When I started mail order sales, I decided to tone the name down and became Brand X, which lives on today albeit as my construction company.

So, there you go, a nutshell history of some wannabe spinoffs.

Rick A

climber
Boulder, Colorado
Feb 24, 2006 - 12:57pm PT
I did witness the actual Tobin "noose incident," but you gotta save a few for the book!
Klimmer

Mountain climber
San Diego
Feb 24, 2006 - 01:05pm PT
Tar-

YES is best. They still are. I believe they are even better today. I've gone to every YES concert in San Diego (except 3) and some even up in LA when they come through town. I'm a serious YEShead. Always will be. They have been very prolific these last 7 years. I was getting serious into climbing at the same time I got into YES. The "Fragile" album (we are talking records here) has a large art/credit insert with a watercolor painting by the other YES member Roger Dean, of a climber ascending a mythical pillar and you can see the lead-rope trailing. When I climb I often have YES music in my head. Maybe I'll try to scan in that image later when I get home. It's classic. "South Side of the Sky" is about Himalaya climbers getting lost in a storm and finding the warmth of death. John Anderson in San Diego told us so 2 years ago.

I'm trying to get up the courage to tell one of my Mike Paul stories that combines herb, and a moral remote story tie-in to Tobin S. although I never met Tobin. By the way, what is Paul doing these days? I know he was way into music, since also being a musician himself.
Gramicci

Social climber
Ventura
Feb 24, 2006 - 01:07pm PT
I’m guessing Doug White? That was pretty cool to hear that story of evolution

Brand X is a good coin.

I’d like to hear Dave Goeddell come out of the woodwork among others

RA, I saw the hanging too, fortunately the trap door didn’t open that day.
Off White

climber
Tenino, WA
Feb 24, 2006 - 01:16pm PT
Yep, Doug White it is.

Garment trade's tough, innit? Is there a Gramicci (the company) history hidden somewhere in one of these threads that you can point me to? I'd love to read one.
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