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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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slack, goddammit.
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Off White
climber
Tenino, WA
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that wasn't what you said at the time...
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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dude, there's a HUGE scratch in your negative for that print. this one is much better:
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looking sketchy there...
Social climber
Latitute 33
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There were two bouldering contests at Mt. Rubidoux (1983 & 1984)?? titled the California Bouldering Contest. No offwidths, but plenty of thin face problems and a few assorted cracks. These were done because Werner Landry, et al, got tired of putting on the Woodson, San Diego contests.
KP and Hensel were in charge of picking and rating problems (Oh Man! - were there sandbags or what?) At the 2nd one, Rob Raker used one of the first portable personal computers (hooked up with a generator) to tally the results in record time. Somewhere I still have a T-Shirt or two from the contests.
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Grug
Trad climber
Golden, Colorado
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 7, 2006 - 03:32pm PT
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Thanks Lookin' Sketchy. I'm going to compile everybody's bouldering contest posts in a single post a bit later.
But first, who's done Undertow as an offwidth?
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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to my knowledge, tom lindner and piggot are the only two guys who've done it straight-in as an offwidth. that is to say, they're the only two guys who've led it. if you undercling it, you're either tr'ing or soloing.....
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Grug
Trad climber
Golden, Colorado
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 7, 2006 - 05:13pm PT
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Damn that Piggot! There was a time when I could at least offwidth better than him!
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WBraun
climber
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Beautiful shot above Bob.
Is this guy free soloing or leading?
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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that be me, burning my one and only solo lap on that thing. scaaaaary.
(brian bailychrome photo)
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Grug
Trad climber
Golden, Colorado
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 7, 2006 - 05:53pm PT
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good job bvb!
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John Vawter
Social climber
San Diego
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Jeez Bob, I assumed the toprope was there and you just couldn't see it. You ought to post a shot showing the landing. Bold.
I hope you guys are busy scanning more slides. I'm buggin' Werner to recall some dates and places, at least, if not some stories and pictures.
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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actually, it was a hulluva lot less scary than the first time i bouldered hear my train. but then again, i never used a rope on hmt from about '79 onwards, whereas i only bouldered undertow once, after tr'ing it about 20 times over the course of a week....
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Ed Bannister
Mountain climber
Victorville, CA
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hats off to anybody who does those things... I never understood anybody who actually wanted to do an offwidth, to me they were a necessary thing to get past on a long climb.
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Klimmer
Mountain climber
San Diego
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Damn bvb. Witnessed Piggot solo plenty, and Mike Paul, and now you doing undertow solo and hmtc solo many times, Woodson sure has generated a lot of serious talent (real men).
The list goes on and on, bvb, Greg C., R. Leavitt, the Linder's, Knuth brothers, Dave Robinson etc. It turns out that several of the Stonemasters made it down to Woodson at some time or another and not just once, Mike Graham, John Long, John Bacher, who else? Lyn Hill made it down at least once during '88/'89. She came down to present her slide show at A-16 and a group of us working there from the Mission Gorge store went up to Woodson with her for a long afternoon. Dave Robinson was having her jump on all kinds of desperates that he had dialed. I do have a nice slide (I need a slide scanner) of her on "Move over Junior" Eric Knuth's desperate face problem next to Seminar Wall. Chris was never able to do it, hence the name. And Chris was climbing hard then. If you don't believe Lyn can do the splits, she can. I have proof of this from her attempt. As far as I know, that hasn't seen a second ascent? I may be wrong.
Also in the photog department, Epi, Brian Bailey, and I'll add Doug W. to that category too, great B&Ws, really capturing the 70s throughout San Diego County. It's all good. I would love to hear the stories from WL.
A few days before the '86 contest at Woodson, when Piggot was guiding Ron Kauk around on all the classic hardman problems, Rick was doing solo laps on Mother Superior, with a top rope set-up and out of reach nearby, and then turns to Ron, "What do you think?" Ron looks back up to the 3 or 4 of us watching from the road, and then says deadpan "I think I'll take the rope."
My exact thoughts. I think I'll take the rope. Hats off to all of you though for inspiration.
Didn't witness Chris Knuth's solo of Uncertainty Principle but heard all about it from his brother Eric. Both are good friends. Chris was absolute raw talent (so is Eric). Within just a few years of climbing Chris was pulling down 5.14c/d? all over the place. Sadly he just one day flat-out quit. His wife still climbs. I keep asking his brother Eric when I see him, if Chris is climbing at all these days and the answer is always "no." I don't understand that. How does someone get so good so quick and all of a sudden just gives it up? I did hear though one day he did manage to get off the sofa and without any recent climbing he pulled down 5.12 at the gym. Climbing for me has always been my first love. Even if I can't pull down like all the stonemasters I'll keep climbing and trying until I can't get out of bed anymore. It's a life-style; great for the soul and body, and good fun. NGU.
Edit: that is one damn good jam with the right hand on Mt. Everest leftside. Love that first jam. You can camp there. By the way, I'd like to (or someone else can) post the roof climbing cartoon from Cs & Bs of SD Co. if you don't mind. That is one hilarious toon . . .
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Grug
Trad climber
Golden, Colorado
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 8, 2006 - 09:13am PT
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Damn, I miss Woodson more than ever! I've never liked any other bouldering area.
Seems like I missed a lot in the '80s (and onward).
As much as I liked going up there with friends, it's an awesome place to just go by yourself and do a bunch of mini-climbs. Over the years I was able to do all but a few of the problems without a rope (e.g., never did MS without a rope). Just wandering up that road doing those favorite problems here and there...Woodson, I miss you MAN!
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Off White
climber
Tenino, WA
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If Epperson posted his shots in an online forum, the contrast between real talent and my nascent ambition would be pretty obvious. He's one of my favorite climbing photographers of all time, and arguably one of the greatest climbing related talents to ever come out of San Diego.
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ground_up
Trad climber
portland, or.
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Hey Grug , nice to see you here ! We were the younger group following you guys around woodson , always in awe of you and Rick , I remember Rudy Ing and I tearing up our hands trying b13 as 15 year olds....and I remember when Rick was working on silk banana , we could barely touch that stuff although we'd go back and try when you guys weren't looking....sb was a full body undercling for us at the time.....anyway , thanks for tolerating and helping us back in those days !....you were always an inspiration for us !
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Klimmer
Mountain climber
San Diego
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Offwhite--
True. However, don't minimize what you contributed -- it's all good stuff. I do recall seeing early work by Rowell, Epperson, and Bailey, and they certainly got better and perfected their own styles and craft over time. They weren't scoring magazine cover shots from the very beginning. Some of these historical shots are all we got and they are good for the time period. You captured some classic images for the time period.
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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klimmer -- off's head is fat enough as it is. you're pouring gasoline on a wildfire, babe.
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John Vawter
Social climber
San Diego
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Doug, I think your shots hold up very well. I like the way B&W heightens the drama, and for us old guys it summons memories of Mountain Magazine. The contrast and detail on the El Camino/Hangover shots, and the one of Bob on the Everest boulder, are excellent. And they're composed well. The shot of the guy leading El Camino really evokes for me what climbing is all about. So keep 'em coming.
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