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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 23, 2011 - 11:46am PT
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I wrote this account for the Superpin bolting thread, http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/1609264/Haunted-for-34-years-Barber-and-henchmen-chop-Superpin-bolt. I think my intentions were far too subtle, and the piece seems isolated and out of place there. So I've deleted it from that thread (leaving a link behind so that the comments following it still have context) and moved it here to its own location, where it has a better chance of stimulating the stories we all love about high and low adventures.
Kamps has his eye on a new route. I think around the back of Fairview, but maybe not; it was many years ago. He hands me the bolt kit and up I go. Not bad for a while, but soon the last pro is a long way down, and each step is just a little harder than the step before.
Confidence slowly drains, anxiety starts to build. The face is steepening, it looks glassy, I'm already way too far above the last piece to fall, and nothing ahead looks even remotely promising for getting hands-free. Up ahead are two nubbins like marbles glued onto the rock. Delicate moves ensue. I'm starting to fight panic now.
I'm pinching the pebbles. Pinching them too hard, trying to stay calm, I really need to get stood up on them so I can drill. What if they crack off? Distribute my weight and hope. My feet are splayed on slippery bumps, the rope is arching down, it's line unbroken by carabiners. I can't figure out how to get my feet where my hands are. I need to do this. Tentative moves. I can't let go of those pebbles, but have to in order to have any hope of standing on them.
Sweat is dripping from my brow onto my glasses. Blurred vision. Time passes. I try various things, each time going up to that edge of adhesion, a hair's breath away from falling, then back down to my slippery bumps and pinched pebbles.
I hear a soft rustling sound above. A bundle of grey fur is heading toward me. A squirrel has somehow wandered out on the route above, and now has fallen. It is bouncing down the slab, then cartwheeling in the air. It is not good to watch a living thing falling when you are a living thing trying not to fall.
The squirrel lies motionless on the ground far below. Watching its trajectory is the last straw in whatever remains of my composure. I turn my feverish attention to the question of getting down. It does not seem promising; there is whole string of moves that are going to be hard to reverse, but I am especially worried about reversing the last few moves to the pebbles.
I hatch a desperate plan. Some hero loops remain in my pocket from adventures down in the Valley. These are rolled and delicately draped over the pebbles. They want to fall off. I admonish them to stay put. Talking to hero loops is not a sign of good mental equilibrium. Will the hero loops listen? Slings and carabiners are installed, and the rope is clipped. This contraption, which looks as if a sneeze would send it down after the squirrel, is going to provide my "upper belay" for the worst of the downclimbing moves.
A deep breath and I start down. Everything feels terrible. I make it down five or six feet, past the hardest moves. Flip the rope, down come the hero loops. A lot more downclimbing to go but getting easier with each step.
Made it.
I hand Kamps the bolt kit, and up he goes. Slight pause at the pinching pebbles, a tentative move soon reversed, some mumbling. I'm just as gripped belaying as I was climbing. Well, no, actually not.
And then something extraordinary. He doesn't try to stand up on the pebbles. Instead, he takes out the bolt kit, drills, and places a bolt. I couldn't even let go of the pebbles there, and he's balancing no-handed tapping on the drill with nothing to stop him for a very long way if he slips. I see it, but I can't understand it. The laws of physics are different for him. I find myself wondering if the squirrel would have fallen at all if it had been Kamps up there first. Perhaps his antigravity aura would have saved it.
And indeed, there is a rustling down below in the talus, and the squirrel soon appears, moving slowly, looking dazed but ambulatory. The second or maybe third miracle of the afternoon.
Most of the time we had was consumed by my futile activities, and it was now too late to continue. Kamps lowers off the bolt, and we go back to our camp in Tuolumne.
I'm not sure if Kamps finished the route at some later time. As for me, I had had enough of it. I imagine the squirrel would have agreed.
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ncrockclimber
climber
The Desert Oven
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Sep 23, 2011 - 11:54am PT
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Awesome! TFPU!
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jaaan
Trad climber
Chamonix, France
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Sep 23, 2011 - 11:56am PT
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What a great tale.
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Inner City
Trad climber
East Bay
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Sep 23, 2011 - 12:06pm PT
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Love the story!
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couchmaster
climber
pdx
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Sep 23, 2011 - 01:03pm PT
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hah hah! Glad it got it's own place instead of in the middle of an argument over a single bolt on a route. Thanks again Rgold. Maybe Patrick (Pat Ament) Oliver can drag his story's about Kamps over as well.
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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Sep 23, 2011 - 02:43pm PT
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The laws of physics are different for him
Yep. Think you are right!
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FRUMY
Trad climber
SHERMAN OAKS,CA
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Sep 23, 2011 - 05:31pm PT
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What can I say -- I miss him & think of him every tue. & thur. & on all climbs.
He was a great guy to hang with -- great sense of humor.
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
bouldering
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Sep 23, 2011 - 05:35pm PT
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From the apt description, somebody should be able to ID the route. Now I'm curious.
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Sep 23, 2011 - 06:26pm PT
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Love the story, especially the flying squirrel! Any comment, Bullwinkle?
The route should be able to be identified. There is a Kamps website with a database of all his climbs and the attempt may be on it.
Kamps was an impressive climber. The only time I got to see him in action was one day when he visited Mt. Rubidoux. John Long and I had just put up a boulder problem called Autopilot, which was not extremely hard, but had some moves well off the deck, with a sloped and uncertain landing. So, of course, we took our illustrious visitor on a tour, with a stop at the latest problem.
Kamps must have about my age now (mid-fifties), but he didn't hesitate and floated up Autopilot first try. He must have been amazing in his prime.
Rick
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Sep 23, 2011 - 10:45pm PT
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Claassic story, nicely told.
Thanks!
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Sep 23, 2011 - 10:58pm PT
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Rich, wow.
Rick--double wow.
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Fritz
Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Sep 23, 2011 - 11:53pm PT
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rgold!
I did read and enjoy your story on the previous thead.
It is a great story, once again!
Please post many more stories!
Best Wishes!
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TomCochrane
Trad climber
Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay
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Sep 24, 2011 - 12:47am PT
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Bob Kamps was always in his prime
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
I'm James Brown, Bi-atch!
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Sep 24, 2011 - 12:52am PT
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what about columbia rock?
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John Moosie
climber
Beautiful California
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Sep 24, 2011 - 02:01am PT
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My antigravity aura was made by the same people who made the Yugo.
Great story! Thanks for sharing it!
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Quasimodo
Trad climber
CA
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Sep 24, 2011 - 02:24am PT
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Great story. There are so many great Kamp's boulder problems at Stoney Point that focus on balance and footwork. Most of them I could never figure out or even come close to repeating.
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Dingus McGee
Social climber
Laramie
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Sep 24, 2011 - 08:56am PT
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rgold,
Yes, I though the story was out of place when I first read it.
good story, you have shown you have more than a cerebral side. Boy psychology ceases to rule sometimes.
Most of my afternoons with Kamps were in the Needles. I met Bob, Mark Powell and others of that crowd in 1971 and climbed with these folks into the early 80's.
In the very early 80's I acquired the 3 sizes of friends available and brought them along on a visit to Kamps one afternoon at his house. He had not seen friends before and had heard only a wisp of gossip about them. He carefully examined them and ask me questions of their working. Soon his face turned red and he began a tirade about these being "crack jumars", "anybody could climb cracks", "I should throw these away" and the rage when on. After several minutes Bonnie insisted he calm down. I suggested we go to Stony Point and do what he had offered over the phone.
But some years later I seen Bob with some friends on his rack. And I will tell a similar tale of James Beyer. He and I were going to free an aid climb at Devils Tower and suddenly while we each carried half the rack along the tower trail Beyer flung the assortment of friends on me. "Someone might be waiting to photograph me", he said. He had recently been interviewed and quoted about his dislike of cams in one of the mags. He too was later seen carrying cams.
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PhilG
Trad climber
The Circuit, Tonasket WA
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Sep 24, 2011 - 09:33am PT
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Another great post from rgold.
Thanks!
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 24, 2011 - 04:20pm PT
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...you have shown you have more than a cerebral side.
Well, Dingus, I hope I'm not always the fuddy-duddy of the bolting debates. Even I get tired of listening to myself in those arguments. You, by contrast, although provocative and perhaps sometimes in trolling mode, are never dull.
In case you haven't been combing the Taco archives in search of a chuckles (and I do hope that life has not reduced you to that), you might enjoy these attempts of mine, however feeble, at humor:
http://www.supertopo.com/tr/The-First-Ascent-of-the-Needles-Eye/t222n.html
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=996070&msg=996070#msg996070
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Sep 24, 2011 - 05:49pm PT
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Another great thread Rich!
Everything that you post is worth checking out.
Stopping to drill with EVERYTHING on the line is trial by fire at its finest!
I was just in SLC hanging out with some AZ friends and the topic of Lucky Goes To The Creamery came up. Definitely my personal best!
The lights were going out, the summit just a bit higher...After dropping down and across the maw of the previous chimney pitch I climbed up the rounded prow until I was finally able to consider drilling, forty feet out and away from the belay. No room for error after the 5.11 moves below, period!
Everybody was good and puckered for this one! I couldn't quite let go so I whacked in the tip of my Dolt nutsctratcher and had ground control take in about twenty cautious pounds of tension. The baby went in finally, out came the camera and I raced to the top. There was much rejoicing!
Long no-headlamp grope off the summit and down to the car. Earlier in the day we had heard a news story on the radio about a chap in the midwest who was involved in a nasty accident and decided to take on a seemingly much safer job in a dairy . But "Lucky" couldn't dodge danger so easily and was subsequently involved in yet another gruesome accident soon afterwards!
Hapless or hopeless, Lucky stayed with us and now lives on in Sedona infamy!
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Sep 24, 2011 - 09:21pm PT
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Thanks, Rich, as always. I hope you are collecting your
vignettes, for a book one day.
I don't often disagree with John Gill or Rich, but just for fun
and at my own playful risk I will say the laws of physics were
the same for Kamps. That's why it's all the more impressive, that
he had to climb with the same gravity as we. That ventured, I know
exactly what Gill was saying and agree with him, in the spirit
his comment was intended. Kamps had really fine
footwork. That was his hallmark. Fine footwork meant more than
being able to keep his feet on small holds. It meant balance,
conserving energy, using the feet in ways so that they didn't
get so tired... a hundred other things probably. He had
an amazing sense for setting a foot in the exact right position
and holding it there very still and powerfully. It was
a gift, for sure. He was a genuine
master. I could do things he couldn't, by virtue of my gymnastics
strength, pressing strength, manteling, and so forth. My only
point in mentioning that is to say Kamps was human. In the Needles,
for example, while being one of the best and boldest, Kamps wasn't
able to keep up with Gill. Of course no one could. The beauty of it
is the individuality, the way Kamps painted his own canvas, created
his own world, used what he had, and mastered the subtle elements
of whatever gifts were his. True individuals have so much to offer,
and there were so many of them during the golden age. Kamps also
was a real stickler, in terms of style. He set a bar. Even Royal,
sometimes referred to as the leading light of that age, often
felt Kamps was one of his rivals. It wasn't always such a friendly
rivalry, because I think possibly Royal at times felt even he
was a bit outclassed by Kamps. Well, Royal and Pratt had their own
individual worlds, to name only two people, so in fact
comparisons were and are misguided. But most
of us who knew Kamps were aware of the ways he pushed us...
in terms of style.
sometimes whether we liked it or not.
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ladyscarlett
Trad climber
SF Bay Area, California
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Sep 29, 2011 - 03:20am PT
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Oh wow, an awesome crux tale indeed!
Yeah, you got my palms sweating and I also love the squirrel. Part of me fears and looks forward to seeing a squirrel, lizard, or marmot misstep out on the mountain.
Maybe that's why I can't stop?
I think I'll wait a bit to pick up golf...
Cheers!
LS
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philo
Trad climber
Somewhere halfway over the rainbow
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Sep 29, 2011 - 10:01am PT
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I loved it. A wonderful tale wonderfully told. It really had me tensed to sweating imagining watching a radical rodent rumpling while pebble pinching in a panic.
My antigravity aura was made by the same people who made the Yugo Moosie that is funny.
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
In the mountains... somewhere...
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Sep 29, 2011 - 11:02am PT
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TiffyPoo!
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
In the mountains... somewhere...
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Sep 29, 2011 - 11:06am PT
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Funny how things work out. When I started climbing at Stoney Point Bob was there, always 20 years older than me. He always pushed himself and everyone who climbed with him. For 30 years I followed along behind him, and when he left I actually felt rudderless for a while. Now I am the old guy at Stoney and people look at me the same way. And of course, the one thing I learned from Bob is to always push, so I still do.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Sep 29, 2011 - 11:23am PT
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Wonderful! Thanks!
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FRUMY
Trad climber
SHERMAN OAKS,CA
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Sep 29, 2011 - 11:36am PT
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Tiffypoo TFF.
Bob would laugh at that.
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GOclimb
Trad climber
Boston, MA
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Sep 29, 2011 - 01:33pm PT
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Fantastic story, well told. Thanks Rich!
GO
PS - next time I hear some noob say that bolt-protected equals sport climbing, I'll just direct them here. LOL!
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YoungGun
Trad climber
North
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Sep 29, 2011 - 02:00pm PT
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Awesome story. I really enjoyed that! Thanks!!
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nutjob
Gym climber
Berkeley, CA
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Sep 29, 2011 - 05:03pm PT
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This is a good one. I love the squirrel foreshadowing!
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couchmaster
climber
pdx
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Another great Rgold story piece.
Thanks!
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Thanks, Richie. I don't think there's a post you've made that I haven't thoroughly enjoyed.
And thanks John Moosie, too. That statement "My antigravity aura was made by the same people who made the Yugo," not only describes me to a tee, it has already made my day>
John
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 2, 2012 - 01:58pm PT
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Thanks for the bump Steve. As we begin another year, it's good to remember Bob, one of the country's truly great climbers and a wonderful person.
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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I like Cochrane's comment, "Bob Kamps was always in his prime." He was amazing that way, as though he had come from a sector of the galaxy where he was prepared for this, our, world of rock and stone, a master of it come to teach us...
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 3, 2012 - 01:15am PT
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Wonderful shot Pat.
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jopay
climber
so.il
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Nice shot Pat, I climbed with him when he was 63 I can only imagine how he tore it up in 1968. It was an honor to have climbed with him.
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Bob wore those klunky old Cortinas, and he knew how to
use them. He didn't use chalk, when I was with him, but
he had vice grips... He would go up a steep slab, such as
the one in the photo just above, behind him, and find all the
holds at a glance. A partner had to look closer, search...
I didn't like that diagonal pitch. I didn't feel well that day,
and it was hard to concentrate, but he led outward and upward,
on really steep, difficult rock. I had the sense when I followed
I might swing 80 or a hundred feet if I came off. It was nice,
though, to have an upper rope on moves he simply walked over.
He knew the route, but I doubt it would have been easier for me
after having done it to do it again.... I was a young teen, in
1960, when I became utterly enamored of Kamps and Rearick and their
Diamond ascent... They were, in a sense, my first real heroes, although
Layton was right there at the time, and a few others.... At that time
I had no idea I would become a friend to both Kamps and Rearick and
climb with them as much as I did. That's the kind of blessing that's
really incomprehensible. How fortunate I was.
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matty
Trad climber
under the sea
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Thanks Pat. I spent some time with Bob at Stoney Pt. and it's nice to hear some old stories/thoughts and see the photos.
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LongAgo
Trad climber
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A tribute of mine to Bob from a thread on Stoney Point:
I vaguely remember a charred, skeletal car body at Stoney Point the first time I visited there. The place looked crummy and felt dusty and hot. The air was brown with smog. There were no climbers visible as I looked around Rock 1 (now called “Boulder 1”), just a few walkers, pooping dogs on the loose and some kids yelling, running and jumping around small boulders. Some of the boulders and higher cliffs were painted with names and hearts and four letter words. I think it was summer 1962.
I had come there to meet Bob Kamps. I had phoned him on a ruse, asking about the best rope to buy. I didn’t care about ropes. I had heard he was good. I wanted to learn about climbing and maybe get to climb real walls with him. All I had climbed at that point was the outside of my house with friend and neighbor Bud (Ivan) Couch. We had salivated over the book Freedom of the Hills, bought a few steel carabiners, a hemp rope and soft iron pitons, but never been on rock. So I steered my phone talk with Bob toward meeting at Stoney. He agreed.
After walking around some, I found Bob topping out on Rock 2 (now “Turlock” or Boulder 2). He wore a T-shirt, shorts and a light hiking boots, probably Cortinas. His hair was short, army-like. He was a little sunburned, wiry, knobby, veined and strong, matter of fact, but flashing a wry smile as we talked about how I liebacked wood siding on my house. It was the smile that told me I had a chance with him. The first thing he showed me was to use my feet, to look for edges and undulations in the rock for friction. We did some no-handed routes on a smaller rock near Rock 1. Bob moved as if walking up a stairway. I got the picture about feet. Later, we did a top-roped climb on a pothole wall at the back (east side) of the area. As I struggled up nearing a crux, he called out, “man or mouse?” My blood zoomed, and up I went.
I remember now the little circuit of Stoney routes we often did as Bob and I became lifelong climbing partners. I remember the smell of the gritty sandstone after a rain. I can feel the soft, grassy paths of the Spring, remember our bantering and competition bouldering. Bob could mantle anything. I was good at small hold endurance traverses. Over those years, Stoney and Bob built in me: wiring in a trust of tiny flakes, how to edge, hop step, step through, reach, match, smear, mantle, yell, laugh, curse and think anything was possible – all the essentials for the walls I came to do.
I remember sitting in the dirt with Bob near Rock 1 decades after our first encounter. We were spent, our arms pumped and gone, sipping a beer. I then lived in the Bay Area and was visiting for Thanksgiving (we alternated Thanksgivings visits for 30 years). Bob was eyeing a young climber, probably thinking, “no, put your foot there, not there.” By then, Bob had bouldered at Stoney about twice a week for nearly 40 years. Every flake, ledge, crack, hole and ledge was in his brain. I asked him if he remembered the first time I contacted him and he said, still looking at the climber but smiling, “Yeah, about the rope.” We laughed.
In 2005, about 200 people came to Stoney to honor Bob after his death. How fitting to hold a memorial for him there, but Bob is not gone from Stoney. He is there anytime I visit, stand still and close my eyes. Next time I go, he’ll be topping out on Rock 2 again, in his cut-off shorts, grinning.
Tom Higgins
LongAgo
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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Gill, Kamps, and some random girl. 2004.
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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Ca 1974
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Thanks, Tom, John, Rich, and all. Kamps. Never enough threads
on Bob...
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Quasimodo
Trad climber
CA
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One of the most impressive onsight ascents I have witnessed was in the Graveyard near Victorville. Bob Kamps was 68 years young at the time. We were wandering around looking for something to challenge Bob. We came upon two 20 year olds thrashing around on a 5.11d/5.12a sport climb that had some very thin technical face climbing. After ten minutes the young leader gave up and lowered off. He had torn a large bloody flapper on his middle finger. He showed us his wound and said the climb was desparately thin. Bob asked if he could give it a try. The two young men said, "Sure, have at it." I could tell by their expression that they thought there was no way the old man could send this climb. I recall Bob actually had a pair of matching climbing shoes on that day. He laced up and floated through the opening moves. The last thirty feet was a complicated sequence of thin moves. Bob looked like he was near his limit but never came off. As I lowered Bob from the anchors the two young lads just shook their heads in disbelief and asked, " How old is that guy?" I said, "68." There was a deafening silence for a few minutes.
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TomCochrane
Trad climber
Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay
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some great pictures
i wish there were a way to capture for those who didn't know him: the calm joy and modest intensity that surrounded him in person
we can all be wiser by learning from Bob's attitude towards life and climbing
and our sport can be all the much better for his continuing influence
i think it would be appropriate for us to dedicate a Stoney Point subtitle as the Bob Kamps Memorial Rock-climbing Garden
does anyone have video records of following him around his Stoney Point tours as so many of us have done?
i hope you don't mind my mentioning there are a few very accomplished and modest young climbers who remind me of Kamps' attitude
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Thanks, Tom H, for a lovely story. It's fascinating how so many climbers had good mentors, and how they carry on the values and skills they learned.
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Jan 11, 2012 - 12:56am PT
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Almost every photo I've taken of him or I have seen
taken of Bob by others reveals his calm intensity. He's just
there, always, in his one-with-the-universe sort of way. But Kamps
wasn't always calm and could get ferociously competitive
at times... That was one of his strengths, to turn on the juice
when he wanted to, that intensity... He was like an eager kid
at times, part of his appeal, a true love for the act of climbing.
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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Jan 11, 2012 - 01:04am PT
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Never had the honor of tying in with him, but I can vouch for the fact that just chillaxin' around a tailgate drinking brewskis the guy was gracious, witty, charming and hella fun with and endless fund of really chioce stoies. 24K gold human spririt.
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jaaan
Trad climber
Chamonix, France
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Jan 11, 2012 - 04:09am PT
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Almost every photo I've taken of him or I have seen
taken of Bob by others reveals his calm intensity.
Here you go. I've posted this one before. Bob on Silver Threads:
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Mar 10, 2012 - 01:53pm PT
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On stance Bump...
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Mar 11, 2012 - 12:30am PT
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Nice thread.
I'm sorry I never knew Bob although Bonnie claims I met him once.
Obviously I never saw him climb or I would have remembered it.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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May 20, 2012 - 03:11pm PT
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Kamps Bump...
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bpope
Trad climber
Sunnyvale, CA
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Jun 21, 2013 - 07:21pm PT
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Good story bump.
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Jun 21, 2013 - 07:54pm PT
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I love that picture John. It must be from the same series or the same picture but cropped of the one of Kamps in Piana's guide. That picture always seemed to me to be the epitome of what a climber looks like. He just seemed to be a natural fit in that environment.
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Jun 21, 2013 - 11:21pm PT
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Bob and his calm intensity.............
Circa 1969
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i-b-goB
Social climber
Wise Acres
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Thanks rgold, I would have been loopy up there too, good to extricate yourself vs getting squirrelly! I rope climbed with Kamps once up at Williamson Rock in his golden years and he still had it!
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toejahm
Trad climber
Chatsworth, CA
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First time I bouldered and my first time at Stoney Point Kamps showed me how to access and maneuver into the Boot...Ok, I tried for three day, fingers were raw, but I finally figured out what it meant to sit on your foot...ha. Bob was a great soul with the finest foot work and balance, truly inspiring.
peace,
kenny
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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We were bouldering in the Needles, long ago.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Rich- I always wondered who was the true inspiration for the name "hero loops".
Turns out it was you maestro and not some high stepping aid climber. LOL
I have done lots of climbs where a sling over a bit of nothing was all that I needed to calm down and keep moving up. Actually falling on such things is another matter entirely...
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| Messages 1 - 63 of total 63 in this topic |
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