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Wen
climber
Jackson, WY
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The Green Arch is the best climbing story ever written! My son was almost named Tobin based on that story and the incredible personality behind it. I wish he was still around so all us nobody's could continue to read about his adventures.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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I miss Tobin too. What a character and so cool!
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TYeary
Social climber
State of decay
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TY
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couchmaster
climber
pdx
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What a thread, thanks for the heroic poetic tale Largo. That story was world class when I'd first read it and it loses nothing in the retelling! Wow.
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mooser
Trad climber
seattle
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I met Tobin the same weekend I first met you, Bruce--The Friction King's wedding. I can't fathom that it's been 31 years. Wow!
Thanks for your remembrance post.
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PhilG
Trad climber
The Circuit, Tonasket WA
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John, thanks for posting that classic tale.
Brings back the smell of the trees at lunch rock, the sounds of the swifts flying around the Vampire, and the feel of that cool, solid rock.
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Flydude
Trad climber
Prather, CA
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Will always remember warm summer afternoon bouldering and theology discussions at SLO...Tobin hope to see you on the other side of the mountain some day.
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dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
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I've posted this before but...
Too many memories after a lifetime at the crags, but here is a nice one.
Went climbing with a fellow named Mike Watt (friend from high school '75-'76) that I also used to jam with on Banjo. We both played "old timey" style. We were going to Idyllwild for the weekend and brought our Banjos along to mess around with at Humber Park. Come Sunday morning we were sitting on the tailgate banging out some hick numbers and over comes Tobin. We are playing "Old Joe Clark" or some such and Tob knows the words and starts singin' and dancin' and carryin' on. This went on for quite awhile until whoever he was climbing with dragged him off to hit the crags. We all packed up and headed off.
Just a moment in our lives. I climbed with him a couple of times but that is how I remember Tobin, dancin' and singin' in Humber on a sunny Sunday mornin'.
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
In the mountains... somewhere...
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We were all out in Joshua Tree on a freezing a$$ winter day. It must have been 15 or 20 degrees. We all have ALL of our down gear on and we are hiding from the wind on some ledge in the sun when Tobin comes by looking for someone to climb with. He is in shorts and no shirt!!! We asked him if he was cold and he said 'certainly' but that he was 'training!' for Canada. That might have been the last time I saw him as he left for Canada shortly after than and didn't make it back.
The scene was certainly less interesting without Tobin around. Except that Yabo showed up not too long after to spice things up again.
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john bald
climber
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May the spirit and memory of Tobin stay alive in all of us!
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Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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I remember being a kid and reading a piece in Climbing that either Tobin or Bldrjck wrote about their first winter ascent of Kitchener's Grand Central Couloir. It got so cold during their partially hanging, open bivy that they would 'turn and cry at the pain in their fingers' or something like that. That line has stayed with me some 30 yrs. Remarkable individual(s) to climb that far out on the edge.
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bergbryce
Mountain climber
South Lake Tahoe, CA
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Wow, what a great story!
Thanks
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EdBannister
Mountain climber
13,000 feet
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Willie "belayed" Tobin on the Green Arch....
Willie reports that the cord, at the sharp end was tied.. not to the harness, but around the neck.
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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The most memorable climbs I ever did at Tahquitz - the Edge and the Green Arch (not that the Vampire's chopped liver), were both Tobin routes, and I was well aware of the history before embarking on these adventures. It's so fun having Tobin stories in our collective consciousness.
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Oct 10, 2011 - 11:39pm PT
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Bruce-
I remember the call I got from a Canadian newspaper reporter. I didn't want to believe it, but I knew it had to be true.
Kevin-one of you from that day on Hyperion Arch
Bivy in the Alps.
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nutjob
Gym climber
Berkeley, CA
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Oct 18, 2011 - 07:34pm PT
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With no other climbing mentors or community when I was learning the ropes, the story of Tobin Sorenson and the Green Arch helped shape what I wanted to do and to be.
I still remember the first time I read it, cracking up and laughing out loud, mouth gape at the audacity of it all, making my buddies read and re-read sections, while sitting in the cab of a pickup truck at my campsite in Joshua Tree.
You really have a gift for sharing the passion, John. Thank you helping to set my feet firmly on the road that they always wanted to travel but didn't know how.
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Chief
climber
The NW edge of The Hudson Bay
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Oct 18, 2011 - 08:10pm PT
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Largo, I've been a big fan of your over the top writing style for a long time now and that piece is as good as it gets. While I never got to meet Tobin, he was very much on the radar from day one and his passing hit a lot of us who didn't know him personally pretty hard. His example continues to intrigue and inspire today and he earned a rightful place in the pantheon of climbing's deities.
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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Oct 18, 2011 - 10:06pm PT
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The kid I knew would be thoroughly embarrassed by and reject any notions of sainthood,
and more than a bit uncomfortable, (tinged with some understandable pride) with deification.
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Chief
climber
The NW edge of The Hudson Bay
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Oct 18, 2011 - 10:10pm PT
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I certainly didn't intend to portray Tobin a saint.
Yabo and John are up there in that same pantheon in my books.
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