Pot and Slab climbing

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Willoughby

Social climber
Truckee, CA
Jan 22, 2012 - 12:06pm PT
Regarding the OP - there's really somebody from Bolinas that has NEVER smoked pot? REALLY?? Maybe not first-hand, but I think spending enough time in Bolinas qualifies. Surely you've pulled in your share of second-hand smoke, and I expect you've also had a contact high or two.
Sierra Ledge Rat

Social climber
Retired to Appalachia
Jan 22, 2012 - 02:37pm PT
...run-outs to drill stances were measured by how many hits it would take to get it done..

Totally f*#king awesome
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
Jan 22, 2012 - 04:41pm PT
> I thought there was also a route named Ankles Away, as a pun on the original, somewhere in the vicinity?

Ankles Away is at the Needles (Sequoia National Forest).

And yes, the 5.11a crux to p1 of Anchors Away is the last section, reaching the anchors.
jaaan

Trad climber
Chamonix, France
Jan 22, 2012 - 05:30pm PT
Ah, thanks Clint. I knew I'd heard the name. Must have been Anchors... that the boys were on.
wstmrnclmr

Trad climber
Bolinas, CA
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 22, 2012 - 06:32pm PT
Willoughby....never smoked in spite of literally being immersed in smoke and the culture. Grew up with my grandparents and watched my grandmother die at 56 in an oxygen tent of lung cancer (recent threads confirm that pot's better then cigi's but back then when I was eleven...). Never smoked anything because of that. I consider myself to be a decent slab climber and love those climbs. But the mentality and the spirit of the day may have been different? My mentor was hardcore about onsite, no frills slab climbing. He was, and still is one of the best I've ever seen and he did it strait. But I'm intrigued by the culture of that time and it's place in climbing. These day, when mass culture seems to sanitize everything, it's nice to know that I can still go to the valley or the meadows, get on something that may not have been climbed in decades past ancient bolts and get a sense of that spirit. By the way, got thrown of a jury because a prosecutor in a pot trial simply did not believe someone from Bolinas had never smoked.....
Mighty Hiker

climber
Vancouver, B.C.
Jan 22, 2012 - 06:38pm PT
More on Anchors Away, from Werner: http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=74738&msg=75362#msg75362

Would a sailor have called it "Anchors A-Weigh"?
go-B

climber
Habakkuk 3:19 Sozo
Jan 22, 2012 - 07:08pm PT
Both give you man boobs! LOL
mucci

Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
Jan 22, 2012 - 08:11pm PT
It's called "gynocomastia" and it is referred to as mantitties.

You can get it from reefin early on in your career, or puberty can cause it.
Off White

climber
Tenino, WA
Jan 26, 2012 - 06:57pm PT
BVB & Flower DeBell all goofy on the Apron

BVB said:
Hoppy's Favorite (or was it The Mouth? The one with a full-length 5.9 pitch with one bolt
That would be Deep Throat. That 5.9 pitch was great - if you were leading you'd hook fingernails into the micro edges and sweat your way up, but on a TR you'd set your palms flat and stand anywhere. Deep Throat also had a 200' last pitch to the Mouth that we'd do a one bolt belay shuffle to get though. I dunno if I have any shots of that day, but I've posted a couple candidates that are at least from outings cut from the same cloth.

Conga Line: same route, different day


Anchors Away and Sailing Shoes are two separate climbs in the same vicinity. Here's a little stink buggin on p2 of Sailing Shoes


I sure did love hanging out with my buddies on the Apron...



seth kovar

climber
Reno, NV
Jan 27, 2012 - 08:08pm PT

Jan 21, 2012 - 02:57pm PT
I doesn't make you better or braver or whatever. Its just a relaxing ritual for contemplation of the brotherhood of the rope and the miracle of the sport.

The Sacraments.





Be sure to never allow a non-smoker to tell you what the hell the experience is or the effects. They don't know because they don't know. Everything else is bullsh#t.

I spent weeks on the Apron. I think it was considered girly BITD. It certainly didn't make me into a wunderkind Apron dancer.





Nobody much seemed impressed but me. Its important to keep sh#t straight. It isn't scary leading long run outs on apron, whats scary is holding 4 ounces as you walk past the kiosk to sell it to the brotherhood in Camp. If you can do the second, you can probably handle the first. You go no real commitment to consequence on the Apron compared to finding yourself busted for too much weed in Camp.

Not that that was really much of a problem most of the time. I never really had neither too much, too many or too serious. That's never happened, and it still didn't. I am hallucinating myself a glamorous past from the depths of a twelve pack of Thunderhead. This in't happening.

How the hell would I know, I grew up in a convent with Pate.

I am his Father.
.

Best Roxie post ever!!!!!!

We'd probably be good friends if not for this evil forum!

I'll read this post every time I feel like talking sh#t to or about Roxie before I post.

Honest! Good shot rox.
Fritz

Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
Jan 27, 2012 - 08:49pm PT
Never warmed up to climbing stoned, just like I’ve never enjoyed the effects of drinking during the day. All that fun was always best for me, after the climbing was over.

However the Apron stories have jolted my memory back to May 1975. Gary Clark & I hooked up with Dave ?Nef?--- who had been climbing in the valley & living out of a VW bus in Camp 4 for a while. Dave was a WSU grad & Washington native.

Dave guided us up The Mouth.

I was fascinated with the concept of 5.9 slab and had a great time following. Gary took a long slider following a traverse (Dave may have been a wee-bit of route) and was pissed-off the rest of the day.

Those were the days. Long run-out leads off single ¼” bolt belays.

It was a few more years, before doubt crept in about the logic of all our eggs in one 1/4" bolt basket-----metaphorically-speaking.
Tobia

Social climber
GA
Jan 28, 2012 - 11:11am PT
I never warmed up to it either. Rapping off a route was the scariest thing in the world to me after sitting on a ledge for a while. I never, trusted that I had my brake set up right. I would just freeze on the ledge afraid to step off.

The worst case of this was on the Apron doing the Grunt and attempting the Calf,

It took me years to accept the fact that juju just wasn't for me. The good times associated with the first five minutes just weren't worth the 2 hours of darkness that followed.

I learned the same lesson with alcohol playing softball in the valley. I remember striking out on three consecutive called strikes. By the time I decided to swing the bat the ball was being thrown back to the mound. The Warehhouse team didn't fare well that day.

BASE104

climber
An Oil Field
Jan 28, 2012 - 12:18pm PT
It was Tim Harrison who died on Anchors Away?

I never found out.

It was fer sure 5.11 in EB's, although kind of soft 5.11. No where near as hard as Green Dragon used to be.

I only spent one day of my life on the Apron, and it was wicked fun. Partner and I did every route we could find over 5.9. Lots of really fun stuff if you were schooled in slabs. I grew up climbing a lot in a slabby area.

I bet we did 30 routes. You just don't get flamed on a slab, although your mind can get a little weary.
cragnshag

Social climber
san joser
Jan 28, 2012 - 01:56pm PT
The Washington boys and I climbed a slab line on the Sheet that we named Joint Venture.

The route was a collaboration between climbers of differing generations AND involved herbal interactions at regular intervals by one in our party.
ydpl8s

Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
Jan 28, 2012 - 02:11pm PT
When in Rome..... (names withheld to protect the innocent:-)

bvb

Social climber
flagstaff arizona
Jan 28, 2012 - 02:11pm PT
Yes Kevin. What in God's name were they thinking? Climbing is dangerous enough as it is without pouring the gasoline of illegal drugs onto that fire. Sheesh.
bvb

Social climber
flagstaff arizona
Jan 28, 2012 - 02:13pm PT
Coz, if Green Dragon was 11d it was the easiest 11d on the Apron! What was it in the '87 Meyer's Guide?
bvb

Social climber
flagstaff arizona
Jan 28, 2012 - 02:46pm PT
Yeah, Coz did Perfect Master with the Evil Ex in '87 or '88. Fell a couple of times on it then did it top to bottom clean. On a good conditions day, as well. I thought The Token was harder. I did the Token it and fell more than a few times before pulling the rope and doing it top-to-bottom.

No pot here, but way too much Coffee!
wstmrnclmr

Trad climber
Bolinas, CA
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 28, 2012 - 03:40pm PT
Thanks for largely keeping this on topic.....I'm truly interested in the mentality of climbing these days because while my physical skills are certainly waning, I feel stronger then ever mentally. All of the BITD talk can still be lived today and by all of us later along in years. The interesting thing to me is how out of style slabs have become. I'm over fifty and am climbing slabs better then ever. Modern rubber (and the benefit of gyms to keep us strong) and being more of a mental challenge is something we can all do later in life. Numbers games aren't based so much on physical ability as the mental. All of the apron climbs still exist. Climbs like the BY and Burning Down The House are still physically within our reach. Why is it that we need to lose that focus and lack of go for it attitude later in life. More to lose? Older and wiser? The only time I'm absolutely free is when I'm 20' out lazer beamed in on that moment, making the next move. I remember being in conversation with Gnome after he followed the BY last year and his ambition to be the "oldest" to climb the BY. Why not? I've seen him climb and he certainly has the physical skills and I'm sure he'd say the same about me. It's the mental challenge that seems to be missing in the general climbing populace these days. Slabs can be enjoyed by all ages. That's why I love the stories and how these amazing pieces of art were installed. And mind altering played a part. Just tapping into it naturally is my goal.
rincon

Trad climber
SoCal
Apr 20, 2013 - 02:14am PT
420 bump
:)
Messages 21 - 40 of total 57 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
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