Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
rottingjohnny
Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
|
|
Ekat...I think the eye sierra building may have burned down.....Matsus is now a mexican restaurant...Restraunts don't last long in this town....Hands in front and back of head...RJ
|
|
mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 21, 2015 - 12:43pm PT
|
time to bump old Millis as we near ten years after
I'm not at all certain, but it looks like he passed in March, 2006? Anyone know for certain? I can't find my old info anyplace right now.
Thread about his memorial thrown by Derryberry & Long in Bishop.
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=167683&msg=167683#msg167683
Here is a post from Don Lauria in the Tenaya Waterskiing thread about Millis.
Here is another contribution to mountain lore from Dennis the Millis ... there was no accounting for the limits to which Bard and Carter could push the needle on the funmeter
Skiing Tenaya Lake by Dennis Miller aka Millis
I'm not certain if it was '82 or '83, my memory is kind of foggy on dates farther back than last year, but it was early in the 80's. It was a Tuolumne Meadows wedding, and I was an invited guest.
The drive from Jackson Hole can be done in two very pleasant days or one very long, grueling ordeal, especially in an old van with a bad muffler and no tunes! I chose the latter. Nevada can be a boring place if Nevada isn't where one wants to be. I left the "Hole" at four in the morning and made it to Montgomery Pass just as the sun was setting over the Sierra Range. I managed to make it to the Tuolumne Meadows campground by midnight. I had no sooner got into my bag and fallen asleep when I was awakened by the crunch of pine needles. Something, or someone was creeping up on my campsite in the middle of the night. Bears, raccoons, perhaps park rangers looking for a midnight bust.
And then I beard a familiar voice, it was Tom Carter. "There he is A.B!” Allan answered, "How can you tell, it's so dark?" Tom replied, "Geez, look at that bag and that mop of hair, it’s Millis all right, no one else would be caught dead in that sleeping bag!"
True, I had a bad habit of keeping sleeping bags years past their dumpster due date. Taco sauce, burn holes, grease, pancake batter, poor patch jobs over even poorer patch jobs, and stains of unknown origins pretty much covered the outside and inside of my bags. Hey, it was my trademark! Anyway, Tom gently tugged on my hair, "Hey Millis, good to see you old pal, let's go skiing!"
"What the hell are you talking about pal, it's the middle of summer!" I could see Bardini's mischievous smile even in the pitch darkness. "No one said anything about snow Millis, get your ass up, now!"
We made our way down to the parking lot and found Allan's old faded-orange Opel hidden amongst all the shiny new pickups, sports cars, and yuppy mobiles lining the tightly packed lot. On top of the Opel was a single water ski strapped on with several lengths and widths of nylon webbing. "What the hell, you guys are nuts!", I mumbled.
"Right!" Allan replied, "and you're not!" We all laughed, it was going to be another epic adventure.
It was still quite dark when we got to the west end of Tenaya Lake. There were absolutely no cars on the road - the night was still and very chilly. Allan and Tom began getting dressed for the cold water while I tied the perlon ropes to the back of the Opel. Allan was first.
I drove while Tom hung out the window of the passenger side yelling reassuring words to Allan as he sat in the frigid water waiting for the rope to tighten up and snap him out of the near freezing water. After several near fatal headlong dives into the alpine water, Allan was up.
I watched the speedometer as Allan swung away from the shoreline. Ten, twenty, thirty miles an hour. When I hit thirty-two miles an
hour, Allan screamed and disappeared into the murky depths. Just as suddenly, his head popped up from the water and he burst loose with a thundering scream. "Yahoo, skiing the high country!"
Allan grabbed the ski and managed to get to the shoreline as Tom pulled in the rope and I coiled it. Allan dried off as best he could. He was coughing up enough water to brew coffee for ten people, but still smiling and laughing "Did you see that?" he yelled out. "The first water skiers on Tenaya Lake!" I said that it was probably illegal to ski on the lake, but Tom said it was probably forbidden to ski on the lake from a boat, but no one had said anything about using a car, right?
Tom was next. Once again I drove and, as Tom sat in the water waiting for the snap of the rope, all I could envision was me next. I don't think so, no way, Jose!
Now you must remember, Tom Carter was born with skis on his tiny little feet. His mother claims it was a difficult birth, but his innate
talent became evident the second the rope came tight. Tom was up and shooting a rooster tail twenty feet into the air. There was no going back into the water for Tom - not until his ride was over. Ten, twenty, thirty, then forty miles an hour. "Crank it Millisl" Allan yelled.
I finally hit forty-five miles an hour when just ahead, that old dead Lodgepole pine loomed out of dim morning light - you know the one that sticks out of the lake about four fifths of the way up from the south end of the lake."Damn, Tom's going to get creamed by that old tree!" I yelled.
By the time I stopped the car, just a few feet before the rope could tangle with the Lodgepole, Tom had let go of the tow line and
was already swimming toward shore, ski in hand.
Just as we were packing the ski and ropes away, an old pickup truck stacked high with furniture and an assortment of children passed by, and from the cab of the truck we could hear one of the kids yell out, "Hey dad, they got water skiing here, I love Yosemite!"
Sunlight was hitting the tops of the surrounding domes and we was decided the skiing was over for the day. I let out a great sigh of relief. Saved by the sun!
Breakfast at the Tuolumne grill was superb. Later that day, Park Ranger Paul Cowan cornered the three of us and asked us if we
had any idea who might have been waterskiing on Tenaya Lake using an orange Opel sedan as a ski boat. "Got no idea, Paul, you
know we're law abiding citizens just visiting this magnificent national park."
Thank you, Don. Much obliged.
|
|
Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
|
|
|
Mar 21, 2015 - 01:19pm PT
|
C ing this I must go but I have to say God bless !
|
|
Poloman
Trad climber
Anna, Il
|
|
|
Mar 21, 2015 - 01:54pm PT
|
Thanks for this thread. I remember Dennis well. He demonstrated his "puke at will" talent near the lodge in the valley.
On one occasion, he and I were both on climbs on cathedral rock with different partners. Our partners were feeling good but Dennis and I both had a feeling we shouldn't be there. We let our partners go on together and rapped off. Dennis and I salved our damaged egos with milk and bananas down in the valley. I remember him as a truly friendly guy.
I recall him demonstrating his ability to boulder bare foot. I thought this was a pretty neat trick and tried it. I absolutely couldn't stand it!
Thanks Mouse!
|
|
mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 21, 2015 - 02:16pm PT
|
Walleye, eye thank you for that heads-up.
I don't subscribe to mags and a new copy of that issue from Abe Books is $17.95 plus shitting.
Does no one have an issue #42 and a scanner? I'd be grateful.
|
|
rottingjohnny
Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
|
|
|
Mar 21, 2015 - 03:58pm PT
|
Miller went to high school with a good friend of mine , Tommy...Tommy played flute in the high school band with Dennis... Miller showed Tommy no mercy and had him in stictches by making funny faces at Tommy just before he was ready to blow into the flute...
|
|
WBraun
climber
|
|
|
Mar 21, 2015 - 04:38pm PT
|
Mills told me that he was driving by Steamboat when the rock fall came off Elephant Rock.
The rock fall was so big that the water from the Merced river splashed into the back of his convertible as he was driving by.
He then pulled over and sees several large trout in the back seat of the convertible.
LOL ....so full a sh!t ...... :-)
|
|
C4/1971
Trad climber
Depends on the day...
|
|
|
Mar 21, 2015 - 06:08pm PT
|
I had a couple of memorable climbing experiences with Millis. The first was that East Buttress of El Cap. Millie got a couple of gallon jugs from the Body Shop for us. He washed the jugs but forgot to wash the lids. Soap Concentrate. Well, it was a nice scramble until we tried to drink the soapy water.
In May of 1972 we went to the South Face of Washington Column. WE got to Dinner Ledge and fixed the next two pitches. The next morning I told Millis I wasn't going up. That night I had dreamed that we both died on the climb. He called me every name in the book and then went up to clean the fixed pitches. Millis was climbing with a swami belt that HE had sewn together and as he was coming down over the roof the swami belt came apart and he started to fall. He had tremendous upper body strength and reached out and grabbed the rope, while I wrapped the rope around him (think chinese tricks) and he slid down to Dinner Ledge inside the rope.
We sat on the ledge for several hours before we retreated. He never said another word but we remained fast friends...I still have one of his first pipes.
My favorite memory was getting high with him in El Portal and listening to David Bowie. He also stayed with me in Sonora after I left the Valley...wonderful man that forced you to laugh....
|
|
rottingjohnny
Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
|
|
|
Mar 22, 2015 - 03:33pm PT
|
Milis was sitting outside a tastee freeze eating an ice cream cone in Ventura..This biker comes roaring down the boulevard , hits a car , the bikers head comes off and rolls by Millis...
|
|
mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 22, 2015 - 04:24pm PT
|
Good one, RJ!!
I can only wonder, "What was his punch line?"
It would've been a real zinger.
And as to Herr Braun's recollection of the fish in the convertible, I can't remember him having a convertible.
Fact is, when that Elephant Rock slide #1, the small one, came down, I was sitting in the front seat of his Olds, parked at the base of STigma, belaying him.
So, yeah, Werner, it was a troll on his part, but you didn't bite.
He had a way of s t r e t c h i n g the truth which was innocent and fun, but you had to listen carefully if you did not know him and that trait of his.
It was part of his "entertainment value," the rest being his storehouse of jokes and "physical humor."
He and I were practiced at aid climbing together, so we chose off the Chouinard/Pratt on MCR as our first Grade V;and this was before the Central Pillar of Frenzy became the trade route that it is, before it was even ascended, even.
We finished that climb and next thing I knew I was employed by Curry Co. in the Mountain Shop with Cox and Bobby Ashworth.
Millis, too, worked for a couple of outdoor stores with climbing gear, like the one in Fresno mentioned by BooDawg, and Pat's Ski & Sports in LA.
There is no success like success without college, Whitemeat. But get your ass in to one or you may regret it. Think about it, but get some climbing under your belt first.
Plan. Plan. Plan.
|
|
currygirl
Trad climber
Yosemite, Santa Cruz, Ketchum, Old Snowmass
|
|
|
Mar 24, 2015 - 02:12pm PT
|
So many fond memories of Millis and all these entries brought him vividly back into my mind again.
We met in Tuolomne in 1973 and were friends to the end. We also both lived in Ketchum when he was married to Pat and they lived in a trailer south of town. Below is my favorite Millis piece - a schrimshaw necklace on a leather cord. I photographed each side.
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!