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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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Topic Author's Reply - May 29, 2012 - 06:16pm PT
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I should mention that Dick also wrote the first (and only) climber's guide to the Coast Mountains (or Coast Range, if you prefer) of British Columbia.
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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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Topic Author's Reply - May 29, 2012 - 06:22pm PT
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I think about 250 is close, but even Dick has no idea. He stopped counting after a while. John Clarke at some 600 has more first ascents of peaks, but Dick has more high-quality 1st ascents.
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sac
Trad climber
Sun Coast B.C.
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May 29, 2012 - 08:11pm PT
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Sounds like a great project.....
Bump
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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May 31, 2012 - 06:05pm PT
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There are rumors of an hibachi-style barbeque coming along on some of the climbing trips Dick did with Paul Starr and Fred Douglas.
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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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Topic Author's Reply - May 31, 2012 - 06:53pm PT
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^^^^^^Wasn't there also a few chicken bones in that summit reg ?
I guess my memory is fading more rapidly than I thought. I don't remember anything about chicken bones... I thought we tossed the chicken bones over the edge. ??
I'll have to ask Fred and Paul about the Hibachi incident! Never heard of that. Sounds like a Starr thing; tough to imagine Fred doing that.
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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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Topic Author's Reply - May 31, 2012 - 07:00pm PT
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Actually, the descent off Serra V was one of the most frightening of my life (and Dick's). I know gf and PC had big-time problems, too: scary stuff, you guys, well done!
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Hoser
climber
vancouver
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May 31, 2012 - 07:52pm PT
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I think its written up in "The Traverse" by Don
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David Wilson
climber
CA
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May 31, 2012 - 09:22pm PT
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Hi Glenn, My dad, Les Wilson, was with him on the winter Waddington ascent. Dad has a bunch of photos from that trip and if you PM me I can put you in touch. Best, David
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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May 31, 2012 - 09:28pm PT
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I'm fairly sure that I was on the BCMC trip which Fred brought a hibachi along on. Perhaps he did it several times.
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David Wilson
climber
CA
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May 31, 2012 - 10:51pm PT
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found a pic from the trip in question:
serious old school
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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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Topic Author's Reply - May 31, 2012 - 11:30pm PT
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Hi David, nice photo, and indeed old school.
I sent you a PM.
Glenn
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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 1, 2012 - 12:38pm PT
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Glen i bet you have some great pictures of serra V and the rest of your big summer with Dick. Any chance you could post up a few? Sadly, we have few photos. We didn't take that many and what with attrition over 50 years, there aren' many, if any, left of Serra V. I might have one or two; I'll try and dig them up over the next while.
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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I once heard that Dick lost all his photos in a fire. True or false? That would have been a huge loss to Dick, and to the rest of us.
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Glenn
Any truth to the housefire/photos story?
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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 5, 2012 - 12:11am PT
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Hi Hamie, sorry for the slow reply; been out of town and out of touch.
I don't know the truth of that particular story, but I'll ask next time I see him. I do know that many of his photos were lost in one way or the other: fire, sundry moves and revolutions, and so forth. I'm trying to hit up people for pics.
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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I have a few so-so pix from the summer that Dick and I spent working for Newconex Explorations, in the Selkirks. We did some FAs, and new routes on Moloch and Wheeler. A nice paid vacation! 1963? Even less from Squamish.
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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 7, 2012 - 09:59pm PT
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Hamie, I had a nice afternoon with Dick today. He says that most of his photos were lost in sundry thefts at various times and in a flood in his mother's basement. His house did burn down when he was a kid, but that was before he started climbing. Probably lost all his childhood and family photos, though.
I'll be in touch about Newconex (yes, 1963, I'm pretty sure) and Crap Crags.
G
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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 7, 2012 - 10:35pm PT
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I'm going to be working on that! Haven't covered it yet.
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Oplopanax
Mountain climber
The Deep Woods
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make sure you cover the train-hopping
riding the rails is probably the first thing i think of when i think of him, after the sandbag grades that is.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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That quality over quantity thing rings true with me.
Best of luck with the project.
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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 9, 2012 - 03:19pm PT
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riding the rails is probably the first thing i think of when i think of him, after the sandbag grades that is.
I'm certainly covering trains, but I only have one photo from those trips.
Sandbag grades? What sandbag grades? (I'm reasonably serious here....)
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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I hope that someone, somewhere has a copy of the photo of Dick climbing Siwash Rock with skis on. Beyond classic! Nails?
That could be a sandbag grade--it's at the beach......
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Oplopanax
Mountain climber
The Deep Woods
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I'm thinking of the grades that perhaps were touched on in 1969 when Dick wrote in the CAJ of the Prow route that its "numbers had been subject to a population explosion" or the statement in the VOCJ about Gambit Grooves - "Difficulty is 5.7 by Yosemite standards or 5.5 by Chief."
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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 9, 2012 - 08:47pm PT
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Hamie, I think I have a photo of the Siwash Rock escapade. I'll have to search harder for it. I hoped that you had a copy?? By the way, it seems that you and Gordon were the ones that originally suggested that Dick go to South America.
Oplopanax, I know what you mean, but those grades were never deliberate sandbags. Here are a couple of Squamish examples:
Diedre 5.4 (Culbert & Woodsworth); 5.9 (McLane; too high IMHO)
Snake 5.6 (Culbert & Woodsworth); 5.9 (McLane)
A non-Squamish, mountain example:
Old Barrel Sides (Howson Range): "a complicated route...with nothing worse than a couple of class 4 overhangs." (It's class 5)
Mt. Colonel Foster (Vancouver Island): East Face: "Climbing seldom above mid-5th" Today: 5.8 and sustained.
I think it's more a case of grade inflation over the years, rather than sandbagging, but that's a topic for another thread.
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Oplopanax
Mountain climber
The Deep Woods
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Point being, when he wrote the SW BC guide he was aware of the discrepancy between the Yosemite grades and the grades as applied at Squamish in the 60s, and as far as I can tell he upgraded some, but not all, of the grades in the guidebook accordingly.
It's the "but not all" part that still gets people today climbing old and rarely repeated routes.
I mean, Harvey's Pup, Pup Buttress, given 5.6 A2 on the first ascent. Unusually we also have in the FA description notes on what aid was used - a total of 4 pins. One at what is now the 10a crux pitch, and three on what is now a steep 5.8 fingercrack (must have been tougher in boots). But there is a significant amount of what is by no means easy 5.8 and 5.9 climbing on the modern route that was freed and called 5.6 then, including a 30m pitch of partially overhanging (leaning) hand and fist cracks.
Even though, by 1969, Culbert knew that 5.5 Squamish = 5.7 Yosemite, when he wrote the 1974 Alpine Guide to SW BC, the grade of the Pup Buttress was given as "5.7, minor aid". Th grade of Diedre is also given as 5.7 in the same book. But Diedre today is also 5.7 (Kevin McLane grades aside) - much easier than the supposed 5.7 on the Pup Buttress. Hence, sandbagging through inconsistent grade correction.
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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 10, 2012 - 12:34am PT
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He was modest and certainly prone to understatement, and if that's sandbagging, so be it. Mainly happened on routes for which he did the first ascent. I haven't done Pup's Butt, so can't comment on that, but you guys are probably right.
I agree: "Class 4 overhangs"??? WTF?
EDIT: Bruce, Oplopanax: I appreciate the feedback and criticism. It will help keep me objective (as much as I can be). Glenn
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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 10, 2012 - 12:43am PT
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Yeah, Tami, I've been guilty of this stuff, too. But again, not because of deliberate sandbagging. I remember the first time I climbed at Leavenworth and I was amazed at how easy the 5.7 routes were compared with Squ. I though the Leavenworth people had inflated the grades, for some reason.
I never climbed in Yosemite, so I never was able to compare my grades to the gold standard.
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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 11, 2012 - 03:46pm PT
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Fifty years ago today, Dick Culbert, Ashlyn Armour-Brown, and I summited Monarch Mountain (3555 m, 11663 feet), for the second ascent of the original route. This peak is the highest in the Coast Mtns outside the Waddington Range and was the first peak over 10,000 feet that Dick had climbed.
This miserable photo of one of us on the summit ridge might be the only one surviving from that climb. Looks really wintery up there; I froze my feet.
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laughingman
Mountain climber
Seattle WA
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Jun 11, 2012 - 03:50pm PT
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The mans a serious legend, the Coast Mountains are a hard and unforgiving place....
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thekidcormier
Gym climber
squamish, b.c.
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Jun 11, 2012 - 05:01pm PT
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Rad photo Glenn!
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Jun 11, 2012 - 09:49pm PT
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Here's a pic of Arnie Shives, after the 3rd asc of the original route, 1964. More wintery conditions, and a very long day.
EDIT: Another paid vacation, this time thanks go to Kennco Explorations.
Glenn, you were part of this dubious crew for a couple of weeks, before heading off to Serra V etc with Dick.
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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 11, 2012 - 11:13pm PT
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Nice picture, Hamie; wish I'd seen that about a month ago (for the art book on Arnold Shives that's at the proof stage now).
Yeah, no matter how you do it, that Monarch route is a long day. Did you have any problem with the schrund?
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Jun 11, 2012 - 11:43pm PT
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Nothing major. Our good karma, of course!! Chuckles & :)
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Jun 12, 2012 - 08:39pm PT
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Tami, should I get a haircut too? :-) H.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jun 12, 2012 - 08:42pm PT
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^^^^^
Another side of the Marlborough man.
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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 12, 2012 - 09:18pm PT
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Fine photo, Hamie. I presume it's on Monarch?
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Oplopanax
Mountain climber
The Deep Woods
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Jun 12, 2012 - 11:41pm PT
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Bad VOC facial hair is timeless :D
Arnold Shives fuzzface 1963 could easily be John Millar fuzzface 2001
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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 13, 2012 - 02:18am PT
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Both Arnold & Hamie look kind of shell-shocked and stunned. Long day.
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Jun 13, 2012 - 11:22am PT
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Sorry, I didn't mean to hi-jack the thread. Back on topic, here's a pic of Dick studying some rocks."Aint no gold in them thar hills."
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domngo
climber
Canada
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Jun 30, 2017 - 07:51am PT
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What a lovely thread. Went to the tribute VIMFF this past fall/winter and it was a great voyage into the past.
we passed by Monarch's East face the other day and it looked in godilke shape.
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domngo
climber
Canada
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Jun 30, 2017 - 06:36pm PT
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Thanks Tami! We were headed south to the island from Burn's lake. Not sure where Knot Lake is but we did pass over the Success Lakes near the Lillooet Icefield
Here's a look at the Big Wadd & Franklin glacier from the west - don't think many people approach from this side.
Whats the status on this bio? It'll probably need a few volumes...
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domngo
climber
Canada
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Ahh, so I did get eyeballs on Knot Lakes!
We fly in a Piper-Aztec PA-23. We are an aerial survey operation with a giant hole cut out of the belly with a large-format camera on a gyro mount. We pretty much fly everywhere...like everywhere BC/AB. I sit in the back and press buttons on the screen, tell the pilot where to go, listen to podcasts, and look at our glorious land for most of the summer.
hope ya'll had a happy colonization of native lands day!
Best of luck to Vance
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domngo
climber
Canada
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Tami - her names Kisik (cree for sky) and she gets us around all safe n comfy :)
Here's a photo of Devil's Thumb from ~60NM south. WOOOOOF! That man left footprints in a helluva lota places...
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domngo
climber
Canada
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okay one more taken in the last couple weeks - East face of Colonel Foster
the man sure could pick'em
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| Messages 1 - 47 of total 47 in this topic |
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SuperTopo on the Web
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first (and only) winter ascent of Mt. Waddington
Let us know!