Discussion Topic |
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 25, 2006 - 05:00pm PT
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Voytek Kurtyka's "The Shining Wall" Alpinist 2, Gasherbrum IV Profile.
His voice is amply invested in an honest albeit self conscious poetic style which feels as if it's a reflection of his cultural heritage. To me the read was a pure delight.
Peter Croft's "Squamish" Alpinist X
Jeanette Winterson wrote some great Lit Crit (Art Objects) wherein she characterized a mature style which disposes the writer to a level of transparency, a level which removes the writer's own ego from the material allowing a very pure directness.
I found that Peter achieved this. As to the content, for me he pegged the soul of my youthfull excursions and the overall flavor of the internal experience.
Pretty much all J Long stuff, because I like event based Narrative Fiction, his Post War Folksy Americana style is true to who he is and it's refreshing. He's the Trumpet of my generation.
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bob d'antonio
Trad climber
boulder, co
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Apr 25, 2006 - 05:04pm PT
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Joe Brown...The Hard Years. Total blue-collared/working class climber.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 25, 2006 - 05:10pm PT
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I said mag based, more as a follow up to S Pepelow's climbing mag "screw or renew" thread, but it's open hunting season on all sources: thanks Bob!
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 25, 2006 - 05:14pm PT
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DMT!
I was just the other day thinking about that robot vs real hard drinkin' climbing guy piece.
Sweet!
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bob d'antonio
Trad climber
boulder, co
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Apr 25, 2006 - 05:17pm PT
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Tar...Chuck Pratt..."The View from Deadhorse Point". The piece was so visual. You just had to go to the desert after reading that.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 25, 2006 - 05:21pm PT
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mike.
"Like New, Low Miles"
I rode in that death trap.
Bob: I need to read that C Pratt Dead Horse Point thing again.
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426
Sport climber
Buzzard Point, TN
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Apr 25, 2006 - 05:28pm PT
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Alan Kearney (?????)
-Me and Hal (?????)
Pratt was a wordsmith, wish he forged more...
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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Apr 25, 2006 - 05:38pm PT
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the Chris Jones piece in the old Ascent is timeless. One big-assed mountain. Two scared looking dudes way up the wall. A leader fall, a storm, little gear left, no idea if there is a way up and off......
sewelleyondude, you're referring to "north face, north twin", jones climbed it with george lowe and the article was in the '76 ascent, the first one that was thick, like a book. the B&W photos spoke as powerfully as jones' writing, and that cover shot of lowe leading one hell of a scary looking pitch was breathtaking. good pick. one of my favorites too, and at maybe 300 or 400 words, perhaps pound-for-pound the most powerful article on hard alpinism ever written.
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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Apr 25, 2006 - 05:40pm PT
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anyone remeber "future chalk", from an old ish of climbing, fiction about a valley dirtbag who makes it big, great comic illustration by john svenson? one of the funniest bits of fiction they ever published.
"FLEX, NOVICE!!"
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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Apr 25, 2006 - 06:21pm PT
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Dance of the Woo-Li Masters
One my all-time fav's. Rapping off that one stopper and Bridwell (or was it Muggs?) unclipping from the anchor, then clipping back in because they figured to go fast rather than slow if the anchor pulled.
Also, the early R&I rags has some wild-ass stuff. The Largo story on crossing Borneo (with the Walkman scene) was side-splitting...
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G_Gnome
Social climber
Tendonitis City
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Apr 25, 2006 - 07:01pm PT
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I really was taken by the old Jeff Long (he wasn't old, the story is) story in one of the early Ascents called The Soloist. Sounded like heaven and hell mixed together. Sort of like retirement.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 25, 2006 - 07:45pm PT
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Shorty T:
The protagonist was Kurtz, no doubt the name taken from the famous Eigerwand death.
The guy was in a suspended promethean station stuck between life and death.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 25, 2006 - 07:48pm PT
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Hey bvb:
I didn't read "future chalk", but I really dig Svenson's illustrations.
Still waiting for "Greatest Climber in the World"
Steelmnky: thanks for the link to Pratt!
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Larry
Trad climber
Reno NV
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Apr 25, 2006 - 07:51pm PT
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"Night Driving" by Dick Dorworth in the '70s Mountain Gazette. Included the Fun Hog expedition to Patagonia, among other jewels.
Oh, and why? Because I like the road-trip driving shift at sunup, too.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Apr 25, 2006 - 08:00pm PT
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"The protagonist was Kurtz, no doubt the name taken from the famous Eigerwand death."
That, and the Heart of Darkness thing.
"The guy was in a suspended promethean station stuck between life and death."
Hmm, yeah I guess, see also 'The invisible man,' (ellison) 'Catcher in the rye,' (salinger) or Puragutrio (Dante); similar locations, not sure about the promethian part, though,though, they are all bound.
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sr
climber
Bay Area, CA
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Apr 25, 2006 - 08:09pm PT
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Night Driving was (is) classic! There was another article in Mountain Gazette by Doug Robinson called something like "Skiing with the Armadillos" that really captured that Bishop scene in the early 70's. I wish I still had some of those old M G's- some great writing there!
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 25, 2006 - 08:37pm PT
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Jaybro:
To stay in the pulp nebula we are enjoying, there was an original Star Trek episode about a guy, Lazarus I believe, who was perpetually stuck in his space ship, stuck between dimensions. So same weary deal...
And to clean up my Parallel to Shorty's (Jeff Long's)Kurtz, or muddy it as the case may be, who's the Dude who kept rolling the Rock up a hill, only to continually start over?
And, as I recall, doesn't Jeff Long's Kurtz go to sleep by pinning his hand to the ice face with a swift axe placement? Now that's a tuff guy bivy plan!
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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Apr 25, 2006 - 09:19pm PT
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boys, the actual name of the article in question is "the soloists diary". i read it many times, but never fully grasped it. i think long wanted it that way for his readers.
and "night driving"...to this day i can still quote extensive passages from memory. another great MG masterwork from '75 or so was bruce berger's "there was a river". not climbing related, but breathtakingly good writing nonetheless.
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kevin Fosburg
Sport climber
park city,ut
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Apr 25, 2006 - 09:28pm PT
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There was an article by Ron Fawcett's wife (Gil Kent?) about doing the Nose in a Day way back when, I think in Climbing. It was great. She talked about leading a 5.9 pitch that seemed particularly difficult and exclaiming, "I am fatigued!", only to subsequently notice on the topo that the pitch was rated 5.9 A1. And something about getting back to C4 via the Falls Trail and having all their bivy gear at the base of El Cap so her husband had a plan that "consisted of putting on all our clothes and laying on the ground". Very well written I thought.
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Apr 25, 2006 - 09:29pm PT
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Tar...Chuck Pratt..."The View from Deadhorse Point". The piece was so visual. You just had to go to the desert after reading that.
Totally agree, this was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the thread title. Not long after it came out, I took that Ascent issue along as inspiration and guidebook on my first desert trip. 35 years later I've still got the mag, with all the damage it sustained on that trip.
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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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Apr 25, 2006 - 10:00pm PT
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The Deadhorse is good but Pratt's article on Watkins has an even more developed tone and feel to it. One of my favorites. Tillman also had some really great stuff--fricking funny as well. The older stuff tends to be stronger, IMO.
JL
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jclimb
Trad climber
Durango, Co
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Apr 25, 2006 - 10:30pm PT
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Thanks for the Chuck Pratt, Deadhorse Point links - that was a much appreciated read. Night Driving is awesome, one of my favorite's for sure!!! I've read some pretty great stuff in Mountain Gazette in the past few years. I'll dig out some of the issues I have packed away and try to relay some titles and issue numbers. Thanks for the good topic!
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m.
Trad climber
UT
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Apr 26, 2006 - 12:16am PT
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Largo, you're so right- that Pratt piece on Mt. Watkins was sensational! Two of my favorites are your own memorable account of soloing the Left Ski Track (the butterfly's wing...), and Russ Clune's thought-provoking tale of soloing Supercrack. Does anyone remember "The Art of the States" and "The State of the Art"?
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Apr 26, 2006 - 12:20am PT
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Sissyphus
the Soloists diary (¿Diary of the soloist Climber?) -'72(?) ascent
"Ronald, I am Fatigued!" West face, not Nose
The Mt Watkins one is superb, but the View from Deadhorse Point get's my vote.
The Only Blasphemy only gets more relevent
If anyone missed it, check out Ed's list below only one dud
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Apr 26, 2006 - 12:29am PT
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steelmnky posted up a few articles, and I also contributed a few...
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Apr 26, 2006 - 12:50am PT
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I love well written climbing stories, not just for the pleasure of reading but because they can spark the kindling within me and light the fire to go out and climb.
There are two magazine editions which initiated adventures, an article:
Yosemite's Other Valley by Galen Rowell which appeared in Ascent, probably one of the best climbing magazines ever published.
This article was directly responsible for my first visit to Hetch Hetchy in the early 70's.
The cover of Mountain 102 is a fantastic photograph, caption: "Renato Casarotto leading teh Pomme d'Or icefall, Malbaie, Quebec, Canada" lead to a trip up to the Laurentides in the winter of 1986-87. This edition also has the story Flint Hard and Flawless by John Long, an account of freeing the Lost Arrow Spire juxtaposing the history of climbs made on the spire. Mountain is also one of the all time great climbing magazines.
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dougs510
Social climber
down south
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Apr 26, 2006 - 01:12am PT
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I liked "Kiss or Kill" by Mark Twite (sp?). Anyhow, Wickwires, "Addicted to Danger", was a pretty good read... left me wondering though.... lot's of folks bought it climbing w/ him... No disrespect Wick. I'll also put in a plug for Arno's "The Rock Warriers Way"... good "out of the box" thinking, with much Buddest wisdom and practice to enhance your climbing psych.
I think my all time favorite, though not a climbing read, is John Muir's "Mountianeering Essays". Very good.
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Elcapinyoazz
Mountain climber
Anchorage, Alaska
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Apr 26, 2006 - 01:15am PT
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Most of the Ascents had some really good tales in them. The one about some German (IIRC) dudes doing Son of Heart was nice, just rang true. And about every other Alpinist has a good one, although some do suffer under translation.
That said, the one mag-based thing that sticks in my mind wasn't for it's lit qualities. It was in Climbing maybe around 8-10 years ago....JayBro will probably know the one. It was an article on hardest OWs in the States. Crazy and inspiring pics in that one. That was the fist time I'd seen pics of someone on Bellyfull. Gnarly.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 26, 2006 - 01:29am PT
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wow, this is rolling nicely!
now we need to get all this slapped into a binder so to speak...
yes jay sissyphus.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Apr 26, 2006 - 01:30am PT
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I think it has Bridwell on the cover, I'll check the archieve next time I'm back at the ranch.
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jack splat
climber
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Apr 26, 2006 - 01:57am PT
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I think it was "Future Chock" (not "Future Chalk"). Was the writer Ronald Headly? I always wondered if that was a John Long pseudonym, the style was so similar.
Anyway, that was a brilliant short, it would be great to read it again and see how much has come to pass.
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BrentA
Gym climber
estes park
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Apr 26, 2006 - 02:10am PT
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Does "Confessions of a Serial Climber" count.
Kind of compulation of mag based stuff.
Any alpinist piece.
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Chaz
Trad climber
So. Cal.
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Apr 26, 2006 - 04:34am PT
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I remember the one Mr Fosburg talks about. I think it was called "Easy Day". "We'll piss right up this, then we'll have a few".
One I liked was, I think, called "Tugley Wood", which chronicled a road-trip to Colorado and Wyoming by a couple guys from Wisconson or Minnesota. They played a game called "Tourist Baiting" which was a high-stakes, Bull Crap Spraying competition with Tourons as the targets.
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kevin Fosburg
Sport climber
park city,ut
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Apr 26, 2006 - 08:39am PT
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How about all those gems in Games Climbers Play? I especially recall, It's a 5.10 Mantle into Heaven Brother as being way funny and seeming to anticipate future trends like heavy handed NPS regulation, ASCA folly, sport climbing clones etc.
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426
Sport climber
Buzzard Point, TN
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Apr 26, 2006 - 08:41am PT
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Ah yes, Tulgey Wood; a classic- I've used that line "hollow as a rotten log and filled with water" in El Cap Meadow before.
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kevin Fosburg
Sport climber
park city,ut
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Apr 26, 2006 - 09:25am PT
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Who wrote that Tulgey Wood story? I met some literary-type climbers from Minnesota once at Devil"s Tower where I think there's also a route by that name.
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Zetedog
Trad climber
PGH, PA
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Apr 26, 2006 - 09:25am PT
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There are two from the mid to late-nineties that have stuck with me. Neither were of the best quality, but both were creative. I wish I would have save the articles, or remembered more.
This first was about 2 guys that climbed some Hueco Tanks wall in "big wall" style after being told by some barfly they weren't real men until they had done one. IIRC, they took with them a 30ft piece of webbing, a case of beers, and a single crampon. There was a line in their that just cracked me up, something to the effect that the narrator looked ino the sky and didn't see a cloud, and although he was no expert, figured the weather pattern was stable. Since the temps were near 85, he figured he wouldn't need to pull out the crampon yet.
The second was a fictional piece about some young climber that was talking into leading some desert monolithic tower by some old guy in a local bar. the description of the climbers was pretty decent, and the story had a couple of twists (I don't remeber whether the old guy told the younger he had climbed it in his youth, which he actually had not done, or the other way around).
Any how, both stuck with me, and there are times when I am out clibing when I can vividly remember the sensations of both stories.
ToddE.
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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Apr 26, 2006 - 10:05am PT
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I agree w/ you, TarB, that Peter Croft's article about Squamish was one of the best I've ever read.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Apr 26, 2006 - 11:30am PT
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The Tulgey Wood one in one of the best ever.
The guys internal dialog while leading the thin pitch-"they died so young..."
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
Otto, NC
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Apr 26, 2006 - 12:10pm PT
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Dave Pagel is the Minnesotan. That thing is classic, as is his story of the epic drive back to Minneapolis fron Boulder. It has many good lines: about the stereo playing so loud "it sets up a standing wave in my brain"; "I am probably clinically dead",the Boulder ideal of how the body is a temple, to be nourished only with macrobiotic foods, and then filled with all the mind-altering substances I can afford. An all-timer.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Apr 26, 2006 - 01:07pm PT
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Tar-
maybe you missed this:
[url="http://home.comcast.net/~e.hartouni/doc/greatest_climber.txt"]The Greatest Climber In The World by Bernard Amy[/url]
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elcap-pics
climber
Crestline CA
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Apr 26, 2006 - 01:16pm PT
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Yo.... John Longs "Rats" about the old Yosemite wall climbers... I still get all teary whenever I read it, which is fairly often ... Nice John!!!
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 26, 2006 - 01:20pm PT
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Thanks Ed H!
(greatest climber)
Now BVB does not have to fax it to me!
What we really need is to do links to everyone of these great suggestions, or burn them to cd a la bachar/werner video.
I'm not volunteering!
(carry on...)
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Roger Breedlove
Trad climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Apr 26, 2006 - 03:19pm PT
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I don't think that either of my two favorites has been mentioned: Kroger’s report on the first ascent of the 'Heart Route’ and Robbins account of ‘Tis-sa-ack.’ I think both were originally published in ‘Ascent.’
‘Tis-sa-ack’ stands out, in hindsight for me, as mirroring the ending of the ‘Golden Age’ of Yosemite climbing. The first few paragraphs have a tone of wistfulness about the ‘regulars,’ notably Pratt, not getting together to climb the new route. Then the whole tone of the article changes as Robbins and Patterson start climbing and in the process define the divide between the old generation and the new.
Although I did not know Patterson, and was new, it seems to me that the story and the story telling summed up the end of the era, the loosening of the bonds that held the old group together, and the incomprehensibleness of the new guys.
Robbins’ concept for telling the story—he writes in the first person for each of the players—is stellar. It really is if each person were telling his side of the story, in a private, no holds barred late night conversation.
Robbins nails himself and also nails some of the personal characteristics of Roper and Pratt, guys he had know and climbed with for years. The article also captures the tensions created mostly by the 60’s climbers growing up and the attendant complications—some of the same tensions I saw first hand play out a few years later.
Kroger, on the other hand, poke fun at the whole idea of the heroes of the day, both old and new. The images he portrays were hilarious in their conjuring up images of Bridwell and Schmitz as barbarians—“Let’s call them ‘Jim’ and ‘Kim’”--and in capturing everyone’s silly awe of Robbins with their description of desperate racing around on the top of El Cap looking for him when they topped out. They were sure that he would have come to meet them—they only climbed it so that Robbins would like them!!! Ha.
On a personal note, some of my best memories are hanging out at Roper’s in Berkeley. Pratt had a little enclosed porch for a room and I lived a few blocks away. The place was almost always full of the climbing literary types. The behind the scenes look at Steve and Chuck editing ‘Ascent’ was priceless, whether it was sitting in the living room with piles of paper strewn about or arguing writing style into the late afternoon over bottles of wine, after the waiters had left, and someone was already mopping the floor. Steve and Chuck would take stuff that was just a notch above random words delivered in a sack with a proposed title and work them into what the ‘author’ would have loved to be able to say if only he had the talent. Those massive edits jobs always sounded as if they were written in the ‘author’s’ voice and never sounded like Steve or Chuck--absolute masters at word-smithing.
I think both stories are in Roper's "Ordeal by Piton" collection.
Edit: It looks like I went a little overboard on the 'why' part of the question. Sorry. Further edit: I checked some of my facts.
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John Vawter
Social climber
San Diego
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Apr 26, 2006 - 03:20pm PT
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Another vote for Dorworth's "Night Driving" in Mountain Gazette. Read it many times BITD because it really evoked the sense of adventure that began with the drive in those days. With two lane roads instead of interstates for most of the way, getting there was a much bigger part of the fun than it is now.
Another fine one, a tad more obscure, was "Smiley's Last Climb" by Robin Smith in an early Mountain, about a climb in the Alps. He had a wry, spare style that left you wanting more.
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scuffy b
climber
S Cruz
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Apr 26, 2006 - 06:11pm PT
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Yeah, Robin Smith! I can't remember the title But I really
dug the only thing of his I read. Maybe "The Bat and the Wicked"
The account of the 1st ascent of the Heart that stuck with me
is the one from Vulgarian Digest. Comic book format.
"Great hairy giants" chasing them away from the Dawn Wall.
One of my all-time favorites is The Conquest of Tillie's Lookout
which was republished in Ascent 1969(?)
Originally published in Mad with illustrations but I don't remember the author.
It had a nice glossary. Rumpage is the only technical term I recall right now.
I guess it was inspired by The Ascent of Rum Doodle.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Apr 26, 2006 - 06:51pm PT
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OK, someone's got to transcribe Dorworth's "Night Driving" from Mountain Gazette 'cause I could only find fragments and it does seem worth the read....
...please someone do it!!
also, I'll work on some of these other gems.
And thanks for going overboard Roger, it is all too easy to sit back and read the magazines and anthologies without appreciating the hell the editors go through to make something really good. When you have superlative climbers AND surpelative editors and writers puttting together a magazine editions you get something like Ascent and Mountain which shine brighter with age. It is what is lacking from most of the current magazine literature.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Apr 26, 2006 - 07:53pm PT
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y'all should learn to search the Forum, but this was posted on a previous thread:
[url="http://home.comcast.net/~e.hartouni/doc/Justification.txt"]Justification for an elitist attitude by Mark Twight[/url]
but you can avoid the shitstorm that erupted over "copyright" issues....
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James
Social climber
My Subconcious
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Apr 26, 2006 - 07:56pm PT
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Robbins account of Tis-sack is well written. The way he pokes fun of himself is excellent. Twight has written some good stuff, although his stories sometimes sound like the arrogant musings of an angst ridden alpinist. Pete Takeda wrote a story about driving across the bridges in Yosemite backwards at night. The story left vivid images in my mind and whenever I walk across Swinging Bridge I chuckle. I like John's stories about Yabo, Tobin, et al.
Excellent thread.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Apr 26, 2006 - 08:26pm PT
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jclimb - I looked at the Table of Contents and Coyote Song by Dorworth is included but I didn't see Night Driving
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Larry
Trad climber
Reno NV
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Apr 26, 2006 - 10:12pm PT
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My old MGs are in Tucson, but I'm in Reno. They'd be hard to OCR, even if they were here.
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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Apr 26, 2006 - 11:22pm PT
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yeah and "night driving" was a pretty damn long article.
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Shack
Big Wall climber
Reno NV
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Apr 26, 2006 - 11:33pm PT
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This was from one of Russ's writings...I forget exactly what...
(but it still cracks me up...)
"The combo of chalk and sweat and humidity made a really cool mayo like substance all over my hands and forearms. It was decided later that to call the vile substance mayo was to do it an injustice. From now on it will be known as Miracle Whip, as in it is a miracle if you don't whip with this stuff on your hands."
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Apr 27, 2006 - 02:49am PT
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hey bvb, you've been holding out on us! I found this while looking for something else last night... love hardcopy browsing:
[url="http://home.comcast.net/~e.hartouni/doc/Premium_Miniatures.txt"]Premium Minatures by Bob Van Belle[/url]
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jeff leads
Sport climber
ca
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Apr 27, 2006 - 10:56am PT
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Fish's "Miles Glorious" was some of the funniest reading ever! Bring it back.
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John Vawter
Social climber
San Diego
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Apr 27, 2006 - 06:05pm PT
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That's a well written piece BVB. I'd heard of that article, of course, but this was my first read. Wish I could see the pics. (broad hint) One correction, I'm pretty sure it was Tom Compare who hatched the GWBC idea in 1972(?) and who did most of the organization for that seminal contest in which Werner was a participant. But Werner pulled that wagon for the better part of the next ten or so years, and deserves much credit for that largely thankless task.
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Off White
climber
Tenino, WA
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Apr 27, 2006 - 06:21pm PT
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I've had a snippet of some Mountain Gazette piece stuck in my head for thirty some years:
"These men were hard men. They liked their women hard hearted and their eggs hard boiled. They didn't wear underwear, they wore hardware. These men were hard to believe."
I'm pretty sure it's up in the rafters in some dusty box waiting for me to finish my library wall project...
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nb3000
Gym climber
Oakland, CA.
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Apr 27, 2006 - 07:28pm PT
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Walling - Like New, Lo Miles - great story
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Apr 28, 2006 - 12:24am PT
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John, I don't have access to a scanner... but a lot of pictures are hanging around in the "neb" threads...
The lead picture is bvb, of course, posted:
"The author on Undertow (5.11+). Photo: Brian Bailey"
"The seqence for Driving South (5.11c)." a picture of hands...
"Dave Robinson on Alcoa (5.11d)." Photo: Brian Bailey this picture is a great one from the era of lycra... bvb offered the dominatrix up, look 7th picture down
"Ron Amick on Dragon (5.11)."
"'Two burly dudes' on Rockwork Orange (5.9)."
And finally a really great sunset "Dave Robinson on the Marshmellow Tower (5.10b)."
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Apr 29, 2006 - 02:26am PT
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[url="http://home.comcast.net/~e.hartouni/doc/TIS-SA-ACK.txt"]Tis-sa-ack by Royal Robbins[/url]
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Roger Breedlove
Trad climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Apr 29, 2006 - 09:50am PT
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Hey Ed, scan in the picture of Royal at the end of Tis-sa-ack. There is a copy on page 209 of "Ordeal by Piton."
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Apr 29, 2006 - 12:23pm PT
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Roger - I have transcribed the article from Galen Rowell's The Vertical World of Yosemite so I don't have the picture which you refer to... but I will attempt to buy a copy of Steve Roper's Trial By Piton, and I have to get a flatbed scanner too (sort of been meaning to get one anyway).
If anyone else out there has access to the pic and a scanner feel free to contribute!
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
Otto, NC
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Apr 29, 2006 - 09:57pm PT
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Achey's stuff is really good, yeah. 'Notes from a Thunderbird?'
And he definitely captured the Whitesides flava in that one.
I like his little piece "Success" in the Black Canyon guidebook as well.
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jclimb
Trad climber
Durango, Co
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May 23, 2006 - 07:22pm PT
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Just wanted to apologize for the mis-information in one of my posts above. I was flipping through my issue of "When In Doubt, Go Higher" and realized that Night Driving was not included. Thanks for noting that earlier, Ed. I just read Night Driving not too long ago and though for sure it was in the anthology. Maybe it was a repring in MG or something. Anyway, lots of great stuff to read from suggestions in this topic. Thanks.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - May 23, 2006 - 07:24pm PT
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sweet bump.
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steelmnkey
climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
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May 23, 2006 - 08:17pm PT
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Anyone remember the John Long piece about climber trying to score princess chick who does the whole get-away-c'mere deal. She has brothers who climb (not really) and when he goes to the crags with them, he sandbags them wholeheartedly. The piece had some incredibly visual wording in it.
Anyone know the issue and mag that was in? I'd like to scan it for Ed.
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dirtineye
Trad climber
the south
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May 23, 2006 - 08:47pm PT
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I can understand why people like to write about climbing, but why do people like to read about it?
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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May 23, 2006 - 08:52pm PT
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I can expand on my climbing experience by communicating with others about their climbing experience... reading is one way to do this...
While writing does not always convey the "full" experience, some authors are able to communicate the essence of the experience. This provides me with another point of view, which is wonderful, since I truely enjoy climbing.
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dirtineye
Trad climber
the south
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May 23, 2006 - 09:49pm PT
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well Ed, then it is too bad they did not include web publishing, cause your report recently was stellar.
And that stuff peter hann writes is great.
And the funny trip report with the stuff about rock paper scissors was hilarious.
I guess on the web it's more like being told a story as opposed to sitting down reading a book. maybe I feel this is more intimate, from friends or something.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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May 24, 2006 - 01:03am PT
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Still looking for Night Driving
but the journey is sometimes more important than getting there...
Check out this story by Dick Dorworth: [url="http://mountaingazette.com/art.php?uid=73&date=2003-08-01"]Encounters With Fred (dirtbag lessons)[/url]
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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May 24, 2006 - 02:35am PT
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and another...[url="http://www.bardini.org/Archives/Backside9.PDF"]Glimpses of Pratt: a remembrance by Dick Dorworth[/url] page 3 in The Backside of Beyond Winter 2000-2001 Issue
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Roger Breedlove
Trad climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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May 24, 2006 - 12:21pm PT
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Hey Ed, thanks for posting Dick's article about Chuck. I had not read it.
Chuck was a very private person, even amongst those he was close to and trusted. It took time to form a more complete picture of Chuck because it could only come with the summation of small actions, slight variations in responses, and wry comments that gave the complete picture. I never heard Chuck give a 'grand' answer to anything.
Unique amongst all of us, Chuck seemed to have no interest in defining himself by his climbing skills or accomplishments. Once I did ask him what he thought about all the fuss that was made over him as a brilliant climber. His response was pretty typical: "It is not good for me." And, he didn't what to say anything more.
I am not sure that I knew Chuck well enough to really know what specifically was not good about it. For sure it was something more than humility, although that was part of it. There was something painful about the attention or, maybe, there was a risk that it would lead to something painful.
In reading Dick's piece, he may have given the answer in pointing out the necessity of Chuck’s chores and orderliness to keep his demons at bay. Chuck's ability to control those demons, or at least his ability to control his response to them, would have been diminished if he had let the outside, fawning and prying climbing community have any control over him.
Chuck was a great guy to be around with an awareness and watchfulness that allowed and bolstered feeling the full force of life swirling around--it wasn't enhanced by dissecting Chuck's inner life.
Best, Roger
PS: Anyone in ST land know if Chuck’s VW square back was the same 1964 square back that I sold him in 1974 or so when I upgraded to my ’68 bus? Chuck spent the whole winter learning how to maintain my old car and then poked me about my limited mechanical expertise. My woodpile was never so neat. RIP
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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May 24, 2006 - 11:22pm PT
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Back in the 70's, Climbing [maybe in issue #45] published a trifecta of abysmal epics collectively titled (I believe) "Climbing Reconsidered" or something similar that detailed Taylor's Breach wall experience on Kilimanjaro, Bonnington and Scott's decent of the Ogre, and I am having a senior moment on the third. Anyway, I always remember it as one of the better issues of the mag - and it may also have been the last of three issues with an extreme skiing column where they announced they weren't going to run the column anymore because everyone died...
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - May 25, 2006 - 01:30am PT
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wow roger,
per chuck's slow burn response ("summation of small actions") to any particular driving question about his climbing, particularly in reference to a grandiose one liner type delivery:
gee, you really pegged something there.
i mean, we live by our actions, sure words are cool.
but a lifetime affirmation is rarely achieved by trite summary.
very well related.
thanks for that.
(now i am delicately creeping out of the wheel within a wheel)
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laughingman
Ice climber
Seattle WA
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A cool manga was made a couple of years ago about climbing called KOKOU NO HITO about a alpinist/ soloist who climbs big routes (culminating in a alpine style ascent of K2 west face). The art is well done and author actually did his research in terms of realness. The story is far more psychological drama then a epic about the main characters tormented soul then pure climbing.
Note: this manga was originally serialized so I guess guess it was "mag based"
Various bootleg copies are available online ( the manga is not legally available in english so your good)
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Scole
Trad climber
San Diego
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Nov 10, 2011 - 09:46am PT
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"It's a 5.10 mantle into Heaven Brother" Old Mountain Magazine article re-published in "Games Climbers Play"
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Nov 10, 2011 - 10:48am PT
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The NW climbing articles written by Paul Boving back before he died. Classic and timeless. Wish I could get my hands on a few to re-read, as they made a big impression on me.
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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Nov 10, 2011 - 11:43am PT
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These seem to be old articles. Is this because of our ages and memories of what inspired us in our youth, or was the writing better in days gone by?
I think "Art of the States" and "States of the Art" were an inspiration and Mark and Max are still climbing well.
This isn't a mag but Chris Jones' book on Climbing in North America was my bible as a young climber.
I agree the article on North Face North Twin was a classic.
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crunch
Social climber
CO
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Nov 11, 2011 - 09:52am PT
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I used to love reading articles by Alex MacIntyre. Full of humor in the face of serious risk. He died, 27(?), mid-1980s. Such promise.....
He seemed to have some of the wit and lightness of touch of Patey. There were a number of articles in Mountain.
My all-time favorite has to be Pratt's The View from Deadhorse Point. More developed, more confident, more outgoing than his few other other essays. I was very excited when Chuck's cousin, Greg, gave me permission to reprint this in my book, Desert Towers.
A wonderful counterpoint to Chuck's essay is Steve Komito's story of the first ascent of Standing Rock. Not exactly a magazine article, but an essay of similar size printed in Beyond the Vertical.
Pratt conveys a sense that at some point one does not need to actually go climb anything. He has gone so far beyond the shallow tourist experience--largely through his climbing trips--that he is, finally, at one with the vast landscape. Komito conveys the no-nonsense excitement and drive of the Coloradans, Kor and Ingalls, in their element, immersed in the same mythical landscape but rising above it, getting stuff done.
I asked Komito if I could reprint this gem, now long out of print; he agreed. To put these and many more voices in one book was a great privilege and thrill. Seemingly the folks at Banff agreed:
http://www.banffcentre.ca/mountainfestival/competitions/book/2011/#panel-6
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MH2
climber
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Nov 11, 2011 - 12:26pm PT
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was the writing better in days gone by?
I don't think so, but it was different.
I like writing whether funny or hair-raising that I can identify with, that I recognize on some level.
I also like writing that goes outside my own experience but that still has an unmistakable kernel of truth.
I especially like the writing of John Muir.
Stickeen was published in Summit magazine, Spring 1992.
Even writing about John Muir has power. I don't know if a self-styled "blogazine" counts, but here is an excerpt from a lengthier piece in Footless Crow:
http://footlesscrow.blogspot.com/2011/09/this-week-john-muiron-edge-of-abyss.html
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