Jim Donini Appreciation thread

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survival

Big Wall climber

Terrapin Station

Feb 2, 2013 - 08:49pm PT

We just ain't got the right folks posting up I guess, or he's holdin' dirt on all of 'em!

Jim Clipper

climber

from: forests to tree farms

Feb 2, 2013 - 09:43pm PT

appreciated

TWP

Trad climber

Mancos, CO

Feb 4, 2013 - 03:59pm PT

Once twas a climber Donini
Mighty proud of his horse-size weenie

No sign of Maestri high on the Torre
Egger's bones far below so gory

Donini found all this odd
Pronounced Cesare a fraud

Italian returned with Compressor
Removing all doubt what he was about

Maestri rapscallion
Donini the stallion

Anastasia

climber

Home

Feb 4, 2013 - 04:05pm PT

He is awesome.

Enough said.

Fritz

Trad climber

Choss Creek, ID

Feb 4, 2013 - 07:31pm PT

TWP! Re your Donini literary post.

Sigh.

You may not be a great poet,
and all on ST now know it.

However you climb well,
and don't emit bad smell!

TWP

Trad climber

Mancos, CO

Feb 4, 2013 - 07:56pm PT

Fritz: I accept your literary verdict.

Alan Rubin

climber

Amherst,MA.

Feb 25, 2013 - 03:47pm PT

A poster upthread stated that Jim changed from a "fun in the sun" rock climber to an alpinist. But Jim's roots are more in alpinism than rock climbing. If I remember correctly when I first beca


	Donini on the west face of the Grand Teton, August 1970 Photo by Al Rubin Credit: Alan Rubin

me aware of Jim it was as a result of some solo escapades in the Canadian Rockies soon after he got out of the Service,(Correct me if I'm wrong here, Jim). In the summer of 1970 Jim had a good season in the mountains, doing amongst others, such then well-respected Teton alpine climbs as the Black Ice Couloir (there was ice in it back then) and the West Face of the Grand. That season in the Tetons Jim and his partner, Ross Johnson, a fellow veteran, kept their distance from the "hippie" element in and around the notorious Campsite 38 at Jenny Lake. However when Ross became injured or ill (I forget which) Jim had to settle for doing the West Face with one of the denizens of 38---i.e., me.During that climb Jim complained about what he felt was the inadequacy of his rock climbing ability---though in fact he was very competent. He told me that after the summer he would be moving to California to "learn how to rock climb". When I next climbed with him 2 years later in The Valley, he had achieved that goal and then some....

Attached (hopefully--we've never tried this before) is a (blurry) photo of a young (well, younger) Donini on the West Face in August, 1970

Gregory Crouch

Social climber

Walnut Creek, California

Feb 25, 2013 - 04:33pm PT

Alan! I love your story.

Aside from having had the pleasure of much climbing with Jim, I also knew Ross Johnson well -- although he was a very successful businessman with a lovely house and business interests all over the world, he sort of moved in with Jim and I when we were sharing a house in Boulder in the mid-1990s. Ross couch surfed with us for more than a year after his wife, Sandy, died of brain cancer.

The amazing detail of the above is that Sandy was Jim's first wife. Ross married her after she and Jim broke up, an all-in-the-family detail that didn't damage any of the involved relationships. Ross and Jim stayed great friends through all of it.

Sadly, we lost Ross a few years later, too. He was a marvelous guy, really intelligent and entertaining. I loved having him around.

Roots

Mountain climber

SoCal

Feb 25, 2013 - 04:55pm PT

I met him at Splitter Camp a bunch of years ago. Here's how the initial introduction conversation went:

Donini gave me a warm welcome: “Hey I’m Jim. Welcome to Splitter Camp! You seem really fit and look like an uber climber. What grade are you leading?”

I sheepishly answered “5.7”.

“How long have you been climbing?”

“Twelve years.”

He looked at me dumbfounded and replied “You should be able to climb better than that”.