Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
| Messages 1 - 70 of total 70 in this topic |
mooser
Trad climber
seattle
|
|
|
Topic Author's Original Post - Jul 14, 2006 - 10:45am PT
|
It's been great reading the postings from the first half of this year on the Stonemasters, and what occurs to me is how incredibly far the "technology" of climbing has come over the last 30 years--but in particular during the early 80's.
Here are just a few of the things I'm happy I don't have to revisit, except in memories and photos:
 Goldline ropes whose leader fall history was always a mystery. I remember doing a route on Tahquitz one day with a guy I'd met that day, whose goldline was so old and used it seemed as thick as a firehose;
P.A.s (red and black hightop climbing shoes). They looked like climbing shoes, but had the smearing/friction properties of "I can't believe it's not butter." My first pair of EBs (1975) made me feel like Super Fly by comparison. Anyone remember those funky $12.00 Polish tennis shoes (Skats) that were even stickier than EBs? When those wore out (and when the Poles stopped shipping them to us--the Soviet speed climbers got wind of it, no doubt) my friends and I would pour and shape forms of "Shoe Goo" around the forefoot, and enjoy truly sticky rubber for a few days;
1/4 inch bolts with rusty, spinning hangers. I was always happy to find one of these to clip into, but often it only gave the leader psychological comfort to continue;
A small rack of hexes and wired stoppers (as in no SLCDs). Like 1/4 inch bolts, laying one of these in a parallel crack, flaring crack, or pin scar often only gave psychological comfort to continue ("stay...stay..."). This can still be true today with all kinds of pro, but the options before were definitely more limited;
The Swami! What was that about?? Wrapping tubular webbing around your waist three times, then tying it off, and tying into it, seems downright archaic nowadays. And when you fell...it hurt. And if you had no webbing, you'd just wrap the rope around your waist three times and then tie it off. Lots of you out there did big walls with this system--and I salute you. One day, my brother came home with an orange and white harness that actually had leg loops (well, sort of). It was called a "Whillans Harness." It was sort of like an early "Bod Harness," except that there was this one strap that went right up the middle of the crotch. If you fell, it was pretty much "goodbye offspring." I let my brother use the Whillans, and I went back to the Swami.
Well, these are just a few of the things I remember from not that long ago. I'm stoked that climbers out there got creative with safer, more comfortable ways of protecting the climbing experience. It definitely makes it easier to focus on what you're climbing.
Any stories out there of adventures with early climbing technology?
|
|
Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
|
|
|
Jul 14, 2006 - 10:59am PT
|
I started out in red PA's: there is a friction traverse mid-height on Sundance at Suicide. I had to edge every single move of it, which seemed really weird, because it was clearly a friction problem.
I did most of my harder leads and just about all my best multi pitch 5.11's in a 2" tubular swami and never thought twice about it. I liked the unencumbered feel and climbed that way into the late 80's.
I know have a spankin' new pair of Voyager Dirrectissima's, which is a Kroenhoffer copy and that's what I've been doing backwoods bouldering in. So I am de-evolving!
|
|
G_Gnome
Social climber
Tendonitis City
|
|
|
Jul 14, 2006 - 11:52am PT
|
One of the advantages of a swami that isn't really mentioned is that you have a much smaller tendency to flip upside down at the end of a fall. So no one used to crater their head like you all do now days. And it wasn't like we hung by our waistes on multi-pitch, we had triangle shaped butt bags to sit in - which are actually more comfortable that a harness. Hmmmm, I think I am gonna devolve too and go back to a nice swami and a butt bag! But I am NOT gonna go back to EB's, now a nice pair of Sportiva Tao's would be nice, but not EB's.
|
|
mooser
Trad climber
seattle
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jul 14, 2006 - 12:05pm PT
|
True enough about the limited advantages of the swami--though I still wouldn't want to devolve that far. And I still have my Collins Butt Bag, though I hang on to it for memorabilia purposes only. I've also still got a couple pairs of EBs that I eventually put some 5.10 rubber on (complete w/barge cement), and left under my front tires for the night. Thought I'd died and gone to heaven the first time I took them out. Also now part of my memorabilia.
|
|
eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
|
|
|
Jul 14, 2006 - 12:14pm PT
|
I started off tying into the end of the rope - 3 wraps was the standard. That was the way you did it in 1970. I think I graduated to a plain, wrap-around-3-times swami belt for a year or 2. The big breakthrough was a swami belt with leg loops (duHHH!!!). To tell you the truth, I could just as comfortably climb today with a swami with leg loops as with a harness.
As for PAs. Could there be a more slippery sole?
|
|
todd-gordon
climber
|
|
|
Jul 14, 2006 - 12:16pm PT
|
Tucker Tech STILL only wears a swamii belt....irritating when rappelling, hanging belays, or lowering off of climbs, but he likes it because it punishes his liver, which needs to be punished because it is evil.
|
|
Gunkie
climber
East Coast US
|
|
|
Jul 14, 2006 - 12:21pm PT
|
The Swami! What was that about?? Wrapping tubular webbing around your waist three times, then tying it off, and tying into it, seems downright archaic nowadays. And when you fell...it hurt.
I took two bombers onto a swami belt and it never hurt. Back then you just climbed until you fell. Not too many people on the lead called for tension or told the belayer that they were jumping off. All of the falls I took were pretty much complete surprises. I was bouncing on the end of an old Goldline or just as old kernmantle before I knew what happened. I was also more fit and lighter :) Now I'd probably just bend at the swami and stay that way or snap in half.
|
|
Phil_B
Social climber
Hercules, CA
|
|
|
Jul 14, 2006 - 12:26pm PT
|
Never went the swami route, but I started out making my harness out of 1" webbing. We'd put in a couple of small fig. 8 loops (bunny ears), then loop some webbing through them so that they became leg loops. Finished off with a few wraps around the waist and tied off with a water knot.
It really sucked to hang in that contraption. I bought a regular harness as soon as I found out about them.
My first pair of EB's were totally worn through on the instep so I put them on backwards. My first pair of Fire's made me feel like a Chinese woman with bound feet.
|
|
Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
|
|
|
Jul 14, 2006 - 01:10pm PT
|
Hey shorty T:
I have a mint pair of Tao's size 38.5
39 or 39.5 is really my size, so I could cut 'em loose.
Not the Rosa, but the Lorica tighties, which I loved.
Yer prolly like a size 37?
|
|
G_Gnome
Social climber
Tendonitis City
|
|
|
Jul 14, 2006 - 02:19pm PT
|
Roy, I am exactly a size 38.5!!!!!! F#cking A, what do you want for them?
|
|
Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
|
|
|
Jul 14, 2006 - 02:48pm PT
|
'Just emailed you.
|
|
mooser
Trad climber
seattle
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jul 14, 2006 - 06:24pm PT
|
Stich: yeah, we were always telling people (because this is what we were told) that they had only 5 minutes to extricate themselves before the swami would suffocate them. Never saw anyone suffocate, but it sure felt like I would plenty of times! Of course, if you were following, then the person who was using the sitting hip belay above you probably also had about 5 minutes before their butt slid off the top of the rock. :)
|
|
guyman
Trad climber
Moorpark, CA.
|
|
|
Jul 14, 2006 - 06:44pm PT
|
I really miss my LYCRA from 1986...man that was stylin.
I reckon the porta-ledge is a huge improvement over the "Bat-tent"...
To all of us who learned how to climb in bad shoes....Those shoes made US the expert edging masters that we all are.
|
|
Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
|
|
|
Jul 14, 2006 - 07:05pm PT
|
When I started in 1971, we had goldline ropes, tied in to the end (bowline on a coil, if we got it right), and mountain boots. And we did body rappels, aka Dulfersitz. (Good subject for another thread.)
A year or two later we got RRs (the blue, stiff, vibram soled shoes), then swami belts. Our first swamis were made of 1" webbing, then 2" seatbelt webbing. I was amazed the first time I saw 2" tubular webbing, probably in Yosemite in 1974, not to mention coloured (non-white) webbing. Heaven knows how many people were strangled by their swamis, or fell out of them, or had them untie. I believe the UIAA did some tests to see how long it took for people in swamis, or Edelrid-style chest harnesses, to lose consciousness. Not long. (I never believed that people would actually use those chest harnesses on their own.)
Once we figured out the carabiner brake (Basic Rockcraft), we used diaper slings to create sit-slings to make it tolerable. Simply a double length 1" runner, sort of belay seat style. They helped a lot.
Belays - well, we got really good at hip belays. One trial we used to subject novices to was to use old ropes, and rig them up with a 100 kg weight. Rope ran from novice to directional at base of cliff, up to top anchors, and back down to the weight. We'd then fire off the rock, with 6 - 8 metres of slack. And the lucky student had to hold it. Sort of like training for self arrest, crevasse rescue, and avalanche rescue - it really makes you pay attention, and learn well. Though we did let the novices wear gloves. After a while we mostly used one if not two carabiners for hip belays, to ensure that the belay worked.
Belaying the Leader says the belayer is supposed to let the rope slip through her/his hands - the consequences are unimaginable.
In 1973 or so, RD shoes (Rene Desmaison) appeared, an EB precursor. They were brown, with a smooth rubber sole. Most disconcerting - received wisdom was that a vibram sole was best. Then in 1974 the EB. (I still have a near-new pair in my size.) The EB is a classic example of the abuse of a monopoly - they dominated the market for ten years, did little to improve the things, and got blown out of the water.
The Whillans harness, which appeared in Canada in 1975, was like EBs - a great improvement, even with its defects. An awful lot of people did hang in them a lot, on walls and belays, and did take a lot of falls - without much damage that I ever heard of. I had some respectable whippers in a Whillans, without apparent damage.
Then Hexcentric, and stoppers. They appeared in Canada in 1973 - there were great ads in Mountain for them. The first hexcentrics were longitudinally symmetrical, with solid walls. The next version, a year or two later, had the walls on all the larger sizes drilled out, to save weight. We tied the knots inside the bigger nuts, to streamline them. The next version was the "Eccentric" hexcentric - longitudinally asymmetrical, or whatever it's called. Offering more possibilities. Then they went with stronger alloy, and didn't drill out the sides anymore.
Eric and Daryl did the first free ascent of the Split Pillar in 1975. I talked with them when they came down, and Daryl was talking about how their hexes were just sitting on crystals. A fairly parallel sided hand/fist crack. Despite all the physics to do with passive camming, the things never seemed all that stable.
Anders
|
|
G_Gnome
Social climber
Tendonitis City
|
|
|
Jul 14, 2006 - 07:31pm PT
|
Yeah, I never graduated to a Whillans harness. We just made better and better swami's. Near the end, just before we added leg loops they were every bit as nice as a harness waist belt is now but the two ends were tied together with a piece of webbing and a water knot. No one trusted buckles back then.
Fortunately I hit just about the time many advances hit the sport and I started climbing with hexcentrics and kernmantle ropes and one inch webbing for swamis. And damn, but I looked GOOD in white painters pants!
|
|
mooser
Trad climber
seattle
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jul 14, 2006 - 08:29pm PT
|
Ah, S-T, but did you have the obligatory rugby shirt to match?
|
|
Chaz
Trad climber
So. Cal.
|
|
|
Jul 14, 2006 - 08:57pm PT
|
I've climbed on a GoldLine. Did the under-the-crotch, over-the-shoulder rappel on it, too.
Hip belays, yup. Everybody had a scar in the tramp-stamp location from catching lead falls. I still use the hip belay once in a while. You can reel in slack very quickly that way.
PA's? Nope. Those were before my time. I was an EB Baby. Damn, the rubber under the big toe wore out fast.
Small rack of passive pro? We wouldn't have been able to do a hell of a lot if we had waited until we had amassed a decent rack. We were poor n00b kids. I remember what an Austrian Dude in Camp 4 told us; "you have to get used to climbing without protection".
Swammis? Never used one. We tied the diaper-seat out of 1" webbing until we had enough bread to buy a real harness. My first harness was the Chounard one made out of one continious piece of 2" webbing.
I don't miss 1/4" bolts. I remember a hanging belay off one quarter incher, then having to simul-climb up from it because the next pitch was longer than 165'. Welcome To Tuolomne!
We have it so good today, but I had just as much fun when we didn't have a damn thing.
|
|
mooser
Trad climber
seattle
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jul 15, 2006 - 11:24am PT
|
Chaz--so true! 30 years ago, climbing felt a little more earthy, or visceral, or something. It was addictingly fun, and plenty scary. And yet, I still find myself thinking, "I don't think I'd do this or that climb with EBs and a few hexes nowadays." But I do savor the memories.
|
|
mooser
Trad climber
seattle
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jul 15, 2006 - 01:34pm PT
|
Now THAT does my heart good.
|
|
mooser
Trad climber
seattle
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jul 15, 2006 - 06:50pm PT
|
Yeah, Stich, this can be deadly serious stuff. Sorry, man...sounds like a bad scene.
|
|
cintune
climber
Penn's Woods
|
|
|
Jul 16, 2006 - 12:41pm PT
|
1983 or so.
|
|
F10 Climber F11 Drinker
Trad climber
e350
|
|
|
Jul 16, 2006 - 01:41pm PT
|
The swamis may not have been that great, but it sure can't be beat when comes to taking a nature call!!!
|
|
Blitzo
Social climber
Earth
|
|
|
Jul 16, 2006 - 03:01pm PT
|
For some reason, the most popular color for the two inch webbing swami was red.
Some people liked to use the Forrest swami. You could also get leg loops for it.
|
|
mooser
Trad climber
seattle
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jul 16, 2006 - 04:07pm PT
|
JT - around 1981
I thought Bachar looked totally cool in Dolphin Shorts, so I knew I had to wear 'em too! Also, check out the cool sash-style chalk bag strap, the big rack, and the obligatory tube socks. Who says fashion is seasonal?
|
|
F10 Climber F11 Drinker
Trad climber
e350
|
|
|
Jul 16, 2006 - 09:51pm PT
|
Some Mt. Everest shots (woodson) with me sporting the trad 1" swami and Paul Dowdy's custom wide model. Check out the flame action on his EB leather covers. Mid seventies, photos by Tom Scott
jb
|
|
bob d'antonio
Trad climber
boulder, co
|
|
|
Jul 16, 2006 - 10:05pm PT
|
maybe 1979...talk about style.
|
|
Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
|
|
|
Jul 17, 2006 - 09:07am PT
|
Grade IV rack, 1969:
|
|
Blitzo
Social climber
Earth
|
|
|
Jul 17, 2006 - 09:12am PT
|
Are those Clog Hexes?
|
|
mooser
Trad climber
seattle
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jul 17, 2006 - 09:38am PT
|
Classic 1979 style, Bob
|
|
Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
|
|
|
Jul 17, 2006 - 09:40am PT
|
Are those Clog Hexes?
Yes they are. A few Clog wedges, too, if you look closely enough. The kind you threaded webbing straight through, side-to-side. (MOACs were such an improvement!)
|
|
Gunkie
climber
East Coast US
|
|
|
Jul 17, 2006 - 10:46am PT
|
|
|
RRK
Trad climber
Talladega, Al
|
|
|
Jul 17, 2006 - 12:01pm PT
|
Dang - had to get in on this one even if it meant registering for this board. For the first few years I had nothing but the PA's (think roller skates) then Komito got smething he called Brand X rubber and I sent them off. When they got back I'd swear that they could stick to the ceiling.
I climbed for a bit with the bowline-on-a-coil tie-in but gav it up in favor of the swami, then swami with tied leg-loops (couple of overhand loops about 4 inches apart - much better than the "swiss seat" arrangement) Then my clmbing partner showed me how to sew a swami using auto seatbelt webbing and 25 lb braided nylon fishing line using a stitching awl. I was leary of using it until he took a 300 footer (no my zero is not sticking - it was full runout both ways) on the thing so I guessed it was ok to use. We plundered the wrecking yards for webbing until I wound up with enough bucks to buy a Forrest swami and legloops which I climbed in until just a few years ago. I still have it and would not hesitate to strap it back on.
I climbed with a lot of Forrest stuff and still use the middle sizes of Titons (through 9 - old blue #9) for passive gear. You can do some cool tricks with them. I've still got Forrest's single-point bivy loaned out to somebody - been gone for years but I could still get it back if somebody needs it. I'm thinking that they're using it to interrogate prisoners at Gitmo
The most worthless piece of machinery I ever owned was a CMI Kurt-cam. Unless you like the sound of gear sliding down the rope below you then there's really nothing good about it - not even the illusion of protection.
Oops - the real world's calling - gotta go
RRK
|
|
Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
|
|
|
Jul 17, 2006 - 02:27pm PT
|
Tied in and stokin'up:
Ready for Stoners Highway:
Questionable comfort, new routing on Majician, Needles:
|
|
Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
|
|
|
Jul 17, 2006 - 04:30pm PT
|
1" wrap swami, a few pitons and Clog hexes, RRs: John Byrd in Yosemite, 1968.
|
|
Blitzo
Social climber
Earth
|
|
|
Jul 17, 2006 - 04:39pm PT
|
Tarbuster, is that Too Tall?
|
|
Maysho
climber
Truckee, CA
|
|
|
Jul 17, 2006 - 06:17pm PT
|
Yeah Billy, that is Too Tall. Where the heck is he these days?
Roy, you were/are so suave!
Bob D' remember a day in '78 in the Gunks? Back then you were called "the Philadelphia Flyer" and you introduced me to the time honored gunks tradition of the sandbag, I chickened out though, then you took a turn and flew!
Still struggling with the scanner so I can join the foto fun.
Peter
|
|
Apocalypsenow
Trad climber
Cali
|
|
|
Jul 17, 2006 - 06:20pm PT
|
When was the bolt added to Lower Right Ski Track?
|
|
Blitzo
Social climber
Earth
|
|
|
Jul 17, 2006 - 06:52pm PT
|
Peter, I went climbing with Too Tall two years ago, he was working with Hugh behind Lee Vining Mobil.
Last time I saw him he had two black eyes and was all cut up, after pitching over the handlebars of his bike.
I hear he is still seen, lurking on the East-side.
|
|
mooser
Trad climber
seattle
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jul 17, 2006 - 07:01pm PT
|
Apocalypsenow:
The bolt in the pic was there in the late '70s and early 80s at least, and was an old quarter incher.
|
|
Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
|
|
|
Jul 17, 2006 - 07:04pm PT
|
Didn't see Too Tall at the JT reunion.
We tried-
Good luck with that scanner Peter, we know you got some stuff.
Chiloe, your archives are so well kept indeed.
|
|
Apocalypsenow
Trad climber
Cali
|
|
|
Jul 17, 2006 - 07:05pm PT
|
A little "confusion." What I was saying, is there doesn't appear to be a bolt in the photo (and I remember that 1/4"er...scarey!)
|
|
mooser
Trad climber
seattle
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jul 17, 2006 - 07:37pm PT
|
Apocalypse: re: "confusion"
Oh...gotcha. If you look closely, you can almost see the bolt, just behind the right knee.
By the way, anyone know why the belt was called a "swami"? Not a trick question...I just don't think I ever knew. Was it because it was like a wrapped turban, or something?
|
|
bob d'antonio
Trad climber
boulder, co
|
|
|
Jul 17, 2006 - 09:07pm PT
|
Peter wrote: ...Bob D' remember a day in '78 in the Gunks? Back then you were called "the Philadelphia Flyer" and you introduced me to the time honored gunks tradition of the sandbag, I chickened out though, then you took a turn and flew!
Peter...how are you man? This site just keep getting better with all these old farts posting.
Yes I remember that day and I remember how I could make an ass out of myself.
Hope you're doing well and life is good!
Later, Bob
|
|
Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
|
|
|
Jul 18, 2006 - 02:52pm PT
|
Lechlinski, el camino real, taquitz, '82
|
|
mooser
Trad climber
seattle
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jul 20, 2006 - 11:40am PT
|
Notice the avante-garde shoes, the lowrider swami with leg loops, the bombproof attachment of rope to swami with standard oval 'biner, and the stellar belay technique. Santee...a couple of friends...around 1981 or '82.
|
|
Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
|
|
|
Jul 20, 2006 - 01:23pm PT
|
How about big walls in a swami, sans leg loops. Did that a couple times and my kidneys were never the same.
JL
|
|
mooser
Trad climber
seattle
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jul 20, 2006 - 01:49pm PT
|
JL - That probably would've been the case for your "Nose In A Day," yeah?
|
|
Branscomb
Trad climber
Lander, WY
|
|
I once had a long talk with a Swami near the Chandi Chowk in Old Dehli in the late 70s, while I was doing the year around the world on 4000$ circuit. I got an amulet and a pretty interesting fortune told out of it. Are we talking about the same thing? Maybe not.........hah
|
|
chill
climber
between the flat part and the blue wobbly thing
|
|
Since I had no intention of falling while ice climbing, I figured the swami would work just fine.
|
|
Johnny K.
Mountain climber
California
|
|
"Adventures in swamis",reminds me of the documentary video "free climb" by Robert Redford,swami+bigwalls=adventures ensue.
"FREE CLIMB. A classic film about the first free ascent of Half Dome in Yosemite, narrated by Robert Redford. This is the incredible story of two experienced rock climbers' attempt to free climb the 2,000-foot high vertical face of Half Dome in Yosemite Valley, California in 1976. The two climbers are Art Higbie and Jim Erickson. Produced by Robert Godfrey. 30 minutes.
Half Dome Northwest Face, Regular Route
This is the first true Grade VI climb in Yosemite.
The most popular big wall route on one of Yosemite's most famous features - the vertical face that makes this Dome a 'half' rather than a whole. A great route by the legendary Royal Robbins that opened a new chapter in American rock climbing. Suffers from crowding and trashing now. A common target for speed ascents, but the average team will still spend a night or two on the wall.
All of the major walls and formations in Yosemite Valley had been climbed by the mid 1950s with the exception of the Northwest Face of Half Dome and El Capitan.El Capitan, with its intimidating 3000 foot face, was obviously out of the question for at least a few years, leaving Half Dome, with a much more manageable 2000 foot face, as the logical next goal.
The first attempt to climb it was made in 1954 by Dick Long, Jim Wilson, and George Mandatory. However, they only managed to climb 175 before retreating. A more serious attempt to find passage up this cliff was made in 1955 by Jerry Gallwas, Don Wilson, Royal Robins and Warren Harding. After climbing a mere 500 feet over five days, this party, too, retreated.
Gallwas and Robbins, armed with new chrome-molybdenum pitons made by Gallwas, recruited Mike Sherrick and set off on June 24, 1957, determined this time to finish the route. Over a period of five days, they encountered repeated obstacles and, using ingenuity and tenacity, they surmounted all these difficulties. Five days after they had left the ground, they stood at the summit. Warren Harding had hiked up the backside of Half Dome via the hikers 'trail for the occasion. He had been planning, along with Mark Powell and Bill 'Dolt' Feuerer,to give the route another attempt, but had been beat to it by the successful team. Nevertheless, Harding offered the triumphant team a warm congratulations.
In 1976 Art Higbee and Jim Erickson took the final aid out of the climb on pitch 23 near the top in this film.
http://image.bayimg.com/cakfdaacc.jpg
|
|
HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
|
|
mooser's first post
1/4 inch bolts with rusty, spinning hangers. I was always happy to find one of these to clip into, but often it only gave the leader psychological comfort to continue;
Do you really think those days are past?
Swami death by suffocation: happened to an unfortunate young lad on rappel in the Pinnacles in the mid-70s.
I always tied leg loops in my swami. I'd rather have kidney failure than suffocate.
PA death: I THOUGHT I was gonna die when my PA's blew while I was offroute near the crux of Pywiak Dike Route in the mid 70s. Fortunately when I zipped past the 1/4" bolt with a rusty sheet metal hanger, it held. I went far enough it was about Fall Factor 1.
|
|
mooser
Trad climber
seattle
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Oct 7, 2010 - 08:04pm PT
|
I thought I was gonna die when I left my PAs in the back of my VW on a really hot day in San Diego, and they curled up like those witch feet under Dorothy's house. I babysat a lot of hours to get those puppies.
|
|
Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
|
|
Ok! I started roped climbing in 1969. Goldline-Yes, bowline on a coil-yes, PA's -no!, climbed in REI imitation RR's.
1/4" bolt with spinning hanger? Oh yeah! Even for belays. In about 1978, Avery Tichner gently explained that one 1/4" bolt for belays was "considered dangerous" in Yosemite, and we started adding a 2nd 1/4" bolt. "Bomber."
Swammi???? What was wrong with us in Idaho?? We were climbing in harnesses with leg-loops by 1971. Mostly home-made as I recall.
|
|
guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
|
|
All geared up Fritz-nice glasses!
Did your nurses use a Swami or did you harness them?
|
|
Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
|
|
Guido: I have to stay on thread. Peshastin, near Leavenworth WA: is sandstone climbing, and in the mid-70's had lots of 1/4" bolts with spinning heads.
The nurse girlfriend and her sister spent the night in my tent after watching climbing all day.
The nurse whispered that watching climbers: "made her incredibly horny."
Sorry, no photos of the nurse, but it was a fantasy night.
|
|
Allen Hill
Social climber
CO.
|
|
My longtime climbing partner dismissed even the idea of a harness with these words, "better a broken back than a set of broken balls."
|
|
mooser
Trad climber
seattle
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Oct 7, 2010 - 09:34pm PT
|
Sounds like he'd encountered a Whillans...
|
|
TYeary
Social climber
State of decay
|
|
|
|
hooblie
climber
from where the anecdotes roam
|
|
please fritz, tell the part about the dirndl one more time, if you would
|
|
Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
|
|
But no yodeling, please. Or songs from the Sound of Music.
|
|
F10
Trad climber
e350 / Bishop
|
|
Another one on the face below the roof on Steve Godshall's problem
1" orange swami
|
|
F10
Trad climber
e350 / Bishop
|
|
Paisano Jam Crack
|
|
F10
Trad climber
e350 / Bishop
|
|
Hidden under the 60/40 jacket
|
|
F10
Trad climber
e350 / Bishop
|
|
16 yo punk on top of Lower Cath. Spire wearing his RR's
|
|
Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
|
|
Hooblie: Heidi refuses to allow me to release her "climbing in Dirndl" photos.
This is as good as it gets.
|
|
hooblie
climber
from where the anecdotes roam
|
|
lucky man! actually some belay swamis can maintain that horizontal launch position indefinitely
|
|
martygarrison
Trad climber
The Great North these days......
|
|
NA wall 77 with a red two incher, no leg loops and a butt bag. Really not good at all.
|
|
| Messages 1 - 70 of total 70 in this topic |
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!