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Messages 1 - 34 of total 34 in this topic

The Larry

climber

Moab, UT

Nov 22, 2013 - 12:24am PT

He did the second ascent of Midgard Serpent A5 in Baffin Island solo. Pretty bad ass.

S.Leeper

Social climber

somewhere that doesnt have anything over 90'

Nov 22, 2013 - 12:30am PT

He did some pretty bad ass solos in the valley too.

mojede

Trad climber

Butte, America

Nov 22, 2013 - 12:30am PT

Trust fund ran out???

Erik Sloan

climber

Nov 22, 2013 - 01:01am PT

Singer moved to Australia and got married. Still livin the dream I'm pretty sure. Heard he got way into Ju-Jitsu! Woot!

JLP

Social climber

The internet

Nov 22, 2013 - 12:09pm PT

He did the second ascent of Midgard Serpent A5 in Baffin Island solo. Pretty bad ass.

What ever became of the controversy behind this? I believe the ascent was called out by the FA for lack of photos and accurate details on the route above a certain point.

bringmedeath

climber

la la land

Nov 22, 2013 - 12:51pm PT

I think it was Beyer who said Jason didn't climb it. I don't think Brad ever made this claim about Jason, in fact I don't think Brad had ever heard of that rumor until I mentioned it.

Heyzeus

climber

Hollywood,Ca

Nov 22, 2013 - 01:05pm PT

He was here about 5 years ago with his wife studying Ju-jitsu. He was fighting guys twice his size, not sure if he's still into that stuff though. Seemed pretty grounded to me. This is the first I heard about a trust fund or that he never climbed that route.

hellroaring

Trad climber

San Francisco

Nov 22, 2013 - 01:11pm PT

He showed off some slides of that Baffin Island solo to a group of us at a J Tree campground shortly after his Baffin trip...looked pretty real to me.

Erik Sloan

climber

Nov 22, 2013 - 01:12pm PT

Definitely not a trustfunder. Dad was a chiropractor, I want to say Mom stayed at home. Last name Smith from Salt Lake? a commoner.

Heyzeus

climber

Hollywood,Ca

Nov 22, 2013 - 01:20pm PT

Oh, and if I remember correctly (and I may not be), he was on here for a while many years ago.
Then he figured it out and left. LEB might have had something to do with it, but I think he just wizened up to this place in general.

Toker Villain

Big Wall climber

Toquerville, Utah

Nov 22, 2013 - 02:10pm PT

Australia doesn't extradite for nonviolent financial crimes.

I know a guy who sold at the peak of the market, made millions, skipped on the capital gains tax, and is now an Australian citizen.

FrankZappa

Trad climber

Hankster's crew

Nov 22, 2013 - 03:22pm PT

Singer and I climbed the Rostrum once. At the parking lot he pulled out the rack -- 3 cams and a few draws -- and yeah I was a little shocked, and did my best not to show it, but went along with the plan, even leading some of the pitches. A little scary watching his feet slide around 40' out from a single piece but he was strong and solid, and we had a great time.

The Baffin controversy is news to me but I would be interested in the details. I know one of the FA really well, and the other fairly well, and I really doubt there was any kind of doubt(or interest for that matter...) on their end. I've never had any reason doubt singer climbed the thing. He is a bold climber who can dig deep.

I do remember he did not have much praise for the FA, and even badmouthed them a bit. Not sure why, just didn't like them or tooting his own horn I thought.

JLP

Social climber

The internet

Nov 22, 2013 - 03:41pm PT

Beyer was the guy calling him out, not the FA - thanks. I can't seem to find any link to the story. Apparently, Beyer confronted him about details that didn't add up, as Beyer had done a pretty difficult ascent on the same formation. Singer locked up and basically ran away - or so my sketchy memory recalls reading. There are photos, for sure as a few have been published, but no summit photos. Where would I have read about this, or did I hear it from someone?

Not trying to be a dick here - but OTOH, kind of worn out on all the lies in the climbing community these days...

john hansen

climber

Nov 22, 2013 - 04:44pm PT

I seem to remember he was with Caldwell and Rodden when they were kidnapped....

S.Leeper

Social climber

somewhere that doesnt have anything over 90'

Nov 22, 2013 - 04:52pm PT

yeah and John Dickey

The Larry

climber

Moab, UT

Nov 22, 2013 - 09:07pm PT

I'd run away from Beyer too. That dude is nutz.

Bullwinkle

Boulder climber

Nov 22, 2013 - 09:19pm PT

Unlike the the trolls slandering him on this thread, Singer is a bad ass.

Guernica

climber

right there, right then

Nov 22, 2013 - 10:24pm PT

Met him briefly a loooong time ago on top of the captain after topping out on zodiac... I must say he was really very cool to my partner and I, had a bit of a peter pan prankster kinda thing going.

God bless ya wherever you are man! Thanks for being kind to the little guys : )

FrankZappa

Trad climber

Hankster's crew

Nov 22, 2013 - 10:36pm PT

So Midgard Serpent goes up in two weeks(Proud!), Singer repeats it a few years later in 3 weeks(Proud!).

A few more years later Beyer comes along and puts up Project Mayhem over two seasons, hiking 6 zillion miles and spending 57 nights on the wall(Proud!). But it is the hardest big wall on the planet after all, so he shouldn't be the least bit disappointed in taking two seasons.

So I'm guessing Beyer meets Singer and grills him about where the two routes intersect before the big ledge 2/3 of the way up and at the topout and of course Singer can't remember because it has been a few years after all and how could he remember some minute detail that the uber-confrontational Beyer might pull out of his steel trap, and Beyer is probably a little leery wondering how Singer knocked off a solo in 3 weeks. So Singer sees the look of death and gets a little tweaky and Beyer doubts his ascent?

But truly nothing but respect for both of these guys. Beyer is probably the most committed and experienced wall climber in the world...gotta be a little nuts to get there.

Rhodo-Router

Gym climber

sawatch choss

Nov 23, 2013 - 06:57pm PT

Perpetuating speculative slander on the internet is lame.

Singer seemed like a good kid to me.

Oplopanax

Mountain climber

The Deep Woods

Nov 23, 2013 - 07:27pm PT

I liked the old Beyer profile where he explained that the claimed 5.12 free rating on one of his solo big walls was TR-soloed with an jumar after he aided it but that he thought that that was still harder than a sport climber redpointing a 5.12 pitch.

Rankin

Social climber

Greensboro, North Carolina

Nov 23, 2013 - 07:36pm PT

I was a newbie in the Valley and climbing the first pitch of Serenity to Sons, when Singer Jason Singer Smith comes rappelling down beside me. As he goes by he screams at me, at the top of his lungs, trying to get me rattled or something. "What a punk ass," I thought. Hard to imagine that he's mellowed into a cool dude, but who knows?

Kalimon

Social climber

Ridgway, CO

Nov 23, 2013 - 10:35pm PT

Sounds like an as#@&%e.

I'm sure KP will respond soon.

bhilden

Trad climber

Mountain View, CA/Boulder, CO

Nov 23, 2013 - 10:53pm PT

Beyer was also very vocal about not believing that Todd Skinner and Paul Piana had free climbed the Salathe Wall. He even went so far as to attend Paul's slide show at Neptune's and call him out.

donini

Trad climber

Ouray, Colorado

Nov 23, 2013 - 10:54pm PT

Don't know, never heard of the lad, he sounds controversial. I will say that if you don't ignore State Department advisories forget about serious alpinisim.

'Pass the Pitons' Pete

Big Wall climber

like Ontario, Canada, eh?

Nov 24, 2013 - 09:10am PT

Ha! I will never forget the time in the pre-flood Centre of the Universe parking lot [where the train wreck now is] seeing Singer bare-footed. He had the most amazing sandal tanlines on his feet.

To me, it was something to aspire to.

kunlun_shan

Mountain climber

SF, CA

Nov 24, 2013 - 12:42pm PT

Donini, you may not recognize Singer's name, but you surely know about the kidnapping of 4 American climbers in Kyrgyzstan in 2000.

about the premeditated murders national geographic praised?

rSin, sounds like you don't know that the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan guerrilla, Ravshan Sharipov, that Singer, Dickey, Caldwell and Rodden pushed off the cliff, actually survived his fall. He was later captured by the Kyrghiz military, and sentenced to death in 2001. I don't know if the sentence was carried out.

Sharipov did an interview from prison with NBC Dateline. Also, Greg Child, Singer and Dickey returned to Kyrgyzstan and met the former captor in prison. Greg Child wrote about it here:
http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/climbing/mountaineering/Back-from-the-Edge.html?page=all

In spring 2001, Smith, Dickey, and I went to the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, to meet with Sharipov in his prison cell. At the meeting, Sharipov recognized his former captives and started to revise his version of events, speaking clearly about falling and being knocked unconscious.

kunlun_shan

Mountain climber

SF, CA

Nov 24, 2013 - 03:07pm PT

It seems justified to believe that they might get killed.

I agree. Their captors had already killed a Kyrghyz soldier, in front of the American climbers. Who is going to take the chance that eventually everything will turn out okay vs. escaping when you have a chance?

David Knopp

Trad climber

Nov 24, 2013 - 06:18pm PT

Saw him right before he went off to australia-had a bit of a survivalist flavor to it, he was worried that AU might be the only place free from nuclear contamination after it all went down. But he still was sweet and friendly and funny.

Clint Cummins

Trad climber

SF Bay area, CA

Nov 24, 2013 - 06:34pm PT

John Bouchard's version of events is the correct one, as I recall.
I.e. the soldier agreed to let the climbers go, as long as the climbers
agreed to tell the story that they pushed the guy off the cliff,
so that the soldier wouldn't get into trouble with his superiors.
Since the soldier ended up in prison, apparently his superiors figured it out.

'Pass the Pitons' Pete

Big Wall climber

like Ontario, Canada, eh?

Nov 24, 2013 - 11:11pm PT

"John Bouchard's version of events is the correct one, as I recall.
I.e. the soldier agreed to let the climbers go, as long as the climbers
agreed to tell the story that they pushed the guy off the cliff,
so that the soldier wouldn't get into trouble with his superiors.
Since the soldier ended up in prison, apparently his superiors figured it out."

^^Wow! Can we get more info on this, please?