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Eric Beck
Sport climber
Bishop, California
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jun 24, 2014 - 11:22am PT
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A long time ago I heard that Dave Rearick, while leading, did a handstand on the Traitor Horn (Tahquitz). Has anyone else heard this? Can anyone verify it? Rearick was a gymnast, this is not that far fetched. Does anyone have a nice picture of the Horn?
Dave Rearick is best known for the FA of the Diamond with Bob Kamps.
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jgill
Boulder climber
Colorado
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Jun 24, 2014 - 01:26pm PT
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I'll ask Dave in a few days.
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skcreidc
Social climber
SD, CA
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Jun 24, 2014 - 03:38pm PT
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Horn bump. Maybe from this movie...according to Mountain Project?
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Jun 24, 2014 - 04:00pm PT
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We used to solo that thing and try to get relaxed enough to take leak while standing on the horn. Sometimes yes, sometimes no (beer helped.) Then the big hold which makes traversing out easy started looking like it could possibly break. That was the end of that.
Handstand? Beyond my comprehension. But then so are lots of things...
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Anxious Melancholy
Mountain climber
Between the Depths of Despair & Heights of Folly
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Jun 24, 2014 - 04:12pm PT
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DMT,
In the first picture above, looking slightly down at Dolt, he is crossing the "traitor horn" which looks bigger from below. Have you done this route? As you go up the left slanting crack of the first pitch you loose sight of the true horn. You might think you got it in the bag as you easily traverse over and around the traitor horn, only then to be confronted by the true horn and all its wonderful exposure above the Open Book.
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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Jun 24, 2014 - 05:39pm PT
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After I first did the climb, I tried to talk my younger brother into doing that on a TR.
He was at the time ranked 2nd or 3rd in the state for high school gymnastics on the pommel horse.
He was having none of it.
Traitor Horn is where I met Woody and Blake about 40 years later.
liz had decided to punish the boys by making us do Pearly Gates that day.
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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
From Panorama City, CA
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Jun 24, 2014 - 08:03pm PT
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Cool.....have never seen a pic of anyone climbing PG nor have I seen anyone doing Pearly Gates. Never ever heard of anyone doing a handstand on the Horn....seems like a story like that would have gone virul.....even BITD......and then everyone would have been doing it!
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dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
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Jun 24, 2014 - 10:45pm PT
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You can't call yourself a Tahquitz climber if you haven't done the "Pearly Gates."
Spray factor IV.
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nutstory
climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France
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Jun 25, 2014 - 04:31am PT
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I confess that this photograph is a little out of topic... Dave Rearick created his own chocks from wood of the Osage orange tree. Dave and George Hurley used them for the first all-wood ascent of Twister in 1973. Dave Rearick's " Plugs " as he called them were, though, very strong. He tested them thoroughly, and gave Pat Ament a full set, as a present, including his Clapper, an adjustable wooden nut for wide cracks. I am still working hard to get the design details and some good photos of the Clapper from Pat. I would like to remake an exact copy of this really interesting device for the Nuts Museum.
Bob Ryan tells that Dave Rearick gave him a set of six wooden nuts. Bob in turn has given these very rare nuts to me for the Nuts Museum a while ago. Bob also relates this anecdote: "I spoke with Dave, and he reminded me that I had taken a leader fall on the third pitch of Werk Supp. This was in May 1978. The nut jammed so that I had to return later with a tire iron to knock it out."
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perswig
climber
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Jun 25, 2014 - 05:41am PT
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^^
Awesome gear!
Dale
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skcreidc
Social climber
SD, CA
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Jun 25, 2014 - 08:20am PT
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Hawk! ^^^^ You are right on and straight in. We been practicing for just this type of thing.
sorry 'bout bailing today :(
Nice wood plugs!
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micronut
Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
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Jun 25, 2014 - 08:26am PT
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Sweet woodies man. What a cool piece of craftsmanship.
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nutstory
climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France
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Jun 25, 2014 - 08:39am PT
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Oh yes micronut, these little wonders are very carefully hand-made. Real gems!
And here is a "poor" photograph of the Clapper. Another treasure...
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crunch
Social climber
CO
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Jun 25, 2014 - 09:06am PT
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Rearick did a handstand on the summit of Dark Angel, in Arches National Park, first ascent. He may well have done handstands all kinds of other places....
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Eric Beck
Sport climber
Bishop, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 25, 2014 - 10:41am PT
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Apparently it never happened. I just received the following pm fron Bonnie Kamps, Bob's widow:
Thank you for posting the story of the Traitor Horn handstand by my old and dear friend, Dave Rearick. I just called him to verify as I didn't want to wait for John Gill's post. And no, he didn't. He did take the well known photos, though. He said the Horn just wasn't conducive for a handstand. John will learn of, and I hope post, some unlikely sites where Dave did do handstands. I witnessed one In Jackson on a parking meter. I seem to remember that the local law enforcement discouraged repeats. I do have a photo of Dave doing a handstand on a large wooden railing in a parking lot near Estes Park shortly after D1.
I don't post on Supertopo. Too brutal an arena for me. You may share any of this if you find it interesting.
Bonnie
The Kamps-Rearick route on the Diamond has become known as D1.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Jun 25, 2014 - 11:07am PT
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Boy, Bonnie's pm says it all -- both good and bad. Contrary to behavior by some here, we can have civilized discussions on any topic -- even politics, religion and climbing style and ethics -- but it takes extra effort on our part.
Meanwhile, where else would we have gotten the information that came out on this thread? Thanks, Eric, for starting it, and to everyone else for excellent contributions.
John
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mooser
Trad climber
seattle
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Jun 25, 2014 - 01:08pm PT
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"Too brutal and arena for me"
You read that ?
STopo would be such a great place if more folks felt they could post here without having their heads torn off.
Thanks for highlighting that, Tami. I do wonder who'd throw some amazing recollections into the ring, if it weren't for how things can quickly deteriorate.
Cheers,
Tom
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overwatch
climber
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Jun 25, 2014 - 01:18pm PT
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I started lurking in the early 2000's and have watched the exodus ever since
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nutstory
climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France
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Jun 27, 2014 - 01:16am PT
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I have thought that such treasures were worth taking a more accurate photograph… Now you will notice how the holes have been very carefully drilled by Dave Rearick, and the edges cautiously machined to avoid damaging the rope.
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scuffy b
climber
heading slowly NNW
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Jun 27, 2014 - 09:37am PT
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Dingus,
skcreidc and Anxious Melancholy address the two aspects of the climb's name.
There was a lot of punning in the old days at Tahquitz.
This one is special because of the double pun.
As Anxious says, when you are on the climb, you really get focused on the
feature which turns out to be the traitor. You get there and go "O sh#t look at that thing over there!"
Another classic is Angel's Fright which is a pun on the Los Angeles streetcar line Angel's Flight. Twisted later on when Mark Powell did a climb
called Devil's Delight. Angel's Fright one of the easier climbs there, Devil's Delight not so much, especially when it was first climbed.
Similarly, White Maiden's Walkaway is long, easy, on the north side of the
rock. Powell established Black Harlot's Layaway: short, fiercely hard, on the south side.
The Blank followed by Blankety Blank, The Flake followed by Flakety Flake,
The Swallow followed by The Gulp...
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Jun 27, 2014 - 11:51am PT
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Scuffy,
There's always From Bad Traverse.
John
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Eric Beck
Sport climber
Bishop, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 27, 2014 - 09:34pm PT
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Bonnie Kamps was gracious enough to send me this pic from her archives. This is right after the FA of the Diamond, early August 1960.
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skcreidc
Social climber
SD, CA
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Jun 28, 2014 - 09:20am PT
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I don't know her but tell Bonnie Kamps she's tops in my book. And thanks for the photo access!
Going up to Tahquitz tomorrow and can't wait. It's not too far from where I live and it's been rather empty (climbing wise) on Suicide and Tahquitz lately as far as I can tell.
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BBA
climber
OF
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Jun 28, 2014 - 07:14pm PT
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I mentioned this somewhere else, but I recall "Dr Dave", as we referred to Dave Rearick, walking rather long distances on his hands in the Riverside County Campground, the spot rock climbers stayed at in Idyllwild when I was climbing at Tahquitz in 1959-1960. The campground was way ahead of its time in that it had a shower which ran off of a black painted tank above the facility which gathered heat from the sun. If you got in early you got hot water, otherwise...
Eric Beck, who started this thread, and I did our first roped multi-pitch climb together on the White Maiden's Walkaway on March 28, 1959. Eric left one of my pitons on the 5.7 variation at the top because the metal was so soft it wouldn't come out, just kept bending. We had great hardware then.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, CA
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Jun 28, 2014 - 07:30pm PT
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Jun 28, 2014 - 08:16pm PT
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Talk about coordination, Rearick would walk around his camp site in Camp 4 on his hands when most of had a difficult time on two feet! I worked on the handstand technique for years but always felt more comfortable on my head. Getting ready for a big one on the Colorado River.........
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jgill
Boulder climber
Colorado
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Jun 28, 2014 - 08:50pm PT
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The cement slab where Dave and I practiced handstands in the Climbers' Campground in the Tetons over fifty years ago is still there, buried under pine needles - the only thing remaining from that controversial Park Service experiment.
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scuffy b
climber
heading slowly NNW
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Jun 30, 2014 - 02:38pm PT
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JEleazarian,
I thought it was From Bat Traverse, because it started at The Bat.
Shaky memory, of course.
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LilaBiene
Trad climber
Technically...the spawning grounds of Yosemite
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Oct 29, 2014 - 06:53pm PT
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BBST
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
extraordinaire
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Oct 29, 2014 - 08:09pm PT
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"Too brutal and arena for me" This is rock climbing, not a knitting club or something.
People die here, and not in pretty ways.
What's a little argument between friends now and then?
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jgill
Boulder climber
Colorado
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Oct 30, 2014 - 12:07pm PT
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I got Dave interested in gymnastics many, many years ago, and he developed astonishing handstand ability. We would practice on the cement slab in the Climbers Campground at Jenny Lake. Unfortunately, for us both, my still ring work and Dave's handstands gave us severe shoulder arthritis in old age!
Dave is not an internet person, but if you'd like to get in touch with him he now lives at the Meridian Retirement Home, 801 Gillaspie Dr., Boulder, CO 80305. I'm sure he'd like to hear from some of you. He taught in the math department at the University of Colorado for many years. Also, he developed into a bicycling athlete and took rides I can barely imagine.
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Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Oct 30, 2014 - 12:16pm PT
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You can't call yourself a Tahquitz climber if you haven't done the "Pearly Gates." I've actually done the Pearly Gates (unless Evans is making a sly reference to something else).
BTW, I love threads like these. At a time when some people only assign worth based upon the numerical value of tightly bolted routes one climbs, it's great to be reminded of what terrific athletes our predecessors were (and how much fun they had).
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