Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
| Messages 1 - 45 of total 45 in this topic |
donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
|
|
|
Jul 24, 2014 - 07:16pm PT
|
Jim has been a force in American climbing for longer than most people on this forum have been alive. He was kind and gentle when Yosemite legends came to the Gunks in the 60's and got their lunch handed to them. He has also "put back" into climbing as an active force for many years with the AAC. During his term as President of the AAC he was instrumental in bringing young climbers and women into the decision making process...you can ask Lynn Hill about that.
|
|
guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
|
|
|
Jul 24, 2014 - 07:28pm PT
|
Big Welcome!
|
|
hobo_dan
Social climber
Minnesota
|
|
|
Jul 24, 2014 - 07:32pm PT
|
When I'm feeling down, I flash back to how it felt stemming McCarthy West Face at the tower, with both feet planted out and the right hand dipping in for a little more chalk, and it all comes floating back.
Thanks for the great route
|
|
jgill
Boulder climber
Colorado
|
|
|
Jul 24, 2014 - 07:46pm PT
|
Hey Jim, good to see you here!
(I'm also pleased that someone older than me has chimed in!)
;>)
|
|
klk
Trad climber
cali
|
|
|
Jul 24, 2014 - 07:54pm PT
|
yeah, pretty cool
clear sign he's finally over the hill!
|
|
rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
|
|
|
Jul 24, 2014 - 08:23pm PT
|
McCathy is one of the towering giants of American climbing. In his strange and wonderful book about climbing in the sixties, We Aspired---The Last Innocent Americans, Pete Sinclair writes
As have Americans from the beginning, we were working on our version of utopia. Nobody said it out loud, but we were trying to live according to the heroic virtues: courage, friendship, self-possession, piety toward the god of nature, and loyalty to each other and to a code of behavior while competing to achieve the highest standards of performance we could aspire to...The heroic virtues are contained in the stories of the heroes...Robbins, Chouinard, Beckey, Kor, and McCarthy were our Achilles, Odysseus, Nestor, Ajax, and Diomedes.
McCarthy as Diomedes? Perhaps the most valiant soldier of the Trojan war, one who never suffered from hubris, and who was greatly valued for his wisdom? Yes, that's Jim through and through. From his amazing list of difficult Shawangunk climbs, to his routes in the Cirque of the Unclimbables, to the Grand Traverse in the Tetons, and then shepherding the American Alpine Club out of the 19th century and into the 20th, few people have had such a varied, important, and influential presence in American climbing.
|
|
MH2
climber
|
|
|
Jul 24, 2014 - 08:43pm PT
|
Isn't he the guy that did a Gunks first ascent with Tim Mutch? If so, he's good in my book.
|
|
ionlyski
Trad climber
Kalispell, Montana
|
|
|
Jul 24, 2014 - 08:55pm PT
|
I liked it when he officiated the wedding for Lynn Hill and Russ (forgot which Russ) I think at the very top of High Exposure. That was cool.
Arne
|
|
mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
|
|
|
Jul 24, 2014 - 09:25pm PT
|
I got to say hi to Jim at Oakdale last fall.Bienvenidos, viejo!
|
|
mike m
Trad climber
black hills
|
|
|
Jul 24, 2014 - 10:03pm PT
|
Big fan. Many props to someone who came to devils tower and picked some of the sweetest plums.
|
|
neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
|
|
|
Jul 24, 2014 - 10:05pm PT
|
hey there say, welcome to you, jim mccarthy... i will now, thus, get to know more about climbing and such, and some choice-good shares, now...
am not a climber, but i love the greaoutdoors, trials and ROCK and rivers!
along with clouds and trees that surround them... :)
i've got extended family, and a brother, here...
so it feels like home, to me...
you, knowing far more folks, will make this like a home, for yourself,
when you have free time--i hope...
:)
happy welcome and good eve!
|
|
deuce4
climber
Hobart, Australia
|
|
|
Jul 25, 2014 - 03:33am PT
|
A great and brilliant man. And an awesome climbing record to boot! A pioneer of modern climbing and a leader in many realms. Hats off to Jim McC!
|
|
SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
|
|
|
Jul 25, 2014 - 06:58am PT
|
Welcome, Jim.
Let's hear some stories, please!!!
|
|
steveA
Trad climber
Wolfeboro, NH
|
|
|
Jul 25, 2014 - 07:34am PT
|
A big welcome to you Jim!
|
|
PhilG
Trad climber
The Circuit, Tonasket WA
|
|
|
Jul 25, 2014 - 07:58am PT
|
Yes, indeed, a very big welcome.
And I agree with Gill: it's good to have someone older on this site.
|
|
DesertRatExpeditions
Trad climber
Flagstaff, Arizona
|
|
|
Jul 25, 2014 - 09:00am PT
|
Welcome Jim!
Jim is on the advisory board for Lowell Observatory here in Flagstaff, so I got to see him when he came through Flagstaff for that. Ties in nice with the climbing and astronomy thread as well.
Super good to have him here.
|
|
Peter Haan
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, CA
|
|
|
Jul 25, 2014 - 09:05am PT
|
A lion of american climbing, for certain. Wonderful person!!
|
|
Roots
Mountain climber
Tustin, CA
|
|
|
Jul 25, 2014 - 10:15am PT
|
Welcome!!
|
|
Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
|
|
|
Jul 25, 2014 - 10:21am PT
|
Headed to Deto tomorrow.
This stem's for you, Jim!
|
|
survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
|
|
|
Jul 26, 2014 - 10:03am PT
|
Wow. A big hearty welcome Jim!!
Yet another great American climber peeps out at Supertopo!
I love it here. Mostly.....
|
|
Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jul 27, 2014 - 09:25am PT
|
Bump those coals and add another log to the ST campfire.
|
|
jgill
Boulder climber
Colorado
|
|
|
Jul 30, 2014 - 08:11pm PT
|
OK, I give up. Has Jim actually posted on ST?
;>|
|
|
HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
|
|
|
Jul 30, 2014 - 08:15pm PT
|
Welcome Jim. Finally got to meet you last year at AAC annual meeting in Richmond, CA.
Great to have you aboard.
|
|
jstan
climber
|
|
|
Jul 30, 2014 - 08:31pm PT
|
Jim McCarthy
Mountain climber
Ridgway, CO
Jul 24, 2014 - 09:29am PT
Rich,,,,,,Just a couple of comments on your great post. Lyman's wonderfully generous bequest to the American Alpine Club fortunately came during the Presidency of Alison Osius.
Lyman's will contained no specific requirements. It was just a general bequest. Alison immediately convened group to decide what to do with it. This group was comprised of several people you know very well. It was this group that decided his bequest should fund what later became what is now the Cutting Edge.....not paper clips for the office.
I should also add that I have always suspected that Lyman generosity was due in large part to his association with you. Many young climbers who have benefited over the years owe you.
|
|
donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
|
|
|
Jul 30, 2014 - 09:18pm PT
|
Took Jim fishing today. I waxed on about catching and releasing 16 trout in 45 minutes at the same place three days ago. Count for the day....1.
Jay Smith got back to Ouray today having just repeated Jim's route on Lotus Flower Tower.
|
|
Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jul 31, 2014 - 11:28am PT
|
Sorry that the trout didn't succumb to your collective presidential starpower. LOL
Give Jim a prompt to come here again if you would. Tell him the girls are asking after him...if that doesn't work then say that one Gill in particular has been.
|
|
Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
|
|
|
Jul 31, 2014 - 12:35pm PT
|
We've never climbed together - maybe bouldered at Stoney, but he's been a friend since John(Jack)Hansen introduced me to him back in the early 60s. One fine gentleman. Not nearly as old as me.
|
|
Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
|
|
|
Jul 31, 2014 - 02:14pm PT
|
Welcome Jim!!
|
|
John Ely
Trad climber
DC
|
|
|
Aug 27, 2014 - 01:12pm PT
|
I was so fuzzed by the great gunks thread, that I looked and noticed there was no wikipedia article on McCarthy, and got the loopy idea to scrabble one together. In the process, I've got a brief, gunks-heavy list of his FAs.
Perhaps rock climbing at its best is a kind of performance artistry - that's what I think every time I think of the stuff Osman used to do. In a much less extreme but absolutely aesthetic way, McCarthy had a simply fantastic eye for the beautiful hard trad climbItalic Text. No one beats McCarthy in North America in terms of providing more days of trad fun for people who followed his trails. Sure he was one of the best of his day, but more he just was best at picking out fantastic hard but generally protectable and repeatable lines. (What great advice for new climbers: Go where McCarthy went and you will have a fantastic experience, guaranteed.)
I think Wiessner, Robbins, Harding, mebbe Bridwell & Barber, in different ways produced a comparable 'oeuvre', Wiessner especially because of the scope of his excellences, a line or three on every rock in North America more or less (not to mention other parts of the globe), and, albeit, with an aid-man's hammer, those fantastic routes of Harding (but so many fewer). My particular favorites are Pas de Deux, Fat Stick, Sound and Fury, Grand Central, and Nosedive. Not a bad move on any inch of these sweeties...
Here is a partially complete list of McCarthy's 'works', at the gunks unless otherwise specified. By 1955, it is basically a list of pure 'classics':
[please note 7 posts below there is a updated slightly corrected version of this list.]
1954 Jim’s Gem (FA), with Stan Gross
1954 Gory Thumb (FA), with Dave Bernays
1954 No Glow (FA), with Tim Mutch
1954 Co-op (FA), with Dave Bernays
1955 Le Teton (FA), with Stan Gross
1955 Try Again (FA), with Hans Kraus; (5.10, FFA), with Richard Goldstone and Ray Schrag
1955 Double Crack (FA), with Hans Kraus; 1958 (5.8, FFA), with Jim Geiser
1956 Alley Oop (5.7 & shoulder stand, FA), with Hans Kraus and Stan Gross
1956 East Face, Middle Howser Tower, Bugaboos, Canada (III, 5.7), with John Rupley
1956 Kraus-McCarthy Route, Snowpatch Spire, Bugaboos, Canada (IV, 5.9, FA), with John Rupley
195?, Foops (FA)
1957 McCarthy’s North Face (III, 5.7,A2, FA), Devil’s Tower, Wyoming, with John Rupley
1957 McCarthy West Face (FA), Devil’s Tower, Wyoming
1957 Fat Stick (5.8, FA), with Hans Kraus
1957 Directississima (FA), with Hans Kraus and John Rupley
1957 Pas de Deux (FA), with Jack Hanson
1957 Yellow Belly (5.8+, FA)
1958 Katzenjammer (5.7, FA), with Jack Hanson
1958 Birdland (5.9, FA)
1958 Ventre de Boeuf (FA), with Claude Lavallee and Jim Andress
1958 Blistered Toe (5.7, FA), with John Wharton
1958 Snooky’s Return (5.8, FA), with Dave Craft
1959 Drunkard’s Delight (5.8-, FA), with Jim Andress
1959 Never Never Land (FA), with Art Gran and Dave Craft; (5.10, FFA), with George Hurley
1959 Turdland (FA), with Jack Hansen
1959 Birdie Party (FA), with Doug Tompkins
1960 Roseland (5.9, FA)
1960 Airy Aria (5.8, FFA)
1960 Land’s End (5.9, FA), with Art Gran
1960 Absurdland (5.8, FA), with George Blume
1960 MF (5.9, FA), with Claude Suhl and Roman Sadowy
1960 Apoplexy (5.9, FA)
1960 Farewell to Arms (5.8, FA), with Al DeMaria
1961 Bonnies’ Roof (5.9, FFA), with Richard Williams
1961 Retribution (5.10)
1961 Nosedive (5.10)
1961 Baskerville Terrace (5.7, FFA)
1961 Tough Shift (5.10, FA), with Ants Leemets
1961 Westward Ha! (5.7, FA), with Harry Daley and Hans Kraus
1962 Ape Call (FA), with Jim Andress and Ants Leemets
1962 Broken Sling (5.8+, FA)
1962 Black and White, Weir Cliff, Quebec (5.10+), with Claude Lavallee
1962 Co-Existence (FA), with John Hudson and others; 1967 (5.10, FFA), with Richard Goldstone
1962 New Frontier (FA), with Ants Leemets
1963 Sound and Fury (5.8, FA), with Richard Williams
1963 Grand Central (5.9, FFA)
1963 Matinee (5.10, FA), with John Hudson
1963 Raunchy (5.8, FA), with Bill Gouldner
1963 Beyond the Fringe (5.9X, FFA), with Doug Tompkins
1963 Directissima (5.9. FFA)
1963 Commando Rave (5.9, FA), with John Hudson
1963 Yukon Tears (VI, 5.x, Ax, FA), Cirque of the Unclimbables, Canada, with Layton Kor, Royal Robbins and Richard McCraken
1964 Sling Time (FA), with Richard Williams
1964 Frustration Syndrome (5.10, FA), with Richard Williams and John Reppy
1965 Transcontinental Freeway (5.10, FFA)
1965 Lito and the Swan (5.9 PG-R, FA), with Lito Tejada-Flores
1965 Mac-Reppy (FA), with John Reppy
1966 Eastertime Too (5.8, FA), with Richard Williams and Don Hudson
1966 Men at Arms (5.10, FA) with Richard Williams
1966 Grim-Ace Face (5.9+, FA), with Royal and Liz Robbins
1966 Nemesis (5.10 R, FA), with Richard Williams, John Hudson, Phil Jacobus and Steve Larson
1967 Balrog (5.10, FA), with Richard Goldstone
1967 Son of Bitchy Virgin (5.6R, FA), with John Reppy
1967 Psychosis (5.9+, FFA), Pok-o-moonshine, Adirondacks, NY, with Richard Goldstone
1967 Fastest Gun Off-width Variation (5.10, FA), Pok-o-moonshine, Adirondacks, NY
1968 Lotus Flower Tower (VI, 5.8, A2), with Tom Frost and Sandy Bill
1969 Proctoscope (5.9+, FA), with Richard Goldstone
1970 Pinnacle Gully, Mt Washington, New Hampshire (FA with front points)
1971 Something Boring (5.9X, FA), with friends
1971 West Ridge of Silver Star Spire (III, 5.8), Washington Pass, Washington, with Carla Firey
|
|
Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Aug 28, 2014 - 08:09am PT
|
Nice FA list!
Your last entry is likely the other Jim McCarthy who is married to Carla Firey.
You missed the two McCarthy routes on the Devil's Tower, West Face and North Face. Both were done with John Rupley, I believe.
|
|
John Ely
Trad climber
DC
|
|
|
Aug 29, 2014 - 04:39am PT
|
Steve, thanks for noting the boo boo re: the other JM.
The Devil's Tower routes are there. I think he only did two, eh?
I found some other mistakes, but if any of you Westerners know other routes in the Tetons, Canada, etc. that I may have missed I'd be grateful. Anything in the Winds?
|
|
rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
|
|
|
Aug 29, 2014 - 07:08am PT
|
No Escape Buttress on Mt. Moran with Chouinard and the first N to S Cathedral Traverse (Teewinot to Nez Perce) with Lito Tejeda-Flores come to mind.
The FFA of Try Again with me and Ray Schrag was in 1967.
Some of the Gunks FA's you mention involved aid. As a matter of record, it would be worth sorting that out. I'll post more about that when I have a bit more time.
|
|
Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
|
|
|
Aug 29, 2014 - 09:25am PT
|
I wonder if Jim recalls what he said to me when I finished the quote he was using in a rant to Bachar and attributed the source to Justice Potter Stewart.
I was pretty flattered (even though I didn't agree with them).
I hope Jim is enjoying Colorado.
|
|
Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Aug 29, 2014 - 12:41pm PT
|
Sorry I missed the two DT routes on a quick pass.
I think that Jim also did the West Face with John Rupley using aid.
Pretty impressive climbing with a rack of mostly soft iron pitons save for a few Smithe angles. John is a friend of mine and a giant of a man. He once stated that "when I am in shape, I weigh an eighth of a ton." Holding him on tension back when I was in high school was a tall order on a hip belay and if he got going back in 57 those noodly nails would have been hard pressed to stay put!
|
|
John Ely
Trad climber
DC
|
|
|
Aug 29, 2014 - 01:02pm PT
|
Thanks for the tips on other western routes.
On the FA aid lines. Yeh, this needs to be clarified. But YDS is ancient greek to wikipedia, and YDS old wave aid ratings are homeric greek to me. I assume some of those things aided are sweat-generating and/or butt-clenching (Ventre de Boeuf?), but I don't have a '72 Williams guide at the moment, as mine is long gone. This is the authority I think, and probably any A3-4 stuff deserves mention. (Any anecdotes on early gunkies zippering their nested pin constructions, pulling out a peck cracker, pissing their pants in fear, or falling out of their 'etriers' would be delightful.)
I should dig up a guide and type in the details, but I was thinking to leave the FA rating empty if it was aided on FA, and let people sort it out when they gawk at the grey dick while roping up. But perhaps this makes JM look too avant garde?
Spank me if I'm turning appreciation into micro editing.
|
|
John Ely
Trad climber
DC
|
|
|
Aug 29, 2014 - 09:21pm PT
|
Hi JM appreciators. Thanks for corrections and data. Here is an updated list of JM's CV. Consult this before wasting your time correcting the original. Still looking for more items....to add to this eye-popping list...
Underneath it is a list of some pictures for whom I've more or less gotten permission to post into Wikipedia of folks doing his climbs for the 'gallery' section. Anyone who wants/has a good hero shot of self/others, or a 'historical' shot is welcome to post it below or just send me the picture and the permission (JohnDEly@gmail.com). (If your pictures are floating around, I'm likely to irritatingly ask privately, so please just post or send me in advance. I especially want the one of Bragg on CoEx, Bein with helmet and rrs on Matinee 2nd pitch, and the North American Climber Rock and Snow ad of someone on 'MF', though I think this is actually 'Birdie Party.' - which is also fine as long as someone can confirm that JM climbed this at some point w/out aid even if Bein did the FFA. Especially desired: sky top pics so one can quietly winge about restrictions.) (In the wikipedia article on Harding, I just posted my own pictures of the various walls, but in this case, I think a gallery of action/hero shots of the climbs in question will be more illustrative. Viz, people having a good and/or wild time redoing what JM did in the good old days.)
1954 Jim’s Gem (FA), with Stan Gross
1954 Gory Thumb (FA), with Dave Bernays
1954 No Glow (FA), with Tim Mutch
1954 Co-op (5.9 PG13, FA), with Dave Bernays
1954 Fillipina (FA), with Stan Gross
1955 Le Teton (FA), with Stan Gross
1955 McCarthy West Face (III, 5.8 A3, FA), Devil’s Tower, Wyoming, with John Rupley
1955 Try Again (FA), with Hans Kraus; 1967 (5.10, FFA), with Richard Goldstone and Ray Schrag
1955 Double Crack (FA), with Hans Kraus; 1958 (5.8, FFA), with Jim Geiser
1956 Alley Oop (5.7 & shoulder stand, FA), with Hans Kraus and Stan Gross
1956 Cakewalk (5.7, FA), with Hans Kraus
1956 East Face, Middle Howser Tower, Bugaboos, Canada (III, 5.7, FA), with John Rupley
1956 Kraus-McCarthy Route, Snowpatch Spire, Bugaboos, Canada (IV, 5.9, FA), with John Rupley
1957 Yellow Belly (5.8+, FA)
1957 Fat Stick (5.8, FA), with Hans Kraus
1957 Directississima (FA), with Hans Kraus and John Rupley
1957 Pas de Deux (FA), with Jack Hanson
1957 Oblique Twique (5.8+, FFA)
1957 McCarthy’s North Face (III, 5.7 A2, FA), Devil’s Tower, Wyoming, with John Rupley
1958 Foops (FA)
1958 Katzenjammer (5.7, FA), with Jack Hanson
1958 Birdland (5.9, FA)
1958 Ventre de Boeuf (FA), with Claude Lavallee and Jim Andress
1958 Blistered Toe (5.7, FA), with John Wharton
1958 Snooky’s Return (5.8, FA), with Dave Craft
1959 Drunkard’s Delight (5.8-, FA), with Jim Andress
1959 Never Never Land (FA), with Art Gran and Dave Craft; (5.10, FFA), with George Hurley
1959 Turdland (FA), with Jack Hansen
1959 Birdie Party (FA), with Doug Tompkins
1958 Roseland (FA), with Hans Kraus; 1960 (5.9, FFA)
1960 Airy Aria (5.8, FFA)
1960 Land’s End (5.9, FA), with Art Gran
1960 Absurdland (5.8, FA), with George Blume
1960 MF (5.9, FA), with Claude Suhl and Roman Sadowy
1960 Apoplexy (5.9, FA)
1960 Farewell to Arms (5.8, FA), with Al DeMaria
1960 No Escape Buttress (IV, 5.9), Mt. Moran, Tetons, Wyoming, with Yvon Chouinard and Dave Dornan
1961 Bonnie's Roof (5.9, FFA), with Richard Williams
1961 Retribution (5.10, FFA)
1961 Nosedive (5.10, FFA)
1961 Baskerville Terrace (5.7, FFA)
1961 Tough Shift (5.10, FA), with Ants Leemets
1961 Westward Ha! (5.7, FA), with Harry Daley and Hans Kraus
1962 Ape Call (FA), with Jim Andress and Ants Leemets
1962 Broken Sling (5.8+, FA)
1962 Black and White, Weir Cliff, Quebec (5.10+), with Claude Lavallee
1962 Co-Existence (FA), with John Hudson and others; 1967 (5.10, FFA), with Richard Goldstone
1962 New Frontier (FA), with Ants Leemets
1963 Sound and Fury (5.8, FA), with Richard Williams
1963 Groovy (5.8+, FA), with Jane and Bob Culp
1963 Grand Central (5.9, FFA)
1963 Matinee (5.10, FA), with John Hudson
1963 Raunchy (5.8, FA), with Bill Gouldner
1963 Beyond the Fringe (5.9X, FFA), with Doug Tompkins
1963 Directissima (5.9. FFA)
1963 Commando Rave (5.9, FA), with John Hudson
1963 South East Face Original Route (VI, 5.8A4, FA), Mt. Proboscis, Cirque of the Unclimbables, Nahanni National Park Preserve, Canada, with Layton Kor, Royal Robbins and Richard McCraken
1963 The Diagonal (V, 5.9 A5), Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Colorado, with Layton Kor and Tex Bossier
1964 Sling Time (FA), with Richard Williams
1964 Frustration Syndrome (5.10, FA), with Richard Williams and John Reppy
1965 Transcontinental Freeway (5.10, FFA)
1965 Lito and the Swan (5.9 PG-R, FA), with Lito Tejada-Flores
1965 Mac-Reppy (FA), with John Reppy
1966 Eastertime Too (5.8, FA), with Richard Williams and Don Hudson
1966 Men at Arms (5.10, FA) with Richard Williams
1966 Grim-Ace Face (5.9+, FA), with Royal and Liz Robbins
1966 Nemesis (5.10 R, FA), with Richard Williams, John Hudson, Phil Jacobus and Steve Larson
1966 Teton’s ‘The Grand Traverse’ North to South from Teewinot to Nez Perce (V, 5.8+), Teton Range, Wyoming, with Lito Tejada-Flores
1967 Balrog (5.10, FA), with Richard Goldstone
1967 Son of Bitchy Virgin (5.6R, FA), with John Reppy
1967 Psychosis (5.9+, FFA), Pok-o-moonshine, Adirondacks, NY, with Richard Goldstone
1967 Fastest Gun Off-width Variation (5.10, FA), Pok-o-moonshine, Adirondacks, NY
1968 Lotus Flower Tower (VI, 5.8 A2), Cirque of the Unclimbables, Nahanni National Park Preserve, Canada, with Tom Frost and Sandy Bill
1969 Proctoscope (5.9+, FA), with Richard Goldstone
1970 Pinnacle Gully, Mt Washington, New Hampshire (FA with front points)
1971 Something Boring (5.9X, FA), with friends
Gallery
[name of climb followed by the captions for photographs with source approval]
Broken Sling - Jeff Mekolites has worked though the hard part of the technical and relentless 'Broken Sling', photo Greg Allen
Birdland - Climber Hovhannes Karagozian is 'stemming' his legs after finishing up the continuously difficult first pitch of the 'Birdland' face, photo Gina Musilli
Lotus Flower Tower and Mt. Proboscis - A panorama of the Cirque of the Unclimbables showing Mt. Proboscis and Lotus Flower, photo Mike Anderson
Double Crack - Climber Roger Benton has gotten just beyond the 'alcove' rest of the consistently overhanging 'Double Crack', photo Martha Busko
Drunkard’s Delight - A climber has passed the 'don't slip' ankle-breaking beginning of 'Drunkard's Delight', photo John Hoffman
Drunkard’s Delight 2 - A climber on the 'easy' meter+ roof on the second portion of 'Drunkard's Delight', photo Jason Halladay
Son of Bitchy Virgin - A climber on the dangerous portion of 'Son of Bitchy Virgin' above the hardest section, photo Gottlieb Duwan
Roseland- A climber has finished the attention-getting corner of 'Roseland' before the real difficulties begin, photo Guy H[xx]
Co-Existence - Darek Kuczynski fully focused on the crux of 'Co-Existence', photo Denis O'Connor
Snooky’s Return - A climber starts up the hard portion of 'Snooky's Return', photo Denis O'Connor
Ape Call- A climber surmounting the 'roof' of ‘Ape Call’, photo Denis O'Connor. Traditionally one is supposed to dangle ones feet and holler like an ape after reaching for the 'lip' of the overhang.
Transcontinental Freeway - Climber Ivan Rezucha replacing a piton in the middle of the demanding and beautiful 'Transcontinental Freeway', photo Rick Perch, 1971
|
|
rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
|
|
|
Aug 29, 2014 - 11:03pm PT
|
Ha! I forgot about Psychosis. Jim led it, pausing in mid-layback to place a bong (Jim might have been the best laybacker I ever met). I struggled up it on a top rope and thought it solid 5.10, but Jim insisted it was only 5.9. This massive sandbagging distorted Adirondack grading for years to come, since folks kept comparing routes to Psychosis, graded at 5.9, to decide whether those routes were 5.9 or 5.10. I hereby proclaim my innocence.
A bit of trivia: Yellow Belly was, I think, the hardest climb in the Gunks when done free in 1957. Graded 5.8+, but it would have been 5.9 at, say, Tahquitz in 1957.
I especially want the one of Bragg on CoEx, Bein with helmet and rrs on Matinee 2nd pitch
Those are mine, you are welcome to them.
the North American Climber Rock and Snow ad of someone on 'MF', though I think this is actually 'Birdie Party.' - which is also fine as long as someone can confirm that JM climbed this at some point w/out aid even if Bein did the FFA.
Could you point me to the Rock and Snow ad photo? I can probably settle the locale. As for climbing Birdie Party free, Jim did it many times after Kevin's (accidental!) FFA.
Correction:
Jim climbed Absurdland with George Bloom (not Blume).
Addition:
The Kraus-McCarthy Route is on the West Face of Snowpatch Spire.
The Mac-Reppy ascent was a free ascent and was 5.8 at the time. A chockstone in a crack came out later and made it 5.11.
There's a great picture of Jim (on the left) and Dave Bernays on the top of Devil's Tower in 1954 on John Rupley's website, http://climbaz.com/interviews/mccarthy.html.
|
|
John Ely
Trad climber
DC
|
|
|
Aug 30, 2014 - 07:57am PT
|
The 'ratings debate' circa 1977
Not surprised to hear about how the Gunks powerhouse kept the 'dacks 'honest.' There are remarks in the early publications about how no one had the gunks had yet done a 'hard' [UIAA] six but only easy and mediums. The idea of an absolute ratings limit still makes sense for aid climbing, but it seems that reports from Barber about the eminently sensible Australians would never take hold in the US, where we got stuck with lots of letters as well.
Note whose climbs form the framework of definition determinations!
By the way, the urban dictionary derives 'sandbag' from the first star wars movie and the whomp rats. Circa '77. Anyone recall an earlier use by climbers? I assume it must predate G Lucas.
|
|
Kligfield
Mountain climber
Boulder, CO
|
|
Jim,
Chiming into this discussion a bit "late"--Jim was (and is) one of the very best. His influence on multiple generations of American climbers was possibly a more significant legacy than his first ascent route list! I hope, Jim, you are enjoying your current life in Ridgeway! Roy K
|
|
Mighty Hiker
climber
Outside the Asylum
|
|
The 1971 Interior Ranges guidebook says that the route on Snowpatch in 1956 was by Kraus, McCarthy and Rupley, referring to the American Alpine Journal. The much later Bugaboos-specific guidebooks just say Kraus and McCarthy.
When we did it in the 1970s, everyone called it the "Kraus, McCarthy Rupley".
I only mention this because John Rupley was at the memorial for Fred Beckey at The Mountaineers' in Seattle last Sunday, and spoke. John must be over 90, but seemed very fit.
|
|
donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
|
|
Jim got married this past September at the tender age of 84 to Ellen Latham, a lovely woman who is wicked smart and climbed Bidalveil Falls (WI 5) last winter. I’d say he’s doing fine!
|
|
| Messages 1 - 45 of total 45 in this topic |
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!