Jim McCarthy Welcome and Appreciation Thread

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Messages 21 - 40 of total 45 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
Jaybro

Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
Jul 25, 2014 - 10:21am PT
Headed to Deto tomorrow.
This stem's for you, Jim!
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Topic Author's Reply - Jul 26, 2014 - 09:56am PT
Jim's very entertaining account of certainly one of his best outings, the Lotus Flower Tower, can be found here:

http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/2456233/The-Jewel-in-the-Lotus-Jim-McCarthy-Ascent-1969
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.
ß Î Ø T Ç H

Boulder climber
extraordinaire
Jul 30, 2014 - 08:36pm PT
... McCarthy probably did the first handstand on the top of the Lost Arrow ...
Shameful bump of my thread - http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=2417102&msg=2417102#msg2417102
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
Messages 21 - 40 of total 45 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
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