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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Sep 21, 2014 - 05:19pm PT
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NACHA leads the way into the past.
Steve Grossman is leading it into the future.
Excitement abounds.
Now if Mr. Clean-X Route can only learn to string sentences into paragraphs...
From the program handed out at OCF II, footnote-free, and a long, long ways from "free writing."
We are behind you, Steve, speaking for myself...
Best of luck and see you at OCF III.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 12, 2014 - 07:57am PT
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To my surprise I got a letter from the IRS yesterday confirming 501c3 status for the North American Climbing History Archives (NACHA)!
A very fast turnaround time and clear evidence of a solid application.
So now it's onward into the past and backwards into the future! Yahooooo!
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Roots
Mountain climber
Tustin, CA
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Nov 12, 2014 - 08:07am PT
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Congratulations!
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Bldrjac
Ice climber
Boulder
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Nov 12, 2014 - 01:23pm PT
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Steve,
If you need any info regarding Jack (Roberts) or various ascents (N.Face Mt. Huntington; S.W. Face Denali, etc.), let me know. I still have all of his journals and photos. Best to contact me via FB, as I'm only infrequently on ST.
cheers, and best on an amazing project!
Pam Roberts
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Sport climber
moving thru
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Nov 12, 2014 - 02:02pm PT
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Congratulations big time, Steve!
Lasti, so you are still around ST. And apparently climbing......Cheers from Lynne.
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Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
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Nov 12, 2014 - 07:18pm PT
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Way to go, man -- GO!
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
extraordinaire
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Nov 12, 2014 - 10:38pm PT
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Esta NACHA es mia, sin duda, BIOTCHITO! LOL Happy that you're stoked.
Always have appreciated your topics and posts.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Nov 12, 2014 - 10:51pm PT
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I don't use guides, partly because I can follow the dots just fine when I'm not on an FA attempt and also because the guides never contain what I'm really interested in knowing about a route. I can figure how hard a line is and what the gear it needs on my own by simply getting on it. What I can't figure out on my own, and can't get from the guides, is the firsthand story of the FA. And those stories, like the stories of WWII vets, are being increasingly lost by the day when we're talking 50's, 60's and 70's routes.
An archive [ / app ] I would care about would allow folks to write up or video the stories of their FAs and submit that to an archive like yours (where you could then cross-reference them with past and present guides). That way, if I did a route, I could then look it up and read or hear the story of the first ascent. Now that's an archive I'd use all the time and it would serve as a living history.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 15, 2014 - 12:59pm PT
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I have hundreds of hours of interview footage already recorded for the Elevated Lives Project that will make it into the NACHA website once I get that up and going. Regional histories, personality profiles, technique and gear development will all be made easily available assuming that I get support to allow all of this to happen.
If you climb a classic line then you will be able to find out it online.
If you would like support my historical activities and join in this grand effort then please contact me. With 501c3 status now confirmed I can offer you a tax deduction for any cash contributions and fair value for donated catalogs, books and other relevant gear that you see fit to send to NACHA.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Nov 27, 2014 - 05:05pm PT
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www.blogbeckey.com
This is from page one of this thread, posted by Ranger Doug.
It is a registration page, but is 'out of service.' It is twice listed on Google and both say the same thing.
Happy Thanksgiving and holiday season, Steve and Mimi!
The knife is one of my mom's.
It's a "Heavy Royal." Like the RR Blue Boots, it's very stiff and takes an edge well, just like our guy from Modesto.
The pie was delicious.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Nov 27, 2014 - 07:51pm PT
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We are truly blesed to have such a talented and motivated librarian as Steve here at McTopo, and we applaud his work here for NAMBLA.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 27, 2014 - 10:00pm PT
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Are we talking the dawn of technical climbing through modern efforts?
He said it was all about Fred, didn't he?
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Nov 27, 2014 - 10:13pm PT
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This is really awesome Steve. Thanks for all the hard work.
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j-tree
Big Wall climber
Typewriters and Ledges
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Nov 28, 2014 - 01:09am PT
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Nov 27, 2014 - 07:51pm PT
We are truly blesed to have such a talented and motivated librarian as Steve here at McTopo, and we applaud his work here for NAMBLA.
Lol
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jgill
Boulder climber
Colorado
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Nov 28, 2014 - 12:31pm PT
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we applaud his work here for NAMBLA
What an incredible scope of talent, SG!
Keep compiling . . .
;>)
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Nov 29, 2014 - 07:35am PT
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I don't know where else I should post this other than to start a new thread.
Did you know that there is a Bradford Washburn Mountaineering History Museum located in Golden, CO?
It was established in 2008.
http://www.mountaineeringmuseum.org/
It's not strictly NA mountaineering, but who has not been inspired by Washburn's aerial photos, mostly of this continent, so far as I know.
He's the Fred Beckey of the air.
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crunch
Social climber
CO
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Nov 29, 2014 - 08:25am PT
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Bradford Washburn Mountaineering History Museum
It's the Mountaineering Museum. Content is all about big snowy mountains, mainly relating to the Himalayas (theres an enormous and impressive scale model of the Everest region) and some exhibits relating specifically to the history of mountaineering and the CMC (Colorado Mountaineering Club) in Colorado. It's top of the line quality and content in the areas it specializes in.
What's missing is the rock climbing. Yosemite gets little mention. Harvey Carter is utterly ignored and even Layton Kor barely gets a mention (and this in Colorado!). There's a sort of cabinet with a few random bits of rock climbing equipment from the last few decades but no labels, no attempt to organize. I suspect they would love to expand but don't really have space in their building.
What Steve Grossman is doing relates to rock climbing history. No crevasses in sight.
There's been nothing like this in the US, working to record our local rock climbing-based history. Any museum is limited by space and location. Online, there's unlimited room for archiving interviews and photos and stories. Happy that someone is going to the effort to start this.
In the UK a Maxine Willet is spearheading a similar effort and has built the Mountain Heritage Trust:
http://www.mountain-heritage.org
A lot of cool content there. There's on or two other fascinating websites that specialize in aspects of climbing history, mostly the equipment, within and around the US:
http://verticalarchaeology.com/blog/
http://www.needlesports.com/NeedleSports/nutsmuseum/nutsmuseum.htm
The NACHA concept is more ambitious in scale, collecting extensive interviews with many leading climbers.
Good luck to Steve and his efforts.
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madbolter1
Big Wall climber
Denver, CO
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Nov 29, 2014 - 05:11pm PT
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What Steve Grossman is doing relates to rock climbing history. No crevasses in sight.
Oh. Thank you for clearing that up, as it's not clear from the acronym. So, really, it should be called NARCHA. That would also have the advantage of not signifying something best served with cheese and salsa.
Of course, that's nit-picky... but, then, so is historical research, done correctly. We're to be forgiven for questioning Steve's "objectivity" regarding everything from, well, truth to, well, uhh... truth.
Example: fast turn-around as "evidence of a solid application." Yeah, or more probably evidence of about 1000 other things having exactly zero to do with a 'solid application,' such as: Nobody at the IRS cares about this sort of thing because it has nothing to do with religion or politics; the IRS is presently an embattled organization that just has no time or staffing for insignificant 'organizations' like NACHA; and the IRS is one of the worst organizations in human history regarding weighing 'evidence' on any subject. The list goes on. LOL
Bias is a biotch, particularly when you wear it on your chest in all of your "historical" endeavors. Best to stick to "archival" and "librarian" work than to pretend this is "historical" in any sense that matters. That way, at least the contents (and/or lack thereof) won't have anybody believing that Steve's "take" on "history" is anything other than, well, HIS narrow-minded, self-serving take.
This will not be "history." This will be "The Library of Steve." Any actual history that makes it in will be an unintended side-effect rather than what would be expected by design, as Steve seems astoundingly unqualified for this role.
I've asked, flat-out, and gotten no answer: Steve, exactly what formal training do you have in history? What are your degrees? Post-doc fellowships? ANYTHING at all? Do you have ANY training in how a historian actually conducts interviews for archival and research purposes? Or is this just "willing and interested construction worker" turned "professional historian" because he's added a NARCHA after his name?
Who is on the Board of Directors of NACHA, NARCHA, whatever? Who is Chairman? You want funding? Then how about providing some actual organizational information and making pubic the details of what this organization actually is?
But, at least he IS willing (for the price of tax-deductible 'support')....
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jgill
Boulder climber
Colorado
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Nov 29, 2014 - 05:30pm PT
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There's been nothing like this in the US, working to record our local rock climbing-based history
Ament did a pretty good job in his overview Wizards of Rock.
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crunch
Social climber
CO
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Nov 29, 2014 - 06:57pm PT
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There's been nothing like this in the US, working to record our local rock climbing-based history
Ament did a pretty good job in his overview Wizards of Rock.
Pat did an excellent job. I have a copy of Wizards of Rock. It's one of the best of the historical climbing overview books. As far as I can tell from personal knowledge and from feedback from others, the information it contains is highly accurate and delves deep.
But, we're slowly losing the climbers from the 60s. In three or four decades, any would-be historians of that era will only have second or third-hand material to work with. I'm happy someone is taking on the task of interviewing these folks while they are around.
Books are limited by their scope, print run and by publication date. Museums (and yes, the AAC Mountaineering Museum is a fantastic resource) are expensive and almost invariably only show a small selection of the holdings they have. An online archive can, if done well, overcome both these limitations. We'll see how it all pans out.
On a side note, I'm reading the cobbled-together biography of Pete Livesey, the groundbreaking climber of the UK in the 1970s. He traveled the world, once even wrote a climbing guidebook for Yosemite. He eventually retired from climbing, had oodles of time to reflect over his amazing career; but died real suddenly of cancer a decade ago. he was a fantastic writer, wry, astute, funny. In the biography his own essays stand out, even today. Really sad is when he was on his deathbed, he was asked, "Did you write it all down?" and he replied, "No, and now it's too late..."
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