Todd Skinner

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MisterE

Gym climber
Bishop, CA
Oct 23, 2014 - 03:32pm PT
Hi, Hannah!

I met your dad in Hueco Tanks at the Ranch, which I was checking out with a friend - I think it was the winter of 1996-7.

I had come to sample the bouldering and it was just a few weeks into my 3-month stay there. Your dad was very friendly and super-psyched - he gave me some good information on roped climbing (which was totally off my radar), and I had a blast doing Malice in Bucketland, Sea of Holes, Divine Wind and a few others.

I ran into him again a couple of weeks later (I was staying at Pete's) and thanked him for the good beta, and he gave me a huge smile and asked me what I had done. Really friendly, dynamic and I will never forget his open and joyous smile under the colorful bandana.

Cheers, Erik
Jay

Trad climber
Fort Mill, SC
Oct 23, 2014 - 05:52pm PT
Hi Hannah,

I didn't know your father very well, but I did meet him a couple times, once climbing and once at a corporate event where he was the keynote speaker and presented his story about establishing the route Cowboy Direct. One thing he said in that presentation that struck me went something like this, “Don’t choose the team before you choose the mountain. Choose the mountain first and the right team will assemble itself.” It was a profound statement and applicable in so many ways.

Anyway, after his presentation I introduced myself. Being that we were the only climbers in the bunch we just started chatting about, you know, climbing.

I agree with what others have said, he was incredibly upbeat and full of energy. Many of us climbers looked up to him. He was humble and truly a good person to be around. His contribution and leadership in the climbing community was remarkable and very positive. I'm sure few people miss him more than you, but you are certainly not alone.

God bless you and I hope you find what you’re looking for.

Jay
wbw

Trad climber
'cross the great divide
Oct 23, 2014 - 08:05pm PT
I think I first crossed paths with Todd when he gave a slideshow in 85 or 86 in Jackson, and it inspired everyone in the audience. He had these slides and tales of bouldering on blue rocks somewhere in the middle east. It absolutely inspired me to travel outside of the country and go climbing to exotic locations. His stoke was larger than life.

He came through town a couple of other times while I lived there and we all looked forward to hearing about his latest travels. As much as I loved (and still love) the Tetons, he inspired me to get the heck outta Jackson and go see the world.
Gagner

climber
Boulder
Oct 23, 2014 - 08:32pm PT
Hannah - Your dad was a good man. He was gracious and kind to everyone he met and was always psyched and interested … in and for everyone. I used to stay at the house in north Lander with he and Amy and climb on the wall in the detached garage out front. I was totally shocked when he died - it was a sad sad day for someone so strong, kind, and psyched for everyone.
MP

Trad climber
Truckee, CA
Oct 23, 2014 - 10:32pm PT
Hanna- I met your dad when he presented a slideshow right after he and Paul freed the Salathe wall. He had a great sense of humor and his passion was very inspirational.
Take care.
Mike Bolte

Trad climber
Planet Earth
Oct 23, 2014 - 11:45pm PT
Hello Hannah -

Your dad really was this wonderful, way-bigger-than-life person you are reading about. I spent a year in 1980/81 living in Laramie and had the good fortune of spending some time with him. I remember one day not long after I arrived, making my first trip to Vedauwoo with Todd. I had run into him climbing on a building on the U Wyoming campus. He was not yet the famous climber he later became, but was way motivated, amazingly open and friendly, and a superb crack climber. "What do you want to climb?" "Want to lead this?" -- always happy to make sure everyone was having a good time. We climbed two routes I picked, one called Straight and Narrow and the other MRC Direct.

He said "There is a great crack you'll love over at Reynolds". Off we go. Marched up to the base of a climb called Hung Like a Horse. I said "you know, I'm not going to be able to do this." Todd said "How do you know? You haven't tried it yet!!" That statement has stuck with me for the last 35 years and got me started up a bunch of climbs.

But, turns out that on that particular day, I was right. The route was beautiful steep hands to a burly long overhang with a couple of offwidth moves right when you are getting pretty pumped. This was before cams and Todd put in a solid hex at the start of the overhang and floated the crux up to the little pod where you could get a rest. I struggled, fell, struggled, fell, finally getting up with some hauling on Todd's part. Didn't dampen his enthusiasm at all. Next he was ready to hike off to check out some obscure sub area in the Vedauwoo back country.

Another time that winter the Laramie weather warmed up to above freezing for a few days. Todd said we had to go see if there were any dry routes at Vedauwoo. Took my Datsun truck out I-80 and turned off at the park. Went down toward the campground and there was a big snow drift at least as tall as the truck across the road. I start to slow down thinking we can park and walk, but Todd is looking at me with this excited grin and telling me to gun it and blast through. Made it through the first half (it was surprisingly soft and light), but slid out sideways and got stuck before we made it through. Only one door would open. Tried to dig out for an hour before some guy with a winch on his truck pulled up and dragged us out.

He had so much positive energy and pushed himself so hard to accomplish his dreams. I'm still inspired a little bit every day by that life well lived.

best wishes to you, Mike
Gnome Ofthe Diabase

climber
Out Of Bed
Oct 24, 2014 - 06:35am PT
1980 Datsun MVP pickup.



Ode to Todd for his Mvp Hannah


He showed us all how to play

He kept us All young

For the other elite he paved the way

For many he made their dreams come true

That does not mean a hill the size of El Cap to you

I am sorry that your Dad and I weren't friends and it hurt

When he fell It left a hole and one that no one can fill for you

Hannah banana it is with regret and open hart and arms that as you grow

His spirit will always be with you in wide open spaces and on long drives out

Todd your father was a great man do not shy away from the smile that he would want

You to wear and in the quite of early mornings try to forgive your Dad for leaving your Mom

And Siblings and You. he had a big family so in them try to find bits of him just like there are bits

Of him In you. The family of Gnome is always here for any of you 'cause your Dad was there for us




DickSilly

climber
cutlass supreme
Oct 24, 2014 - 11:33am PT
has it really been 8 years? I thought it was just a couple years ago. where have I been
bhilden

Trad climber
Mountain View, CA/Boulder, CO
Oct 24, 2014 - 12:17pm PT
Hannah,

here are a few photos of Todd doing pullups off the special rig he designed to hang off the front bumper of his truck. Notice the added weights on his chest. Normally, Todd would have been climbing, but it was lightly raining that day.



Gnome Ofthe Diabase

climber
Out Of Bed
Oct 24, 2014 - 12:40pm PT
Thank you Bhilden
that is what we need to show
today 8yrs ago
is the day that we all heard...
Rockies Obscure

Trad climber
rockiesobscure.com....Canada
Oct 24, 2014 - 12:55pm PT
His energy, I've never met anybody else who's had it. And I'd pay a fortune to get a cup of that juice, it was just so darn good.

"his energy was infectious"

His energy, smile, and like someone else noted, he didn't care if what anyone was doing was particular noteworthy he lent his respect and excitement level toward your climbing as if it was. He was the most enjoyable climber I ever got to be in the company of and I clearly remember the day my heart sank when I heard the news.

Hannah, I met your father in 1992 on the beaches of southern Thailand during his filming of the video Climb Asia(i think they called it that i the end?). I had only been climbing for a few years and did not know who he was at this time. However with the buzz on the beach back then and the camera capturing his many newly bolted lines, I knew he was not another tourist. However he likely saw himself as just another tourist.

I was watching him do this route one day, my only pic of him there, and after he lowered he said hi and started up a conversation with me. He told me his and his buddies plans and told me if I wanted to join him on a boat to a new area I could. I talked to him more each day in the coming weeks and soon he had me do a bouldering circuit I was trying over by Dom's Cave where he happily would come over between climbs and give me beta and point out my next move.

About month later a friend and I tried a new route on a unclimbed wall and during a try, I yanked a big microwave size block down onto my tensed leg and it gouged in and exploded it open. Raced to longboat and to hospital. Bandaged up and hobbling about, sad no doubt, a number of days later I saw Todd and he asked if I would like to join his boat to this new wall and hang out. I felt intimidated which was the wrong attitude to have around your father! He looked at my leg and decided that my bandages had been on too long so he boated me over to his place and changed them for me while his friends waited. Before I left Thailand he told me to come visit him Wyoming but never did.

FFWD 8 years to November of 2001, and myself and two friends were slowly hiking up the trail to El Capitan with our gear and in-between my hard breathing I could hear a very obvious laugh far in the woods. In minutes the laughing got closer, and before I could see, I knew it was Todd!
Sure enough I was right - he and Paul Piana were scoping a route they planned to film in the coming days. They asked us to change our plans so they could film us as not too many climbers were on the wall in mid- November. We said thanks but decided against this idea. Nonetheless, Paul took a pic of us all together. And since we were bivying in the woods he asked us to come stay at a kinda ranch-property just out of the Park he was involved with. We took the directions and tried to find it but could not. Called him and left a message but never heard or saw him again. I have that note in a scrapbook and a poster of your father near my front door.

Hannah, your father was a big inspiration to me and was very kind person and I am very happy to have met him.
pud

climber
Sportbikeville & Yucca brevifolia
Oct 24, 2014 - 01:03pm PT
Your father continues to inspire me today as he has for decades.
slabbo

Trad climber
colo south
Oct 24, 2014 - 04:50pm PT
I'm talking to this cowboy hat dude in JT around 82 and he'ss telling me about climbing in Texas..even after quite a bit to drink I still think full of it.. The letteers and photos follow..I think they are made up!!!

Then it was someplace in South Africa or Sinai or where ever just a visionary

I think the wood stove in the VW was a fine example
Bldrjac

Ice climber
Boulder
Oct 24, 2014 - 05:37pm PT
Hannah...Pam Roberts here. My friend Abby and I stayed with you guys a couple nights this summer. Your Dad was a wonderful, kind man. He stayed with Jack and I for about a month while he and Paul were trying to put together their slide show about El Cap. Super energetic, funny, thoughtful. An amazing public speaker, and could motivate the most pathetic and boring lump into springing into action. Funny, and confident in a very humble way. Always made people feel like they were important. Your Mom and Dad would let Jack and I stay with them when we rolled through Lander to climb. Funny story.....once, long ago, Jack and I were climbing in Hueco Tanks. Jack (my late husband) was strong-looking like your Dad, about the same height and weight, and kind of semi-(ehem) bald like your Dad. At the time, I happened to share a similar-looking haircut as Lynn Hill did....back then, I was pretty buff, as well, although certainly not even CLOSE to being the climber as her! At any rate, on that trip, at least THREE separate people came up to us to chat us up, thinking we were Todd Skinner and Lynn Hill......could have caused quite the scandal! Jack and I laughed about that trip for years.....
Love that you have solicited these stories. My best to you always...xxx
Ellen Skinner

Social climber
Wellington CO
Oct 24, 2014 - 08:45pm PT
hi Hannah--Amy, Mary, Monte, Courtney and I have lots of stories about your Dad because we were with him while he was growing up. We would be happy to share those stories any time and hope you will give us a call. You can reach me at 307-220-3777. I can tell you things like when he hit me over the head with a baseball bat, slept in all of his clothes at camp so he wouldn't have to get dressed in the morning, his developing personality, his best friends growing up and their dynamic. I can tell you about his burgeoning notoriety before he met your Mom and other interesting tales. He was an amazing icon of a man. But, when he was your age he had the same awkward insecurities of anyone your age.. Hope you call!
MisterE

Gym climber
Bishop, CA
Oct 24, 2014 - 09:10pm PT
^^This place never ceases to amaze me - thanks, Ellen for your post and share.
Gnome Ofthe Diabase

climber
Out Of Bed
Oct 25, 2014 - 05:52am PT
bump for the super hero
Todd Skinner
and any photos from any where
the beaches and 'Long boats'
of Thai land for kids in
why o why oming,Todd got a kick
out of my Wife saying that and her burly
German woman partner Elizabeth who's
Ford Bronco was overheating
so they were driving across
Wyoming in the summer with the
heater running on high,
a trick that may or not have worked.
my scanner is not working
so please post up some old
Magazine pictures even the advertising
shots
POST UP please
Magic Ed

Trad climber
Nuevo Leon, Mexico
Oct 25, 2014 - 08:36am PT
Spent a day bouldering with Todd at Hueco Tanks. We had a blast and he was very patient and encouraging and treated me as an equal even though I bouldered many grades below him.
m.

Trad climber
UT
Oct 25, 2014 - 01:38pm PT
Dear Hannah: I adored your father and was proud to be one of his many friends. His accident was devastating to so many- a huge loss to our far-flung community. A favorite memory is of a summer spent at Devil's Tower with many other climbers from all over the US, all hanging out at Todd's Big White Teepee. I was with Jonny Woodward, Rob Raker, Greg Epperson, and many others. We were there strictly to climb, but your father had to work many days, as he'd bartered his ranchhand skills for the opportunity to install the teepee on the ranch bordering the Park. As was typical then, many climbers had very little money and were living hand-to-mouth between odd jobs. Your father offered accommodations in and around the teepee, but most impressive, he fed everyone with bags of rice and beans he'd buy in bulk at the local store. The generosity and love for all exhibited by your Dad made a huge impression on me and taught me a lesson about responsibility to community that I've tried to carry forward. Hannah, your father was a wonderful man who illuminated us all in the glow of his kindness and enthusiasm. I know you will carry forward his unique light. Best to you and your lovely mom Amy!
maria cranor.
Tony Puppo

climber
Bishop
Oct 25, 2014 - 04:44pm PT
It really can't be repeated too many times, he was quite an amazing man, a real force of nature.
He was Todd Skinner, and he was damn glad to meet ya!
Messages 21 - 40 of total 52 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
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