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Lynne Leichtfuss
Trad climber
Will know soon
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Oct 19, 2010 - 06:11pm PT
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I agree ! Just found some more pics of the event and will try to post them in the next week. Thanks Jan for all you did. Ciao, lynne
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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This is more than a bump...
For me, this thread is the greatest for many very intensely personal reasons.
First,it caught my attention through a Google search that wasn't related and brought me to Super Topo for the first time.
Second, it put me back in touch with two very old friends Jan and Patrick Oliver.
Finally, it brought me back to the climbing community that I'd missed for a long time! Additionally, I'm thankful for all the new friends and companionship of kindred souls and spirits: Ed Hartouni, Fritz, Crimpergirl, Brassnuts, Tarbuster, Philo, SteveW, Eeyonkee, and many more too numerous to mention.
So....thanks Ed, for starting this thread; thanks Jan for continuing the dialogue!!
Rodger
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TomCochrane
Trad climber
Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay
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similar experience
thank you all...
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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I too had been away from the climbing world for decades and knew nothing of Supertopo until I stumbled on this thread by chance. In Asia of course, we call it karma and for me it certainly was that.
Now half a year after the memorial I was just thinking to myself how many unresolved emotional issues I had regarding Frank, that I wasn't even aware of until this thread. Since the memorial, they have disappeared and whenever I think of Frank's final remains resting high above the valley on what Steve Grossman labeled "the final bivy", it brings a smile and a feeling of lightness.
We all did the right thing here as a community and we should all share in the satisfaction.
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Plaidman
Trad climber
South Slope of Mt. Tabor, Portland, Oregon, USA
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I just heard on NPR a story about CERN and I immediately thought of Frank Sacherer. I have used that chicken sh#t line myself on climbs. I like to yell it at my climbing partners. It sure is a good one. Always makes me laugh. Thanks Ed for a great thread. Sacherer is a legend for me and not so much a myth anymore. Thanks all for sharing.
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jstan
climber
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In doing as she did Jan demonstrated great strength and purpose. Perhaps there will be one, or maybe even two youngsters out there, when faced with the momentary satisfaction gained from taking a risk, will think of Frank and the huge price everyone pays when there is loss.
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Jan deserves the ultimate respect from all of us! It was an incredibly difficult task that she undertook willingly; at great emotional expense, I might add.
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Feb 17, 2011 - 06:05pm PT
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Funny, how several pages from the old Coonyard Register can tie-in a list of personalities, eras, sagas and tales.
We have Cochrane's epic with Sacherer, Chela as part of his early climbing career and Boo who was rejected by Frank for an early Apron ascent. Good to see Qamar, Raymond, Kamps, Rowell and frequent Coonyard aficionado Beck in the picture to boot.
Register courtesy of the Mountain Record Collection of the Bancroft Library UC Berkeley.
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M. Volland
Trad climber
Grand Canyon
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Feb 17, 2011 - 06:20pm PT
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I understand he regularly had his belayers gripped out of their gords with his repeated runnouts. Now thats proud!
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aspendougy
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Feb 17, 2011 - 07:12pm PT
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Here is a 2001 NYT reference, both to Frank's death, and his accomplishments in physics and rock climbing:
"Over the years physicists have given their names not only to the phenomena of physics but also to routes up obstacles of rock. Theorists at CERN, the leading European particle physics laboratory, refer to the Sacherer frequency and the Sacherer method for computing something called ''bunched-beam instabilities'' in a particle accelerator. And climbers in Yosemite tackle the Sacherer Cracker, part of a route up the treacherous El Capitan. All these landmarks were named for Dr. Frank J. Sacherer, a theoretical physicist at CERN, who was a world-class expert on the behavior of particle accelerators."
As you can see, he was spoken of as a "world class scientist."
I find it interesting that Pratt made a comment about the meaning of climbing, that he loved figuring out the mechanics of the moves, that in some ways his approach to climbing was like Franks.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Apr 25, 2011 - 04:03am PT
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Thanks to guido for unearthing the summit register of the Sacherer-Cochrne direct! This should put to rest the speculations about whether or not the climb ever took place.
Meanwhile the debate continues over where exactly the route went. It now seems more likely that it was done in the region of what became the Galactic Hitchiker than the Hinterland as assumed by Frank on the summit register.
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=527185&tn=100
I do hope Tom can go back up there someday and figure it out.
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dugillian
Trad climber
SoCal
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Love this thread. Always psyched to read about the history of the "Valley." I am not quite an old Dad but I have climber many of the routes Sacherer out up.....Uber impressive.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 4, 2011 - 08:52pm PT
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noticed this recently...
United States
Cascades
Winter climbing is growing in popularity in this area. Last winter there were two important climbs that have not so far been reported. ln March, 1975, J. Reilly Moss made the first winter ascent of the Ice Cliff Glacier and Couloir of Mt. Stuart (9,415ft.), while at the same time Craig McKibben and Jay Ossiander made the first winter ascent of the North Ridge. Earlier. McKibben and Roy Farrell had made the first true winter ascent of Liberty Bell in the Northern Cascades, though this had previously been climbed in late March (just outside the true winter season) by another team. Another first (true) winter ascent was achieved this February on Mt. Rainer (14,410ft.), when Dusan Jagersky and J. Reilly Moss climbed the Central Rib of the Willis Wall. Dragontail Peak's Hidden Couloir had its first winter ascent on February 6 and 7, by Skip Edmonds and Dick Hefferman. On February 7, Cal Folsom and Don Heller repeated the route in a day, but the ascent was marred by tragedy when Heller, a well-known North-West climber, was killed on the descent via Aasgard Pass. Mt. Stuart was again the focus of interest when Paul Ekman and Joe Weiss made the first winter ascent of the 50º Stuart Glacier Couloir for about two-thirds of its length. The pair then traversed east on mixed rock and ice, finishing up the North Ridge. On Colchuck Peak (8,705ft.), Greg Markov, Paula Kregal, Skip Edmonds and Clark Gerhardt climbed the steep couloir at the head of the Colchuck Glacier. A steep headwall formed an obstacle at the top of the couloir, and the climbers turned this by a traverse to the right.
In addition to these climbs, there was also a lot of activity on the lower and more accessible peaks in the Snoqualmire Pass area, notably on The Tooth, Chair Peak and Mt. Thompson. Clearly, there is a considerable latent interest in Cascade winter climbing whenever the weather allows.
Mountain 50, page 11
[underline added]
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nutjob
Gym climber
Berkeley, CA
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I can't believe today is the first time I ever read this thread. I can't think of any historical thread on Supertopo that is more insightful, and I've only made it through the first ~200 posts so far. But alas I must break away to continue prep for tomorrow's big adventure chasing Sacherer's shadow in the valley. Even though I'm not done reading, I had to bump this for quality!
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chill
climber
between the flat part and the blue wobbly thing
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I liked that entry in the Coonyard register by Beck and Rowell, "chopped illicit bolt on the last pitch". Layin' down the law in 1965! :)
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Mar 10, 2012 - 12:47pm PT
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I ran into TM Herbert last August at the Tuolumne Meadows gas station and this thread prompted me to ask him what it was like to climb with Sacherer. His first response was,
“That guy was crazy! Like Yabo!" (Serious, joking, hyperbole? Hard to tell with TM)
He launched into an hilarious account, in the patented Herbert style, of their early repeat ascent of the NWF of Half Dome. There is no way to reproduce it here, as a story told by TM is performance art of the highest level. Here is the best part of the story:
TM had been frightened at the risks that Sacherer had been taking all the way up the route and his anxiety was building as they ascended. They get to Thank God Ledge and it's Sacherer’s lead. Sacherer puts nothing in to protect that lengthy traverse and TM is really worried now. He tells Sacherer to put something in, but Sacherer sneers, “It's easy."
Finally Sacherer clips into a fixed pin in the corner at the end of the traverse, a piton placed by Robbins and company on the first ascent a few years earlier. Frank pulls out his aid slings and TM, now terrified, yells across,
“Better test it!”.
Sacherer is visibly incensed at this impertinence . He clips in, weights the pin and “ping!” it pops.
Frank disappears out of sight, the rope finally coming tight with great force after several long seconds. TM is left to try to cope with the disaster. He thinks it unlikely that Frank could survive the fall and if he did , he is seriously injured.
TM’s mind is racing: there is no one in the valley to do a rescue. The rangers do not have the expertise; there are only a handful of people in the world who could manage it and he checks off each one: Robbins is in LA, Pratt has just left, etc.
He hears a voice below and miraculously, Frank is ok and he slowly climbs back to the belay.
TM laughed at the memory and shook his head,
“Crazy. “
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Mar 10, 2012 - 12:51pm PT
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This shows that even Sacherer would think twice before calling TM chickenshit!
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Mar 10, 2012 - 01:17pm PT
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Ricky, this tale of TM's is one of the most revealing of all the Sacherer apocrypha. thanks.
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