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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 12, 2018 - 03:51pm PT
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Now look, let me say this upfront - I'm not into the whole hero thing and Plaid is as unlikely a hero as you'll ever find, but still, he's way, way up there in my book.
For me, he just stands somewhat apart even from the legion of climbers who have dug themselves out of various pits of self-inflicted wounds and/or other unfortunate events. A couple of things makes Plaid's story compelling for me. First is the fact he started climbing so late in life, second that he was like a dog with a bone once he tried it, and third that he wasn't a 'natural' at it by any means. In fact, he almost killed himself in a number of creative ways in his first couple of years. Yet even the threat of potential doom every time he went out didn't dissuade him or cause him to pursue a more rational and prudent pastime. No way, and if the AAC gave out an annual "Endeavor To Persevere" award then Plaid would have won it back-to-back for his first couple of years surviving climbing.
And survive he did going on to the fame and glory he currently basks in on a daily basis today.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Outside the Asylum
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Jan 12, 2018 - 06:21pm PT
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Scott is undoubtedly good company, as is Ronda. Definitely people to go into the jungle with, although possibly not with a wheelbarrow.
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thebravecowboy
climber
The Good Places
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Jan 12, 2018 - 07:39pm PT
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some dude with a table unfurled on the blacktop, doing his prep work in the public, was pretty doggone humble when I happened across him at geearheads. a worker, that one.
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madbolter1
Big Wall climber
Denver, CO
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Jan 12, 2018 - 09:09pm PT
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The best way I can sum up Plaid is: He will loyally and fervently get the job done. Oh, and he's a blast to hang with. :-)
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BLUEBLOCR
Social climber
joshua tree
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Jan 12, 2018 - 09:56pm PT
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That was a cool post healyje🎅🏼
VVVVThat was even a cooler post Dingus🎅🏼🎅🏼
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Jan 13, 2018 - 12:06am PT
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The Plaidman is rad man.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Jan 13, 2018 - 03:05am PT
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Great guy, I’m glad I got to know him....hope that we’ll tie in together some day.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Jan 13, 2018 - 03:17am PT
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hey there, say, healyje... wow, thanks for sharing... :)
happy appreciation to you plaidman... i enjoy seeing all your adventures on the ol' facebook...
happy appreciation thread to you!
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 13, 2018 - 04:15am PT
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I should add that Plaid walks in the footsteps of other Beacon Rock locals who made their way down to the Valley including Kim Schmitz, Dean Caldwell (still here in PDX), Avery Tishner, Darryl Nakahira, and Mark Cartier among others.
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, Moab, A sailboat, or some time zone
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Jan 13, 2018 - 07:07am PT
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Plaid, Plaid, Plaid. Miss you like crazy....come back soon with Rhonda...we’ll do something more relaxing, like hiking and biking!
You are an incredible example of PERSEVERANCE!
You never stop amazing us...
Susan and Mike
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jan 13, 2018 - 08:12am PT
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he was like a dog with a bone once he tried it
Spears the heart of the matter for most of us, I'm sure.
Go Plaid!
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Jan 13, 2018 - 08:35am PT
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Apparently his sartorial magnificence is in keeping with his other virtues,
just as Thomas Carlyle would have it.
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couchmaster
climber
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Jan 13, 2018 - 10:33am PT
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I concur with Healyj. Good post Joe. Not sure about the "fame and glory" part. But dog with a bone? YES! What kind of dog would you say? I'm thinking Schnauzer, but he does have poodle nose hair I'll note. Probably Terrier. Those dogs fight well over their weight and never back off. Yup, Terrier for sure, but a friendly one.
I've had the opportunity to put up several new routes with Plaid. He's a very honorable person to climb with, super company, (although a tad slow). I thought his solo of Brother Mike was pretty damned terrier. Full on "radical out there terrier" in fact. I'd pointed the lump of rock out to him. I knew he did a lap on the easy route we did on the backside mostly to looksee the rock and the descent off the top.
While later I head out to the next formation over for a lap with my boy and his buddy and we see a speck on the next Tower over. No cell phones available out there, no nothing. There was someone up there, by themselves it appeared, I knew there was no route at that location. So instead of hiking down to our thing, we drive over to see if whomever it was needed anything. Scoped him out with binocs and it was Scott. We did the obligatory "yer gonna die" salute and waved, he hooted back, having fun. He was getting it done. By himself. Damned audacious would be the correct spelling. He named the route after his late friend. Like I said: very honorable. Here he is on that route that day (I think). About a 300' high tower and there is a single route in this photo to this day, that's the one Plaid (and later W/Rick McDonald) did.
I was at the base when he finished "Better Than Sex". He comes down and in response to the query: "how was it?" giggling while he's untieing says: "Ho man, that was better than sex:-)" Thus the name. I may bump into him later today on the current project. I hope so. I was cautioning him about the rope and he said he put a 2nd backup rope on it he said because that's what Richard Jenson showed him. As RJ is a super savvy guy, I'm interested in what that looks like. It stopped raining and I've been waiting for it to warm up a tad.
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Jan 13, 2018 - 09:08pm PT
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Couch, I rapped the single rope today going down and wondered what the second rope was for. I guess when cleaning if a rock cuts the line you are on. That route is going to be great! I climbed it in its untouched state and it was stellar then.
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Neil Chelton
climber
England
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Jan 16, 2018 - 10:02am PT
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Best way to carry climbing gear ever. Thanks Plaid!
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Jan 16, 2018 - 10:24am PT
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Gotta wonder sometimes, though, about the company he keeps...
John Evens, Cam Burns, The Plaid...
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Jan 16, 2018 - 10:38am PT
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A square peg in a round hole
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jan 16, 2018 - 10:50am PT
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More on redemption from Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity, The Contingency of Selfhood, Richard Rorty, p. 29:
To put the same point in another way, the Western philosophical tradition thinks of the human life as a triumph just in so far as it breaks out of the world of time, appearance, and idiosyncratic opinion into another world – into the world of enduring truths. Nietzsche, by contrast, thinks the important boundary to cross is not the one separating time from atemporal truth but rather the one which divides the old from the new. He thinks of the human life triumphant just insofar as it escapes from inherited descriptions of the contingencies of its existence and finds new descriptions. This is the difference between the will to truth and the will to self-overcoming. It is the difference between thinking of redemption as making contact with something larger and more enduring than oneself and redemption as Nietzsche describes it: "re-creating all 'it was' into a ' thus I willed it.' "  Go Plaid!
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couchmaster
climber
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Jan 16, 2018 - 12:52pm PT
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Plaid calls me up: "I have a project, do you want to belay me....you'll like it". I was thinking, uhhhh, but went anyway. The proposed tower had a single route on it that had been put up @ 1960 something by two legends, Eric Bjornstad and Eugene Dod (aka Dods jam). Tyler and Dan Gaston may have done either the 2nd ascent of it about 50 some odd years later or so but perhaps it was a FA of the 2nd route on the thing. They didn't see any evidence of the old guys route despite the rap slings off the top which was still clear evidence they had climbed it years before. Tyler named it "The Eaglet" rated 5.5 A4, 5 lead bolts left. They did the short uphill side, Plaid wants to do the lower side. These tower things are all over the place and right off the road near the most popular climbing location in Oregon. This thing had seen 2 ascents in 40 years and there are plenty of unclimbed towers in the area if that tells you what it was about. Tyler was calling the area "Towertown". Certainly fits perfectly to what the area is. Scott wants to do the long version on this Tower which Bjorkman and Dod had named "The Eagles Claw" but he wants to do the longer downhill side.
After parking between 2 houses and me having Plaid reconfirm that nobody will be taking a shotgun to us for trespassing, after a short 1/4 mile or so approach we see said tower dead ahead. We get there in short order and after a quick eyeball and blanching at the thought of belaying Plaid all day I say: "how bout I free up there, stuff a bolt in and let you take over". Tyler had mentioned using some absurdly long 12" long wedge anchor bolts and it turned out they were all loose after they placed them, so I brought some larger diameter ones thinking maybe that's what was needed, along with some angle pins which turned out to near saved the day. I do my thing and get a jingus 1/2" x 8" long stainless bolt in that might or might not hold body weight. It's a spinner I wasn't sure and it didn't ever get tight as I have the feeling I could pluck it right out with my fingers, so I downclimbed gingerly with the Bosch hanging limply below my junk off the waist, pumped out and glad Plaid was taking over as there was no cracks anywhere and the rock was supersoft.
Fortunately I owned a bunch of Hawks, Peckers, pins, screamers and stuff and I'm starting to suspect that's why I got the invite. I don't see any place to put them in above the bolt I'd placed though. No cracks and you won't be hooking the soft rock even if there were hook placements, which there aren't. Plaid gets up there and starts hammering things right in to blank rock (photo below). I'm sure my mouth is wide open, I'd never have thought of it. In fact, following him, the rock was so soft I can pull most of them with my fingers, kind of surprised they held him. I wouldn't have expected them to hold me and I'm lighter than he is. Impressed.
But up he went, sometimes tieing off a knob where available, sometimes tied multiple hawks together.....I'm shaking my head at the audacity. Up he went and eventually he topped out. That's a real halo in the photo ya know:-)
That's my Plaidman story for the day:-) Below is Eugene Dod and Gerld Bjorkmans summit register from June 1970.
***Studly, I was out there in the afternoon and didn't see you guys. The sun was just going downish behind the trees @ 3:30pm and cooling off quick when I bailed. I'd have rather climbed with you all rather than play in the dirt. I got a new dog you have to meet. Crazy dog already did the first free solo ascent of P1 of Rapunzels. She always goes all JarJar Binks on me and I need you to show me how you trained Moki the wonder dog.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Jan 16, 2018 - 02:45pm PT
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Hangin' with the A List.He was a fine neighbor at Facelift in '14.
Thanks, Scott.
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madbolter1
Big Wall climber
Denver, CO
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Jan 16, 2018 - 04:09pm PT
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Plaidman & Big Mike = Gimli & Legolas
Cam and I were actually calling Plaid "Gimli" at times. Hehe
Actually, similar passion and loyalty, that one.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Jan 16, 2018 - 06:19pm PT
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And dwarves Are Scottsmen...
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Jan 16, 2018 - 06:41pm PT
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He dwells in caves like Gimli
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Plaidman
Trad climber
West Slope of Powell Butte, Portland, Oregon, USA
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Jan 24, 2018 - 10:46am PT
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Thanks everyone for the great pics and stories.
I feel very appreciated.
Someone found my twin riding a goat. Not really my thing.
I’d rather get my thrills climbing.
Plaid
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Jan 24, 2018 - 02:16pm PT
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Hmmm. Plaid,I thought that you Scotsman usually rode the goat and sheep a little further back....
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MH2
Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
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Jan 24, 2018 - 02:23pm PT
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Interesting.
I, too, have assembled gear for an ascent that did not go all the way up the Column.
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couchmaster
climber
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Jan 24, 2018 - 07:49pm PT
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LOL Studly!
Hahaha! Classic shot! Which one is you Plaid?
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Plaidman
Trad climber
West Slope of Powell Butte, Portland, Oregon, USA
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Jan 24, 2018 - 10:25pm PT
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Couch, I’m always on top.
Studly, I’m feeling a little sexual harassment coming on.
Plaid
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Risk
Mountain climber
Olympia, WA
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Jan 24, 2018 - 10:38pm PT
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Yay, Plaid! Keep going!
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bringmedeath
climber
la la land
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Jan 25, 2018 - 05:41am PT
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Funny to see Towertown mentioned. I went there once with Tyler and we drug all this gear out there and started up some steep part of one of the larger towers. We placed a ton of beaks in a row following some blank seam. At one point there was a bulge and I placed a beak up in it. It ripped out a bunch during tests but I kept trying. Tyler wanted me to place a bolt since he didn't think risking a fall was a great idea. But I had a brief moment of courage. After a while one kind of stuck. Thinking it would never hold but it held some tests, so I was forced to get on it. Sure enough it levers out of the sand and I take a fall onto all these other beaks in sand. I think we probably just laughed since we didn't know if it was A4 or A1. I go back up to the bulge and get told I should probably just place a bolt. But ended up getting something to stick and onto the next beak placement. I think all we placed on that pitch was beaks. It was getting late and we placed some 12" bolts for an anchor at some point.
We had just taken turns on this pitch and mostly hung out the whole day and had a BBQ lunch. Probably smoked about an oz of weed. Hahahaha. I think that was the last time I climbed with Tyler.
We always thought Plaid was such a joke in the beginning. He seemed so over the top. With getting sponsors and what not. Tyler hated it. I thought it was a joke but didn't really care. But looking back I can see it was just his journey to what he has become. I don't climb anymore but I still check out this site because once and a while there is cool stuff
. I saw some fisher tower thing that plaid did. That was really cool! Over the past few years plaid has really come a long long way. And I am happy to see that. I know even Tyler would be stoked on some of the stuff plaid is now a part of. Good job at sticking with it!!!
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Plaidman
Trad climber
West Slope of Powell Butte, Portland, Oregon, USA
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Jan 25, 2018 - 01:37pm PT
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Yeah Bringmedeath Tyler inspired me. I followed the route with he did with Bill
and saw how he used the peckers into the rock. Well a loosely understanding of the soft sandy petrified tuff there in Tower Town. It’s almost rock. Without his technique I’m not sure I would have figured it out.
On my route on the river side I used 32 peckers and 3 drilled angles. I called the route “The Talon”. Only had one pecker shift but it didn’t pull. That climb was a good Plaid day.
Plaid
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Jan 27, 2018 - 10:39am PT
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As one who possesses virtually no natural talent, and had to work for pretty much everything I ever achieved in climbing, I can assure you that Plaid is just the same. Which just goes to show you what determination - a LOT of determination! - can help you get.
It's not about talent or ability, it's about desire. And this is what Plaid has. And when he wants something, nothing will stand in his way.
There is something to be said for perseverance - just having the ability to endure and "win by attrition" is a way to get up big walls. And if Plaid can endure three weeks with Yours Truly, he must indeed have perseverance! Above you see him doing the job on Tempest.
But what struck me in the posts above by those of us who are blessed enough to know him and love him, is he truly is like a dog who grabs hold of the bone, and just won't let go - ever.
Plaid led the Rubber Band Man pendulum, which gave me such a hard time when we did South Seas that I passed it off to him. He didn't do it the "right" way or perhaps shall we say, the "usual" way, maybe he went too low, I can't recall. It's a tough penji, though. Anyway, Plaid figured it out, and got the job done.
But what happened next is a show of willpower I have seldom seen on the big wall. After Plaid finished leading the pitch, he tagged up the haul lines, constructed the upper anchors, and proceeded to rap back to our portaledge camp a couple pitches below.
Jerry and I were watching his headlamp descend in the dark, when all of a sudden he went into total freefall! We both thought Plaid was dead! It was terrifying! Plaid lost control of his GriGri rappel device, and fell over thirty if not forty feet til he ended up in the loop of haul line between us and the upper anchor! Scared the piss out of all of us!
Plaid learned his lesson, but paid the price of rappelling without gloves. I guess he got these burns by clutching desperately at the rope?
So I'm like, "Holy sh#t, dude! Are you OK? Do we need to bail??"
And Plaid was like, "Look, it's no big deal. I'm a welder, I get burns all the time."
Plaid sucked it up - it must have hurt like hell - and he never said another word the entire wall! Not ONE word of complaint. That - ladies and germs - is the hallmark of a big wall climber, one who makes it to the summit. It's all about desire, and attitude, and Plaid has what it takes.
Below you see the benefits of perseverance....
Cheers, eh?
"Pass the Pitons" Pete
P.S. Rather a large part of that last photo above is missing these days ... ahem, sorry 'bout that... Nice view of the Twin Towers, though - I think they're still there.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Jan 27, 2018 - 11:17am PT
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Plaid’s Tube station...
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Jan 27, 2018 - 04:02pm PT
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Mudchute. that reminds me of a Plaidman story. Plaid had found a remote cliff with a perfect round chimney up the cliff inside of it. He put up a first ascent up it and was going to name it "Manhole". I think he finally got talked out of the name. I think he ended up naming it "Into the Mystic". Do you have a photo of that climb Plaid? That was a very strange unusual void in the rock. Didn't you think it was artificial at first as the chimney was so perfectly round?
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Plaidman
Trad climber
West Slope of Powell Butte, Portland, Oregon, USA
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Jan 28, 2018 - 01:04am PT
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Yep Studly. You got that right. I thought someone dug that out as a mining shaft. Found an old ladder from the 1930’s at the base. I could tell the age of the ladder by the nails that were used. I was convinced that there was gold or a stash or something up there but alas no. Turns out it was a steam vent when the rock was molten from lava. Crazy wild climb. And I did call it “Into The Mystic”.
We should go climb it. Pic posted below.
Plaid
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Jan 28, 2018 - 09:10am PT
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The Plaid’s preferred cru...
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Plaidman
Trad climber
West Slope of Powell Butte, Portland, Oregon, USA
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Jan 28, 2018 - 03:15pm PT
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Reily do they make a non alcoholic variation?
And I never bring mud into the house cause that would really piss off my wife.
Unless she’s drunk.
Plaid
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