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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Feb 14, 2018 - 02:45am PT
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@4@?!
all climbers rise to see this day
and say - hey that, right there, is the life of the rock climber
send well hero of the cult.
blessings of peace to all
in tears here
just mention
Cheers!
here's to the Lifers!
Also, the less well known, in the shadow of the Bird, every bit as worthy,
John Myers & Dave Lanman
(Hangdog Flyers - both)
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John Mac
Trad climber
Breckenridge, CO
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Feb 14, 2018 - 05:35am PT
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A bump for the Bird!
Wishing you and your family all the best.
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ron gomez
Trad climber
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Feb 14, 2018 - 06:34am PT
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In true Bridwell style....Happy Anniversary to Peggy and Jim! If there was one thing I got from being around the two of them was their true, long enduring, puppy Love they have for each other! Truly blessed to see that side of Jim. He was like a teenage boy in first love...always put a smile on my face to hear him on the phone with her, waiting to leave on road trips while they said goodbye to eachother and his joy to be on our way home so he could be back with her!
Happy Anniversary you two little Love Birds.
Peace
And Happy Valentines!
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Feb 14, 2018 - 07:11am PT
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Sweet thoughts, Ron. You are a great friend.
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BLUEBLOCR
Social climber
joshua tree
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Feb 14, 2018 - 07:20am PT
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That's nice to know Ron😘
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j-tree
Big Wall climber
Typewriters and Ledges
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Feb 14, 2018 - 09:45am PT
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New threads popping up and FB posts to Bridwell's page today about Bridwell's death, can anyone confirm or deny? New info or people duped by the erroneous 12th reporting date from the wiki page?
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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Feb 14, 2018 - 09:57am PT
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Jim is still with us, as far as I know. He is on life support at the hospital.
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Esparza
Trad climber
Westminster, CA
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Feb 14, 2018 - 10:07am PT
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Heart of Stone... Long live the Bird... Met him in the mid 90s out in Jtree... i was having car issues and checking my oil (with the engine running... duh) and here he comes strolling up. He told me to turn the car off and then check the oil... I felt like such an idiot. haha... Then met him again at a North Face slide show (Costa Mesa). I believe it was after he did some climbing in Alaska. It was soo good. He said something that really stuck out to me... "Back in the day... Our best protection was courage." He signed my climbing magazine to my unborn son Warren Zeno Esparza.
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John Mac
Trad climber
Breckenridge, CO
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Feb 14, 2018 - 10:52am PT
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Thanks for the update Todd.
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ontheedgeandscaredtodeath
Social climber
Wilds of New Mexico
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Feb 14, 2018 - 10:54am PT
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Best wishes to his family and friends. He is an inspirational climber.
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BruceHildenbrand
Social climber
Mountain View/Boulder
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Feb 14, 2018 - 11:02am PT
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Time for another Bridwell story.....
I am in the Lodge parking lot and I see Jim hulking this huge sewing machine across the road towards Camp 4. I saunter over and ask him what up. He tells me that now that he's an alpinist he's been getting sponsored by a bunch of different climbing-related companies with all sorts of products. The problem is that they are all prototypes; the companies wanting Jim to test out their new designs in the harshest environments.
Jim tells me he is fed up with zippers breaking and fabric ripping high on the climb with success in sight. So, he's going to start making his own equipment so it won't fail on him.
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MarkWestman
Trad climber
Talkeetna, Alaska
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Feb 14, 2018 - 12:34pm PT
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This is a story I've always wanted to tell.
The first and only time I met Jim was in Talkeetna in May of 1999. He was there with Fly'n Brian McCray, Brian Jonas, Glenn Dunmire, and Terry Christianson, and they were enroute to climb what became "The Useless Emotion", a massive big wall and mixed ice route on the east face of the Bear's Tooth.
I was 29 years old and just getting into hard alpine climbing, and I was also in the midst of my brief affair with Yosemite big wall aid climbing. Jim's legacy was not lost on me at all.
So it was by happenstance that one evening, Paul Roderick, Lisa (Paul's sister and my then girlfriend, and now wife) and I ended up partying with Jim and his crew at the newly opened Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge, where they had booked at room. They were all pretty lit up by the time we decided to head a few miles down the road to a house party we had been invited to.
So next thing I know, it ends up that I'm driving down the road in our Toyota pickup truck with Lisa in the extra cab back seat, and Jim-f*#king-Bridwell sitting in the front seat next to me. I was, as I noted, youthful and ambitious, so I was bit star struck. I'm trying to play it cool, but at some point I think to myself, I need to ask him a question or two. When will this situation ever happen again? Jim Bridwell is sitting in the front seat of my car.
"So Jim", I say, feeling a bit sycophantic. "Who's the best alpinist you've climbed with?"
I feel a bit lame with this question, but I'm relieved when Jim receives this question with an expression of coolness and reflectively. "Hmm. That's a good question", he muses.
Jim starts verbally reciting to himself some of his partners of the past. "Well, Lafaille was really good. Strong". "Mugs was sure solid". He files through a few more names, then seems to reach a definitive stopping point.
Jim stares straight down the highway in front of us, and with a deadpan expression that conveys not a hint of irony or sarcasm, announces his conclusion.
"I'd have to say it's me. There ain't no one who can aid climb like I can".
__
A little later, we're leaving the party. Lisa and I are driving the truck, while Jim and Fly'n Brian are going to pile in with a local female friend of ours and her boyfriend. This couple had a rather tumultuous relationship and were obviously having some issues that evening. Lisa and I are right behind their vehicle as Jim and Brian get into the back seat of their car. The vehicle advances and we start to follow. After only 15 feet, their vehicle's brakes suddenly lock up. Jim and Brian jump right out of the car and briskly walk back to our vehicle and open the doors to get in.
"We had a little problem", Brian announces tersely as they take their seats, foreshadowing a coming story.
On the drive home Jim silently smirks as Brian tells the story.
As they had entered the car, our friend's boyfriend, who was inebriated (and driving), was giving our friend a ration of $hit amidst their ongoing bickering, which we'd all witnessed at the party. As the car began to advance, Jim authoritatively announced to the boyfriend:
"Maybe you should quit being such an a$$hole to your lady!"
He locks up the brakes, and yells "GET THE FUK OUT OF THIS CAR!!!"
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When we get back to Talkeetna Air Taxi, Jim opens the passenger door of the truck and steps out, slips on the ice and goes down hard, smashing his head on the step rail of our truck, and disappears from my view.
"Oh my god", I think. "We've killed the Bird!"
I run around the other side of the truck and Jim is already staggering to his feet with Brian's and Lisa's help. He quickly waves us all off, wordlessly expressing that we are to pretend that it never happened and never speak of it again.
Jim had a serious back issue on this trip and the next morning, as his crew was loading the airplane, he was gingerly hobbling back and forth and trying to stretch it out, and, being quite hung over, vomited in the sink at TAT. As they departed, I wondered how the hell he was going to get up the Bear's Tooth.
A couple weeks later, they returned, having succeeded in putting up one bad ass route. Jim and Brian (who had almost no ice climbing experience), had done almost all the leading. Hardmen to say the least.
I went to his slideshow about this climb at the North Face store in Seattle the following winter. A couple of classic and enduring one liners came from this show, but that is a story for another post.
I'm sorry to hear about Jim's health struggles and I wish the best to him and his family.
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originalpmac
Mountain climber
Timbers of Fennario
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 14, 2018 - 01:43pm PT
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^^^
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Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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Feb 14, 2018 - 01:44pm PT
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Ditto, that. Great story, Mark!
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Feb 14, 2018 - 02:30pm PT
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hey there, say, ... ron, what a SWEET testamony, for their anniversary...
thanks for sharing...
also, thank you for sharing all the stories... i get to
know him, better, as, not being a climber i have not heard that
many stories... :)
prayers...
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ron gomez
Trad climber
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Feb 14, 2018 - 02:38pm PT
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Lizzy I got your card yesterday, I will deliver it Peggy on my next visit.
Peace
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Feb 14, 2018 - 10:22pm PT
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hey there, say, ron... thank you...
i had a nice message for him, that i hoped would
encourage him, through the 'hard climb'...
i hope she can read it to him...
thank you so much...
i was so sad i had missed the mail man, :(
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steveA
Trad climber
Wolfeboro, NH
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Feb 15, 2018 - 05:24am PT
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ron gomez
Trad climber
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Feb 15, 2018 - 10:23am PT
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Spoke with Peggy late last night...Jim is still flying! Hangin in there. He IS the toughest of the bunch, no doubt.
Peace
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