Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
deuce4
climber
Hobart, Australia
|
|
|
Mar 23, 2018 - 02:23pm PT
|
rec.climbing was awesome. Probably as influential at the time as Facebook is today. :)
rec.climbing was actually very influential in gaining global support for the opposition in the saving Camp 4 episode. Before, only about 200 comments were received for the EA that was going to destroy Camp 4. I posted to a global audience, and I think the digital spread of information helped the tens of thousands of individuals and mountain organizations around the world to comment on the EIS on the development proposal that our lawsuit forced them to do. The global support the second time around was overwhelming, and the NPS realized that they too could resist the concession and pressures from Washington.
I offered free big wall spoons and A5 birdbeaks to people who wrote thoughtful letters—sent out 100’s of booty around the world, fun times.
https://groups.google.com/forum/?nomobile=true#!searchin/rec.climbing/Free$20birdbeak$20/rec.climbing/VQY--wsrm1s
(Note, documents now at http://bigwalls.net )
|
|
stevep
Boulder climber
Salt Lake, UT
|
|
|
Mar 23, 2018 - 05:31pm PT
|
I was an occasional poster on rec.c.
Ended up honeymooning in Cayman Brac in 1998 at Lord Slime's place there as result of connecting with him on rec.c
|
|
TradEddie
Trad climber
Philadelphia, PA
|
|
|
Mar 23, 2018 - 05:52pm PT
|
I lurked a lot, it may even have saved my life in those early years of ignorance. I'm not sure I ever met or climbed with anyone through it, but I've come to know several regulars in real life afterwards.
TE
|
|
Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 23, 2018 - 06:09pm PT
|
I'm not sure I ever met or climbed with anyone through it, but I've come to know several regulars in real life afterwards.
Just the opposite for me. One of the things I loved about the wreck was reading "Hey, I'm going to be in [cityname] for work next month. Anybody willing to take a stranger out climbing?"
I met loads of rec.climbers that way. Sometimes just for a day of climbing, sometimes for a day of climbing that led to a long-term friendship.
That's true to some extent here on ST as well, but it was a mind-blowingly new thing in the early days of the internet (or whatever it was called before Al Gore invented it) and I loved it.
Okay, slight correction. Climbing, or any similar madness, has always led to a kind of worldwide kinship web. Before there were computers there was mail. And you can find plenty of stories from the pre-internet days that start with "When I checked the mail today, there was a letter from X. He said his friend Y was going to be passing through my city and could use a place to stay and a day or two at the crags..."
But it became exponentially easier with the advent of email and online forums. Rec.climbing was my introduction to that world.
|
|
Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 23, 2018 - 06:36pm PT
|
Remember the annual best quotes post? Ah, how flattering it was the make the cut. Like the Academy Awards it was.
I came away with one Oscar, for this one: "One method of getting loved ones to look more fondly on your climbing is to tell them that since you've started climbing you hardly do drugs anymore."
And, looking that one up, I stumbled upon yet another of us who made the transfer from the wreck to this junk show: Richard Goldstone.
Edit: And the Baba, too. And Chiloe.
|
|
Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
|
|
|
Mar 23, 2018 - 11:47pm PT
|
I told you this thread would have quads...
|
|
Gunkie
Trad climber
Valles Marineris
|
|
|
Mar 24, 2018 - 06:31am PT
|
So where did everyone end up after rec.climbing as their 'go to' climbing message board?
I ended up here, circa 2005, but tried gunks.com valiantly until it died under the weight of apathy or inbreeding. I think it's still on life support. I never clicked with Mountain Project. Something weird about that place; I mean weirder than here. I liked NEClimbs but it had about as much traffic as a church parking lot on a cold Tuesday morning and when someone would respond to a beta request, it was like they were giving up the secrets of the lost arc.
Glad this place is here plus there are surfers, too!
|
|
Concerned citizen
Big Wall climber
|
|
|
Mar 24, 2018 - 10:48am PT
|
I was a regular lurker on rec.climbing, but I'm not sure if I ever posted on it. If I did, it would have been links to two trip reports: a text-only report on climbing Leaning Tower with my 14-year old son, and (the following year) an illustrated report entitled "Cruising up the Zodiac at Age Fifteen."
I have an archived copy of the latter at this address:
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/ijo/zodiac/
|
|
Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 25, 2018 - 04:29pm PT
|
A quick run-through of this thread turns up 35 people who made transition from the wreck to ST, plus a few who were regulars on rec.c, but have only posted here a very few times.
List is below. Many of us, despite our stupid ST handles, are well enough known. The rest are welcome to fill in their names if they want to.
Bargainhunter (??)
Brian in SLC (??)
BruceHildenbrand (Bruce Hildenbrand)
Brutus of Wyde (Bruce Bindner)
Clint Cummins (Clint Cummins)
crøtch (??)
Darwin (Darwin Alonso)
del cross (??)
deuce4 (John Middendorf)
dh (Dave Hill)
Dingus Milktoast (??)
Ed Hartouni (Ed Hartouni)
ekat (Caffeine Celery Fryers)
Esparza (Mike ?)
ExfifteenExfifteen (??)
Gary (??)
Ghost (David Harris)
Gunkie (??)
Hardman Knott (Dave Buchanan)
jaybro (Jay Anderson)
John Morton (Johh Morton)
healyje (Joseph Healy)
kpinwalla2 (Kevin Pogue)
Lennox (Scott Lennox)
Locker (Locker Smith)
Majid_S (??)
mcreel (??)
MH2 (Andy Cairns)
Mungeclimber (??)
Oplopanax (Drew)
rgold (Richard Goldstone)
Russ Walling (Russ Walling)
scuffy b (Steve Moyles)
steelmnkey (Greg Opland)
stevep (??)
Anyone else out there?
|
|
deuce4
climber
Hobart, Australia
|
|
|
Mar 26, 2018 - 12:15am PT
|
Wow, eKat, fond memories. blushing!
It was good to see you and Mark at your mountain home, I think we had met in Camp4 sometime before if I recall correctly, plus you were both legends in the California climbing community.
Amazing to chat with Mark on design—I think it was not long after he developed the Silent Partner? Incredible inventor, and seeing the craftsmanship on his stringed instruments was eye-opening (inventive and high craftsmanship—there is a duality there). And the fact that he completely filed his own patent. A few years prior, Walt and I had spent a few weeks machining and prototyping solo belay devices on my Bridgeport mill (Walt’s Idea was along the lines of a hauling pulley, I was trying something on the same principles as a Grigri in those pre-GriGri times), but our prototypes were unsuccessful, so we were both really impressed with Mark’s solution.
Funny to recall those early hacks into the internet, too. Early 90’s?
|
|
tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
|
|
|
Mar 26, 2018 - 03:23am PT
|
I started with NEIce and then found RC.noob not sure how long I have been here but it is awhile.... Neclimbs and NEice both died from self inflicted wounds. NEIce fron completely changing the webpage a few times to the point that you needed to create a new username and set your account up from scratch. I never bothered. Neclimbs from chaseing away the troll Lucky Luke/jaques. When they finnaly got rid of Lucky Luke traffic dried up to a snails pace or less. The other problem with NEclimbs is that it is hard to post photos there. they need to be less than 150kb which is much smaller than I size for FB and here. resizeing twice is NOT going to happen....
|
|
BruceHildenbrand
Social climber
Mountain View/Boulder
|
|
|
Mar 26, 2018 - 09:13am PT
|
I think I have told this Eugene Miya story before, but it's a good one.
Sometime in the mid-90's I sold some bicycling panniers over the internet to a student at Cal Tech. The guy was slow in paying me(before PayPal) and when I asked him what was up he said that he had used the panniers on a spring break bike trip, but they were a bit small so he was going to send them back.
When I informed him that that wasn't the deal he just sent silent. It turns out that Eugene was a good friend of the provost at Cal Tech. A few days later a check and an apology letter arrived. It would be interesting to know how the provost handled the situation!
|
|
Hendo1
Trad climber
Toronto
|
|
|
Mar 26, 2018 - 10:22am PT
|
>>>Anyone else out there? >>>
You can add me to the list.
I posted regularly for a few years in the mid-'90s, opposed to maybe half a dozen times on SuperTopo. It was an invaluable resource in the early days of the Internet, when the only climbing website was Tuan's Mountaineering Page and we were stuck with 14K and 28K dial-up modems.
It opened up what was a smaller climbing world back then. I met a few climbers out west (Jean Scully, Andy Gale) at the J-Tree Hallowe'en party. And a few climbers here in the Toronto area (Hugh McNeil, Adrian McNair).
One of the memorable things were the ingenious ASCII drawings that people like Chris Weaver came up with because we weren't allowed to post photos:
David Henderson
|
|
Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
|
|
|
Mar 26, 2018 - 10:36am PT
|
I ran into Andy Gale briefly at JT many moons ago. I didn't know it at the time, but had a minor scuffle with Sue and Julie at Tahquitz. Had exchanged some emails with McBee about climbing at Tahquitz, but her trip was canceled. And of course, actually climbed with Batten. Jeff was a really good climber, way above my pay rate. I saw Brutus' van at Humber Park, but unfortunately did not get a chance to meet him.
|
|
Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
|
|
|
Mar 26, 2018 - 12:37pm PT
|
Wow...Kellie...I climbed with her a few times. Haven't heard from here or seen her in 8-10 years.
Whacky times those were...!
|
|
Hard Rock
Trad climber
Montana
|
|
|
Mar 26, 2018 - 12:45pm PT
|
I posted to rec.climbing in the 80's when I was in Wisconsin. Kind of quit when I moved to Montana. I guess there was no need to keep up with what was going on in the rest of the country.
|
|
Oplopanax
Mountain climber
The Deep Woods
|
|
|
Mar 26, 2018 - 12:56pm PT
|
I honestly can't remember what my rec.climbing username was. I may have had a couple.
|
|
rbolton
Social climber
The home
|
|
|
Mar 27, 2018 - 11:51am PT
|
I was there. Mostly lurking.
Bob Bolton
|
|
Peter Green
Mountain climber
Davis, CA
|
|
|
Mar 27, 2018 - 04:07pm PT
|
Google says I posted some dozens of times during 1992-1996, after which (I recall fairly clearly) life got busier (job, growing family) for almost 20 years, and I seem not to have taco'd until several posts in 2015 -- and now two this year.
Regards to all from way back then -- it was a nice resource back when less was searchable! (Hard to believe, but that appears to really have been the internet before Yahoo and AltaVista...)
Unlike the internet, I have hardly changed at all: just beard is now gray and my 1989 randonee ski gear has been replaced with 2006 alpine touring. (Yes, I've grown up enough to have a pair of buckle boots!)
-Peter
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!