Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
|
|
|
Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 12, 2019 - 10:21pm PT
|
Many of us have lost friends in climbing accidents. If one of my lost friends had died as a result of something I did, or if we were climbing together and something just went wrong, then certainly that would be my greatest regret. But despite a few valiant efforts to kill myself and a friend or two I've not yet pulled it off. Ive lost friends to climbing, and it was gut wrenching, but the regret was not a personal one, not something like survivor's guilt. But there is one thing, to some it may seem trivial, which crosses my mind often.
I regret not having kept a journal, a climbing diary. Bonnie Kamps was kind enough to let me see and peruse a few of the many notebooks, the journals that Bob kept of his climbs; every last one of them I suspect. I knew right then Id blown it.
|
|
Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
|
|
|
Apr 12, 2019 - 10:31pm PT
|
Well said. I used to keep a journal. Then I kept Trip Reports in html form for a while, copying Clint Cummins as a model of sorts. Then as I got into digital photographs with their date stamps, I got lazy with writing up what I had climbed. Now with social media its a sort of Trip Report, but always truncated in an unsatisfying way, poorly formatted.
So as I round higher numbers in years, this lack of detail I regret sometimes. Other times thankful for forgetting how piss poorly I climb.
I really have enjoyed what is being shared online about Bob. His name was always read with respect when I would run across it.
|
|
mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
|
|
|
Apr 12, 2019 - 10:36pm PT
|
...thankful for forgetting how piss poorly I climb
For over 25 years you've been like a brother to me (sometimes a son?).
And I almost always see you having a blast while climbing. Don't mistake how hard you climb with how good a climber you are....
|
|
D Murph
climber
|
|
|
Apr 12, 2019 - 10:41pm PT
|
I regret not putting more bolts in my tiny handful of faceclimb first ascents. The boldness and competitive ardor of my youth now unnecessarily puts people at risk and diminishes traffic on some (biased of course) otherwise fun lines. And for what?
|
|
Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
|
|
|
Apr 12, 2019 - 11:23pm PT
|
Thx gents. Best of adventures! Back at ya!
Hope they open that road to the reservoir soon. We have some lines to finish up!
|
|
Kalimon
Social climber
Ridgway, CO
|
|
|
Apr 12, 2019 - 11:32pm PT
|
And I'll climb the hill in my own way . . .
Just wait a while for the right day
No regrets.
|
|
healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
|
|
|
Apr 13, 2019 - 01:35am PT
|
Hmm, journaling one's climbs... I know there are some folks who do it, but that would be a very different personality type than my own that's for sure.
|
|
Adventurer
Mountain climber
Virginia
|
|
|
Apr 13, 2019 - 04:59am PT
|
DMT wrote, I rarely rose above my own limitations
Definitely same here! The good news is that I enjoyed my many failures and setbacks along with a few successes.
|
|
hobo_dan
Social climber
Minnesota
|
|
|
Apr 13, 2019 - 05:07am PT
|
My regret is that I did not stop to take more pictures- or to learn how to take better photos
|
|
tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
|
|
|
Apr 13, 2019 - 05:21am PT
|
For the most part it has been great but occasionally I regret the missed opportunities. Those times when lack of motivation, fitness , bravery and skill made it too easy to bail.... I do regret not climbing Epinephrine and Crimson Chrysalis in 1986 when you could get on them without waiting in line.... Climbed a bunch of stuff and then moved on not knowing how much the scene would change by the time I got back there again...
|
|
tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
|
|
|
Apr 13, 2019 - 05:22am PT
|
I do keep a climbing journal. Not very in depth. just short notes. I also have some pretty cool hardcover photo books from some of our trips.
|
|
donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
|
|
|
Apr 13, 2019 - 05:32am PT
|
I feel blessed to have been able to explore so many special places over so many years. I regret the early passing of so many who were pursuing the same dream....the alpine world is as harsh as it is beautiful and its pull is irresistible to some.
|
|
tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
|
|
|
Apr 13, 2019 - 05:35am PT
|
for some reason I have been lucky enough to not lose any really close friends to the mountains..
|
|
AP
Trad climber
Calgary
|
|
|
Apr 13, 2019 - 06:01am PT
|
I have lost a number of partners and friends over the years, mostly in alpine climbing.
Many of the most interesting and enthusiastic people I have known were climbers and it hurts that some of them are not around anymore.
I regret not having more photos but the memories remain.
My biggest regret are a handful of hard classic climbs I should have done when young and capable but will never do.
I have never regretted taking up climbing.
|
|
capseeboy
Social climber
portland, oregon
|
|
|
Apr 13, 2019 - 07:09am PT
|
Hope lays in the future and regret in the past. Both of which we have no power over. Put them both to rest my friend, and rest easily.
And all that is left undone is done.
Ashes to ashes, we all fall down.
|
|
Wayno
Big Wall climber
Republic, WA
|
|
|
Apr 13, 2019 - 07:56am PT
|
My regret was believing that one quart per man per day was how much water you should bring. Maybe on a day climb but not on a wall. I have no proof but as I sit here in the painful throws of a gout attack I think I should have left half the pitons in the car and taken more water. How many of you have sat at a belay more than halfway up El Cap, staring down at the meadow with the lush river going through it, not having had a sip of water for a day or more? It is maddening in an existential kind of way. Gotta get to the the top just for a drink of water.
|
|
Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
|
|
|
Apr 13, 2019 - 08:17am PT
|
Climbing IS life. I set out at a young age to pursue it as deeply as possible and to have no regrets. I succeeded.
But this too, comes at a cost. I'm a physical and financial cripple and though it's hard to connect those outcomes definitively with my choices, I'm not so surprised!
I kept journals, and retroactively created those that were needed to fill the gaps. Took tons of pictures. Am now working on a collection of narratives about all of it.
Berg heil, craglings!
Deceased Climber Friends
Chuck Bloodworth, 1979 disappearance, South Face of Aconcagua
Jerome Carlian, 1980 overdose
Yabo, late 80s self-inflicted gunshot wound
Paul Scannell, 1994 helicopter crash, Ruby Mountains, Nevada
Al Bard, 1997 fall guiding on Owen Spalding route, Grand Teton
Dan Osman, 1998 rope jumping accident, Leaning Tower
Walt Shipley, 1999 kayaking accident, drowning, Dinkey Creek, California
Randi Eyre, 1999 bicycle crash, Elephant Rock Classic, Colorado
Bruce Hawkins, early 2000s car crash
Billy Westbay, early 2000s cancer
Shawn Curtis, early 2000s alcohol
Randy Grandstaff, 2002 rappelling accident, guiding, Red Rocks
Pete Steers, mid-2000s alcohol?
Dan Grandusky, 2004 alcohol, broken heart
Charlie Fowler, 2006 probable avalanche, Ge'nyen Mountain, southwestern China
Walter Rosenthal, 2006 ski patrol rescue accident, Mammoth Mountain
John Bachar, 2009 free solo fall, Dike Wall above Mammoth Lakes
Kyle Copeland, 2009 Crohn's disease
Connie Tobia, 2011 liver failure
Paul Borne, 2010s hang gliding accident
Jack Roberts, 2012 ice climbing fall, Bridalveil Falls, Telluride
Ray Olson, 2012 unspecified
Pat Nay, 2013 postsurgical heart failure
Jennifer Martin, 2013 unspecified
Richard Harrison, 2014 unspecified
Scott Cosgrove, 2016 suspected clot/stroke fallout from multiple reconstructive surgeries
Bill Roos, 2017 renal cell carcinoma
Bob Van Belle, 2017 alcohol, COPD
Craig Khalsa, 2017 septicemia
Peater Wilkening, 2018 unspecified
Jeff Lowe, 2018 ALS-like disease
Jim Bridwell, 2018 complications of hepatitis C
|
|
justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
|
|
|
Apr 13, 2019 - 08:21am PT
|
When I was 17 my (total non-climbing) father actually noticed how much I liked climbing around on rocks and suggested I "should take some kind of class". I turned him down thinking it was only a "boy-sport". I very much regret that decision. Starting up in my mid 30's- I realized I had a true passion for climbing, but there is a certain amount of physical and mental conditioning I will never acquire this late in the game.
Edit to add.. wow Tar. ^^^
|
|
Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
|
|
|
Apr 13, 2019 - 08:29am PT
|
I coulda been a contenda!
(I got Tar beat, at least in actual climbing deaths)
|
|
norm larson
climber
wilson, wyoming
|
|
|
Apr 13, 2019 - 08:32am PT
|
This is a good thread.
Like so many here I have no regrets about focusing so much of my life and energy in climbing. Except the loss of so many of my alpine climbing friends and associates. They are missed and left a hole in me that can't be filled.
I do wish I had kept some sort of journal too but I did take a camera along on most of my more memorable trips and I'm really glad I did. Those photos are precious to me in so many ways.
At 64 I look back and am proud to have known and met so many others with a similar passion. It's a great tribe and most never get to experience that brotherhood in their lives.
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!