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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Jul 10, 2007 - 06:07pm PT
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Hi Chiloe,
Joe Herbst was just the coolest kid when he came up the trail to be "wood and water boy" at the Palisades School of Mountaineering. Full of fire. What he did after returning to the Red Rocks has made him a legend of the boldest sort. Funny too. Did you read his intro to that fine new book of RR classics? Millis said Joe was easily the smoothest OW climber in the Valley after Pratt left. Soloed the...well I guess I was asked not to embarass him by mentioning which famous Valley OW with crux 400' off the deck...
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Jul 10, 2007 - 06:10pm PT
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After all these years, I just gotta say, I think that that, talus running, is hard on the knees.
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Jul 10, 2007 - 06:19pm PT
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Joe Herbst was just the coolest kid when he came up the trail to be "wood and water boy" at the Palisades School of Mountaineering. Full of fire. What he did after returning to the Red Rocks has made him a legend of the boldest sort. Funny too. Did you read his intro to that fine new book of RR classics? Millis said Joe was easily the smoothest OW climber in the Valley after Pratt left. Soloed the...well I guess I was asked not to embarass him by mentioning which famous Valley OW with crux 400' off the deck...
Joe's an artist of life, it's been a gift to know him through the years. His intro to Red Rock Odyssey was beautifully remembered and written, worth getting the book for (though it’s a good book otherwise, too).
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jul 10, 2007 - 09:09pm PT
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Doug,
That was a truly wonderful piece on Pratt and a real joy to read!
We're not worthy, but of course we'd love some more...haha, hehe.
I worked at Tamarack Lodge for a few winters, at a time when one of your Oklahoma protege, Ricky "RT" Thomas worked there and he was honored to have been mentored by you.
Shoot, Millis, met him first at Clevenger's wedding. He had a stately, if eccentric, almost regal air about him and wore that so well, always in good humor and sometimes downright wacky.
Millis came knocking at my Tamarack cabin late one cold December night. "I'm going up into the woods to cut a christmas tree and you're coming with me". So off we went, tools in hand, post holing through the crisp snow under a maze of stars. Millis had a certain determination about him. He told me that night that he intended to live out his life in his own way, employing equal parts cunning, tenacity, and resolve to live the fullest life possible.
He was a jovial guy, but that statement sunk in, for life is not at all made of trivial stuff and there is a sacredness to it that he was imparting and I liked him, respected him for those words.
Once again, this is a real treat to have you on the forum Doug Robinson.
-Roy
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Jul 10, 2007 - 09:26pm PT
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RT is now a ferrier up in northern Vermont. Or New Hampshire, I forget, at a small college with a really good environmental program. I think he also runs the organic garden. His wife Perry teaches english. I remember being late to their weding at Minaret Vista thanks to woman issues. Ferrier is the guy who shoes horses -- I had to look it up once. Tamarack Lodge rocked back then. Duane Raleigh was the dishwasher. Now he runs Rock & Ice.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jul 10, 2007 - 09:33pm PT
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Yes, I got the Ashers to hire Duane & Walt Shipley: boy, after they got bored with their jobs that produced some hilarious results...
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bob d'antonio
Trad climber
Taos, NM
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Jul 10, 2007 - 09:43pm PT
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Welcome Doug...In my minds eye I can clearly see that picture of you hopping from boulder to boulder in the old Chouinard catalog.
Thanks for all you have done for climbimg.
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Klimmer
Mountain climber
San Diego
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Jul 10, 2007 - 11:48pm PT
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Doug,
You got me pulling books and catalogs from my shelf to have another look. All of these articles and interviews are classic:
Ascent Vol. 2, No. 2, July 1974
"Swiftly & Surely" Yvon Chouinard & Doug Robinson (good article on Ice Climbing)
"The Guidebook Problem" Lito Tejada-flores. You sure had some very good things to say about keeping it mum about newer climbs done on the Eastside of the Sierra. Do you still feel the same way?
And of course as others mentioned already in the classic TGPIW catalogs:
"Running Talus" in 1977
"The Natural Art of Clean Protection" in 1978
I also enjoyed your book, especially the stories about the early days of Hang Gliding in Owens Valley (The Big "O") since free-flight is a big interest of mine. They were extrordinary brave pioneers just as the climbers in the golden-age in the valley.
Welcome to the SuperTaco.
Glenn
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wskish
Mountain climber
Saratoga, CA
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Jul 10, 2007 - 11:50pm PT
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Hi Doug -- great to see you online here. Thanks again for lending me your library of classic climbing books back in the summer of 1998 after I busted my leg. I will never forget my first trad outings under your expert guidance at Fresno Dome, Moro Rock, and of course finishing Cochise Dome in a surprise summer storm. Your writing and wisdom remains an inspiration!
-Bill
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Anne-Marie Rizzi
climber
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Jul 11, 2007 - 12:24am PT
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Hi Doug:
Fond memories of you.
Anne-Marie
(guess we're living history/herstory now.)
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Jul 11, 2007 - 12:29am PT
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Guidebook Problem: I still like the idea of withholding information. Once wrote -- in the intro to a hiking guidebook -- that wilderness isn't just no bulldozers, it's also lack of information. The unknown. Like it, that is, as an idea.
But...over the years I noticed how much I actually use (and enjoy) guidebooks. Got probably an eight foot shelf of the suckers and even compare the info from one edition to the next. Realized I was a hypocrite. I mean, how namy times have I stood by the Palisades trail and given a detailed topo for some climb up there to someone I just met? So I've gradually dribbled out the info of most of my hidden FAs.
Short answer is I did a 180 about face on that one.
One I haven't IDed publicly yet is a classic 5.9 on the Hulk, done with Mike Farrell about '77. Because I'm not sure where it is. I have to go back and match up my slides of the climb with the wall. Then I'll topo it out for y'all. Great climbing on featured orange rock, right side of the wall, goes straight to the summit. Like the easiest cool line on the whole Hulk.
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Jul 11, 2007 - 10:05am PT
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Jeez, in my list above how could I have overlooked Tom Higgins (LongAgo), I have never climbed with him but have bouldered at Indian Rock with him. A master, like the others.
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BASE104
climber
An Oil Field
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Jul 11, 2007 - 01:31pm PT
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The dude has showed up and now I will have to pay back that case of wine I snuck out of his attic one bottle at at time (or two or more..depending on the pain amplitude).
It was kinda the Great Escape, but with wine. I imagine that I owe him a lot with twenty plus year's interest.
I wonder if you will take a check?
That is a great story, by the way.
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426
Sport climber
Buzzard Point, TN
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Jul 11, 2007 - 02:06pm PT
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Hey DR, recently did DS. Great route..& wilkommen
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jul 11, 2007 - 02:11pm PT
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Dark Star?
Tom Carter & I did the first buttress a while back.
There's gold in them hills.
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426
Sport climber
Buzzard Point, TN
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Jul 11, 2007 - 02:15pm PT
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Yeah Tar, fantastic stuff eh?-got a few pics for a TR (later)....I got to swarm all the hard pitches on TR, hehe.
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Jul 11, 2007 - 02:24pm PT
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Hi BASE,
Like cm and Tony, another of the Okie Boys shows up. Thanks, man. You were one of the brightest lights living at my Home for Uncommitable Boys on the Eastside, along with Dale Bard and Bobbi Bensman and more.
I think we need a time re-payment plan for that wine. Say one bottle at a time (or maybe two..), different locations, progressive time zones... Maybe that'll help propel our friendship out of being stuck in this virtual warp -- way cool as this is -- and back to where it belongs: in the dirt by the fire.
Anne-Marie, good to see you here too. Fond memories likewise.
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Jul 11, 2007 - 10:47pm PT
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Hi Doug. Welcome to ST. Great to 'see' you.
All the best, Roger
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Jello
Social climber
No Ut
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Jul 12, 2007 - 02:12am PT
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Doug, on that other thread you mentioned our trip to Ama Dablam. What a good time that was, on the ABC dole. Tom was as you say, his always humble lovely exemplary self. But some of my fondest memories are of conversations with you in basecamp or higher, where we discussed even higher matters. You are an original thinker that has affected so many of us positively to ponder the myriad mysteries; and effected good changes in the attitudes and practice of the art of ascent.
Hope to see you sometime soon.
-Jeff
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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Jul 12, 2007 - 02:44am PT
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Doug;...Welcome. I don't know you well, but I remember a day we went climbing together about 15 (maybe 20...)years ago;...you were camping for a few weeks at Jumbo Rocks at Josh in that big Moss tent;....and you and I and two very lovey ladies went climbing;....it was such a pleasant day;...I very much remember thinking......" This is the life."....You seemed to be enjoying yourself as well;....it was a very fine day.......aint' climbing grand?...
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