Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 17, 2011 - 10:26am PT
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Bump...
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 29, 2012 - 05:15pm PT
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Fiftieth anniversary bump...come November!
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Scole
Trad climber
San Diego
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Jan 29, 2012 - 06:47pm PT
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My first memory as a child is of scrambling up the left side of the Captain with my parents (1962). As we were headed up, several giants (to a 4 year old) were coming down, carrying packs, ropes, and racks of pins. I was fascinated, and they were kind enough to talk to me for a moment.
That memory burned in my mind for years, until I got a chance to try climbing myself. I never looked back. I recognized greatness the first time I encountered it, and was inspired to spend my life climbing as well.
When I did the Dihedral Wall in 1980, it was the fulfillment of my childhood dream. Dihedral in not the hardest route, or even one of the most pleasant routes on El Cap, but the line is un-deniable.
What Todd did to Dihedral Wall is a travesty. It used to be considered very bad style to add bolts to an existing route, has that changed? I liked Todd as a person, but his ethics sucked, and those bolts should be removed.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jan 29, 2012 - 11:08pm PT
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Hopefully there will be some sort of 50th anniversary event in the Valley this autumn, to mark the ascent, and Ed and Glen can speak at it. Maybe at the FaceLift? That would be rather cool!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 12, 2012 - 10:28am PT
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Legends of Stone...
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Truenorth
climber
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Dec 17, 2012 - 11:35pm PT
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Amazing to see a photo of myself, (Carl Huff) and Eric Beck and Penny Carr and the others at the top of the Dihedral Wall more than 50 years ago. Ed must have forgotten that I spent one abortive morning with him on the bottom part of the wall when he recruited me for belay duty early in the climb. I confess it seems a little strange - though very likely an accurate description - to be called weird by one of the oddest people I have known. Odd in a positive sense. I recall the walk in to the top of El Cap as stunningly beautiful with banks of snow here and there and that sharp pungent smell that comes out of the ground and off the trees when the sun warms the earth. Then the chasm, fantastic, 50 years ago, or today. Finally they topped out and on a perfect morning we all stood around made somewhat mute by the setting and the accomplishment. Or at least that is how I remember it. In any case thanks for posting this as I had no idea such a pic existed, and it does stir long dormant memories.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 18, 2012 - 07:46am PT
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Welcome Carl!
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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
Panorama City, California & living in Seattle
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Dec 18, 2012 - 12:51pm PT
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Trivia question; Anyone else here climbed the Dihedral twice like me? It reminds me of Walla Walla - a town so nice they named it twice! I liked the Dihedral awot!
Here's a Link to me and Jerry Yesavage doing it in 1972;
http://www.stanford.edu/~yesavage/Yosemite.html
(Not sure why this link does not work but save and post it in browser)
We both wanted to solo it but were probably too young at the time ( me 19 and not sure of Jerry's age). I wanted to break the 2.5 day record but we forgot the 2 lb. sledge hammer - haha. I tried to solo it in 1975 but got stormed off too early in the year in March. I came back and soloed it in June 1977 ( a year before Bev Johnson soloed it ) in 5.5 days after fixing several pitches. Both times did the West Buttress finish.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 23, 2012 - 01:36pm PT
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Lauria 80th Birthday Bump!
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