The Classic 'Pumping Sandstone' by John Long (Climbing 1978)

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Messages 1 - 82 of total 82 in this topic
Mimi

climber
Topic Author's Original Post - Aug 25, 2007 - 08:19pm PT
In celebration of kicking those dips, thought you might enjoy some shots from the glory days back when ADD stood for all day dynoing. Gotta love the slack TR and the swami. Your brisket was never more chiseled!

Cover caption: JL at midpoint on the notorious Ripper Traverse near Pueblo, this being one of John Gill's most vicious 'test pieces.' The strain on his tendons is so intense, it is nearly audible to the onlooker," John Gill (and photo).








Jaybro

Social climber
The West
Aug 25, 2007 - 08:34pm PT
I always wondered if his folks really split without leaving him a forwarding address.
Rick A

climber
Boulder, Colorado
Aug 25, 2007 - 08:39pm PT
John's parents were the two of the most loving people you could ever hope to meet. This was probably the only time where Johnny used hyperbole in his writing...
murcy

climber
San Fran Cisco
Aug 25, 2007 - 09:19pm PT
thanks, mimi!
bachar

Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
Aug 25, 2007 - 09:34pm PT
How about that Bachar dude - all he could do was scroll reefers and sheet!
Man what a loser.... heh heh
James

climber
A tent in the redwoods
Aug 25, 2007 - 10:48pm PT
classic stuff
WBraun

climber
Aug 25, 2007 - 10:51pm PT
What you can't see in that article is the smoking fast dyno moves that Largo could do.

It was unreal.
graham

Social climber
Ventura, California
Aug 25, 2007 - 10:53pm PT
Great stuff Thanks!

I think the rope was there to keep him on task
Raydog

Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
Aug 25, 2007 - 11:15pm PT
seems like that article was a big one (along with Pat's book on John Gill) toward making Bouldering what it is today.

Curt

Boulder climber
Gilbert, AZ
Aug 25, 2007 - 11:15pm PT
Those are all great problems...


...photos by John Gill.

Curt
steelmnkey

climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
Aug 25, 2007 - 11:21pm PT
From a climbing mag around '80 or so. Article about climbing the boulders of Tahquitz. The one with the tilted shot from the Kong Boulder on the cover. This dude is honed...

seamus mcshane

climber
Aug 26, 2007 - 09:48am PT
Verm wrote that Largo looked like "an albino bull gorilla on a Nair kick:" in that "Where Boneheads Dare" picture.LOL
Too funny!!!
marty(r)

climber
beneath the valley of ultravegans
Aug 26, 2007 - 11:20am PT
You've gotta have vision--for sure--but the real key is TUBE SOCKS!

maldaly

Trad climber
Boulder, CO
Aug 26, 2007 - 11:24am PT
I thought bouldering was invented about 5 years ago! This article can't possible be true.
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Aug 26, 2007 - 12:29pm PT
How about those nifty tape spats on the Kong Boulder shots for style points.
mack

Trad climber
vermont
Aug 26, 2007 - 12:43pm PT
Does he have a cigarette in his mouth? How's the kick the habit going?
Mimi

climber
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 1, 2007 - 09:01pm PT
Hooooman! How bout some of that speckled stuff? The third installment of the series (Pumping Iron, 1977, being the first with that Arnold guy who went on to Pumping Handshakes). Check out his brisketoliciousness™™ at work.





graham

Social climber
Ventura, California
Sep 1, 2007 - 09:23pm PT
I had forgotten this “pumping granite”

Love the last sentence, last paragraph, hell the whole thing!

bob d'antonio

Trad climber
Taos, NM
Sep 1, 2007 - 10:05pm PT
That article was like a small bible that sent me on a search for bouldering salvation.

Classic!
Curt

Boulder climber
Gilbert, AZ
Sep 2, 2007 - 03:26am PT
I noticed last year that the big old tree behind Largo on the "Way too High" boulder problem has since been cut down.

Curt
jgill

climber
Colorado
Sep 3, 2007 - 05:30pm PT
I have fond recollections of JL and John Bachar coming down to Pueblo for some sandstoning in the 1970s that led to this article. I was pleased they displayed the dynamic style that I was partial to, soaring up many of the local problems with a graceful gymnastic exuberance. Superb athletes, both of them - fun to watch.
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Sep 3, 2007 - 05:41pm PT
I am sure they derived equal pleasure from watching you move. As a tall man myself, your power and grace on the stone has long been an inspiration. How did you discover the Pueblo boulders?
jgill

climber
Colorado
Sep 5, 2007 - 10:44pm PT
Mostly by just driving around the local area in 1971, when I moved to Pueblo. However, the Lost Canyon boulders (Pennyante, Juggernaut, etc.) were discovered when a friend of mine, a realtor, was introduced to the elderly gentleman who lived on the edge of the canyon and controlled water diversions from the Huerfano River at that point.

Thanks for the compliment.
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Sep 6, 2007 - 11:26pm PT
You and Pat inspired me to breifly venture into gymnastics to develop some power. Best muscle tone that I ever attained came from it. My 5'4" partner Paul Davidson could do these through a loop of 7mm cord but a tall man! All of that rope climbing must have helped.


Any stories connected with the next two photos, also yours, from Climb Godfrey and Chelton, 1977?

Left side of the Eliminator, Ft. Collins.

Pennyrile Forest in Kentucky.
nvrws

climber
Sep 7, 2007 - 05:20pm PT
Wow, I didn't know Mr. Long was hangdogging way back then...
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Sep 8, 2007 - 10:36am PT
Say what.........? There's no hangdogging in the conquest of the boulders.
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Nov 2, 2007 - 01:41am PT
Largo- not sure that you even saw this thread so bump.
Mimi

climber
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 3, 2007 - 01:35am PT
From the Verm's classic Stone Crusade - A Historical Guide to Bouldering in America, 1994.

Mark Wilford slaps the lip on Pinch Route, a typically dynamic Gill route on the Mental Block. The pinch hold in his right hand is America's most famous sandstone hold, the mantel above, one of America's most notorious.

Just getting both feet on the rock is a triumph. Steve Mammen on the upper half of Meathook.
Watusi

Social climber
Newport, OR
Nov 3, 2007 - 03:03am PT
I lived by these words indeed!
Tahoe climber

Trad climber
a dark-green forester out west
Nov 3, 2007 - 03:27pm PT
Bump for an awesome thread.
My favorite quotes:

"Keen concentration and focusing of strength provide the top rope, but judgement is always the belayer. With this concentration, plus honoring the consequences of a gigantic whistler, calculation generally replaces the boldness with confidence, providing the ticket to ride. This confidence is gained by slowly pecking away until the sequence is revealed."

"…the excessive telecasting of one’s inner climbing experiences is in poor taste and embarassing – like forcing home videos on a stranger. Anyway, a theological approach to bouldering proves to be just that much more psychological luggage to keep the mere contemplator grounded. The personal beauty of the sport is in the doing, and there alone."

Beautiful, John!
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Aug 12, 2008 - 12:24am PT
Raw power bump! For tales of Olympic rope climbing.
dogtown

climber
Where I once was,I think?
Aug 12, 2008 - 12:59am PT
I remember looking at that cover in amazement! It still blows my mind.

More please !
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Aug 13, 2008 - 11:08am PT
Largo!
Are you ever going to join this thread, the spotters have been asking for ya!
bvb

Social climber
flagstaff arizona
Aug 13, 2008 - 11:56am PT
yes, the people demand more JL and will not be denied!

i lived and breathed those articles; they dumped gasoline on my already-raging bouldering fire and i've never looked back. sometimes writing can shape your life. so it was with pumping sandstone and pumping granite.
Largo

Sport climber
Venice, Ca
Aug 13, 2008 - 01:21pm PT
Sorry, doods, but I've been busy and haven't been keeping a bead on ST.

Many, that stuff sure sounds arch and overblown but hell, I was just a kid when I was writing those articles and they served their purpose and got people stoked for bouldering. Look at it now!

Bachar and I sure had fun on those sorties to secret Gill areas. He was our hero. Bachar showed me a bunch of obscure Gillo stuff like Acrobatic Overhang, and other arcane problems at Split Rocks, Ft. Collins, and up at Estes. We became Gill experts.

The Left Eliminator is still one of my favs.

JL
midarockjock

climber
USA
Aug 13, 2008 - 09:59pm PT
Largo your an amazing climber especially with your size.
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Aug 13, 2008 - 11:07pm PT
A couple of tasty Gill shots from Oli's Master of Rock II.


Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Aug 23, 2008 - 01:44am PT
Highball bump!
sawin

climber
So. Cal.
Aug 23, 2008 - 05:30pm PT
Video of a Largo Hill free ascent.

climbing levitation 29 in red rocks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nQfwNH6GvE
k-man

Gym climber
SCruz
Aug 23, 2008 - 06:18pm PT
Yeah! Largo rules...chill out!
BASE104

climber
An Oil Field
Aug 23, 2008 - 08:23pm PT
I thought that one of those pumping granite shots had Largo smoking a cig. That and that NIAD photo led me down the dark path of tobacco. Yep, it is all their fault.

I remember reading those articles over and over with the mag open on top of my textbook in high school. I sat WAY in the back.
Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
Aug 23, 2008 - 08:31pm PT
Here you go BASE!

Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
Aug 23, 2008 - 08:35pm PT
Photo credit for that one goes to Kieth Cunning.
In the climbing mag in which it appears, no credits are given; I somehow thought Brian Rennie.
But Kieth made it to one of our reunions this spring and happily claimed the effort.

Shared some hilarious times with Kieth, John & The Uplanders...
BASE104

climber
An Oil Field
Aug 23, 2008 - 08:38pm PT
Yep. That's the one. I wanted to be just like Largo. Except the muscles. I could never quite pull that one off. My wrists were bigger than my biceps.

Cough, cough.

I mean, geez, look at that guy. He was ripped. Probably still is.

Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
Aug 23, 2008 - 08:42pm PT
"HO MAHN...whos the BASE Jumper with pipe cleaners for biceps" ...Long may have said.
and then:
...Sayy BUDDY, can you spare a dimp???
BASE104

climber
An Oil Field
Aug 23, 2008 - 09:11pm PT
Yeah, I had bad genes. I am still trying to get over that part...Maybe they could inject me with some of Largo's stem cells. 30 years too late, alas.

I am working out right now. I have about 40 well logs in front of me and am trying to sort out a horrible correlation. My mouse finger is twice as big as my thumb. It would be great if I were a doctor with that finger....

Keeps me rolling til midnight 24/7. That and lots of smokes.
Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
Aug 23, 2008 - 09:14pm PT
Dimp for a Chimp however?
BASE104

climber
An Oil Field
Aug 23, 2008 - 09:23pm PT
No way, Roy, dipping is BAD for you.
Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
Aug 23, 2008 - 09:30pm PT
Yup, that chaw juice is vile.


Lemme see if I got it right...

A Camel straight has no filter.
A Dimp is with filter.
If you "square" a dimp, you have a makeshift straight.
Mimi

climber
Topic Author's Reply - Aug 23, 2008 - 09:50pm PT
I thought a dimp was a cig and a dip was a dip? Isn't the usual transition from dimp to dip to quits if you're lucky? So glad I never went down Tobacco Road. Just say no.....
Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
Aug 23, 2008 - 09:53pm PT
Correct Mimi, a dimp is a cigarette, but with filter.
A dip of chaw, or chewing tobacco, is just a dip.
BASE104

climber
An Oil Field
Aug 23, 2008 - 10:07pm PT
Yeah, Mimi, I am still a horrible smoker. Not all of the time. I quit for a few years and smoke for a few years. I am a bi-smoker.

I wanna hear some stories about that jungle trip he took with Bridwell. Like if anyone got the Guinea Worm.

Geez, I got all this work in front of me. I am glad that I don't have a boss....
Mimi

climber
Topic Author's Reply - Aug 23, 2008 - 10:24pm PT
I wonder if these gadgets would be off limits on a no hands problem?

Largo, from back when you and Bridwell were hangin' with these curly gents...got any tales?

Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
Aug 23, 2008 - 10:47pm PT
Sorry BASE,
All I got is this clip from Ma Vie a la Verticale, by Lynn Hill:

BASE104

climber
An Oil Field
Aug 23, 2008 - 10:57pm PT
Man, I gotta get me one of those penis gourds and show up at a meeting. They already know that I am a brick shy.

Plus, you get a big gourd and it makes you look more burly...those curved ones are really cool.

Really, I gotta hear about that trip.

Somebody told me that when they were in the valley after that, Fish or Shmutzfink or somebody drew a picture on their van of Largo with a bone in his nose with the caption, "I dig the jungle." I didn't see it, so not sure.
Mimi

climber
Topic Author's Reply - Aug 23, 2008 - 10:59pm PT
A brick shy, but a foot taller.

Edit: In the saddle that is.
Robinson

Trad climber
Chattanooga
Sep 4, 2008 - 01:39pm PT
I cut all those shots out of the mags and had them plastered on my walls in the late 70's. I coveted that kind of power, and tried to amass as much of it as I could. (Looking back I wish I had only worked on contact strength and done yoga.)

In the late 80's, I hooked up with John, and remember one day in particular when we went for a bouldering tour at Stoney Point. I'll never forget watching him sprint towards an insane-looking overhang sporting a pair of half pad holds about nine feet off the deck, launch -- completely airborne -- and then locking off like some mutant Dobermann shredding a bite sleeve. After a couple of casual swings he stabilized and then (with power to spare) torqued up into an improbable mantel before high stepping to the top. It's too bad there's no video out there of John bouldering back when he was still at the top of his game....
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Dec 14, 2008 - 01:16am PT
A Wilford Horsetooth classic from Mountain 91 May/June 1983.

Jerry Moffat on Armed and Dangerous (B2), at the Quarry Area, Horsetooth Reservoir near Fort Collins Colorado. Mark Wilford photo.





Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Dec 18, 2008 - 06:54pm PT
Horsebump!
Bullwinkle

Boulder climber
Dec 18, 2008 - 08:26pm PT
Supertopo, where copyright's mean nothing. . .DF
Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
Dec 20, 2008 - 02:48pm PT
Thanks for the tap on the shoulder Bullwinkle.
The photo attribution upthread IS in fact correct for Brianne Rennie.
Clearly I misunderstood Kieth's Cunning's reference.
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Jan 3, 2009 - 12:37pm PT
Cunning bump!
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Apr 4, 2009 - 09:53pm PT
Double D bump!
Double D

climber
Apr 4, 2009 - 10:03pm PT
Thanks Steve!

I'll add a little "late to the party" appetizer of Mark Wilford at horsetooth with a broken arm still pulling off amazing stuff.


Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Apr 5, 2009 - 02:49pm PT
Nice shot DD! Especially like the executive length chalk bucket. LOL
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Oct 29, 2009 - 09:56pm PT
More pebble plundering photos!
Blinky

Trad climber
Hillsborough, NC
Oct 30, 2009 - 06:02am PT
I was 18 when 'Pumping Sandstone' was published, had been climbing seriously about a year on 'Bama sandstone. It was a major, MAJOR influence. Thanks John.
'Pass the Pitons' Pete

Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
Oct 30, 2009 - 11:00am PT
I was living in LaCrosse, Wisconsin when the Wilford-Horsetooth article came out, where I struggled on Devil's Lake quartzite and wondered how F9 could be so darn hard.

What I would *really* love to see was the Letter to the Editor that appeared in an issue subsequent to Wilford's article and in reference to it - absolutely hilarious! If someone could post up that little gem, we'd all have a good laugh.

Thanks for scanning and posting, and especially for the McTopo comments from our heroes!
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Apr 22, 2010 - 11:35am PT
Actual Climbing bump!
pathfinder

Trad climber
Anaheim, CA
Apr 28, 2010 - 02:19pm PT
Interesting that the photo of Largo with the "cig" is claimed by someone other than me. I would totally like to talk to Keith Cunning about that and would like to see his original film; which I can produce.

If you notice in the "Pumping Granite" article, I am given photo credits for all the shots. The "cig" shots where taken at the same time.

Brian Rennie
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Apr 28, 2010 - 08:29pm PT
Nice shots, Brian! Screwing up the credits is a drag.

Any others from those sessions that you would care to share?
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Apr 21, 2011 - 10:42pm PT
King Kong Bump!
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
May 1, 2011 - 11:45am PT
Any more sweet shots pathfinder?
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Jul 3, 2011 - 02:49pm PT
Pebbling Bump!
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Nov 5, 2011 - 05:13pm PT
Birth of Highballing Bump!

Great to see Mark Wilford and his daughter at Jello's birthday party recently...
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Jun 30, 2012 - 02:27pm PT
Bumps on the landscape...
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Jul 21, 2012 - 05:55pm PT
Happy Birthday Largo Bump...
phylp

Trad climber
Millbrae, CA
Apr 23, 2013 - 02:00pm PT
More classic content, combining great historical figures like John Long (that historical part said purely tongue-in cheek) ...
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
May 31, 2015 - 05:20pm PT
Long overdue bump...
i-b-goB

Social climber
Wise Acres
Sep 16, 2016 - 04:30pm PT

Largo was ahead of the times with those low cut EB's!
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Sep 17, 2016 - 01:12pm PT
I think that Largo is sporting some stylee tape spats in that shot.
slabbo

Trad climber
colo south
Sep 19, 2016 - 07:07am PT
I remeber some of the pumping Granite stuff quite well Morrocan Roll was the first boulder I did that had that "this would kinda suck to fall off" vibe.

The sandstone stuff is only 45 minutes from me now,,some crazy memories seeing the original article as a noob many years ago.
Messages 1 - 82 of total 82 in this topic
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