Tuolumne Meadows Appreciation

Discussion Topic

Return to Forum List

This thread has been locked

Messages 461 - 480 of total 526 in this topic

<< First | < Previous | Show All | Next > | Last >>

bob

climber

Jul 22, 2016 - 04:35pm PT

Dan McDevitt

Trad climber

yosemite

Jul 22, 2016 - 05:16pm PT

kaholatingtong

Trad climber

The real McCoy from somewhere over the rainbow...

Jul 22, 2016 - 05:50pm PT

bob

climber

Jul 22, 2016 - 06:10pm PT

Sending hard!!!!!

splitclimber

climber

Sonoma County

Jul 22, 2016 - 06:30pm PT

thanks for the great posts Tom and Wayne. Good to see you post too Peter.

Wow, this thread delivers.

Fossil climber

Trad climber

Atlin, B. C.

Jul 22, 2016 - 08:37pm PT

RottingJohnny - I'd guess that photo was from the late 60s, when Nic was pretty much in charge of the High Sierra camps and used to charge around to them on foot at incredible speed. I don't know where I grabbed the photo - I think from ST - and I hope the photographer speaks up.

Ferdinand of course was the ranger at the entrance. Carl Sharsmith had already been there forever. He was my plant taxonomy prof at San Jose State, and quite exacting, and I loved him. He and Alan Shields and Will Neely and I were the seasonal naturalists at TM summer of 1957. (I especially recall an evening of wine sampling with Will and Harding in Will's tent cabin. We woke up bleary in the morning and there was a leftover bottle of Madeira on the table and Will said, "Ah, Madeira - the perfect breakfast wine!" I don't think Warren said anything for another hour or so.)

I think Carl oriented more people to the environment than anyone I have ever known. Excepting perhaps David Suzuki or Dave Brower. A wonderful man. A little group of us have been trying to get an unnamed peak in N. Yosemite named for Carl for years. No luck. The Board of Geographic Names is a tough nut to crack.

Ferdinand, after officiating and welcoming people effusively at the entrance for many years, got transferred to Crane Flat entrance by the NPS. I don't know why. Perhaps he was making Tioga a little too much his personal station. Anyway, it positively broke his heart and he died not long after.

I could tell you some wonderful stories about Carl. So would a million other people - who now look at the Sierra - and the environment - in a whole new way. There were campfire talks by the naturalists at the time, and Carl and Will would sometimes sing Gilbert and Sullivan with guitar and harmonica, so well you couldn't believe it. That wasn't environmental interpretation of course, but it sure drew people in.

Lots of unexplored routes then on that amazing knobby granite. Damn few climbers.

Those were good years.

rottingjohnny

Sport climber

Shetville , North of Los Angeles

Jul 23, 2016 - 08:26am PT

Fossil... .good stories..I remember hearing that about Ferdinand's transfer ( demotion ) knocking the wind out of him... sad....

tuolumne_tradster

Trad climber

Leading Edge of North American Plate

Jul 23, 2016 - 12:35pm PT

Fossil climber

Trad climber

Atlin, B. C.

Jul 23, 2016 - 07:57pm PT

eKat is so right - he was a real steward and loved every natural feature.

Yosemite toads would sometimes migrate across the road just inside the entrance in large numbers as they came out of their winter dormancy. Quite a few would get smashed by traffic. Ferdinand once tried to get the sign shop to make him a sign reading "CAUTION - TOAD CROSSING!" But they wouldn't make it for him.

rottingjohnny

Sport climber

Shetville , North of Los Angeles

Jul 23, 2016 - 09:55pm PT

I wasn't aware that there was more than one odd duck working for the NPS...?

LongAgo

Trad climber

Jul 26, 2016 - 11:56am PT

Tarbuster

climber

right here, right now

Topic Author's Reply - Jul 26, 2016 - 05:15pm PT

Between Fossil Climber & EKat's recollections and those terrific Ament pictures shared by Long Ago, this thread is really beginning to sing!

bluering

Trad climber

Santa Clara, CA

Jul 26, 2016 - 05:43pm PT

My buddy just did Crescent a week ago, said it's pretty polished.

Good people are doing it, sad so many are. But at least it gets traffic!

Clint Cummins

Trad climber

SF Bay area, CA

Jul 26, 2016 - 05:56pm PT

Crescent Arch is doing fine.
I climbed it on Saturday and it's really not any different than when I first did it in the mid 80s.
I think the "polish" your friend mentioned is the gold glacier polish that has always been on it.
Like the photo of Tom by Pat above.

Some of the gold polish visible on the right side of the crack.

Fat Dad

Trad climber

Los Angeles, CA

Jul 26, 2016 - 08:24pm PT

Not climbing, but shots from a recent trip to Glen Aulin:
Such an awe inspiring place.

Flip Flop

climber

Earth Planet, Universe

Jul 26, 2016 - 08:43pm PT

Harding Special, Mt.Conness.

Bruce Morris

Social climber

Belmont, California

Jul 27, 2016 - 12:24am PT

Harding Special, Mt.Conness.

Was that bolt right next to the OW pitch? If so, probably Warren's bolt.

Fossil climber

Trad climber

Atlin, B. C.

Jul 27, 2016 - 03:47am PT

Just remembered an interesting rescue up there when I was Asst. District Ranger, early 60s. Some guys - I think there were three -were hiking the ridge near Mt. Dana and for some incredible reason decided to slide down Dana Glacier. Of course they lost it and wound up in the canyon the worse for wear. One had a broken back. One managed to come out and notify us.

Since that area isn't in the park and there was no rescue team then we called the Marines at Pickle Meadows Mountain Warfare training centre. They would send a team the next day. I grabbed a sleeping bag and some food and meds and sprinted up there, spent the night with them.

About a dozen Marines showed up next morning, got him into a basket and very efficiently packed him out over damn rough country. There was one short, tough lieutenant who was in charge. Everybody else rotated on and off carrying the stretcher, but he never let go! l couldn't believe it. You want guys like that on your side.