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can't say
Social climber
Pasadena CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Dec 15, 2004 - 04:04pm PT
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Just thought some of you would like to see a friendly face from back in the day.
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Hardman Knott
Gym climber
Mill Valley
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Dec 15, 2004 - 04:30pm PT
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Because he was happy at that moment?
Still, a sad story.
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can't say
Social climber
Pasadena CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 15, 2004 - 08:03pm PT
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yeah it was a sad story at the end, but I still half expect to see him emerging from the bushes in C4 with leaves in his hair. I miss that he's not around anymore. He had some good energy in him.
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Gene
Social climber
Two hours away
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Dec 15, 2004 - 09:21pm PT
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Can't Say,
This is a great portrait - the reflected light in his eyes and that grin.
Who is this man? That "He had some good energy in him" is apparent.
Gene
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can't say
Social climber
Pasadena CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 15, 2004 - 09:50pm PT
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This picture, taken by Dean Fidelman, is of Yabo aka John Yablonski. It think it's a lot more reflective of who I remember John to be, rather then the tales that most people hear tell about him.
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Gene
Social climber
Two hours away
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Dec 15, 2004 - 10:24pm PT
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Yeah, I had a thought that might be him. I remember a few years ago having dinner with some folks who knew and climbed with him "back in the day" but had dropped out of the climbing world long ago. "I wonder what he's up to these days?" I said nothing. What can anyone say?
Thanks for posting the picture.
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TheHip
Trad climber
Squamish, BC
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Dec 15, 2004 - 10:59pm PT
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sorry for an outsider's ignorance, but anyone care to tell the story? I appreciate and understand if no-one does
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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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Dec 15, 2004 - 11:43pm PT
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I look at that picture and I fall silent. I usually have too much to say, but not this time. The man had a heart of gold . . .
JL
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bulgingpuke
Trad climber
cayucos california
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Dec 16, 2004 - 01:23am PT
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what happend to him?? brief story?
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Roger Breedlove
Trad climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Dec 16, 2004 - 08:47am PT
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One year in the early seventies, I had been on something or another at Arch Rock, and as a curiosity, walked down the road to the look at the River Boulder that I had heard about.
When I got there, there was a group of young climbers hanging out, who all looked like they had been cut from the same mold. I remember Mark Chapman was there and he and I chatted. As we are standing there this very young guy, still lathered in baby fat, starts up the River Boulder without a top rope. Someone says something, and the climber shrugs it off. And up he starts, boyhood bravado filling the air.
I was not intent on seeing anyone ground out on the rocks, so I quickly left.
Later in Camp Four, I asked Mark about the guy--"So did he make it?"
"Oh yeah," he replied, grinning, "He fell out of the crack and on to the sapling growing at the base."
My jaw dropped, "You have to be kidding, right?"
Mark shakes his head, still grinning.
"Is he okay?" I asked.
Mark shakes his head, the other way, still grinning.
"That guy is nuts," is all I could say.
Mark shakes his head, "Yeah," still grinning.
When I saw the picture, it had a familiar look, but I could not place it. It looks like it was probably taken several years later.
Except for this often-told tale, I only knew about Yablonski through stories told by others. That people who knew him well remember him so fondly is heartening.
Best, Roger
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can't say
Social climber
Pasadena CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 16, 2004 - 08:53am PT
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Bulgingpuke and The Hip, one reason you don't see anyone (including me) give the details of Yabo's tragic ending is because this forum might not be the best place to tell it. My suggestion would be like Jeff (Sewellymon) said and pick up a copy of Lynn's book. Otherwise I'll let someone else provide the details.
Roger, that's one of the classic Yabo tales of luck, one that I was almost was witness too is similar to yours in that I walked away before seeing him die, which of course he didn't. That being the time he soloed Leave It To Beaver and got the hand sequence messed up on it up high. He was throwing mo's and only just barely made it, but then I wasn't there to see it as I too didn't want to see him die. Back at camp it was the talk around the fire for sure.
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Gunkie
climber
I don't get mad, I get stabby -- Fat Tony
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Dec 16, 2004 - 12:27pm PT
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Doesn't Fish have a story about Yobo showing up at the base of NA wall with nothing but a harness and a set of jugs and no food or water? Fish and his partner allowed Yabo to join them for a team of three that struggled over the rim on rations for two?
Maybe that was someone else?
What a classic story.
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10b4me
Trad climber
Where Fair Oaks meets Altadena
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Dec 16, 2004 - 12:52pm PT
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Those pics are classic. Wish I had met him. I don't think this forum is the best place to discuss his demise.
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WBraun
climber
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Dec 16, 2004 - 01:21pm PT
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Yep, the good old Yarbarian "Yabo". I lived with Yabo for years in C4. It hurt me deeply when he did himself in. He is surly missed.
Werner
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Melissa
Big Wall climber
oakland, ca
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Dec 16, 2004 - 03:06pm PT
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Beautiful pic.
He is one of those people whose intense expressions made him reckognizable to me in the first pictures of him that I ever saw although I'd never met him.
The picture of him on Wheat Thin in the Yosemite Climber book is one of my all-time favorite climbing pictures.
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DE
Mountain climber
Tustin, Calif.
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Dec 16, 2004 - 04:07pm PT
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One of my fond memories of John was from a Xmas trip to the valley circa '77 or '79. I drove up alone in my '60 VW bug just hoping to find someone I knew and climb anything at all. When I arrived it was snowing and continued to for the couple of days I was there. So, I started wandering around and ran into Yabo. We were hanging around, playing Hacky and wishing we could climb or at least find someone with something to smoke. It was pretty bleak. In mid hacky game Yabo goes into the trees at the edge of the Lodge parking lot to pee. A couple of minutes later we here him hoot with glee and then come running out with something in his hand. Lo and behold he had found a film can with some killer weed in it! Needless to say we were happier campers from then on.
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Ca
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Dec 16, 2004 - 06:22pm PT
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I don't think I've ever seen a more gleeful face than when I tossed him a few cans of food before leaving the Tree one weekend. Man he was happy. Must of been pretty damn hungry but it didn't seem to slow him down any.
There was also the time he soloed Spider Line. I have never seen anyone shake so badly and not fall off. Somehow he managed to get up those things. Pure will power I guess. Made for some interesting conversations over the years.
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funkness
climber
So,Ca.
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Dec 16, 2004 - 08:22pm PT
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Yabo Arete, at Stoney Point V7 (photo Brooks Ayola)
Hey, so why was he smiling?
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Dec 17, 2004 - 12:56am PT
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We really should have a whole thread of Yabo stories sometime. I wrote one about him a few years back. I'll repost it here
Peace
Karl
+++++++++++++++
Meeting Yabo
In the early 1980¹s my best compromise between living and climbing in
Yosemite while avoiding poverty and parental heartbreak was to work for
Curry Company. For three years, I was the Night Housing Supervisor, in
charge of all the Curry employee housing areas between the hours of 5pm
and 1am.
In some ways, it was a dream job for a climber. I had a private tiny
cabin in Yosemite and was free to climb until 5pm every day. There was
a downside though. I was in charge of enforcing a plethora of rules and
keeping the company facilities free of exploitation by unauthorized
persons, particularly climbers.
I was a climber. Curry Company hated climbers. Resolving the dissonance
between these realities nurtured diplomacy in Karl and, eventually,
fostered tolerance within Curry Company.
Curry Company¹s strict grooming code made it easy to divine the
difference between the dorm residents and the Camp 4 residents. I
remember a funny cartoon on the wall of an employee bathroom. It showed
a guy with long hair and a crazy and confused look on his face. The
caption read "Before" Next to it was a drawing of the same crazy and
confused face but this time with short, clean cut hair. The caption
read "After" (employment) Years of the clean-cut company culture
inbreeding made it easy for long-term employees to adopt the attitude
that long hair or a beard were marks of dereliction.
The ex-marine president of the Company was chief among the those who
were pissed at climbers. After some random act of vandalism attributed
to climbers, he took a tour through Camp 4 to the boos and jeers of the
campers.
The behavior of the climbers sometimes didn¹t help matters. Besides
snaking showers and drunken deli rudeness, some climbers would camp out
in the cafeteria and scarf leftover food, or shoplift from Curry
Stores.
Worst of all, climbers seeking comfort and love as part of the same
deal would seek out girlfriends among the Curry Employees. Many a young
damsel would be seduced into supporting the lifestyle of a "Park Bum"
or PB as it was abreviated. Now it wasn¹t as if there were enough of
these beauties to go around. These were OUR women! Just like in
Alaska, in Yosemite, if you¹re a women, the odds are good, but the
goods are odd!
As for me, I definitely had friends on both sides of the fence. I lived
across from Camp 4 and climber friends would come hang out with me. I
tried to encourage a bit of harmony by taking different managers
climbing. I started taking the Manager of Employee Housing climbing and
he got pretty good. We even climbed the grade 5 North Buttress of
Middle Cathedral in a day. One time I had numerous managers and
supervisors camped out on Yosemite Point and dragged them across the
Tyrolean Traverse to Lost Arrow. I hope I played some role in teaching
the Company that climbing wasn¹t intimately linked with acts of
vandalism and dereliction.
At night, I tried to strike a reasonable balance between protecting the
company¹s facilities and allowing people to live their lives with
minimum harassment. I wouldn¹t bug John Bachar about his Saxophone
playing or hanging out with his girlfriend in the dorms, but when a
world famous cranker emptied a fire extinguisher in the hallways, we
ran him off.
One night I got a call on the radio that there was a violent
disturbance at the Women¹s dorm. I headed my company truck straight
over there with a mix of excitement and trepidation. Responding to
unknown chaos revs the adrenaline, but also the humbling anticipation
that some drunk idiot might be inspired to break beer bottles over my
head. As a standard precaution in potentially violent situation, I
radioed the NPS to send a ranger to the scene as well.
When I arrived, I met a muscular guy of medium height at the foot of
the steps of the dorm. He looked battered. Next to him was a high-end
road bike that looked battered as well. He was reasonably calm. I
asked him what happened. He said his name was John Yablonski and that
he BEAT HIMSELF UP! Naturally, I wanted a further explanation. Yabo
said that his girlfriend lived in the dorm, she dumped him and was with
another guy at the moment. He was so upset that he kicked his own ass!
I thought he was pretty lucid for a guy who just whuuped himself, but
Yabo said he was a non-violent kind of guy who wouldn¹t hurt anybody
but himself. He really did an impressive job of hitting himself. You
could tell he was headed for black and blue.
I quickly confirmed the story with Yabo¹s girlfriend (and her male
companion) and, since no more conflict seemed eminent, called off the
rangers before they arrived. It seemed like the last thing the
heartbroken Yabo needed was an encounter with the law.
I went back and met with Yabo again. He also managed to totally destroy
his $1000+ (1981 dollars!) road bike that he won in the "Survival of
the Fittest" TV contest. I told him to throw his bike in my truck and I
would give him a ride back to Camp 4. We talked about life, climbing,
and women. Before he got out of the truck he asked for $1 for a pack of
cigarettes. I gave it to him even though I am a cheap bastard and hate
smoking to boot. Somehow, my heart just told me it was the right thing
to do.
The next time I patrolled the women¹s dorm, I was surprised to find a
$1 bill lying on the ground at the very spot that I first met Yabo. It
stuck me at the time that I was being repaid by the Spirit of All
Things for my gift to Yabo.
In the course of years since then, I heard a number of amazing stories
of Yabo¹s larger than life existence. Apparently, he would go
free-soloing in fits of despair over relationships. He wouldn¹t always
make it. He would always miraculously survive. One time he was caught
in the branches of a tree after falling off an 11c crack! Werner Braun
said "The Angels were watching over Yabo."
Sadly, tragically, Yabo eventually took his own life. He said if
natural forces wouldn¹t take him, he would have do it himself. The
incident involved a woman and a relationship, but ultimately, it was
just Yabo¹s inner demons. I thought he was a great guy in many ways.
Unfortunately, we are all a bit nuts and those of us with an extra dose
of energy and passion can sometimes be even more nuts. May his Spirit
reach the Summit after a dramatic climb.
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Ammon
Big Wall climber
The Mountains
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Dec 17, 2004 - 01:44am PT
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YabO LiVEs!!!!
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WBraun
climber
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Dec 17, 2004 - 01:44am PT
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Yep, Yabo literly beat himself up and destroyed that bike. I've seen Yabo try to break his hands by hitting the steel posts at the lodge. We had to restrain him because we knew later he would have regretted doing it.
For those that don't know. When Karl came on the scene at Curry housing he was a blessing. The guy before him was a total a$$hole. We were so lucky to have a guy like Karl show up. You did a super job Karl.
Werner
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Dec 17, 2004 - 02:52am PT
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Thanks Werner
I secretly wanted to move into a van parked next to ya'll but it was good anyway.
Peace (particuarly to Yabo, who had a lot of heart)
Karl
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Roger Breedlove
Trad climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Dec 17, 2004 - 08:35am PT
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Hey Karl, good post. Good story.
However, something must have changed during the 1970's into the period that you were the housing manager. The young ladies that worked for the Curry Company were there only for the climber's aid and comfort, particularly in the winter. The earnest young men who worked for the Curry Company were easy to run off. The same for the outside showers which made it easy to clean up before retiring to the climbers dining hall, saloon, and reading room. Ah, the good life of leisure. Werner can verify. :-)
So what did they do, pass a law or something?
I recently found a picture of my green Sierra Designs tent, pitched in a deserted Camp Four, lightly covered with a new dusting of snow. I don't remember the details, but I wasn't staying in the tent.
Best, Roger
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can't say
Social climber
Pasadena CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 17, 2004 - 09:36am PT
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One of my favorite Yabo cheating death stories is the one where Mike (Mo) Lechlinski and Yabo were trying to do a rapid ascent of the Captain.
Right off of Mammoth, Yabo is leading the pitch in the dark, in tennies, running it out, no pro between him and Mo. He's up about a 100ft. when something happens and he falls. Mo doesn't know quite what to do since there isn't any pro at all and he know's Yabo is going to deck for sure.
Well about 5 or 10 feet off the ledge, the rope catches on something and stops Yabo just short of ledging out. Mo lowers Yabo to the ledge and then flicks the rope, which comes down very easily. Mo shines his headlamp up to see what caught Yabo's fall and there was nothing they could see that could have caught his rope. The only thing they figured out was the the rope had somehow gotten pinched in the crack and stopped Yabo's fall. After that Mo was heard to say "I'm never going up on El Cap with Yabo again".
This is a very brief version of the real story and any of you old dads that remember this please feel free to supply missed or altered details.
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mike hartley
climber
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Dec 17, 2004 - 10:18am PT
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I can remember eating breakfast at Camp 5 on the Nose. It was peaceful and not quite light yet. Nothing like a LOOOOOOOONG blood-curdling scream to get you fully awake. Who'd be climbing at this time a day/night? Somebody roll off of a ledge? The next day we were down in the lodge parking lot. There was this very theatrical, moaning, walking scab doing laps around the lot. Definitely had the look of being on the losing end of a vegetable peeler. "Dude, did you guys hear me last night"? Yabo... :-))
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waddell
Trad climber
Reno, NV
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Dec 17, 2004 - 12:36pm PT
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gosh guys your making me get emotional. I never got the chance to meet him but he seems amazing. thanks for the good stories of a legend.
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Oct 10, 2005 - 02:56am PT
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Never climbed with him but did boulder and party with him several times. Good man and unassuming. RIP John
Can't say, that pic at the top isn't showing up.
Edit
The pic's there. Thanks.
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Watusi
Social climber
Joshua Tree, CA
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Oct 10, 2005 - 11:16am PT
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We always had lots of fun whenever Yabo was around!!! He was a great friend of mine as well!!
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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Oct 10, 2005 - 01:34pm PT
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Hell that dude was strong as dirt. On the Stem Gem mantle, boom, straight up (right-side-in) without heel-hooking. Nice, but a warm-up; then he'd come back and do it left-side-in.
I remember he'd crawl out of the cave in the morning, sleeping bag strung over his shoulders. He'd throw it down, then throw down Scatterbrain. He'd come around, pick up his bag and wander off to start the day.
When Yabo was around there was an edge in the air.
:- k
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Ihateplastic
Trad climber
Lake Oswego, Oregon
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I grew up with John... Yablonsky... Yabo since our days together in high school. From working with him in his dad's cinema to the earliest boulder problems at Castle Rock he was a committed climber who could spot possibilites where others saw only moss and blankness. I would stand, staring at a rounded sandstone boulder with peeling flakes, dripping moss and long reaches and shake my head. Later there would be a white path from the Yabo start to the top.
John never asked for recognition, only a buck for coffee.
The last climb I did with him was the Owl Roof in the valley. Don't even know if it's in the guides anymore, but this is a 90-degree roof with a nasty fist crack. Yabo took the sharp end while I hoped for a few points of pro to protet me from the nightmare of skull against granite. In true John fashion he made it within inches of the lip before lodging a hex. He couldn't turn the roof and lowered off. Now it was my turn. I managed to get horizontal before hearing the shouts of Kauk, Besio, Bard (as I remember) and others on the road below. Unable to duplicate Yabo's lead I relaxed and arced. My climbing may have lacked panache, but at least Yabo's lead gave me a great ride. This guy is smiling because he is still here. He gives each of us that little bit of craziness we need to push harder.
Oh, and for all of you growing up on plastic... get outside where the real stories are made.
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gneiss
Trad climber
Modesto
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Sleeping on Triangle Ledge just below Mammoth Terraces I recognized a voice, Rick (if I remember right after 25 years) "Wha... Yabo! What are you doing?" then: "We're going to climb the Triple Direct in a day" A short time later we heard the most blood curdling scream imaginable, like someone dying. But then all was quiet. No calls for help.
The next day we met Lynn Hill and Mari Gingery on Mammoth. They were up to be the first all women team to climb the Shield, having just hauled two monstrous pigs so stuffed that gear was bursting out the tops. On their way up they ran across Yabo who had soloed up to a ledge to retrieve his cagoule after his epic fall of the night before. They dropped him a rope for aid.
Yabo had jugged Lynn and Mari's fixed lines to Mammoth in his one day attempt.
The pitch off Mammoth is rated 5.9. It is easy until one reaches a little overhang of extreme difficulty. In the daylight an unhurried examination will lead you to the 5.9 bypass 6' on the left, something Yabo obviously missed. This is where he fell, with no protection placed. I carefully examined the area for features that could have possibly snagged a rope when he fell. There are none, not even improbable ones. His guardian angel must have grabbed the rope herself.
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can't say
Social climber
Pasadena CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 7, 2005 - 05:42pm PT
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Yep, he sure did and his name was Mo.
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WBraun
climber
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That's not the way Yabo described the story to me. That story you read LEB is way out there and sensationalized.
Who wrote that crock of sh-it?
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WBraun
climber
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Lois
"today we have medication to help people through these phases of their lives."
Those pills are stupid, the best medication is love. We all loved Yabo but we couldn't be everywhere to help him.
"In the material world, conceptions of good and bad are all mental speculations. Therefore, saying 'This is good' and 'This is bad' is all a mistake."
Such is our world.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Lois asked "Is it really prying too much to ask how this man died."
In some ways the answer would be yes, though even if you were told you wouldn't know the true answer.
Yabo touched many many people in climbing. I did not know the man, but I know many who did, and everyone of them have very personal memories. I don't think that a simple retelling of his life could come close to expressing what the reality of his existence meant to those who knew him.
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WBraun
climber
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Lois
But it's still all rooted in the heart and it can be carried over from the past life. The chemical imbalances are caused by the karmic reaction of no love onto the “driver” of the material body . One who feels separated from the source of love will feel lifeless.
Therefore I was referring to the root cause. The pills are not the ultimate answer and that was my true meaning.
The symptoms you are describing and their antidote may or may not help in the long run ultimately, for the soul, but may help the body temporarily.
Thus modern medicines focus on the body is like the automobile shop (mechanic) fixing the auto but neglecting the driver.
This is the true light I am seeing in modern medicine.
Still I agree we need the mechanic also, and that is fine.
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Deadwood Mountain
climber
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Yabo lives.
Look at his spirit shine. So beautiful...
Let it inspire you...
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Ben909
Trad climber
toronto
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I was on SSRIs a couple of years ago and they worked great, for about 2 weeks after which they made me feel spaced out and sluggish. When I went off of them I fell into a deeper depression and for the first time had serious thougths of suicide. A study came out this year linking many SSRIs with increased suicidal tendencies when you go off of them. http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/psychiatry/depression/article_2120.shtml
Without a phd I cannot really say that they're junk, but they were definetly not the solution for me. Too many people that I know who have taken SSRIs were just given the meds and told to come back in a month for more. People who feel isolated and down need to be engaged, challenged and loved. Goals and plans are key to feeling fufilled and actually looking forward to tomorrow.
SSRIs can be beneficial but are not saviors in a bottle they can only ever be parts of the solution.
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wildone
climber
right near the beach, boyeee (lord have mercy)
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I'm gonna have to agree with pretty much everyone, and say that if you want to know about yabo, read Lynn Hill's "Climbing Free", an excellent book, and you'll see both sides of his personality.
Lois, I especially recommend it to you.
Most libraries ought to have it.
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WBraun
climber
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And which lives have you saved from repeated birth, death, old age and diseases?
That is what my point on the "pills are stupid" remark was based.
Not the body but the driver.
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Ksolem
Trad climber
LA, Ca
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I met Yabo a couple times. Just superficially, at Stoney. But he was stunning in his fitness and presence. It is not very often that someone's passing means much when you didn't know them, but I was affected when Yabo left.
Lynn Hill's book is a great read and insightful. There's stuff in there about more folks than Yabo. Like Largo too.
(Anyone besides me think maybe she was a little hard on Dean?)
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golsen
Social climber
kennewick, wa
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I didnt know yabo, just heard the stories. Deep sadness. Here is an excerpt I wrote about another friend who suffered the same fate. It was a story on UT climbers trying to describe and honor some of the past climbers of the Wasatch. Not trying to hijack the thread from yabo but this discussion is wandering and I think it can wonder in a direction that may help the living.
"I didn’t stay in touch with Lynn when I moved away from SLC. I heard he worked at BD in the early 90’s and most unfortunately, I heard that he took his own life. If you have ever been at a friends service, it all comes back to you, all the times you have shared, the times that you should have shared. All of the dead persons friends say nice things about the guy. These are things that you should have said when they were alive. I didn’t make it to Lynn’s service and I know I am many years late, “Wheels, I didn’t get to climb with you much buddy, but I enjoyed the times I did have, and you were a hell of a climber. I just wish I could have been a better friend.” Wheels routes are still up there. I think he even managed to put hangers on those bolts."
If you have ever been to a friends service, you always hear the great things that people say about that person and it is too late. We can do nothing for our fallen friends and loved ones. But we can do something about the living. Let us try and spread the love now, while it means something to those around you...
Sometimes, all it takes is a smile to warm the heart of a stranger. That stranger may be facing inner demons that are fighting within to end their own lives. Depression is a disease that kills, a thing that makes the person think they are wearing sh#t colored glasses. Smile and be nice folks....
Peace...Yabo, may your spirit live on...
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can't say
Social climber
Pasadena CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 8, 2005 - 10:44am PT
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Yabo's energy is out there surfing in his next life.
Photo by Bullwinkle
hey gneiss, I was talking to Mo yesterday, about this thread and the different posts, etc. and he wanted to know, if you were sleeping on that triangle ledge, why you never said a word? No "are you OK", no "do you need any help?" No nothing.
Care to comment?
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Trashman
Trad climber
SLC
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One more in the "pills aren't for everyone" camp. depresion sucks, but i wouldn't trade the motivation i've learned to gain from it for anything. I agree w/ the "spaced out" comments above, and feel that i've achieved a much more sustainable peace by traveling through this world un-aided.
that said, if they work for you, i have nothing against their use, just get tired of people toting it as a cure all.
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Ihateplastic
Trad climber
Lake Oswego, Oregon
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Not to be cruel to Yabo, but last time I checked he was always on some form of psychotropic. Would ML exist if not for his "vision?" My point is, John under script would not be Yabo. Why not move this tangled thread to a better home... say www.howdrugssavedmysoul.com and leave this board clean to honor the man not the condition?
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Gotta add to Golsens hijack (more of a tangent really)
Lynn, Wheels, Wheeler was a good friend of mine. During the four years I lived in Salt Lake he was apt to be my main climbing partner at any given time.
I met him in Yosemite a few years earlier. We shared a site in ‘Sunnyside,’ for many weeks. It was at least three weeks before I met him, he was that reclusive, but when I ran into him in SLC we picked up where we’d left off.
He had climbed a Lot. He had an ecyclopedic knowledge of the desert and the wasatch. On an early foray (almost a decade before the first desert Rock book) to Indian Creek I asked him on the drive, if he would, to jot down any Indian Creek info he cared to share. At that time all I knew was how many cracks away from supercrack something was. He filled a notebook with Indian Creek, Desert tower, Zion and Wind rivers lists and Topos.
He had about the best foot work I’ve ever seen, when Fires came out we still couldn’t touch his EB moves.
A Machinist, he made the first over-sized cams I ever used.
He had a sense of humor that few really appreciated. Once, on an ascent of the Good Book as a party of Five, we sprawled round the top in a semi-comatose state, when Wheel’s woke us up with. “F*#k it, it let’s go for the Rim!” The first words he’d uttered all day.
another time, on Chouinard Herbert, he followed up to my belay below the Afro Cuban flake, his lead, muttering to himself, “redrum, redrum, redrum.”
A true friend, he went up to the Owl with me when he clearly would rather have been anywhere else. He climbed Blind Faith on the Rostrum with me as well, but he got to lead the 1,1/4” pitch so I didn’t feel too bad.
Were there signs?
Sure.
His painful shyness, uncomfortableness in crowds (like five people at a table in the caff) weren’t dead give aways. But I had to wonder when I was finishing sentances for him, and he was letting me, in public. He could be quite atrticulate when it was just the two of us. Other people noticed things.
I was sitting in Walt’s Van one morning, enjoying the Walt Show as he geared up to solo The NA wall. He was in full manic mode. Wheels walked by in an almost turrets-like state. “Your buddy is really twisting,” said Walt.
Wheels would sigh and moan at wierd times. Once when he was in a job placement program he began a rant out of the blue about, “Unemployed guys that kill themselves, f*#k those losers.” Where did that come from? I wondered.
I didn’t find out about his death, at his own hand, until months after it happened, I had moved to Phoenix and hadn’t climbed with him in almost a year. Will Gilmer told me while we were bouldering in Queen Creek.
It didn’t surprise me, but I really didn’t expect it.
We talked awhile and hoped that somewhere, Wheels and Yabo were giving each other a careful belay.
edit
OOps Left out a poignant, tale.
Late one afternoon in 82/83 Lynn showed up at the door to my apartment in SLC, I was running late to meet my wife for an Aerobics class, of all things.
"hey Wheels, what's up? I'm running a little behind ... "
He looked at the floor and adjusted his glasses.
"I turn thirty today."
Aerobics could wait. I brought him in and had him sit. All I had to offer was a can of Macadamia nuts and a mini bottle of rum (a gift from a relatives recent trip to Hawaii)
We ate nuts and took tiny sips of rum and made it last about an hour. I had to go after that, as I was my wife's ride. Wheels seemed happier and said he had somewhere to be but I nver knew if he really did.
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golsen
Social climber
kennewick, wa
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jaybro,
I share your pain. I wrote a story about climbing with Lynn over at utahclimbers dot calm in a wasatch history thread.
I dont know about the rest of you, but when I have friends that pass away early, there seems to always be regret that I didnt say more to them. Tell those around you that you care about them....
Peace
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can't say
Social climber
Pasadena CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 8, 2005 - 04:26pm PT
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Lois, I'm not sure if I believe in re-incarnation or not, but it does present a mo-betta way of looking at what happens to us (or our energy) once we check out of this life IMO.
What I do know is we produce energy, some good, some bad, and that energy goes somewhere when we exit our corporeal form. I just like to believe that somewhere is a positive place.
YMMV of course
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Gramicci
Social climber
Ventura
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Today was first time I happened upon this thread being new to ST. it took quite a while to absorb the tales and fond memories and it stirred up mine. I only feel I can say this because John was a close friend and in my impulsive nature I can’t bite my tongue.
He knew he made a mistake in that last fleeting second. He had survived relationships before, he was really stronger than all this chemical deficiency theory. He just made quick decisions maybe you could say he was impulsive. Sometimes his decisions turned out good which lead to his greatness. When they turned out bad he was fortunate a friend was close buy. When a friend wasn’t there, he had the cool enough head to save himself. Once he rapped off the end of his rope on El Cap when he was with me, it was some damm quick reflexes that got him to grab the rope as the end went by… Thinking to turn for the tree failing to solo “Short Circuit” was the act of a level head. All of us standing there had to omit the episode was pretty funny. But seriously,
I’ll tell you all why he was smiling in that picture, its simple…A close friend caught him loving every minute of life.
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BeBe
Sport climber
Phoenix
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Nov 10, 2005 - 11:46am PT
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May the spirits of Yabo & John Waterman live on!
(As should all of us who go way too soon.)
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hooblie
climber
from where the anecdotes roam
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Sep 23, 2010 - 05:35am PT
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linkity bump
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=1007918&msg=1009673#msg1009673
yabo had an easy cordiality with the revolving occupants in the valley. formalities were quickly dispatched, and the business at hand commenced straight away if you were primarily a mark. three or four times he managed to extract a loan or often a straight gimme, and he did it with a winning style, as if he was letting you in on an opportunity best kept on the down low.
as much as i wanted to write off whatever i was relieved of, in order to not feel perturbed, he would at some point pop out of the blue and make good on the deal. and that's when he really had you, it had been an opportunity ... to have sketchy faith rewarded does add a little leavening to the day
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
ne'er–do–well
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I happened to see Bachar and Yablonski leaving Degnan's deli together during the fire of 1990.
Sort of like the end of the dream.
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