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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Hi Tom, thanks for that. Joe McKeown also e-mailed me to let me know it was Bruce Cooke that I was thinking about. I also took a look at the photo on your site and that is how I remember Bruce looking.
I will always remember him as a very nice, helpful and unassuming man. May he rest in peace.
Cheers
Patrick
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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All good memories about Bruce Cooke. He was a very regular climber at Indian Rock from way back, I think before the sixties actually. It was his social center. What a wonderful subtle kind decent man. He mentored several lucky generations of us and we all loved him for it. His attitude was starkly contrasted by the rather ferocious approaches taken by other climbers like Robbins and Sacherer who also actually did spend time at Indian Rock.
Adding to Tom’s notes, Bruce had had an industrial accident in the steel shop long ago when an overhead gantry crane slipped a chain link or so that was holding a gigantic beam. He had involuntarily attempted to catch the load with one of his super-powerful arms tearing the biceps severely. There was a huge scar there but he healed out of it quite well. I would add that Bruce not only could do a one-armed dead-hang pullup on either arm, but actually something more than SIX in a row.
And one of his other very close friends was Jim Crooks who was a kind of carbon copy of Bruce and also a wonderful older climber and mentor. One day back in the sixties, Bruce, Jim, myself and another young climber did Machete Ridge (original route) together at Pinnacles Nat. Mo. enjoying a leisurely pace up that junky old classic pile. I think those days were really important for hundreds of climbers young and old at Indian.
It was really cool, fantastic really, that Tom H. partnered up with Bruce often in the early seventies; it was a final renaissance for Bruce before he had to leave us.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Nov 20, 2008 - 03:51am PT
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Matt,
Does the line in the photo below match up with where your route goes?
[edit: line of Left Ski Track revised to match Nate's description in his post below]
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Nov 20, 2008 - 10:50am PT
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I was strongly influenced by Bruce Cooke without ever really meeting him. He had that surefooted demeanor just standing around camp that oozed calm presence. So comfortable with himself; so aware of what surrounded him. Couldn't help but notice that and be affected by it. No need to get in his face to appreciate deeply the quality of the man.
Tom, thanks for adding your perspectives on him. Had been curious, over the years, what happened to Bruce. It speaks volumes that you had him as your best man even to the exclusion of family. Congratulations on your longstanding partnership. And I keep hoping that your back is getting stronger so you can get out on the stone.
And Peter I especially liked your contrasting Bruce to the more "ferocious" climbers at Indian Rock. My mind jumped right to Galen too. You've hit a nerve there that goes to the depth of something that's always intrigued me about climbers: the sheer range of personalities, all drawn to the rocks. Almost reducible to types on that scale of ferocious-calm, but you gotta be ah-so-wary of generalizing.
Love the Hinterlands (Royal's term, I believe) and the exploratory sort of climbers drawn there. Clint, your database stretches further than I realized, into the void left by the Spencers' old and only guidebook. Much appreciate the effort and accuracy, not to mention your finesse with the tuning fork. I will see Lawrence Garcia this evening, who has a lot of good topo info on Wamello (Fresno) Dome, and urge him once again to contribute it to the mainstream. Maybe he could email it to you?
Cheers,
Doug
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Nate D
climber
San Francisco
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Nov 20, 2008 - 01:34pm PT
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Hi Clint,
Not sure 'bout Matt's new route, but I believe the line for Left Ski Track angles up off the ledge to the track, rather than directly up off the ledge. I received an updated topo from Spencer, and he actually shows a bolt before gaining the track. However, he never climbed the route, so it's still a mystery...
Possibly Matt can enlighten us. Really great close up picture of you getting down to business, Matt! Dare I ask if you finished the other route to the left?
Oh, and CC, I know I still owe you some new route info.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Nov 20, 2008 - 02:10pm PT
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Doug,
Sure, I'd be happy to receive topos or other route info for Wamello (or elsewhere) from Lawrence Garcia. I'll copy and forward it to Nate, who has a much bigger store of info on southern Yosemite than I do. "Small world dept.:" speaking of tuning forks, I first met Lawrence when he was hiking up the backside of Fairview Dome to replace bolts on Inverted Staircase! I was very happy to clip the updated bolts a few years later.
Nate,
Thanks for the revised line on Left Ski Track - that certainly looks like the natural line of least resistance to reach the water groove.
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scuffy b
climber
On the dock in the dark
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Nov 20, 2008 - 04:02pm PT
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"Now, Listen!! Being a good climber has nothing to do with
being a good person!!"
Bruce Cooke
Said sternly to me, when I was moping that I'd never be a good
climber like so many that came through.
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crazy horse
Trad climber
seattle, wa
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Jan 30, 2009 - 05:27pm PT
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Yeah clint, that line looks pretty good for Fresh off the farm. If you were to go up there you'd see the bolts and it's obvious, you really just need to get to the start. The only thing i would change about the photo you've posted is that the line goes just climbers left of the black triangle (shallow left facing corner that composes the latter half of the 1st pitch.) Last Fall I was also able to complete a long route to the right of fresh off the farm that i called get into the groove 5.12 which goes up the obvious super prominent water groove to climbers right of Fresh. If you want to draw the line in and post it you can. I still don't know how to post photos on supertopo...
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Matt,
Here's an updated overlay which hopefully shows Get Into the Groove. I didn't try to guess exactly how it starts.
As for Fresh Off the Farm, I'm not sure which "black triangle" you mean, since I don't know where the first pitch ends. So I guessed. Did I guess right?
It's not that hard to post photos on supertopo:
1. Upload the photo to some website, like photobucket.com (where you can get a free account; they limit photos to 800 x 600).
2. On supertopo, put the URL of the photo, but surround it with "IMG" and "/IMG" tags. For the above photo, this looks almost like:
[IMG ]http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q317/clintcummins/soyos/Nightwatch_Matt08_r800a_ov.jpg[/IMG ]
Except there is no space between IMG ] - it is IMG] both before and after the URL.
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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LongAgo,
Thanks for posting up. It's important to see you here from time to time. Almost gives us a pseudo legitimacy...you know?
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Bschmitz
Ice climber
mountain view
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Jul 12, 2010 - 03:39pm PT
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Will someone please re post the picture of nightw#tch with the lines drawn in.....Climbed a route out there last weekend and am curious if it has been done before.
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Nate D
climber
San Francisco
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Jul 12, 2010 - 06:03pm PT
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If it was all trad, very very likely it's been done. Do you have the old Spencer guide, and if so, can you describe where it's at in relation to the old routes? Plenty of new stuff has gone up in recent years, but almost all with some bolting. crazy horse knows the place probably like the back of his hand.
Pretty sure the phototopo posted by Clint above did not include all of the many lines, so it might not help you too much.
Boy I miss those domes...
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Bschmitz
Ice climber
mountain view
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Jul 12, 2010 - 07:19pm PT
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The first pitch goes straight up to a roof crack. Placed one bolt on lead with by hand. Placed two more bolts at end of second pitch below headwall for anchor.
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Gene
Social climber
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Jul 12, 2010 - 07:26pm PT
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Mark it up, and start telling YOSO tales.
g
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Bschmitz
Ice climber
mountain view
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Jul 12, 2010 - 07:29pm PT
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so maybe an FA?
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Nate D
climber
San Francisco
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Jul 12, 2010 - 09:52pm PT
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Ya know, your first pitches up to the big ledge might actually be virgin. Mark Spencer's "Planet Granite" from what I understand, sorta goes up the water groove to the right on this first part of the wall. There are no protection bolts on this route, only anchor bolts.
The later part of the climb, off the ledge, esp. if it sorta follows a groove and knobby face has likely been climbed as the remaining pitches of "Planet Granite" which are also possibly shared by another route done by Jerry & Sigrid Anderson. Again, no protection bolts shown for either, as it's supposedly wonderful 5.6 knobs w/tie-offs, but I think you would have noted some belay anchors, which are also used for some shorter and harder lines off the ledge to the right, done by Spencer. These anchor bolts could have been just to your right, however. Although not encountering any bolts doesn't necessarily mean it's virgin, you might just have squeezed something in there.
Matt Schutz has a route called "Get into the Groove" which ascends the water groove to the left of the line you've drawn. He may have also climbed this same line you did as mostly a solo, and I reckon he'll chime in.
Sounds like a fine adventure. What did the roof go at, assuming it's the crux? Just to be clear, was your double bolt anchor at the ledge below the final headwall, or midway between the roof and big ledge?
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Fuzzywuzzy
climber
suspendedhappynation
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Jul 13, 2010 - 01:45am PT
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Thanks for that quote Scruffy B!!!
He was a true gentleman.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Jul 13, 2010 - 03:04am PT
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Bschmitz,
The overlay photos are still at their original locations on photobucket.
The reason they do not display at present is because the supertopo "bad word censor" has become very aggressive - it is even modifying letters within IMG URLs.
You probably noticed you can say "night watch", but not "nightw#tch".
So copy/paste the URL to your browser and change w#t to wat .
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Bschmitz
Ice climber
mountain view
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Jul 14, 2010 - 03:27pm PT
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Roof was the crux, I think that it is between 5.8 and 5.9, I was real hung over and this was my first route in shuteye so I have no area grade consenus. I am not sure what you refer to as a ledge, there is no ledge directly below the final headwall. I drilled a two bolt anchor about 30 feet below the final headwall and almost directly under that far right hand water groove. There are some fat ledges on at the end of pitch one, about 215 feet from the base. Hope that clears it up. If Kev has some photos from the day, maybe he will chime in.
bryan
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