Hugh Burton?

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Senor Pinche Wey

Big Wall climber
OB
Topic Author's Original Post - Mar 16, 2005 - 01:36pm PT
Does anyone know anything about Hugh Burton? All I know is that he is Canadian and put up some futuristic routes. Has he put up stuff outside of the Valley than the Giraffe in Baja?
Largo

Sport climber
Venice, Ca
Mar 16, 2005 - 04:07pm PT
A bunch of stuff in the Bugs and at Squamash. Burton was the Real Deal.
Russ Walling

Social climber
Bishop is DEAD, long live JT
Mar 16, 2005 - 05:26pm PT
alive and well in a secret spot. Can probably still out drink and fight anyone from the US. It would probably take a Canadian or a Bulgarian to dust him up.
deuce4

Social climber
Pagosa Springs CO
Mar 17, 2005 - 02:09pm PT
true badass
Largo

Sport climber
Venice, Ca
Mar 17, 2005 - 02:27pm PT
I did the first ascent of the Giraffe with Hugh, sight unseen. Round about pitch 10, I'm out about 8 copperheads, right off the belay, when Hugh yells up for me to go easy on the heads--he's saving them for the Valley. True story.

JL
bigwalling

climber
Mar 17, 2005 - 02:31pm PT
Largo that is some funny ass sh#t... 8 heads= 1 dollars max if you are swaging your own... HAHAHAHA must have been low on money!!!
Senor Pinche Wey

Big Wall climber
OB
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 17, 2005 - 08:37pm PT
Hugh put up the first few mind-blowing walls I climbed. When I got down I had to find out who put them up. When I struggled to clip one of his bolts (I think he must be a pretty tall man) I wondered “Who is this &%$@ guy?” I asked around campfires for a couple of years for a Hugh Burton story and never got one. Maybe I had to ask at a different fire ring. I started this thread to get one. Thanks!
WBraun

climber
Mar 17, 2005 - 08:42pm PT
Hugh is the real deal man, he’s also a super great guy.
WBraun

climber
Mar 17, 2005 - 11:51pm PT
Charlie Porter and Hugh Burton had fixed a few pitches and had their haul bags up on the FA of the Horse Chute. They were ready to blast. Charlie and Hugh asked me to drive them down to El Cap meadow in Charlie’s famous VW bus. The one he rolled coming down 41 once and once Bev drove it into the Merced river on the way home when they lived in BriceBurg. Charlie and Bev had their shop there, Porter Engineering.

A big pacific storm was rolling in I asked them are you guys serious going up now? Porter looks at me and says “ A little rain aint gonna hurtcha kid.” I laughed because I figured they were just going to jumar up to their bags and secure them from the rain.

We get to the meadow and Hugh and Charlie put on their cut-off blue gene shorts. Now it’s October man, and it’s not exactly warm out. I’m blowing my mind at these guys. Hugh is just calm and mellow the whole time, along with Charlie. They walk off just as it starts raining laughing.

Rained all night next day I go down to see where they are and they’re way the fu-ck up there climbing away in the storm.

Hard Hard Hard men from a time in the past .......
Minerals

Social climber
The Deli
Mar 31, 2005 - 08:51pm PT
Yeah, definitely one of the original hardmen.

Hugh did the 2nd ascent of Zodiac with Jack Roberts. I had a chance to talk to him about Zodiac before our clean-up. I asked him about the original belay 14 below the roof and the new belay above, and whether or not we should retain the original belay position. The following is a short bit that I wrote a while ago, summing up one of his stories:


He lowered himself out from belay 14 and began to clean pitch 15. As he looked up, he began to see little bits of purple fuzz falling towards him. Quickly realizing that the rope was being cut by the sharp edge above, he down-jugged a few moves and was able to clip Charlie’s one belay bolt. Hugh yelled to his partner to drop a second rope. Once the rope was lowered, he was able to swing his aiders (with a few pins on the end) and snag it. He then jugged up the second rope, only to find that the purple lead line was cut halfway through. Yikes!!!
TripL7

Trad climber
san diego
Jul 26, 2010 - 09:36pm PT
Bad-azz Canuck bump...
Fuzzywuzzy

climber
suspendedhappynation
Jul 27, 2010 - 12:54am PT
Burton telling me how it is:

"I'm gunna stand up in my aiders and you are going to hear some noise...then I'm gunna stand up again - more noise... that's all there is to it".
Mighty Hiker

climber
Vancouver, B.C.
Jul 27, 2010 - 02:06am PT
Hugh now lives with his wife in western Nevada.
mastadon

Trad climber
quaking has-been
Jul 27, 2010 - 07:49am PT

Burton=Hardcore (note capital H)

He hurt us (Seattleite Yanks) a few times when we were young. We hadn't yet figured out that Canadian beer was stronger then American beer.......
Tom

Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
Jul 27, 2010 - 08:05am PT
ACCORDING TO THE FISH:


Mescalito

Notes on the route:

Perhaps the grandest of the "Big Trade Routes" Mescalito features great location, good rock, and plenty of pitches for all. When we did the route we had a 3 man team and spent 3 nights on the wall. I think we fixed the first 4 pitches and then did one long haul from the Alcove. I remember hearing about the Seagull pitch as being expando and "once you go past the Seagull, you can't get back down". BS on both of those. The Seagull is nothing to worry about. The rivet ladders have pretty good rivets but are spaced really far apart.

Hugh Burton is a huge man and used this to his advantage while placing these on the FA.

If you are vertically challenged, take an equilizer (not cheater) stick to get you over the wide ones. The Bismark bivy is one of the finest anywhere. It is flat, long, level, and pretty wide. We rolled onto the Bismark with enough time to fix the easy A1 corner to the top of the Biz. The top 12 feet is awkward and off-width so beware. Having this pitch fixed will give you some extra time to sleep-in and still top out the next day. Topping out on the summit is clean and fairly straight forward.

Those Canadian boys (Burton/Sutton) sure did nice work on this one.




Thanks, Russ, for letting me steal your copyright (Robin Hood-style, as it were), with only a passing reference after the fact:

http://fishproducts.com/index1.html

the kid

Trad climber
fayetteville, wv
Jul 27, 2010 - 08:15am PT
yes he is a legend in the old school..
Tom

Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
Jul 27, 2010 - 08:29am PT
And, if it weren't for the Old School, there would be no New School .... . . . .
oldtopangalizard

Social climber
ca
Jul 27, 2010 - 08:48pm PT
I was working with a real slick stair and rail guy in the Bay a few years ago when I mentioned I was going climbing for the weekend. He starts telling me about this guy he worked with years ago on interior stuff in the City who was apparently quite a climber. He goes on to say he was a pretty tough dude, after work knocking down a few, arm wrestling in the bar (never losing), and pretty much a real Canuck character. He forgot his last name until he told me everyone on the job called him Hey You. I told him it had to be Hugh Burton and he was more than a badass on the rock. Burton it is he said and also let me know he was solid builder.
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Jul 27, 2010 - 08:51pm PT
Largo- Too damn funny! Go easy on those mashies! LOL
11worth

Trad climber
Leavenworth & Greenwater WA
Jul 27, 2010 - 09:17pm PT
I met Hugh Burton and Steve Sutton just once in the early 70's at Castle Rock near Leavenworth Wa. After a brief conversation they made a lasting imression. I still dig out Mountain #44 July - August 1975 and read Hugh's excellent article "El Capitan up-date".
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