Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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Nov 21, 2008 - 10:27am PT
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Great anthology of stories. But let's get this much straight: the first pieces are actualluy writing samples. It is your work, Don, that introduces narrative art to the exercise. You have a very natural tone and diction that reminds me a little of Pratt at his best. I encourage you - for very selfish reasons (I love to read this stuff) - to keep writing these stores till you have enough for a book.
The Dolt piece reads like Borges' early stuff. Terrific. And very sad without being sentimental. Difficult to do, as was the hidden and silent life Dolt apparently led.
JL
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looking sketchy there...
Social climber
Latitute 33
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Nov 21, 2008 - 11:38am PT
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Don, Thank you for this post (and others) and your poignant prose. You honor Bill with a wonderful portrait of a talented and intense person. It is coming up on two years since losing one of my best friends to suicide; he was also a vibrant, talented and intense climber. Your words about the depth of your friendship becoming apparant as a result of this tragedy ring true.
Keep writing these stories. They are small treasures.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Nov 21, 2008 - 11:39am PT
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Amazing stories, Don.
Thanks for your posts.
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knieveltech
Social climber
Raleigh NC
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Nov 21, 2008 - 11:48am PT
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I procured a single dolt hex in a batch of old climbing gear. At the time I didn't know what I had but something about the quality of the piece caught my eye. Having some of the back story about it's creator is fantastic. Please, if you have more to post on the subject by all means do so. This is incredible stuff.
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Mike.
climber
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Nov 21, 2008 - 11:51am PT
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I love the D-shaped hole...perhaps coincidental, but excellent branding nonetheless.
The guy was quite a dynamo by all I can tell.
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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Nov 21, 2008 - 03:47pm PT
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This is such a cool thread.
love those pic's
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Hardly Visible
climber
Port Angeles
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Nov 21, 2008 - 04:27pm PT
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Don,
The stories you have shared with us over the last few weeks have been some of the most entertaining climbing literature that I’ve had the pleasure to read.
Thank you so much,
KR
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hobo_dan
Social climber
Minnesota
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Nov 21, 2008 - 04:28pm PT
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Thanks everyone for the wonderful stories. Very sad, very very great. very powerful
the inability to feel loved
man
Think of the balls to go up on
El Cap in the late 50's
Warbler I unclipped that Quicksilver bolt. The test we had of a really good 5.10 climber was if you could lead Quicksilver- i never did.
murf
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Eric Beck
Sport climber
Bishop, California
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Nov 21, 2008 - 06:38pm PT
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Is it true that Dolt acquired his name from taking a 20 footer stepping into an etrier clipped to his waist?
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Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 21, 2008 - 07:22pm PT
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Eric,
Almost as bad as climbing the Leaning Tower with out ever being clipped into your Jumars.
That Dolt myth is still a myth until someone confirms it.
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Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 21, 2008 - 07:31pm PT
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Eric,
I thought of another thing almost as bad: TM Herbert and his swami belt of 1-inch tubular, enough for twelve wraps around his svelte waist, with a piece of masking tape at center length.
It seems when he rolled it off the reel at West Ridge, he didn't realize that the tape was a splice. He climbed with this swami for half a season before someone noticed and informed him that he had purchased two pieces of nylon with nothing more than paper tape holding them together.
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The Warbler
climber
the edge of America
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Nov 21, 2008 - 09:04pm PT
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Don,
TM told me that crazy story about the swami - the only difference, as I remember, was that he discovered himself that tape was holding his swami together. He told me he was absentmindedly peeling the tape off his swami while sitting at a picnic table in camp. To his horror, it was hiding two cut ends butted together, and just as you said, he had been climbing on it for half the season.
Anyone who knows TM, even if they haven't heard the story, can imagine the delivery and facial expressions that go along with it.
Horrifying and hysterical at the same time!
EDIT: And Eric's story about the aider is what I always heard earned the Dolt his name.
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Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 21, 2008 - 09:11pm PT
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Well, you've probably got the correct version, but it doesn't change the moral.
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The Warbler
climber
the edge of America
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Nov 21, 2008 - 09:14pm PT
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Don,
No it doesn't. Probably didn't change TM's morals either. Fortunately - as we like him just like he is.
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Nov 21, 2008 - 11:26pm PT
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Don
Thank you for an insightful glance into the early 60’s climbing scene in southern California, its influence on Yosemite and the contribution of Bill Feuerer, aka Dolt.
Why is it so many people are history before they are recognized as genius?
You are fortunate to be one, of very few that were a confidant of Dolt.
Powell, Kamps, Chouniard, Rearick, TM, Harry Daly and many others epitomized this era in southern California that contributed so much to the development of climbing in this country.
For a bit of nostalgia, I have enclosed one of my early dream catalogs: The 1960 Dolt Catalog.
Remember, this was when gas was 24 cents a gallon, wine was $1.19 a gallon, Viet Nam was in the future, and for a kid of 14 spending more than $1.00 on a piton was a big deal!
Enjoy
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Nov 22, 2008 - 01:07am PT
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Wow, Joe - thanks for sharing that classic catalog!
I've never seen that before.
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hobo_dan
Social climber
Minnesota
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Nov 22, 2008 - 08:30am PT
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How great to still have the circles items on the catalog
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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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Nov 22, 2008 - 08:41am PT
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I always wondered what was going on before my generation hit the crags running. Now I can see what the pioneers were up to.
JL
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