A climber from the school before the Old Skool

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MH2

climber

Topic Author's Original Post - Aug 12, 2009 - 03:12am PT

On my way downhill from the grocery I caught up with two women on the trail. One of them was telling the other about rock-climbing. I followed, listening.

“We used to have to put things in our boots.”

[Reaches down to hook the sole of her shoe with thumb and forefinger]

“We couldn’t get them in Edinburgh. They had to order from London.”

“Then they came out with those rubber boots. They worked wonderfully well in summer and winter.”

One of the women came to her home and went inside, saying goodbye to the other and nice-to-have-met-you. I asked the remaining lady what had started her climbing.

“It was my church. They had a youth group. I was 17 then. That was 60 years ago.”

“They took us up to the Cairngorms. I loved it.”

“We would go by bus. Jimmie Thin(sp?) talked to everyone on the trip up and sorted us out into groups by ability and experience. Three was the best number for a climb.”

“We brought two sets of clothes. If the weather was good, we only needed one set, but if it rained we would change into the dry set when we got back to the hut. The next morning we would put on the wet clothes again, terribly cold at first, but it was about a half hour walk to the base of the climbs. Then we would change into the dry clothes again for the 3 hour ride home. I remember my mother helping me to drag the freezing wet clothes out of my pack and asking, ‘Tell me. Do you really have fun?’”

“I even led climbs. I led Severe climbs.”

“I met Edmund Hillary, the young Hillary. It was 1953. He came to Edinburgh and I got a signed copy of his book.”

“Then I came to Canada and met my husband. He didn’t climb so I didn’t go out very much.”

"We used to go up to the place where Whistler is now. Alta Lake. Coming back once we saw people along the highway at Squamish looking up. It was climbers trying to open the Chief. They didn’t succeed until another two or three years. Then they had hammocks to sleep on the cliff. I loved reading everything about it.”

“When I started going to the Seniors’ Centre I was surprised to find a group planning a trip to Nepal. I wanted to go but it was full. I got together my own group. We went to Everest. The people who lived along the path invited us into their homes for tea. The homes were not clean by our standards. I liked the people, though.”

“We lived on Eagle Island. Another resident, Jean Kay [mother of Bruce Kay] was a super climber. Once when I was out with her she asked me, ‘Do you want to go down the easy way or the interesting way?’ On the way down we were right over the cars going along Marine Drive. She had me hold a branch and then she lowered herself down by my leg. Then I had to make it down on my own.”

“It was nice to talk to someone who understands.”

pimp daddy wayne

climber

Manchester, VT

Aug 12, 2009 - 03:54am PT

awesome

Scared Silly

Trad climber

Aug 12, 2009 - 09:17am PT

‘Do you want to go down the easy way or the interesting way?’

What a hoot!!

Captain...or Skully

Social climber

Boise....

Aug 12, 2009 - 09:34am PT

That's very cool......
Ya know, back in like '92 or so, I was boulderin' at Indian Rock & this OLD lady comes up & asks me if I ever heard of her old boyfriend. He was Willi Unsoeil. She said they used to climb there, too. Then she wished she had some of those "new fangled" shoes. Would have made things a mite easier, she said.
Very cool Lady, let me tell ya!
Old Dads (& Moms) RULED!

cowpoke

climber

Aug 12, 2009 - 09:41am PT

wow, thanks for sharing such a beautiful story...conversations like that are treasures to savor. thanks for letting us it enjoy it too. awesome post.

MisterE

Trad climber

Canoga Porn, CA

Aug 12, 2009 - 09:49am PT

So cool to be there for those memories - thanks for the share.

Gary

climber

Desolation Basin, Calif.

Aug 12, 2009 - 09:53am PT

What the cowpoke said. Those are special moments indeed. What a cool lady.

squishy

Mountain climber

sacramento

Aug 12, 2009 - 11:10am PT

beautiful post, we need more of this documented...what was her name?

"“It was nice to talk to someone who understands.” " put so well...

Boymeetsrock

Trad climber

the east

Aug 12, 2009 - 11:14am PT

Great story!

Ghost

climber

A long way from where I started

Aug 12, 2009 - 11:32am PT

This is interesting in another way, as well. That is, the next time you find yourself muttering about how slow some old guy is in the bank-teller line in front of you, or wish some old gal would hurry up a bit so you can get on with whatever it is she's holding you up from, think about the fact that they might once have been ten times more badass than you can ever hope to be.

klk

Trad climber

cali

Aug 12, 2009 - 12:04pm PT

best post ever

Fuzzywuzzy

climber

Aug 12, 2009 - 12:23pm PT

Ghost - you got it!!!

We never, or rarely know what others have been through.

So compassion, patience and empathy should be employed whenever possible.

I've got to remind myself of this daily!!!

Great story.

Barcus

Trad climber

San Luis Obispo, Ca.

Aug 12, 2009 - 12:40pm PT

There's NO school like the OLD school!
Awsome post!
Marcus

adventurous one

Trad climber

Truckee Ca.

Aug 12, 2009 - 12:56pm PT

Nice story. Thanks for sharing it.

We are all going to be old soon enough. Then all we will have to entertain ourselves are memories and stories to tell the youngins. Someday things like the thought of climbing with protection that actually popped out and failed occasionally and climbing with huge, heavy 10mm ropes that could actually be sawed through on a fall over a serated edge will probably seem primitive and badass.

Hope everyone is out making memories and great stories this week. (and keep taking pictures for your senior center slide show)

JEleazarian

Trad climber

Fresno CA

Aug 12, 2009 - 01:04pm PT

Stories like this inspire me. About 20 years ago, while my wife and I were hiking, we met a couple from New Zealand in their 80's. Their legs looked as strong as ever, and they said they even still did a little climbing, though now only in the Very Difficult range (easy fifth class for those unfamiliar with British ratings). We decided then and there that we would never let ourselves believe we were too old to enjoy the mountains properly.

John

Mighty Hiker

Social climber

Vancouver, B.C.

Aug 12, 2009 - 01:12pm PT

A nice story. As my father (83) and his generation did some quite amazing stuff, I'm always exposed to it. It is sad when you sometimes run into climbers who, in their adolescent certitude, think they have nothing to learn from their elders.

Reilly

Mountain climber

Monrovia, CA

Aug 12, 2009 - 01:25pm PT

Very nicely related! There's no school like the old school especially when they're Brits. They had hard lives to begin with in most cases so cold wet clothes coupled with a day out was not something to complain about. Those of us of the woolie pre-goretex gen can relate to a point. When you read "The Hard Years" and see what they went through just to go climbing puts a lot into perspective. On the other hand they didn't have to worry about being 'tooled' for setting their cooler in the wrong place.

I had the delightful honor of guiding an old schooler up Rainier BITD. She had done some FA's in the Tetons with the Ortenburgers. Call me a nostalgic atavist but it sure seems like they had more fun and appreciated it more back then.

I did have one problem with her despite her completely delightful persona. On the descent she kept slipping. This began to have serious potential on the steep part of the Cleaver so I short-roped her like a bad dog. Luckily, because she weighed all of 105 pounds I could almost jerk her to her feet with one arm. When we got to Camp Muir she fessed up. Seems she had an inner ear problem and had gone off her meds for the climb!

Alan Rubin

climber

Amherst,MA.

Aug 12, 2009 - 01:26pm PT

Great post. I recall reading an article in a British climbing rag once, in which the writer described being at a climbing club gathering and observing a teenaged hotshot engaged in a lively conversation with a fellow club member who was well into his '80s. The writer noted that there were probably few other activities in which this intergenerational conversation was likely, let alone relatively common. His conclusion was that all climbers--even retired ones, whatever their chronological age, were really 18 at heart!!!!! I've seen nothing since to challenge this insight.

Bill Hutchins

Trad climber

Maryland

Aug 12, 2009 - 01:37pm PT

What a wonderful story! Thank you for sharing it with us. And Ghost makes a terrific point.

jstan

climber

Aug 12, 2009 - 02:00pm PT

Yeah, I once had an argument with this guy. I think his name was Wiessner. Can't stand these old folks who think they have something to say. I'm damned sure I'll never get that old.

The lady in the OP probably was also able to do one arms.

adam d

climber

Aug 12, 2009 - 02:15pm PT

Love seeing the old moms and dads crushing!

A few years back I organized a New Years bash at Joshua Tree, camping in a group site in Indian Cove. Ended up being ~40 people, climbers and otherwise. One day we took a respite from personal climbing to take a bunch of the non-climbers top roping at the short wall. As they struggled and laughed up those 5.easy routes we belayed and offered encouragement. Then a couple, must have been 70 each, walked up and slowly and methodically got their socks, shoes and tape just right before stepping up to a crack each and soloing upward like anti-gravity cold molasses...smooth and slow, with several laps to follow. At first some of my girls were shocked, but then they realized how solid and awesome those two were. And they were right. I managed to keep my ego in check at the time and not share that I did the same when I had the place to myself, faster but most likely not as smoothly as those two from the Old Old skool.

nature

climber

Tucson, AZ

Aug 12, 2009 - 02:20pm PT

thank you.

Fletcher

Trad climber

a buttery white sand beach... I wish!

Aug 12, 2009 - 02:45pm PT

This is wonderful. Thanks.

My mother-in-law wrote a nice remembrance of her days as a young woman working in Yosemite Valley (late 1940's). I've been meaning to share that (it's fine with her) and will do that shortly. She's not a climber, but I thought she caught a spirit of the time.

Eric

Fletcher

Trad climber

a buttery white sand beach... I wish!

Aug 12, 2009 - 04:02pm PT

Actually, her remembrance of Yosemite is from 1954. Here it is:

Summer Escapades in Yosemite 1954

I had just graduated from Arizona State College in Phoenix Arizona. A recruiter for students to work in Yosemite appeared. I applied. I was accepted to work in their office in the Prepaid Orders for tickets for various day trips. I had worked in the office at Kaiser Steel in Fontana California for 1 year between my sophomore and junior years. This gave me some experience in office work, and thusly I was hired.

My work began from May through Labor Day. What a great summer that was. I lived in the women’s dorm. The scenery was spectacular. A glaciated valley with meadows, streams and rivers running through, high sheer cliffs surrounded the valley. I joined the employees’ social group in the evenings and weekends. We did square dancing, gave choir recitals and musicals on the Camp Curry Stage for the tourists, had bar-b-ques alongside the rushing Merced river while one of the employees played his violin, and even went swimming in the Merced river.

Another activity was hiking. Maxine and I planned to take a high country hike one weekend. Somehow we hitched a ride up to Tuolumne Meadows. We were in the valley at the 4000 foot level and rode with someone in their car to the 8000 foot level. We spent the night there in a rented tent at Tuolumne Meadows.

We began our hike the next day. We carried our day packs on our backs. I had just bought my first camera. How exciting was that! We planned to hike through to Merced Lake and then hike down to the valley. All went well. Being very frugal, I had bread in my back pack. I had a jacket, and my new pink nylon pajamas and a few sundries.

Other hikers had told us to make lots of noise while hiking so as not to scare any bears. If bears get scared they could perhaps attack you. This was something we wanted to avoid. We did meet some deer in the forest. They froze, with their backs to us as we walked on the trail. They were tan in color with tails hanging straight down with a white patch of fur under the tail with their heads turned to the side staring at us with their huge brown eyes and ears erect and still as a statue.

We walked by streams, and through meadows and tall pine trees. I was fascinated by the sugar pine with their very long 18 inch pine cones. I tied four of the pine cones to the top of my pack. In those days it was okay to collect pine cones. I took lots of pictures with my very small camera. I was so proud and happy to have this camera. It was exciting to take so many pictures. In those days the film was black and white. The photos would be in black and white, not colored like today’s photos. We were still walking the trail when Maxine said she’d like to get a drink of water by the stream which was a few feet through the trees and down a small slope. The water was cold and tasted good. We had left our packs on the trail. When we came up to the trail I could not believe my eyes. There standing beside my pack was a huge sandy colored bear. I thought this would make a great photo, the only problem was that the camera was in my pack. I screamed and hollered and raised my two arms high in the air, to no avail. The bear grabbed my pack and loped through the woods so fast. How could an animal this big gallop so fast through the pine trees? I started to chase him through the woods. The soft padding of the pine needles gave a spring to my steps. Maxine was on the trail. She shouted “Denise, come back, come back, please come back!” I pursued on with the chase dashing in and around the trees. The bear was outdistancing me. He had my camera in the day pack! Then all of a sudden the bear stopped. Then, I stopped. I froze, stared at him and waited. He dropped the pack, turned his head in my direction and gave me a hiss “sssss”. I remained in place. Then he continued on through the woods. I ventured further following the direction of his path. I came upon my pack. The pine cones were still neatly tied around the top. However, something was missing. I opened the pack. It was the loaf of bread and the pink nylon pajamas! Was the bear hungry, or did the bear want something fancy to sleep in? I did get my camera back. That was a close call. I did find my way back to the trail.

Another activity while working in Yosemite was to fill in as a waitress for approximately two nights a week. I was a neophyte in this activity. This took place at the oh so exclusive Ahwahnee Hotel. It is still a fine hotel, but in those days it was the absolute finest dining experience in a National Park. I donned the brown cotton knee length dress uniform with a half white apron, a white round collar, and a white waitress- type headdress much like the nurses wear. The hotel gave us a dinner in a special room adjacent to the serving room. There were experienced waitresses there, but I was not one of them. I took the orders for one of the tables. It was “prime rib au jus”. I was being very careful to serve the dish by standing on the diner’s right side, with my left hand holding the plate. That went all very well, except while placing the plate in front of the diner, I just wasn’t experienced enough to know to hold the plate straight and steady. In those days, the men wore their best suits to such a dinner. Well you know what happened next, the “au jus” spilled onto the man’s trousers. I was so nervous, I started to laugh and couldn’t stop laughing. The laughter was uncontrollable, as I was getting more nervous. I tend to laugh when I get nervous. Finally the experienced waitress came to my rescue. She apologized to the man and took over the serving of the table. I would suspect that the Hotel took care of cleaning the trousers. I quickly left the scene and went to the serving room to hide out for quite a long while! Surprisingly, they still used me as a waitress. I would see the waitresses carry orders on big silver trays over their shoulders. It looked so easy. One evening I decided to try this. I did this a couple of times so I felt confident. That was my downfall. As I walked from the serving room through the swinging doors into the dining area, the tray started to wobble. I tried to steady it, but overcompensated and CRASH all the serving plates etc. fell to the floor. I was quickly whisked away. Someone from the kitchen help came to clean up the mess. I did not carry trays over my shoulder ever again. My whole experience was not disastrous. I was successful doing the accounting in the office. In spite of these escapades, I loved the whole summer there.

Another activity was going on the balcony of the Awahnee Hotel to see the firefall. I wondered “What is this Firefall everyone is talking about?” At the top of glacier point which rose above the valley to a height of approximately 6000 feet, a fire was made. When the fire turned into red-hot coals around 9 PM the coals were pushed down the ledge, and thusly was born the Firefall. That has been disbanded due to our consciousness toward keeping things according to nature, and not as an amusement park. Another activity was to see the moon bow. On certain nights of a full moon, there was talk among the employees about seeing a moon bow over Yosemite falls. What is a moon bow? A rainbow appears during rain and sun. The moon bow appears during full moon and the waterfall – It appears as a white arch. I did manage to go one time, but saw nothing. The talk was that the conditions had to be exactly right for the apparition to appear. Was this moon bow fact or fiction?

As a result of my enjoyment of the summer of 1954, I planned many summer vacation trips for my husband & I & four children. We camped in Yosemite in a tent and later in a tent trailer at the Lower Pines Camp Site on the Merced river.

The summer of 1954 created a great impact on my life.