Indian Rock and the Valley around 1970. some photos

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#310

Social climber
Telluride, CO
Sep 6, 2009 - 05:28pm PT
Marty Martin is now Marty Martin Kuntz. Marti has lived just outside of Telluride, in Ames, for about 30 years. She and husband Dave are partners in an organic orchard in the low lands nearby.

Peter Haan

Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
Sep 6, 2009 - 07:37pm PT
Thanks #310. Hearing this I am really glad for Marty; she and I always had fun.
FredC

Boulder climber
Santa Cruz, CA
Sep 6, 2009 - 09:01pm PT
Wow! So cool to see those photos. It takes me right back.
Mike Loughman sold me my first pair of red PA's in 1970.

Peter, you talked me up watercourse the first time I did it.

Some time about 1972 or so Amy and I were exactly the same height and reach. It was fun to vie to be the first to do some problem or other.

The last time I saw Luke he had picked up this really cool Aussie accent. I commented on it and he said his kids made fun of him for speaking so American.

I ran into Amy last week at the Berkeley climbing gym and we worked on some icky toprope. It was only 39 years ago we did that every weekend. She can still climb!

Fred Cook
JEleazarian

Trad climber
Fresno CA
Sep 6, 2009 - 09:32pm PT
Boy does this thread bring back great memories. I loved Indian Rock probably more than any other place in my Berkeley years (1969-73).

One time, I think around 1972, Matt and Bruce Pollack and I were bouldering there when we saw a couple of Berkeley PD cars driving up rather purposefully in the direction of the Rock. Matt and Bruce kidded about hiding the dope, but before we knew it, we were "asked" to come out to the street with our hands up. When we got there, the cops said "You don't look like who we're looking for, but we need to check anyway. You didn't see anyone brandishing a gun coming by here, did you?" We decided maybe it would be best to come back later. . .

Thanks, Darwin and Peter, for reminding me of such a wonderful time and place. It's also great to see you weigh in, Fred. I'm pretty sure I read an article about bouldering at Indian Rock (in the mid-70's?) featuring you. I was living in LA by then, and it killed me to read it and not be there (not to mention that it made me feel old to see you all grown up!)

Thanks again, everyone.

John
bluering

Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
Sep 7, 2009 - 01:44pm PT
pretty sweet pics.
Maysho

climber
Truckee, CA
Sep 7, 2009 - 02:32pm PT
Hey Fred C(ook)!! Nice to see you here on supertopo!

Hope you are having a great summer, lets do some skating together this winter! And maybe some bouldering at the good old rock this fall.

Peter


Jaybro

Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
Sep 7, 2009 - 09:18pm PT
Yeah Randisi, that sounds like Mr Smooth.
FredC

Boulder climber
Santa Cruz, CA
Sep 7, 2009 - 10:21pm PT
Hi Peter,

I just discovered this site recently. It is really fun to hear from all those old climber types. For unknown reasons my girlfriend and I spent 9 days in the Meadows this summer. I had to actually purchase climbing gear since my stuff is a little old. We did a bunch of fun easy climbs, Tenaya Peak, North Ridge of Conness, I even did the left water crack for the first time in about 30 years. That think is just as weird as I remembered it. We had a great time.

I just came from Indian Rock. I am so totally weak I needed chalk to get up the stairs. I can't do anything I used to. I think it is time to get the director's chair and a megaphone and maybe a laser pointer and just give people "advice".

Speaking of advice, your guidance has made me feel like a born-again skater. I am ready for snow, any time.

Fred


David Wilson

climber
CA
Sep 7, 2009 - 10:47pm PT
Fred, You should still be able to do some serious sandbagging at Indian Rock. In the mid 80's when I was climbing with Chris Balinger, you were holding your own showing us triple variations of the.....my memory fails me - time to get back to it.
Fuzzywuzzy

climber
Sep 8, 2009 - 11:27am PT
Wow, Peter, a blond???!!!!

Thanks for the photos - great memories.

I first met Matt, Bruce and Luke in C4 - their site was like a "experiment" in shelter design! Makeshift quoncets (sp), plastic sheets bent over limbs, etc.. Very innovative. They were the real deal. I remember Luke casually stating, "anybody can climb 5.10". He knew it was mental and showed us over and over again - he was very relaxed and skilled.

Werner do you remember Lukes stories about hitching across the Sahara?
Jaybro

Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
Sep 8, 2009 - 11:30am PT
FredC, make ScuffyB take you to a WydeW (wide Wednesday)
FredC

Boulder climber
Santa Cruz, CA
Sep 8, 2009 - 03:47pm PT
Oh no, no way I'm getting back in offwidth cracks! Those things are really hard. I did Generator and Chingando around 1973 and I am still in therapy.
Rick L

Trad climber
El Dorado Hills, CA
Sep 8, 2009 - 04:04pm PT
Darwin-

Thanks for the photos. Brings back alot of memories. Do you have any photos of Bruce Cooke? I tried a case in Alameda County with your brother in law, Peter, several years ago. He is a great guy. Small world.

Regards

Rick
JEleazarian

Trad climber
Fresno CA
Sep 8, 2009 - 05:58pm PT
Rick L.,

Good to hear from you. I think it was about 15 years ago that one of my law partners had a case with you, and said you were still climbing. I, too, would love to see a picture of Bruce from, say, 1969-73 when I was frequenting the Rock.

John
Clu

Social climber
Sep 8, 2009 - 09:46pm PT
Rick L, I climb with Rick Christiani in Berkeley every week. Also bouldered with Dave A, Bruce C, Jim C, Fred C, Dale B, Alan B, Peter H, Ben B, Vern C, John E, Bill F, David M, Chris V, Steve M, Galen R, Nat S, Scott F, Eric B, Tom H, Peter M, Bruce F, Darwin, Amy/Michael L, et al. Funny how Jim C and Bruce C were sooo much older than us, and now we are there...or not. Charles L.
scuffy b

climber
Sinatra to Singapore
Sep 8, 2009 - 10:17pm PT
Thanks for posting those great pictures, Darwin.

I remember Borson in those shorts of his!!

I first showed up there in Dec 71, just after your pictures.
I was new, but I'd heard of Peter. He'd done the Salathe and the
Hourglass and 3rd-classed Crack of Despair that year: there was
an article by RR in Summit (best known for his bouldering
prowess at Indian Rock...


So I started going there, Xmas break in college, started absorbing the scene. Peter showed up most of the times I went
there, always in some pretty frayed wool knickers and some
pretty frayed PAs.

Then one day he arrived in some Brand New wool knickers and some
Brand New PAs and there was a bunch of sideways glancing around
among the regulars.

There was usually a lot of action in the Pit at that time.
People did way more problems, more weird ones, greater range of
difficulty. At any given time, there were always several things
going on at once.

Peter touched the rock this day, and Everybody Stopped What They
Were Doing.
Stood back. Dropped their Jaws. Novice, Honed, Jaded, what have
you. He stopped the freakin show. He may not have touched the
ground for ten or fifteen minutes. Up, Down, across, launching,
Down-Mantling...

so This is what Robbins means by Bouldering Prowess...

Randisi, I was doing an all-night lightless descent from Arrow-
head Arete (just missed walking off the first rappel in the
chimney). Pulled off the top of a little outcrop when I lost
my balance almost all the way down. It glanced off my face and
smuushed my arm. We just kept going, made it to the clinic at
4 AM.

It didn't mess with my crimping, and I never could pull very
hard, so all in all it wasn't too tough to compensate for.

Nowadays I can't crimp anymore either, so I decided to learn
OffWidth--it all comes from the stomach.
Rick L

Trad climber
El Dorado Hills, CA
Sep 9, 2009 - 03:25pm PT
John and Charles-

Nice to hear from you. John, I haven't seen you in ages- hope you are doing well. Who was your law partner? It's been a while, unfortunately, since I've been active. Before going back into work and sloth-imposed retirement I was, however, able to pull off the uncontested Heaviest Human Ascent (HHA) of Lucky Streaks with my pal, Dave Calfee. Charles- Please give my best to Rick Christiani- we worked together at the old North Face in the Stanford Barn, climbed locally a bunch and did our first walls together in the late 60's.

I have some very fond memories of bouldering at Indian Rock- what a magical melting pot of young and old, aspiring and world-class. I will never forget Bruce Cooke - in his 60's then - wheeling up on his bike, lacing his shoes and cranking off one arms from a fist jam in the tree in the Pit before gracefully floating up all kinds of problems others flailed upon. When one stops and thinks about the climbers who have passed through Indian Rock, the list is mind-boggling. And what a great place to sand- bag stars from afar. I can't imagine how slick the Watercourse problems must be today.

Regards

Rick
JEleazarian

Trad climber
Fresno CA
Sep 9, 2009 - 03:39pm PT
Rick, Steve McGee was my partner in the case I'm thinking of. I'm no longer practicing (although Martindale keeps telling me that if I pay $59.00, they'll keep publishing my "AV." I wonder if I should tell them I resigned three years ago?). In my case it was a combination of sloth and mental health needs that ended my practice. I hope your enjoying these pre-golden years.

Charlie L,

Great to hear from you, too. I have a vague recollection that you and someone else tried doing the Robbins Leap blindfolded. Am I correct?

John
Clu

Social climber
Sep 9, 2009 - 06:41pm PT
John E, that would be Cliff Coleman. Don't think it was the Robbins Leap though...but it was on the Great Overhang. Cliff was always up to some hijink or other. He wanted to race down Claremont, me on my Masi, he on a skateboard. Now he's doing yo-yo demos internationally. Of all the misfits of that era...sheesh, what a character. Rick L, Rick C has fond memories as well, he's a commercial architect in SF.
TripL7

Trad climber
san diego
May 19, 2010 - 01:01am PT
That looks like Paul Cowan with Amy and Mike at Indian Rock in the second to last photo!
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