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Sascha
climber
Sebastopol, CA
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Sep 25, 2009 - 02:43pm PT
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Shipoopi isn't just a brilliant climber; he's an extremely competent instructor and guide -- not to mention hilarious. In a nutshell, he's the guy you want teaching you how to place better pro, manage your rope more efficiently, commit to that exposed move, or use a wagbag at the belay. As his client, you'll feel safe, supported, challenged exactly as much as you want to be, and thoroughly entertained.
Check out his website:
http://www.blondeambitionguiding.com/
I'm going to Patagonia with Steve in January. Anyone want to come? Yeah, it's a lot of money, but it's SO worth it.
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
In the mountains... somewhere...
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Sep 25, 2009 - 03:51pm PT
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Steve's always been a nice guy. And I don't know anyone more motivated. I ran into him in Tuolumne a couple weeks ago. I was complaining that we got rained off Shipoopi with only a couple warm up pitches done. He countered that it was a hell of a long way to walk to Conness to get rained off after only two pitches there. As usual, his tail was better than mine.
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pyrosis
Trad climber
Flagstaff, AZ
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Sep 25, 2009 - 03:55pm PT
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When I was 18 (1997) I met Steve at the gallery in Red Rocks. I had just got the thorough beat down and couldn't finish "Day in the Life." At my request, he graciously hiked the route and got my draws back for me. Thanks, Steve!
-Tavis
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r2d2
Trad climber
East Bay
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Sep 25, 2009 - 04:15pm PT
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Shipoopi is the best. (Big Wall, Ice, Free Climbing, etc)
He is also a very good guide.(Safe, thoughtful, full-service and encouraging)
Have some blonde jokes ready before you talk to him, or asking him for some good ones. He loves blonde jokes.
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ron gomez
Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
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Sep 25, 2009 - 04:55pm PT
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Yeah, I'm hanging in Tuolumne this summer with my wife not long after the Bachar memorial...gettin' late and we're setting up to go to sleep. I hear some funky noise in our camp, thinkin' it's a bear! Steve pulls in looking for a place to crash, says he's worn out his welcome in all the other camps that weekend, we invite him to hang, so we sit around till probably midnight sharing great stories and drinkin' Jack on the rocks. Was great to have you come by Steve, always got a welcome and place to crash, on me.
Peace Brother
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ryankelly
Trad climber
sf
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Sep 25, 2009 - 07:03pm PT
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steve rocks
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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Sep 25, 2009 - 09:13pm PT
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Steve is one of the best climbers in the world;...he has soloed 2 El Cap routes in a Day, and done 3 El Cap routes in a day...(Do I have that right?)......that right there is so out there;.....think about it........He's a awesome dude, loves climbing, stuck with it all these years;.....I have the most respect for him .....he's always super friendly when I see him too......an amazing fellow, a task master, and a real climber.
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
Idaho, also. Sorta, kinda mostly, Yeah.
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Sep 25, 2009 - 09:32pm PT
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Hey, Shipoopi....Thanks for bein' so freaky & friendly.
Always a pleasure, sir.
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Hardman Knott
Gym climber
Muir Woods National Monument, Mill Valley, Ca
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Sep 25, 2009 - 09:42pm PT
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Did Steve knott bag the second ascent of Bachar-Yerian?
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r2d2
Trad climber
East Bay
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Sep 26, 2009 - 01:24am PT
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Yes, indeed. He did the second ascent of Bacher Yerian. Bad ass!
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Sep 26, 2009 - 03:00am PT
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I used to climb with Steve back before he broke into 5.12... I think Neanderthals still roamed the earth and maybe also climbed in Yosemite.
I should have seen his talent coming so strong. He'd drag me up a bunch of 5.10 and 5.11..I'd be destroyed and he'd be fresh, It didn't matter that the climbs were wet or whatever.
He dragged me up the Rostrum and my arms were like rubber two pitches below the top to where I had to pray to God for strength for a couple more pitches. He was fresh and claimed he could hardly do 10 pullups.
I doubt that but even climbing 5.13+/5.14 he always looked skinny and scrawney.
So I blew my mind that this stick figure could solo all 5 towers of Paine in a push. How'd he even carry the pack to basecamp?
The dude is fun, funny and one of a kind. Heather rocks too.
There's probably some appropriate slander that applies to him as well. I don't much care as I have a special name for the only people who I don't know slander about, I call them "Strangers"
Peace out Shippoopi!
Baba
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the kid
Trad climber
fayetteville, wv
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Sep 26, 2009 - 08:47am PT
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Steve is the MAn. Still so motivated and climbing strong!
I spent many a day climbing with Steve and doing sketchy f.a's
He is one of the legends of the 80's!
kurt
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allapah
climber
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Sep 26, 2009 - 03:52pm PT
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he showed me the Orinda theatre- still one of the most classic art deco aretes i've ever climbed...
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Gagner
climber
Boulder
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Sep 26, 2009 - 04:38pm PT
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I first met Steve in Chico in 1979. It was my first day in town and at the dorm. I'd heard of this buildering traverse on the engineering building and was walking across the parking lot with my EB's to check it out when up pulled this beater car with Steve and Rick Harlan. Steve leaned out and said "hey, you must be a climber, we're headed to the Valley, want to go?" Well, that was the beginning of the end. I ended up flunking out of Chico that semester, but I got an "A" in Yosemite crack climbing 101. Over Easter Steve and I had a semi epic first wall together up the South face of Watkins. We had storms, broken bolts, and ended up coming down the wrong side of the creek. Needless to say we had plenty of other supplies to keep us going. Steve and I have done several other walls together and lots of free climbing over the years, including our April of this year trip up Tribal Rite - 30 years after our Watkins trip. Steve has always been one of my dearest friends. He is super fun to climb with, extremely generous, and as has been pointed out up-thread, totally solid. Ohh, and Werners right about the cross-dressing thing:)
Paul
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CF
climber
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Sep 26, 2009 - 04:48pm PT
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wayne w
Trad climber
the nw
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Sep 26, 2009 - 05:24pm PT
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Chris Falkenstein (CF) came up on the first day we were on Lurking Fear and took shots of us on the ascent I mentioned earlier in the thread. Thanks for posting up that one Chris.
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wayne burleson
climber
Amherst, MA
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Sep 28, 2009 - 12:15am PT
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Steve's a magic dude, always inspiring and great friend to many.
I met Steve in about 1982 at Lover's Leap.
A bunch of us were way impressed with him since, unlike
the stonemasters, he seemed mortal and more like us,
yet could crank way beyond our abilities.
We saw him a lot in the Meadows that year and I remember
him fiercely playing RISK in a tent in the rain and seeing his detailed notebooks of FAs and even all the routes he had ever done. One night his little white Ford van pulled into the parking lot and he stuck his head out with his signature glasses and said "maaannnnn... thtopper popped on the headwall".
He had knocked out his front teeth when a stopper had popped on a speed ascent of the Salathe with Cashner. I don't recall if they made it in under 24h, but they did press on despite Schneider's bloody face. The legend grew...
In 1986 I moved from the Bay Area to Boulder and Schneider came
with a group of us to check out the Colorado rock. Schneider
tore up the classics in Eldorado but dignified himself by forgetting his climbing shoes when we went up to do the Diamond. Maybe he was human...
Sport climbing hit in the late 80's and Schneider hit his pink phase. He'd climbed with Kim Carrigan some and had gone to Buoux quite early so taught us all how to wear lycra and leg warmers. It was during this period he told me about going to a comp in Portland and falling off the opening moves. His mom was in the audience and he felt so bad that he immediately jammed out to Smith and did an early flash of Darkness at Noon.
1990 I moved back to the East coast, and again Schneider joined for a trip to the Gunks. Unlike many other visitors to the Gunks, Schneider seemed to have no problem adapting to the thuggishness and funky gear, and quickly bagged hard testpieces including Gravity's Rainbow and a flash of Super Crack.
Around 1996, Schneider joined us up in Rumney back before the crag had gained its notoriety. Shipoopi knew Mallory from Valley daze way back and held his own in the jive-talking that was then fashionable. He also did a quick ascent of Thin Man, an early 13 there. He's a great storyteller too and had us captivated by some tale about getting mugged near his Oakland home.
At this point, I'd lost track of Steve's climbing. It was way off my charts. I would get a phone call out of the blue. He'd be on the Headwall or Zodiac in a day or in an airport going to Patagonia, and he would just call me on his cell. I think my name beginning wiht a "B" put me near the front of his phone list...
In about 2000, Schneider and Heather were in Boston for a Bandaloop gig and we got together briefly. My fondest memory is of Steve slack-lining on an iron chain in the Boston Common and playing tag with my 2-year-old among the lifesize brass Make Way for Ducklings... When my third kid was born, I recall Steve calling and greeting me with "dude, now you're hosed!!". But then he visited again in about 2004 and played with my 3 kids in our garage gym. He even gave a little slide show in our living room of El Nino and Torres del Paine.
We spoke most recently a few weeks ago, discussing the recent losses of Bachar and Luebben, both close to him. I told him, "don't let me be reading about you on Supertopo now." He assured me that he is Mr. Safe and he always has been, despite the rad scary stuff he does on rock, he swore off many other life-threatening options (e.g. free-soloing, base-jumping, Alaskan mtns.) Still I worry... but I tell myself he's magic...
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Sep 28, 2009 - 11:53am PT
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Shipoopi is da Nazzzz! He has transcended blond... into whiteness.
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Chef Dan
Gym climber
San Francisco
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I met Steve and twenty minutes later I was climbing outside for the first time in my life, Fairview Dome, then the next day, Cathedral Peak. Two classic climbs with a living legend, how lucky can a guy get?
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habitat
climber
grass pass
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An all-around HOT blonde......
Pretty in Pink too.......
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