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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 28, 2009 - 02:04pm PT
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[This is a new and improved version of the original account. Two illustrative videos have been added.]
The "how many pullups could you do before you reached your current nadir of decrepitude" thread got me to thinking about stupid feats of strength, apparently an active sideline for many climbers.
Although I see no hope of achieving either fame or notoriety for mere feats of strength, a very competitive category, when stupidity is added to the mix I believe I can taste the gold, which is not to say that there aren't worthy competitors who have also managed to combine exceptional physical prowess with notable intellectual deficits.
As my entry in the sweepstakes, I offer the saga of the triple lever.
Most of you probably know what a front lever is. John Gill did 'em one-handed. The performer's body is held rigidly horizontal, facing up, suspended from straight arms. Its a bit harder than it looks.
(Gill doing the ordinary two-hand variety)
Now a double front lever requires two idio...er, performers. The first does a front lever on whatever apparatus is available, and the second does a front lever off the shoulders of the first. You can see where this is headed. In a triple front lever, a third person does a front lever on the shoulders of the second person, who is doing a front lever on the shoulders of the first person.
There is, of course, no limit to this process in theory, but in practice the top person, sometimes referred to in the technical literature as the chief idiot, has to support his or her own weight and in addition the weights of the assistant idiots underneath. At some point, the design limits of the chief's sinews will be exceeded, and so there is a practical, if not theoretical, limit to the number of levering losers.
In our case, there were three of us who could do front levers, and so a triple lever it was. In addition to myself, the cast included the legendary Gunks master Jim McCarthy and the much-beloved "Mayor of the Gunks" Kevin Bein.
Of the three of us, Jim was the biggest and strongest in absolute terms, so it was clear that he would be on top. Kevin, who had survived long ground falls directly onto his head, was apparently the most durable, and since it was to be many years before crash pads would appear on the scene, we put him on the bottom. That left the middle position for me.
Before taking our show on the road, we naturally practiced it under ideal gym conditions. Jim did a front lever on the rings, I pulled into a front lever on his shoulders, Kevin popped into a lever on my shoulders and we started to count off the requisite three seconds of holding for full gymnastic credit.
Somewhere around two Jim's hands exploded off the rings and the whole ham sandwich hit the one-inch horsehair gym mat with a loud thud combined with the triple "uuuhhh" resulting from the attending full-body compressions.
Here is a contemporary repetition of our feat:
[Click to View YouTube Video]
Having thus perfected our craft, we went on to our first engagement, a typical Vulgarian rave at Tom Scheur's house. Here, after ingesting various judgment-relaxing palliatives, we determined to perform our feat of strength for an audience unable to distinguish between reality and fantasy and suffering from various exotic and usually pleasurable forms of attention-deficit disorder.
There being no ring set available, we settled on the next best thing, a beefy quarter-inch doorjam at the top of a flight of stairs leading down to the basement. Jim pulled into his lever, I followed suit on his shoulders, and Kevin just barely managed to crank into the horizontal position on my shoulders when Jim's grip on the quarter-inch edge inexplicably failed.
With toes pointed and in perfect form, the team made the rather arduous journey down to the basement, accompanied by thunderous thudding and various exclamations of discomfort, especially from Kevin, doing yeoman duty on the bottom as combination crash pad and rocket sled. The audience treated our sudden disappearance and the subsequent sounds of mayhem with the equanimity one would expect of those languishing in the midst of private miracles.
Our faith in Kevin's indestructibility was well-placed, and we mounted the stairs sore but uninjured to the puzzled looks of our fans, who were unsure where we had gone and why we were now returning from the basement.
Although there were no lasting injuries, our memory of the various impacts argued for retirement, and so the saga of the triple lever came to a premature and inglorious end.
Time marches on, and even the most highly-trained athletes such as ourselves eventually have their most exceptional achievements regularly performed at middle-school talent shows. So it should be no surprise that, our heartbreaking failures notwithstanding, the triple lever is alive and well in the twenty-first century:
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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Ray Olson
Trad climber
Imperial Beach, California
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Oct 28, 2009 - 02:25pm PT
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sweet story well told
thank you for sharing sir
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 28, 2009 - 04:29pm PT
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"If this was performed by 3 good looking women- I really like it.
3 men, especially climbers- Not so much."
Yeah Pate, I feel your pain. And I miss Ouch, who could certainly serve up your heart's desire. Peter?
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gonzo chemist
climber
the Orange Curtain
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Oct 28, 2009 - 05:35pm PT
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With toes pointed and in perfect form, the team made the rather arduous journey down to the basement, accompanied by thunderous thudding and various exclamations of discomfort, especially from Kevin, doing yeoman duty on the bottom as combination crash pad and rocket sled. The audience treated our sudden disappearance and the subsequent sounds of mayhem with the equanimity one would expect of those languishing in the midst of private miracles.
I almost sprayed coffee through my nose when I read this. Definitely one of the funniest bits of writing I've read in a while on here...
Thanks for posting that up, rgold!
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C. Small wall climber.
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Oct 28, 2009 - 05:40pm PT
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Like Daryl's nude bicycle tour of the Four Seasons restaurant, a moment that should have been immortalized on YouTube.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Oct 28, 2009 - 05:50pm PT
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another Taco classic
"inexplicably"
yes, most assuredly "inexplicable" is the word I would use too. yep. you betcha.
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MH2
climber
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Oct 28, 2009 - 08:06pm PT
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A lawyer, a mathematician, and a mayor...
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Oct 28, 2009 - 08:15pm PT
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nice.
that'll motivate me to get down to the basement and hang the rings.
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scuffy b
climber
Whuttiz that Monstrosicos Inferno?
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Oct 28, 2009 - 09:05pm PT
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having thus perfected our craft
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Oct 28, 2009 - 10:41pm PT
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Invention of the crash pad:
The "Before" shot.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 29, 2009 - 12:38am PT
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Kevin may have served as a human crashpad in our lever misadventure, but his house in the Gunks was a reknowned climber's crash pad, in the original sense, and he is loved and missed by all of us who were fortunate enough to know him. Here's Kevin's cover shot from a 1970 issue of Climbing Magazine.
We lost Kevin in 1988 in a rappelling accident on the Hornli Ridge of the Matterhorn, and our world became just a little darker. Twenty-one years later, it is a rare day when I'm out at the cliffs and do not think of him. The tears are long since dried, and it is usually a smile, albeit a bittersweet one, that accompanies the memories now.
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Salamanizer
Trad climber
The land of Fruits & Nuts!
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Oct 29, 2009 - 02:05am PT
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Ha Ha....
Totally classic.
Why can't the climbing mags find stuff half as good as this???
I swear, if I read one more lame ass, half assed self promoting article by a Bisharat or the same ol same ol from Samet, I'm canceling everything but Alpinist and starting my own rag.
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Curt
Boulder climber
Gilbert, AZ
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Oct 29, 2009 - 02:09am PT
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Great picture of Kevin on Open Cockpit, Rich. Where are the pics of the "triple lever?" Haha.
Curt
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Oct 29, 2009 - 03:22am PT
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You are an excellent writer, Rich, and that is fun to read.
It makes me wish I had been part of that eastern group. But then
in some way I guess I was, since both you and McCarthy came to
Boulder and looked me up, and we climbed, and I've known and
respected both of you ever since. I did more climbs with you,
though, through the years, that big wall in the Royal Gorge where
we spent a nice night on a ledge, as cars rattled the wood planks
of the bridge overhead, among the stars... I remember our bouldering
on Flagstaff and in Yosemite. I even have a photo of you when
I was preparing to do a climb of Fairview Dome with Kamps, and
you and Higgins and Kelsey were there watching us sort gear...
You've just always been there. Sorry if I get a little sentimental
at times, but I pretty much only have my memories anymore.
Pat
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richross
Trad climber
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Oct 29, 2009 - 08:17am PT
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Great story rgold.
Kevin belaying Mark Robinson on the first pitch of Country Club Crack,Colorado,summer of 77.
A mayor belaying a doctor.
I sure miss that guy!
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MisterE
Trad climber
Canoga Bark! CA
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Oct 29, 2009 - 08:25am PT
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Great story and pics, Rich. I was always amazed by the picture of John doing the one-arm front lever, toes carefully pointed...
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Oct 29, 2009 - 08:55am PT
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What a great story Rich!
And an awesome writing job to boot.
Keep it up!
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Chip
Trad climber
Sittin' Pretty in Fat City
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Oct 29, 2009 - 09:46am PT
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How fitting a piece, Rich. Are you sure you are a math professor? I did not know Kevin as well as you did, but find myself thinking of him riding his bike out to the cliffs most times when I drive up the hairpin turn below the Trapps.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 29, 2009 - 03:48pm PT
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"Why can't the climbing mags find stuff half as good as this???
I swear, if I read one more lame ass, half assed self promoting article by a Bisharat or the same ol same ol from Samet, I'm canceling everything but Alpinist and starting my own rag."
Thanks for the kind words, but let's remember those guys have to churn something out every month. We'd use up our best stories in probably less than a year and then we'd have to start faking it. Start your own rag and you too will confront this problem...
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Technogeekery
Trad climber
Tokyo, Japan
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Oct 29, 2009 - 08:00pm PT
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A funny story, and very well told - thanks!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Oct 29, 2009 - 09:01pm PT
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Hilarious story, Rich! Thanks for sharing it. What tickles me most is your collective faith in Jim's finger strength! Likely the only time that he was the weak link in any endeavor! Somewhere between extreme gymnastics and circus arts it could have opened up a wholly new category in Accidents in North American Mountaineering! LOL
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426
climber
Buzzard Point, TN
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Oct 29, 2009 - 09:16pm PT
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This and needle's eye really cracked me up. Before I opened it i was asking, "Triple Lever, huh?:"
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 30, 2009 - 02:57pm PT
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Here's the now-famous picture of Gill doing a one-arm front lever:
A cursory web search suggests that this stunt is really unique. It doesn't seem that anyone else can hold these, although there are some videos of guys pulling up into them. At any rate, there can't be more than a very few people, besides Gill, who can do 'em.
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Jello
Social climber
No Ut
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Oct 30, 2009 - 03:12pm PT
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CLASSIC!!! Think Gill could be the top man of three in that one-arm front lever? Now that would be something...
-LaughingJello
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couchmaster
climber
pdx
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Oct 30, 2009 - 03:30pm PT
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I had not yet gotten over the greatness of your Eye of the Needle first ascent story you had posted when I hit this one. Rich, you must have hundreds of these!!! Love to see them.
Great stuff!
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Oct 30, 2009 - 05:03pm PT
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Straight out of a cartoon, the image of three guys with Kevin on the bottom thud-thud-thudding down the stairs. Amazing that no damage was done!
Good story to look back on. Reminds me of that recent TV reality show where guys did stunts their moms could have told them not to try, what was its name?
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Oct 30, 2009 - 10:20pm PT
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I have said this elsewhere but that kind of power in a man of Gill's size is simply awesome!
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Curt
Boulder climber
Gilbert, AZ
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Oct 30, 2009 - 10:35pm PT
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Hey Rich,
Kevin could also do one.
Curt
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 30, 2009 - 10:47pm PT
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Really Curt? I never saw it, and I spent quite a bit of time doing stupid tricks with Keven. But I'll certainly take your word for it; Kevin was very strong at iron crosses, and that lateral levering strength is a necessary component for the one-arm front lever.
While looking (in vain) on the web for evidence that anyone else can hold a one-arm front lever, I did come across a feat of strength beyond anything I saw Gill do: the one-arm rope climb.
http://www.drillsandskills.com/video/onearmrope.mpg
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Curt
Boulder climber
Gilbert, AZ
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Oct 30, 2009 - 10:57pm PT
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Rich,
I don't know if you ever visited Kevin and Barb while they were in Custer, but he had a 4x4 cantilevered from his counter top, from which Mark Jacobs and I both saw Kevin hold a one-arm front lever. Very impressive--although Gill's front lever (Gill being about 9 inches taller) was probably even more impressive.
Curt
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 25, 2009 - 11:15am PT
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Moving from the sublime to the ridiculous, this shot of me doing a straddle front lever, provides mute commentary, compared to the perfection of the earlier Gill photos, on the ravages of time.
Photo: Steve Molis
My excuse for the far less than ideal form and the straddle leg position is that the shot was taken yesterday on my 66th birthday and I'm lucky not to be spending my time in more or less the same position six feet under.
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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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Nov 25, 2009 - 07:41pm PT
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Rgold: Thank you for the story. I am sure there might have been injuries on the trip down the basement stairs if you all had not been "loosened up" by some drinking.
And Peter: Thank you for helping me in my "visualization."
Can't wait to have a drink or two and go outside to my "pull-up" tree limb and see if I can still do one. Last time I did was 1983-----never seemed hard then.
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madbolter1
Big Wall climber
Walla Walla, WA
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Nov 25, 2009 - 08:10pm PT
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I popped my navel inside-out laughing. Good show!
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jstan
climber
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Nov 25, 2009 - 08:30pm PT
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Now for a shock folks. Better sit down for this.
Writing is the activity for which Goldstone has the least native talent. Everything else he does leaves his writing in the dust.
I had to put that in my pipe and smoke it forty years ago. Try it. You'll like it.
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GBrown
Trad climber
North Hollywood, California
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Nov 26, 2009 - 03:00am PT
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Rich (a) Happy fracking Birthday fer cryin' out loud!!! (b) Much thanks for this thread. Slapstick is always funniest when set in diamonds.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Nov 26, 2009 - 03:08am PT
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rocket sled doh! :-)
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MH2
climber
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Nov 26, 2009 - 03:36am PT
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Writing is the activity for which Goldstone has the least native talent.
Oh? I didn't see him at the Gunks a lot but did get an impression of power, drive, intelligence, and attention to detail, or call it thorougness or call it finesse. Denny Merritt said that he and someone else were having difficulty on the start to Double Clutch. RG came along and showed them how to do it. Then he showed them how to do it using the other arm.
He once gave me a spot on a boulder problem on the Carriage Road. It was the lightest touch possible yet made the move safe and offered unobtrusive direction at the same time. It was only much later I heard he had a gymnastics background.
I wish him and his other native talents a happy birthday, if the poster above has it aright.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Nov 26, 2009 - 06:13pm PT
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Rich- Flying colors in all categories from where I am sitting!
As Ringo would say, you are a born Lever Puller! MANY happy returns (of undamaged merchandise!).
Cheers
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jstan
climber
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Nov 26, 2009 - 07:15pm PT
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MH2:
I hope I did not mislead you. Rich's writing is so obviously exceptional I figured I could, put a little english on the ball. The message is, "You think his writing is good. That is just the start of it."
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MH2
climber
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Nov 27, 2009 - 04:02am PT
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You did not mislead me but perhaps I did not do as well.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 27, 2009 - 09:59am PT
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My friends, you are too kind. Hope everyone's thanksgiving was joyful, and I wish I could see you again soon.
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jstan
climber
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We need to put a spreadsheet together so threads like this one can be raised on a schedule.
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richross
Trad climber
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Kevin on the first pitch of Country Club Crack.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Sep 11, 2010 - 12:31pm PT
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Any details, Rich?
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Sep 11, 2010 - 03:13pm PT
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Is this you, Rich?
From North American Climber Winter 77.
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richross
Trad climber
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Sep 11, 2010 - 09:56pm PT
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Kevin with Mike Sawicky(belaying)on Athletes Feat.
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lucander
Trad climber
New England
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Sep 13, 2010 - 01:35pm PT
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I heard an extension of this story reporting that McCarthy, Bein, and Goldstone's antics were being rehearsed in preparation of performing a triple lever on the Mother's Day roof - an validation?
In context: I'm a ripe 30, in pretty good shape, climb 100-200 days a year and I can barely make it up that route...and these lunatics were proposing a triple lever on it.
DL
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Bad Acronym
climber
Little Death Hollow
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Sep 13, 2010 - 04:06pm PT
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I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.
Thanks, great prose!
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 13, 2010 - 10:32pm PT
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Well Dave, you don't have to climb it to do a triple lever on it, now do you?
The plan was to perform said stunt on the Birdie Party ceiling.
The events I described suggested that the old bong that was up there at the time might be called on to hold a three-man leader fall, a prospect that made the bumpy trip down Scheuer's basement steps look almost appealing.
Realizing that we had already set a new standard for optimism untempered by reality, we decided to rest on our rather badly crushed laurels and forgo the glory of a cliffside performance.
I might add that McCarthy was so disappointed in our reluctance to embrace this challenge that he went off and set the Olympic record in the standing backward broadjump.
The record was, sadly, ultimately disallowed, since it was claimed that by dousing his entire back yard with gasoline and then igniting it while standing in the midst of the treated area, he had provided himself with an unfair advantage, there being, at the time, some rather quaint regulations about the allowable intensity of jump-abetting shock waves.
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Bad Climber
climber
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Sep 13, 2010 - 11:47pm PT
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Fan-rippin'-tastic. Keep bumpin' this baby.
Well penned!
BAd
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Barry Bates
Boulder climber
Smith River CA
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Sep 14, 2010 - 10:10am PT
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Rich,
Only a few days ago I was talking to a friend who started climbing in the Gunks, I mentioned some of the gunk climbers I had climbed with over the years and Kevin's name came up. I was lucky enough to climb quite a bit with Keven in Elderado and Yosemite. He was probably one of my all time favorite climbing partners, not just a great climber but a wonderful person to be around. He had a nack for always making the climbing fun even if we were having a desperate time with the route we were attempting. I had forgotten all about the triple lever story, Kevin was the one who told me about it. We did a double lever on his rings he had set up in C4 to my surprise it was easier to hold the lever with him hanging on my shoulders.
Thanks, Barry
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 14, 2010 - 02:22pm PT
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Barry, it sounds like Kevin just had to be on the bottom...
Yes, the counterbalancing effect does make the lever easier. But whoever is on top has to hold up the entire show.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 14, 2010 - 04:54pm PT
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Is this you, Rich?
From North American Climber Winter 77.
Nope. That's Dick Williams. Note the intended irony: the sign (lugged up from the trail by?...) says, ``No Climbing Beyond This Point.''
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Larry
Trad climber
Bisbee
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Sep 14, 2010 - 05:03pm PT
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I believe that Ray Jacquot and Charlie Bare relocated the sign.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Sep 17, 2010 - 07:37pm PT
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The Point of Departure!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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May 14, 2011 - 09:05pm PT
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Trippy Bump!
Tom Frost told me that McCarthy probably did the first handstand on the top of the Lost Arrow when they topped out with Chuck Pratt as the third climber.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Aug 13, 2011 - 03:50pm PT
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Bump to the moon!
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NotIt
Trad climber
SF, CA
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Aug 13, 2011 - 04:13pm PT
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I laughed till I cried.
My pathetic attempt to read this aloud to my wife left me unable to complete most sentences without protracted bouts of hysterical laughter and her shaking her head.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Aug 13, 2011 - 07:49pm PT
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Thank you for the bumps, because I somehow missed this until now. I got to meet Kevin in Camp 4 in the early 1970's, when he was demonstrating a front lever on an ad hoc ring set. We lost an extraordinary person when he went. I also remember a picture of McCarthy doing a front lever in Dachstein Mitts in a Chouinard catalog around the same time.
Fortunately, we still have gems like Rich still with us to relate these stories to us (and Peter to bring it to photographic life!).
Thanks again for the thread, and for the bump.
John
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steveA
Trad climber
bedford,massachusetts
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Bump for a classic Rgold story:
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richross
Trad climber
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Kevin at the start of Country Club Crack 1977. Belayer is Barry Bates.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 2, 2012 - 02:09pm PT
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Two of my stories with historical content have received New Year's bumps from Steve Grossman. This one, through no fault of my own, has also acquired some historical material, but that isn't why I'm bumping it.
In these times of national and international dysfunction, the sheer pointlessness of the triple lever and our epic failures in performing it bring me a smile of nostalgia for a time when there seemed to be more room in our lives for unabashed silliness.
Happy New Year to all, and may you find time for some nonsense in your own lives.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Running with your notion...
Back in 1884 nonsense flowed freely!
Because we are older...
and wiser...what say you?
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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Charming, Steve! And welcome back to this marvelous tale by a brilliant writer!
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 7, 2013 - 05:16pm PT
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Herewith, a bump from the SuperTopo Archives of Irrelevant Fluff. I can't invoke Jim's newly-minted cry of BBST, since it would be pretentious for the author to assert his own work made anything better. And so I've adopted the pretense that, by virtue of having added two illustrative videos to the the account, I have made it something new, or at least not entirely old, and so, I hope, worthy of a second look.
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lucander
Trad climber
Shawangunks, New York
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Rgold needs to retire from the triviality of academia and be a full time staff writer for Alpinist, Rock and Ice, Mproj, and Climbing.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - May 6, 2014 - 02:12am PT
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Which is to say I need to aspire to an even higher level of triviality than I am currently engaged in? Excelsior!
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Jim M is 80 now and a little more portly, I'll have to alert him to this thread. Thanks for the ride down memory lane....Kevin is still missed.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jul 24, 2014 - 07:15pm PT
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McCarthy is in the house!
Perhaps a glimpse into the mind of the man who would grip for three!
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 14, 2014 - 09:51pm PT
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In the midst of controversy over content, I thought this bit of fluff might be worth fluffing up.
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Dec 15, 2014 - 03:27am PT
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Ho my the words flow so sweetly, that despite the great content I find myself weeping.
Please don't take this in the wrong light, I love the way these posts take one back in time.
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yanqui
climber
Balcarce, Argentina
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Dec 15, 2014 - 04:41am PT
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Glad it showed up again and I got a chance to see it.
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Dec 16, 2014 - 12:26pm PT
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big time, East Coast Best Written Belongs On The Front Page Bump!
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 29, 2015 - 10:14am PT
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An update: subsequent generations of climbers inevitably surpass their elders, but they do have better padding...
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Aug 29, 2015 - 02:58pm PT
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Out Freakin' Standing!
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L
climber
California dreamin' on the farside of the world..
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Aug 29, 2015 - 03:08pm PT
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Great story, Rich.
And those guys in the last photo look like they're levitating!
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jgill
Boulder climber
The high prairie of southern Colorado
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Aug 29, 2015 - 04:26pm PT
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Clearly a product of the meditative arts.
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Claw Fang
Ice climber
High Falls, New York
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After further review and several corroborations , there are some amongst us, still living, including one Burt Angrist who feel that the first full theatrical public performance presentation of this most eloquaciously described Triple Threat Front Lever actually had Dr. Angrist as the understudent - the lowest leveraged athlete who absorbed the pileup at former Mohonk Preserve Ranger Thom Scheuer's home that prodigious evening. Not to disparage or diminish Kevin Bein's role in the development of this fiasco.
To continue this thread it should be brought forth that Dr. Angrist again along with James P. McCarthy, Esq. also inaugurated the first AND ONLY documented "Crutch Race" which resulted in severe injury to both participants, well pre-modulated with C2H5OH and other chemicals.
As I recall, the story goes: Jim and Burt and consorts were prepping for an evening out about town at Mac's place. Jim had by prior arrangement from some fiasco, which probably also belongs in this report, wound up requiring crutches. Dr. Angrist also for some other malfeasance similarly was attired. As they stepped out onto the street to commence travel to their appointed evening festivities the ever athletically challenging McCarthy started having to step up his pace to keep up with the unencumbered women. Burt took this as a challenge apparently and soon McCarthy and Burt were viciously lunging forward side by side in a peculiar drag race - leaping along down mid-town - when Burt caught a sidewalk crack with one of his crutch tips (they were not advanced competition ADDIDAS tips). Pole vault to a face plant for Burt with a bloody mouth and quite a few teeth re-arranged forced a change of plans. Fortunately Bellevue was not too far away AND the prepping for the evening had dulled all pain.
Burt recalls being interviewed by the admitting physician, explaining how this atrocity happened and leaning over to peer onto the notes the attending was making where Burt could clearly see the attending writing in somewhat bemused fashion "CRUTCH RACE".
Some think of climbing as dangerous?
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vmcgal
Trad climber
New Paltz, NY
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I too was at this illustrious event and I too thought it Dr. Burt on the bottom. The night was dark and the house was in construction and the drugs/alcohol in a dangerous mix. But as it is said, it's true even if it didn't happen.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 5, 2016 - 07:59am PT
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Indeed! Perhaps it was Dr. Burt, especially since he himself seems to think so. (Then again, the altered state of reality under which the event occurred might lead observers to think they were participants and participants to think they were observers...perhaps far more than a triple lever was in process that day...)
If it was the good doctor, then it must be noted that he had not participated in the aformentioned rigorous training sessions that lead up to our triumphant performance. In any case, the untimely end of the tableau was still caused by McCarthy's shocking inability to indefinitely hold nearly 400 lbs of prime Vulgarian beef on a bomber first-joint doorjamb.
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Larry Nelson
Social climber
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Jun 15, 2016 - 09:16am PT
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Bump for great climbing stories
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Apr 28, 2017 - 07:18pm PT
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Nicely padded bump...
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Alan Rubin
climber
Amherst,MA.
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Being, as always, right up to date, I just noticed some comments on this thread posted a mere two years ago, that claimed that one Dr. Burt Angrist contends that he was the bottom 'member' of this historic occurrence. I can report, however, that the late Kevin Bein had personally told myself and others that it was indeed him who 'anchored'--in more ways than one--- this trio. Given what participants have said about the varied states of consciousness that evening perhaps both are wrong--or maybe it was, indeed, a four man front lever!!!!
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
ne'er–do–well
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Jul 29, 2018 - 11:31pm PT
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 31, 2018 - 11:43am PT
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Being, as always, right up to date, I just noticed some comments on this thread posted a mere two years ago, that claimed that one Dr. Burt Angrist contends that he was the bottom 'member' of this historic occurrence. I can report, however, that the late Kevin Bein had personally told myself and others that it was indeed him who 'anchored'--in more ways than one--- this trio. Given what participants have said about the varied states of consciousness that evening perhaps both are wrong--or maybe it was, indeed, a four man front lever!!!!
Yeah, I'm sticking with my recollections on this. Kevin was on the bottom.
Kevin and improvised front levers had a long history of catastrophes. When I was in college and Kevin was still in high school, he came over to my house one day and we were doing what any pair of teenagers do to while away a boring afternoon---trying front levers on all the door jambs of my family's apartment.
Well, we got to my room and Kevin pulled into yet another one in perfect form, when a loud explosion and cloud of paint and plaster dust announced the demise of practically everything connected in any way with the door. I had not yet perfected the art of the spot and instead viewed the cataclysm from the safe perspective of my bed. My mom came rushing, and found Kevin on the floor, sputtering from ingesting plaster dust and covered with wood and paint chips. She didn't even ask what the hell we'd been doing, just left and returned with a broom and dust pan, which she silently handed over. Kevin and I sensed that we were on the cusp of overtraining and decided, with some reluctance, not to perform any more front levers for the rest of the afternoon.
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