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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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