I once met an old guy that everyone called 'manky.' My first encounter with him was at table rock, NC. It was raining and I had just finished breakfast in the parking lot. Manky walks up to my partner and i and says "a little vitamin T?" as he hands me a bottle of tequila.

It was quite an introduction to manky and the perils of rainy day activities.

If I fall, you ARE going to catch me?

don't fall

From my mentor about climbing in Eldorado Canyon:

"When in doubt, stem."

"This pitch is kind of hard and run-out, you better let me lead it."

"If you're not bleeding, you're not having fun..."

"This pitch is too good to follow."

"Just remember kid...there are dead alpinists, hanging on their ropes in Patagonia...cause no one has the balls to go cut them down"

-Old Salty Valley Mentor to me.

Thinking of Patagonia... When I was learning to climb, I used to watch La Escoba de Dios over and over again. I still find myself repeating some of Fowler's lines trying to imitate has classic drawl, especially when I am in stressful situations and I am trying to remain calm.

"Sunshine feels good right now..."

"I'll see you downtown..."

great flick. Really inspired me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5ZBYewIdYU

"I'm REALLY gripped John..let's not talk about it."

That video was awesome, warts and all.

don't remember who said it but, "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you are scared to death"

"the're just lucky nothing bad happened....."
- Dave H., referring to 'loose' ascents in the black

Hmmm, Interesting...Can't say that I've ever been called bipolar before, I'll have to check with my analyst, Alvin Swill, about this diagnosis. I've been called a lot of other things [mostly not very complimentary], but...I always just wrote it off to a having a short Irish temper and a peculiar penchant for using the "F" word, particularly when scared, ...or pissed.

And NO!, I ain't got no FUCKIN' WARTS!

I recently learned from CatMan that he has digitized and re-mastered the original "La Escoba de Dios", which was filmed with analog Hi8 and Betacam SP. Who knows, maybe there might be an re-release on DVD at some point in the near future. If it happens I'm going into hiding.

Last year, after Charlie died, we sat down with a bottle of single malt and looked through some of the original raw footage - first time in fifteen years that I had seen that stuff. God, there is some funny and some totally hokey stuff that [thankfully] never made it into the movie. I've got to say, however, there could be one hell of a blooper reel if CatMan wants to put it together.

Pete,
I can't say enough about how that film impacted my climbing. You guys were an inspiration. I think it was only like 30 minutes long or something, and I would watch it over and over, looking at technique, trying to imagine myself in such a position... but really, the banter between you four really tells what climbing is about for a lot of us. Get John to make that Blooper reel, I am sure it would be good for more than a few laughs.

If there are any stories you want to share with us about that trip, or other adventures with Charlie, Max, and company. I would love to hear them. The bipolar comment was in good fun, your ability to go from pissed or scared to happy and calm really showed the intensity of the moments. Something I have now learned to relate to quite well. Thanks for posting.
Regards,
John

I can state without any kind of hesitation that Peter is not bipolar. He is in fact the most single minded man I've ever known. He has a temper to be sure but it is well known he only uses it as a tool to motivate his comrades to higher ideals and peaks. He is a gentleman and a scholar of the highest level.

Dr. Alvin Swill

Another of my favorite Crusty Mentor quotes happened as one of my mentors was looking up a particularly nasty looking crack with dubious protection "Well, now that I've climbed this in my head, no need to drag my body up there!"

"Another of my favorite Crusty Mentor quotes happened as one of my mentors was looking up a particularly nasty looking crack with dubious protection "Well, now that I've climbed this in my head, no need to drag my body up there!"

That's called a 'visual onsight' and I've made thousands of them over the years. Hell, I've even made some visual FA's!

One of my favorite mentor quotes: We're sitting at the bottom of an unknown crack in the South Platte boonies on a frigid winter day, "Let's build a fire and think about this". That happened a lot...

Remember, BE CAREFUL!!!
Don't fall now or we'll both die!
Be there or be slandered.

"These ATC's are amazing! Who would have thought they make such a great rappel device?"

"Yeah, and some people use them to belay too...."

or

"Did you bring the ballnutz?"

"No- I thought we were doing an established route...."

"Oh well, there's probably no gear where we're going anyway..."

I'll go along with the best advice I got also: Don't fall. Please don't fall here. Mark! Whatever you do, don't fucking fall here, asshole!

Good motivation; not directly from the Petes, but the influence was certainly there.

Another one, from Bozek: Shit! Why are they always putting the crux at the hard part?!?!? -- Another one: Crap, I need a cam.

My dumb-ass statement to a leader 40 feet up as I was belaying, one year after learning to climb. "Dude, you're gonna DECK if you fall." At that point I was just trying provide useful information having no concept of helping a partner maintain their head game.

Here is another use for PPP (purely psychological pro). If you're tired of hearing your partner complain about the crappy anchors you build, bring bolt hangers with sticky pads on the back. Add them to your anchor and voila, no more complaints from a second about your crappy anchor.