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New and Experienced climbers over 50 #23
Alan Rubinwrote: I’m still trying to get a handle on how this happened simultaneously everywhere without benefit of internet. In the same way the 60s happened for many of us and we just “knew”. This seems to me to have been very much a part of that fabric—a new breed who were on to something big. The late 60s were pivotal and magical for me and everything we thought and did remains true for me to this day. Tony missed the 60s entirely I think. I’ve been humming a tune in my head for the last week or so from Bob Dylan. We probably each expressed it differently, but come to think of it wasn’t Pat Ament holding a picture of Dylan there in Yosemite?  So maybe somehow the fever of Climbing spread through the air in the same way at the same time.
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The Original book Yankee Rock and ice was well done and a great read. In the modern era someone decided that it would be a good idea to update that book by adding chapters to include the modern climbing history of the North East.. The person or persons charged with that task had a very narrow focus on their own accomplishments and only gave a token mention of the single most influential event of the 90s and 2000s while completely omitting several other very prominent and influential crews and events. Unfortunately this edition of the book greatly diminished its historical credibility. Without doubt Team Toughs transformation of Rumny into a world class sport climbing destination along with Dave Grahm and Joe Kinders rise to stardom completely transformed the climbing experience and demographic of the North East. Rumny's success opened the door for dozens of new climbing areas to be developed in a way that allowed for reasonably protected climbing on rock that did not offer an abundance of natural protection. The effects of this transformation were far reaching and included the easing of user pressure on many of the Trad venues in the NE. To only mention this event in passing without even naming the key players completely discredited the work as any real attempt to document history. Additionally there was no mention of Sycos crew and the thousand or so climbs they put up. No mention of Garcia Powers influence on Northern Vt climbing or the prolific work done by Travis Peckham and Seth Majicowski and the rest of the VT crew. No mention of Pipe dreams as if a 180m WI6X is not eventfull in the north east even though the NH crew had to add bolts to get a 2nd ascent. ... |
Lori Milaswrote: I've mused about this for years, mostly in the context of the Vulgarian revolt against the Appies, which I've always seen as a thread in the 60's youth rebellion against authority and entrenched norms. The Vulgarians weren't flower-power hippies (nowadays we have the odd Trump voter), but their rejection of the entire Northeast old-boys approach to climbing and the networks that supported it, as well as their enthusiastic embrace of sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll (those were the days when climbing was dangerous and sex was safe), made them part of the 60's youth phenomenon, really a precursor to it in the climbing world. I think it was no coincidence that at roughly the same time, the sun-drenched crags of California gave rise to a very idealistic view of what free-climbing meant, eschewing the use of protection pieces for progress---even if they were literally staring you in the face---something that was completely normal in earlier days and was still the norm in the UK and Europe. |
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Spring seems to be appearing here in Southern California after a couple of weeks of true Winter conditions. We took our travel trailer up to New Jack for a short shake-down trip in preparation for a longer one to Chochise Stronghold in Arizona later this week. I did a few good routes and a few really bad routes and got beat down badly on some routes that my friend Larry rope-gunned for me. No good climbing photos, but one interesting one looking out of a cave.  Trophy Tower Cave The big news here is that for the third year in a row we have a pair of Kestrels that have moved into the nesting box I put up in a Joshua Tree behind our house. Hopefully they will successfully raise some young ones. |
rgoldwrote: Such an enormous and important topic rgold and I haven’t seen it really addressed in the larger context. Is it still too soon for historians to gather up all the parts and makes sense of it? Revolution was happening in your climbing world and it was happening here, too… but it was happening in my non-climbing world too. In music, philosophy, back-to-the-land movements. In my Catholic Church the Barrigan brothers were pouring their blood over missile silos. Back thousands of posts I asked what made some of the boys here hang a left and head for Joshua Tree. What made anyone decide to be a bum and climb… probably against the grain of everything expected. That would have been a courageous vision and commitment for a kid to make. A therapist I’ve known for many years recently told me about “this new therapy that seems to be incredibly effective.” LSD and mescaline. We knew this in 1969. |
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Yes, Lori, many things in the 60s seemed to travel through the air—often wafted on pot smoke!!! In the climbing world, while we didn’t have the Internet, we did have the campfire—almost as effective and more fun. Actually into the early 60s, there was relatively little interchange between climbers from different regions. However, as the decade progressed, the climbing population increased noticeably and those climbers traveled more and to more places.Places like the Teton Climbers Camp and Camp 4 in Yosemite, became melting pots of the climbing world. During the latter years of the decade there was also a significant increase in the amount and quality of print climbing media. Mountain Magazine from the UK was particularly influential, as was the annual Ascent Journal from the Sierra Club, with even more magazines appearing in the early ‘70s. So, while certain groups did develop pretty independently in different parts of the country in the late ‘50s/early ‘60s, by the end of the decade there was a great deal of interconnectivity. |
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I’m having my own private revolution right here. It’s really the middle finger to old age, but also an experiment that I could regret. I know I got lucky. This is not how normal climbing and progression go… We went back to King Dome again and I just haven’t grown tired of it. In a few weeks it’ll be too warm until next year. There’s every kind of move and challenge in these routes, not to mention hard sustained endurance all the way. It will be time soon enough to change it up and get on some cracks and other routes. Bob’s Sexy Grandma has been on my mind lately. It was not easy for me. Don’t know how I would feel about it today.    |
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King Dome gets nice afternoon shade. I've climbed there often in the summer. |
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THE BEST climbing in the park is March and April. You just need to leave to higher planes when the flies start to show up. There are two kinds of flies in Josh, the big ugly ones, and the little pesky ones. If a big one buzzes you, if you don't manage to kill it then soon you will have the little pesky ones. Kill that first big fly and you might have peace for a while. I know if seems unlikely that these flies communicate and cooperate, but they absolutely do. |
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Just back from a week on the sea cliffs in Pembroke, west Wales. Pretty good weather and not a soul around. If I had a rock-climbing visitor from the US, this is probably where I would take them for a different experience: great sea-cliff ambience, well-protected trad. climbing from 5.4 to 5.14 on generally excellent rock.  Deep Space, a Pat Littlejohn classic from the mid-1970s. Jim Erickson might be a US equivalent to Pat, if he had done more than 2000 great quality first ascents. This one climbs out of a sea cave, highly atmospheric, very unlikely at about 5.10c.  The Great Valerio, ~5.8. |
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Pembroke looks amazing. |
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The rains have really been a welcome relief for us with the hills turning green and flowers starting to bloom. We hiked to the local lake, which has filled back up after several years of drought. A brisk (for SoCal) day with some blue sky.  |
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Jan, now that I think about it, I have never seen a fly in Joshua tree. Maybe you were thinking about gnats of which there are many in July? Or maybe bees, which are about the same size, but would be very hard to confuse them. Or maybe all the flies have been escorted out of Joshua Tree in recent years. Duncan… thanks for sharing your pictures. It all looks so beautiful. More!!! I know I’ve shared some about climbing on King Dome – – and by the way, Brandt, I would love to go there this summer with you – – I don’t know what has happened this year since I’ve slowly gone back to Climbing but I don’t feel a real need to go sample a lot of new rock. I’m just having a great time on this one formation and there are some wonderful routes on it. I don’t have full-strength back yet to tackle Tiptoe To Topanga but it seems reasonable soon. Bob took this beautiful picture yesterday and I don’t know why it just touched me so much. The one downside to King Dome is it’s really hard to get a good picture because there are bothersome boulders in the way. Bob caught this one. Anyway… doing a little edging here before you head straight up the rock.  . |
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Wow Lori, looking slim and trim there! Yes, the little flies are the gnats. The big flies are only out in April and May and between the two of them they were what chased us out of Josh more so than the temps back in the day. Not that the high country doesn't have gnats and flies as well, including deer flies, which are the worst. |
Old lady Hwrote: Sorry to post that Frank passed away last week. From when I first met him 45 years ago, I saw there were few things Frankie was more passionate about than climbing. Great guy. Nice to know he had a positive impact on your lives. Gone too soon. |
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Its been a huge year for me turning 60, breaking my back at work last winter, moving and changing my work situation. It been a real struggle. Today was amazing however. I led Glass Menagerie WI5 115m. My plan was for me to be done leading by the time the sun hit the ice. March sun @ the lake can cause bad things to happen. as it turned out I needn't have worried. There was stiff wind all day and it was much colder than forcasted. I was under dressed and a bit chilled at the top belay. Its steep and sustained. looking up P1  It was kind of spooky getting to the belay ledge. the last 10ft or so the ice was rotten and hollow. In my mind I was ready to let the youngster have a shot at P2 and call it a day if he wasn't up for it. A nice flat 10" wide ledge to stand on and 3 good screws for belay and I was able to settle back down and relax while belaying. By the time Max got to belay I was hoping he would give me the lead. The climbing is straight up off the belay grade 5 . No easing in to it on this one. the ice was dry and brittle but what I call squeeky. if you hit it ust right and your picks are really sharp you can get one swing sticks fairly often. nother places the ice was rotten and full of aid giving no real security or gear options and you just had to move through those sections on faith and delicacy. somehow I got in this little cave with good feet and was able to take this shot of Max without taking or going in direct.  The sun hit the top of the cliff just as I was topping out. Naturally I made hanging belay in the shade of the cedars up top and froze as the wind hammered me. Max making the first V thread rappel anchor.  Somehow the wind whipped my yellow rope into the cedar branches and no amount of bouncing would free it. Not a real big deal as those ropes need retirement anyways. We did have to make an extra thread to get down with just the purple rope.  looking up the climb with my yellow rope fixed up there. We were treated to a special sight. A party climbed out of the cave between Glass and 20 Below Zero Gully and up that skinny pillar. super cool!  I don't recall ever seeing it form that way before? naturally it's a full moon so Isa and I parked two cars on the cross country ski trails and did a good long moonlight ski. I almost feel Teton tired right now.... |
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Fantastic pictures Nick, Glass Menagerie is a serious climb. I’m always happy to read your little day trip reports and see some pics out of the past. Hope to see you this summer at ‘City’. |
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I would love to make it to COR. |
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That's awesome, Nick! I found this video only yesterday of Andrea Charest on it; amazing drone footage. |
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Great climb Nick. Excellent pictures. It is good to see you on a rope with a partner on ice!!!! |
