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Squamish Partner August 19th and 20th
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I am coming up to Squamish and am able to climb on August 19th and 20th. Would like to do some area classics in the 5.9 and 5.10 range. I have been climbing for over 50 years since I was 13 years old. Really enjoy leading and cracks are my favorite type of climbing. Go on YouTube and type in John Long Dave Katz Stoney Point, That was from a 1980 TV show (the leader fall was intentional) Still having a great time climbing  |
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Hi David. that might work for me. Let's stay in touch and we can see as time gets closer... 206.225.8264. Dan |
David Katzwrote: |
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Looking forward to my upcoming trip. |
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Somewhere around 1979 or 80 I was introduced to rockclimbing by a friend named Karl Runde. We had been in 4th -6th grade together. We were now both around 18 or so.This was near Los Angeles. He lived in Sierra Madre. I started bouldering with him at Stoney Pt. and hitching a ride out to JT whenever possible. I rode with a guy named Greg Burns and his friends Doug Munos and Russ Walling. They were some very funny dudes. I didn't have any gear, shoes, nothing. I ended up in my mountain boots somewhere over by the Peyote cracks taking a bad fall while scrambling and was lucky I didn't die. Those guys dragged me back to camp, gave me some liquid pain killer and put me in the shade. Next came weeks of recovery. Somehow I found an ad for some used climbing gear. It included a 150 ft used gold line, a bunch of assorted "nuts" mostly Pecks and Dolts. They were sometimes round or like a machine nut, often different colors. Also there were bongs, angles, a few lost arrows, some bashies, some wired stoppers and some odd size hexes. I got a few biners too including one that could lock. I'm not 100% sure about this detail but I think I also got as part of the package, a pair of green PAs, my first real climbing shoes. I was so stoked! The guy selling the stuff met me at Stoney Pt. He told me I could use all these things in the cracks to protect myself from a fall and that with practice I'd get good at it. He said maybe we'd bump into each other some day out at JT or Stoney and he'd give me some tips. He seemed like a cool dude. He said his name was David Katz. I never ran into him again. I began lead climbing as soon as possible with my new gear, rope and shoes. My first real lead was, Grand Theft Avocado, a 5.7 at JT, Steve Canyon. I was on my way... I moved to WA in late '81. Then went down to school in Prescott AZ for 4 years and climbed all over AZ. As I began leading 5.10 and 11 I started doing my own projects mostly in the Granite Dells and the summit area of Granite Mt. Returning to WA I climbed at Index, Leavenworth and Washington Pass and all over. In my later 30s and 40s (got married, had 3 kids) I mostly just did alpine for about 20 years and never wanted to leave the N. Cascades. I built a house and lived there in the Methow Valley and worked as a carpenter for those years. In my 50s I moved to Port Angeles and returned to my first love, surfing. I almost quit climbing entirely for those years but my son Jared got me back into climbing on the basalt columns and cracks in Eastern WA. I turn 65 this year. Just got back from an AZ climbing trip which was awesome. Still have friends there. Still have projects there. I've been a climber for 46 years. Thanks for that first pile of hardware. I still have the rope hanging in my shop. It got me started. If I do bump into you at JT or wherever, I'd still love a few tips ... Sincerely, Brennan Van Blairhttps://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/201314293/squamish-partner-august-19th-and-20th |
