stillcrankin

I know it’s hard to believe but I don’t recognize you from that picture of you when you were 12 years old so you’re gonna have to tell me your name. You might even be in this hacky-sac circle next to the Tuolumne Meadows gas station. From right to left, Marko Milano, Eric Thixton (facing the other way), Rick LeDuc and three other Washingtonians.

Hahahaha! Fake news!!! Actually, not so fake, although mother and my home had nothing to do with this incident. I may have been heard to say, “I don’t know about you fuckers, but I’m going down”. Dave Anderson, Dave Davis, Don Brooks and I were attempting the Norwegian buttress in ‘74 or so. Donn Heller wasn’t along. I may have uttered that shocking statement after doing a horrendous half lead through an overhanging loose block section that no one else was willing to finish. So which one of those kids is a Tarver and which one is you? I met Annies brother John many moons ago. Here’s Anne in Tuolumne in 1980. The cowboys LOVED her....

You got that right tan-staff. This is what he looked like 44 years ago and he might be even more fit today. Mutant doesn’t even start to describe him. Driven beyond reason might be closer.

Are all of those kids Tarvers? OK, here’s another. Dave Anderson taking a swing at the 1st free ascent of Japanese Gardens in the mid 70’s. All we had were hexes for protection and neither of us was willing to commit. Probably would have been a grounder from way too far up...

Jason, there’s always more. I’m glad you like them... Not my picture but Anne Tarver’s dad, Frank, is on the left with Warren Harding and Harding’s Jag in the back. Frank Tarver was involved early on with the 1st ascent of The Nose.

Another wayback photo. I seem to have plenty... Anne Tarver at Peshastin Pinnacles on Washboard sometime in the mid to late ‘70’s.

I don’t ever remember climbing with Donn and Don. Had to think about it. Here’s Timson and I having a bro’ moment partway up Vanishing Point in The Trench in 1975

OK you old farts 💨 Time to throw down som more chit. first pic: Amphitheater Peak 1971? If you look closely, you can see Dave or Donn in the dihedral on the left side of the buttress. I had to scuttle back to camp for more hardware. We hadn’t really planned on climbing the whole thing that day so we hadn’t grabbed much gear. It actually only took a few hours to get to the top. second pic: Meat Grinder, Yosemite 1972 third pic: Steph Atwood on Breacfast of Champions 1976 fourth pic: Grand Wall December 1970 fifth pic: Town Crier UTW 1970 sixth pic: Green Drag-on 1972-73 maybe first ascent or first ascent attempt. I can’t remember which. seventh pic: remains of the original 2nd pitch of Town Crier after it peeled off eighth pic: Don Brooks Leaning Tower Yosemite 1973 ninth pic: Kit Lewis Midnight Rock mid 70’s last pic: Dawn Wall 1980

Older than you? Ouch!! Now that really hurts. At least we’re both still out there gettin’ it done. When young gym rats tease me for being a has-been, I always reply with, “I’d rather be a has-been than a never-was-and-never-will-be”. Haha 😂.... When I rapped off of Madsen’s ledge that day, I moved the fixed line to the left so I could rap down Abraxis, Timson’s route that I took two 50 footers off of in 1970. Here’s a picture looking up the second pitch. If you look closely, you can see the crack is festooned with copperheads. Would’a traded my left nut for some of those back then. Also, here’s a picture of the single 1/4” belay bolt Pat used with a tied off knifeblade. Now there are four shiny 3/8” stainless bolts next to Pat’s original.

Mr Off_White Sir, Since I live just outside the park in the winter, I try (and I do mean try) to partake in the pain of the fixed lines at Arch Rock and the Cookie. This is different. The fixed lines in Yosemite are pretty stealthy. The ones on the upper wall are pretty in-your-face with a lot of baggage laying around. Seems kinda sloppy. Ok, ok.. Now I’m judging.

I was in Washington a month ago and managed to find my way out to Index and up the new yuppified trail to the upper wall. There were fixed lines crisscrossing the area above Madsen’s ledge as well as a fixed line directly up to the ledge. I went back to my car and grabbed my harness and jugs and proceeded to jumar up to the ledge. There was stuff spread all across the ledge. Seems a little excessive but who am I to judge.

Wow! I forgot about this thread... What a bunch of old fukkers! Hahaha. No, really, there are some really great pictures here. I can’t believe that I didn’t run into some of you in the prehistoric days in Washington.

I’m interested in buying your ledge. Please email me: dwh_96161@yahoo.com Thanks!!

You seem to be confusing who the victim is here. So much of climbing is about trust and reliance. In almost every facet of all venues of climbing, you need to rely on something or someone other than yourself. most of this reliance is blind. You have to rely on the harness manufacturer that made your harness to have used quality materials and done a good, complete job. You have to rely on the rope manufacturer that made your rope. When you clip a bolt out in the middle of space, you take it for granted that the bolt manufacturer used the proper procedures making the metal for the bolt (there was a batch of bad bolts in the 70's that actually killed people). You trust the fact that the person installing the bolt did a good job and did't bottom the bolt out in the hole and over-drive it. The list goes on and on. Most of all, you have to trust and rely on your partner. Maybe you don't know the person well but you trust that they have enough experience to not screw things up. Your life depends on it. When you frantically yell at them to pull the haul line up and clip it in, you don't want them to ask why. You don't want them to ask for an explanation. Maybe your anchors are about to pull and you just need something solid to clip in to. You just need them to pull the f#kking rope up and clip it in. You need to know your partner is there for you. In this instance, the first person to get to the ledge screwed things up and this resulted in someone dying. I AM being cold (dude?). And no, I don't have to "go back and edit your post to show more compassion for the people who will have to live with this for many years to come". There's no way to candy coat this. I sincerely apologize for being so harsh but I feel strongly about this. I'm sure the surviving climbers feel badly but, damn (dude?), their momentary inattentiveness resulted in a terrible accident.

goatboy, Not sure if you're pointing that last post at me. I thought I offered, in a backhanded way, two viable and potentially life saving solutions for safe rappelling. One was the "autoblock" and the other was the folly of simul-rappelling. The "autoblock" is a very simple method of taking a 16" to 18" loop of 7mm perlon and put a prussic like knot below your rappelling device and clip the other end to a biner on one of your leg loops. While you rappel, you keep one hand on the prussic, releasing it as you rappel. If something goes wrong and you let go of the prussic, the rope will lock up. Here's a link to some pictures: https://www.thoughtco.com/tie-and-use-an-autoblock-knot-755673 The other suggestion for safe rappelling is to not simul rappel. This technique is fraught with danger and potential catastrophic problems as was witnessed here. I've had partners ask me to simul-rappel off things before and I politely declined. I can't even imagine what the family of the victim is going through right now. It's impossible to reconcile the unforeseen and untimely death of a young, vibrant person. My very best friend was killed when we were 16. His parents never recovered. He died because HE tied in to the rope incorrectly. The whole idea of checking and re-checking each other's knots and safety devices hadn't really caught on at that time. It was no one else's fault. No one dropped him. Knuckehead was not the first adjective that came to my mind when I wrote that post. I'm sure the person that dropped this guy feels terrible. He'll probably feel terrible for the rest of his long life. The other guy won't.