stillcrankin

Which one?? I seem to remember a few....

Watcha' gonna use it for, Dick? If you're planning on top-rope soloing, one isn't enough. You kinda want two.....

Fewer people will snicker if you put it this way... Whatever, Mr Bitch...... -----

Not now....I was in Seattle last weekend for an old-timers (survivor's) climbing picnic at Woodland Park. It was pretty cool, people were there that I hadn't seen in 35 years: Jim Langdon, Frank Tarver (and Annie), Scott Davis (1st ascent of the Heart route on El Cap), Joe Firey, Carla Firey, Dave Davis, Dave and Diana Dailey, Ed Gibson, Karl Kayala, Carlstad, and many, many others. If I'd known you were around I would have dropped you a line. I did go climbing at Index. Love that place. Makes me want to buy a house out there. Oh wait, I forgot about the long winters. I'm still trying to get a handle on the Bachar thing. Like you, I knew him pretty well.

Dick-you in the area these days??

PM sent........

Burly looking crack. Looks like something that would definitely support a bad crack habit. How much farther does it go past where you are in the second picture? I'll ask Pat about it the next time I talk to him....

Well done, my man!! Great TR. I just about blew lunch on my keyboard at some of your descriptions. Burly pretty much describes the Steak-Salad. Sounds like you were treated to a full serving.....

Where's Godzilla?? ---

BoC 1976......

Glad to see some old dogs that still have a little bite left in 'em!! ---

S#*t Slab was first climbed by Richie Doorish around 1971 or 1972. From how he described it, it was aptly named. We used to laugh when we drove by (on our quests to conquer larger worlds) visualizing him bolting a route up there.

Tahoe is a veritable winter paradise (or white blinding hell depending on your perspective). Great place to take the family where the snow is dependable (9k feet elevation) are the meadows at the top of Mount Rose. Very scenic lakeviews. As mellow or dramatic as you can stand. You can pull sleds, telemark, rondonee, snowshoe, crawl, etc. It's one of my personal favorites. Take some sunflower seeds with you. When you get in the trees, put a few in your hand and hold it out. Be patient. Within a few minutes, you'll have little birds landing on your hand to take them. ---

I don’t remember saying that exactly but it certainly sounds like something I’d say. It was the summer of 1974 and there were four of us, Dave Anderson, Don Brooks, Dave Davis and myself throwing down a pretty serious attempt on the Norwegian Buttress. Just hiking up there with all that gear was serious. There was very little evidence that anyone had been there before us-a few pitons and slings half a pitch or so off the ground. I’d heard that Jim Madsen and Kim Schmitz had made a half-hearted attempt in the 60’s. Anyway, we’d just spent a miserable night on a crummy sloping ledge in slings and homemade hammocks three or four hundred feet off the deck. The next half rope-length was up this steep, leaning, crumbling rurp seam with multiple bad rurp and copperhead placements in a row, most of which fell out when Dave Anderson jugged the pitch. The next several hundred feet overhung dramatically, filled with hateful looking loose blocks, just waiting for some greedy, ambitious little wannabe rock star to give them a try. Nobody was tripping over themselves to get on the sharp end of the rope. That’s probably when that shocking ejaculation passed my lips. I regret not having been more persistent on this route. The way we were trying was the most direct, most aesthetic way up the wall. We only had to make it through the loose block section and we would have been on the incredible headwall, split by an incredible crack that went most of the way to the top. I think Pete Doorish bypassed this section by taking a line further to the left. Can’t blame him, really. ______________

What Jens said. I was there the day before yesterday and it was ABSOLUTELY PERFECT! Very few people. Perfect temps. Dry rock. Few rangers. Trees/flowers starting to bloom. On the other side, i've been there in March when it's been ghastly. Rain/snow for weeks. Flooding. You name it....

Holy moly! Who'd a thunk??? With a head of hair like that, that he'd be completely bald today!! .

Great shots, MisterMo. That one of Givler climbing the freeway crack is classic. He had quite the 'fro. I wish I'd taken more pictures of the old Leavenworth days. At the time, when we were young and invincible, we thought those days would last forever. There was no need to take pictures because those people would always be there.... Not so, as it turned out. The second pitch of the Town Crier used to be an absolute bomber 2" 5.8 handcrack behind a pillar. We all used to hammer pitons into it to protect the pitch. Little did we know how dodgy it was. We showed up in the spring to total devastation at the base of the Davis route. .

Nice pics, MisterMo sir. Thank you for finally chiming in and shouldering some of this pressure. If it comes down to dueling scanners, you're going to whip my a$$. Pat Timson on the first pitch of Reeds Direct, mid 70's. No whimpy cams or leg loops present. MisterMo scoping routes on the Chief from the road in front of the caves, 1972? Timson soloing unnamed crack at Gran Trano Blanco, mid 70's

Your day's a comin' beeotch. Let's see how you're doin' when everything hurts..... .

Cool pic. That's a fun route. Pretty advanced looking footwear for '72. Now we were admittedly in a Midwest backwater in '74 but I didn't think those were available til more like '75ish... EB's, Yosemite mountain shop 1972-$25. Leather sewn on upper canvas, home-$1? Advanced? Ha! That's pretty funny.

"MisterMo" about to fire Classic Crack, winter 71/72. Dick Emerson on early attempt of the south face of Early Winter Spire, mid 70's. Russel Erickson working classic corner, Deadman's Summit , 1980. Eric Thixton "spotting".

Donn Heller on Liberty Crack in 1971. Catherine Freer stepping up to the plate on Capitan Ahab in 1972.

Deb's Crack, 1972

Great shot, MisterE. Did you take it?? If so, what year? He looks VERY young. Knew Yabo well. He and his then girlfriend, an abusive little Jewish princess named Debbie, moved to Tahoe with my future wife and myself in 1980. Yabo had his demons and girls like her were among them. Yabo was a good person to a fault. One time in the late 70's I loaned him $50, never expecting to see it again but several years later he came up to me in Tuolumne and said, "Don't I owe you money?" He pulled a $50 dollar bill from his pocket and handed it to me. I hadn't said a word because I was standing there with my mouth open in disbelief. Like Mike White (Whitey), an ex Seattleite/Camp4ite once said about loaning Yabo money, "Loan Yabo money? Of course I'll loan him money. It might buy him the last meal he'll ever eat" Yabo was a great guy and an amazing athlete. All of us that knew him, miss him.

Way to go!!!!! Great TR. The Steak-Salad on Sentinel isn't for the faint-of-heart. I F@#KING CAN'T IMAGINE DESCENDING SENTINEL GULLEY IN THE DARK! That's almost more impressive then doing the climb. I don't think Derek Hersey made it to the Narrows on his ill fated solo. I suspect he pitched on the nasty slab move above the Flying Buttress as it was springtime and probably wet. Try (if you haven't already done so) the NE Buttress of Higher. It's very much like the Steck/Salathe-maybe a little easier. Burly with lots of cracks and chimneys.