Hnlvsn the Journal of Grancl Canyon River Guides, Inc
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tho GRAND nows CANYON hnlvsn the journal of Grancl Canyon River Guides, Inc. GUIDES volume 7 numl-rer I winter 1993/1994 ()lrl Sltarlv ost Qrcmd Canyon boaters know of BuzzHolmstrom's 1937 solo journey down the and Colorad"o Riuers. Many of you may haue read of his life and death in -lrilte Qreen I lr.r:rlap:ri Daq.,idLauender's River Runners of the Grand Canyon. If not, 1ou should, as we won' t reDeat most of the better known facts ,^tou'll find there . What we' d like to present are (i(lElS Sche<lule two unique perspectives of a mcm who may haorc been both the grearc* nqtural boatman to eL)er dip an oar on the Colorado, and the humblest. l-'irst /\i(l VinceWelcbtraoLelledthroughhisown,andBuzz's,natiueNorthwestinsearchof Buzz. Brad Dimock went through Buzz's onluminous jownal of his solo trip and pulled out some of the more St't'\':t reuealing and drscriptiue passages. The stories that f ollow will g1r,e Jou new insight into the legend and the man that is Buzz.. l)<'lrris F-lou's -l-ilnn(-r F-loocl Looking For Buzz Down the Colorado Vince Welch Buzz Holmstrom ;\tnrosltl-rcric OIf tics ll [arorn the beginning of my n1*937 BuziiHolmstrom took a rime there has h.s. job at Coqyille, Ii\'(' llye Bi() Rio ff on the river, utiwion fr& .a I been only one true Canyon Or{gan ga; staqfl to gti on.&boat trip. l)('('ong(-Sklnt hero for me. I did:ns{ kliow then that the figure of Buzz Holmstrom (l()r()t1arV Ryl)ass would come to carry the weight of He liaded' it opd,',:1ffi,iioiffi a, A, alone to Qrg.en Rjvsi, Sfry .bis seuen ()rill I Iist()ry 'l-riril lt<'storatiorr Tril rs S[1S and the Super Pl-rorrt' llanditr), nil, that the arl ing thing we call I did I lculllr Dcpartnlent not truly appreciate the va were a knowing that there is a place iue of their -l'raffic ,\ir Canyon. Nor did I appreciate its euen power to challenge and inspire the then you mi imagined. Oonting, IrYerlts likes of a Holmstrom. Until I left. rest ro Bug!1i (continued on page 24) on page 27) the news Balance have nothing to wear on my feet but an old pair of ...is published more or less quarterly by and for boots in wbich I cannot climb the mountains and Grand Canyon River Guides. which are my only reliance for portages. On the boat and much of the time in canp I go bare-foot but I haue Grand Canyon River Guides a pair of moccasins to slip on when the rocks are bal" or the is a non-profit organization dedicated to sand is too hot. I have giuen away my clothing until I am Protecting the Grand Canyon reduced to the same condition of those who lost by the Setting the highest standards for the river profession shipwreck of our boats. I cannot see a man of tbe party Providing the best possible river experience more destitute than I un. Thank Qod the uip is necwly ended for it is no pLtce for a man in my circumstances but it let me the Army that would almost Guide Membership is open to anyone who has will out of , and for I worked in the river industry. agree to explore the riuer Styx... is aliqte insects. General Membership is open to everyone. Our camp... fikby with dust and with If this is a specimen of Arrazona a uery little of it will do for uneasy discontented and to Membership dues: me. The men are and anious moile on. If tbe Major does not do something soon I $20 per year fear the consequences, but he is contented and seems to think $100 fo. 6 years that biscuit male of sour and mustl anl a dried $195 for life flour few appLes is omple to sustain a laboring mat. If he can only $277 Benefactor study geologl he will be happy without or shelter but the Please save us trouble and renew before you're due. food rest of us are not ffiicted with it to an aknming extent. General Meetings are held each Spring and Fall. Thus George Bradley at the Board of Directors Meetings are held the first wrote the mouth of River in 1869. There is no and third Mondays of each month. All interested Little Colorado August of sublime beauty the Canyon. members are urged to attend. Call for details. mention of the of Bradley's was more a feeling of growing desperation in Officers: the most hostile of surrclundings. The magical Canyon experience was lost in the race for survival. President Brad Dimock Vice President Teresa Yates It truly was tbe trip of a Lifetime. From the comfornble SecretmylTreasurer Jeri Ledbetter bus ride the ri+ter to the exhiklration of the ride Directors Shane Murphy to helicopter it was all we expected cmd much more. The was Dirk Pratley out, food unbelieuable! Who woull haue guessed we wouldbe gorging John Toner (no pun Martha Clark intended) ourselues on chicken cordon bleu in the 8il1 Leibfried wildemess! The sleeping arrangements, what with the thick pads and iruliuidual tents, were most comforting. And your Christa Sadler gtides deserwe an extra commendation their skill cmd Past President Tom Moody for courteousness. Their humor kept us entertained dawn Founding President Kenton Grua from till dusk. '!7e Again, it was tbe uip of a Lif etime bearty thanks need articles, poetry, stories drarvings, . A our whole photc,s, opinions, suggestions, gripes, and more. from fomily. Edna Winston, August 199 j \Written submissions should be 1500 words or less and, if at ali possible, be sent on a computer No mention of the Canyon experience from Mrs. disk. PC or MAC format; ASCII files are best but she go, anyhow? we can translate most programs. Winston either. Where did Perhaps in our attempts to lessen the hardships of Deadlines for submissions are the 1st of January, Powell's day we have thrown the baby out with the April, July and October. bathwater. In our well meaning endeavor to cushion GRAND CANYON RIVER GUIDES the wildemess we have begun to bring the very things with us that we went on the river to escape. !7e have P. O. Box 1934 begun insulate people so thoroughly frorn the Flagstaff Arizona 86002 to experience that they no longer know where they are. phone or {ax (602) 773-1075 page 2 grancl caln)/on river gnicles Last spring i watched two young ladies during the white answer. Many of them are not up to us but are course of a trip. Each night they would spend close to dictated by company policy. But the bottom line is an hour setting up their tents and arranging the that the character of a trip is determined by the way sleeping gear inside it. Then they would crawl inside we present it, and company policy doesn't change and remain there until hors d'hourves were served. unless we push for it. You cannot see Grand Canyon from inside a tent. It Let's pu[ Grand Canyon back, first and forernost, in wasn't raining. I'm not kidding. the Crand Canyon river trip. An extreme case, I admit, but it was all company gear, that we supplied them with, that had become Brarl Dimock their Canyon experience. We as an industry seem to be in the pc'rsition of either supplying or recommending ever more high tech gear to our clients. \fhy? Be- cause it's there, it's all the rage and we don't want to seem behind the times. Have you looked at a Recre- ational Equipment catalog lately? Everything is designer line. The BM\7-and-Perrier crowd has taken Oral History LJpdate over the outdoor experience. The question is whether we, so called purveyors of ops. Now we've done it. Accidentally "the best possible river experience," want to buy into went and got a grant to continue the oral this mentality. This humble boatman's opinion is, hell history project. Many thanks to Mrs. Jane nol We don'tl "The best possible insulation from the Ivancovich, who started the Southwestern Foundation river experience" is not a valid reason to be in Grand for Education and Historical Preservation. And to Dr. Canyon. Harrison of Tucson, a veteran dory passenger, Now I'm not saying that we should go back to wet Jessica who along with her cohorts on the Foundation's board, tattered blankets and moldy flour. I'm just looking for has given us the funding to, as our proposal put it: a balance between the extremes, comfort without loss of contact, feeding without fattening, facilitating the "1. Tape record, transcribe and archive (at NAU's Canyon experience rather than competing with ir. Cline Library) interviews with 60 participants. Consider a few questions. Talk in depth with boatmen and wornen, their passcngers, various outfitters, and the rangers who've Does it make for a better trip if everyone sets up an tried to regulate thern all. Pay attention to stories of individual tent? Did the old plan of having a big the wilder adventures and mishaps, but also examine group tarp actuaily make for a more meaningfui, if less aspects of a broad evolution. How did river running as comfortable, experience on the rare night that it we know it start out? Where did it go? What is the actually rair-rs? significance of Glen Canyon Dam? !7hat happened in Should the crew spend three hours cooking a the mid-sixties with the Sierra Club and the fight to gourmet feast or one hr>ur cooking good food and two stop more dams in the Canyon? lUhat happened hours hiking sornewhere with the folksl during the big floocl of 1983? And the Environmental Should passengers' prime concern be dealing with impact Statement c>f 19941 When it comes to manage- all the material comfort items that they or we have ment, where do we go from here? bror-rght along? Should they spend the rest of their 2.