DOCSLIB.ORG

It's Silver for George Fisher

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

the theUpdateUpdate SUMMER 2010 - ISSUE 71 SUMMER 2010 - ISSUE 71 georgefi sher.co.uk New summer stock now in! See inside for a full round-up of new clothing and equipment IT’S SILVER FOR GEORGE FISHER If you’re a company working in the outdoor business then environmental considerations should be high in your agenda. Not just because the products you stock are connected with the mountains, but mostly because people in the outdoor business are passionate about outdoor activities and the environment they play in. At George Fisher we’ve defi nitely got more than our fair share of climbers, runners, skiers, bikers, walkers and backpackers. This is why embedding ‘sustainable management’ into our everyday life at the store has been a natural step, and everyone in the business feels they have a part to play. We all agree we have a responsibility to minimise our impact on the environment, both locally and globally. Andy Airey and Carol Suddaby receiving the CBEN silver award from Louise Back in 2008 we took our fi rst steps towards giving a structure to our Lund (centre) of Cumbria Rural Enterprise Agency at the CBEN awards efforts, working with Cumbria Rural Enterprise Agency towards their Cumbria Business Environment Network (CBEN) awards. The CBEN over the last year we’ve cut our energy consumption by over 13% and process audits George Fisher against stringent criteria, and we were reduced the quantity of landfi ll waste by over two-thirds, or 77,000 litres. awarded Bronze back in 2008 for work including waste re-use and ethical sourcing of bags. These efforts have helped George Fisher gain CBEN Silver this year, which we’re particularly proud of. Plus we’ve managed to raise £4661 for Nurture The next stage is tougher; as CBEN puts it, “This is an award for Lakeland, our local conservation charity, over the last 12 months. No resting organisations and companies who are prepared to make signifi cant on laurels though - next year we’ll be working harder to try and achieve progress along the road of environmental management”. Two of the biggest Gold! challenges we’re facing at the moment are reducing our energy use, and reducing the waste we send to landfi ll. So by looking hard at what we do, See page 16 for Carol Suddaby’s report on our efforts. SUMMER GEAR NOW IN STORE! This is always a great time of year because all Bergerud reminds us how to make sure the latest lightweight summer clothing and we stay hydrated in the hills. John equipment is now ready in the store, and the Wickham checks out the ‘do’s and longer days and warmer weather are perfect don’ts’ regarding wild camping, for getting out walking, climbing, biking and we feature product focus and camping. articles on Rab and Royal Robbins. Plus we have a guide to In this issue we have plenty the best mountain shoes, whether of stories about you’re walking or running. new products. Andy Airey looks Plus of course the latest news, and at warm-weather articles from our regular columnists clothing while Lisa Bill Birkett, Mark Seaton and Des Oliver. phone and website orders received before noon are delivered free overnight georgefi sher.co.uk 1 t 017687 71801 • weekdays only the Update SUMMER 2010 - ISSUE 71 ALWAYS ONE STEP AHEAD. At Asolo and W.L. Gore we work together to make the comfort of your feet our business. Our latest footwear range is more than just waterproof, more than just breathable - It is totally ‘climate comfort engineered’ to keep your feet dry and comfortable. The result is a range of footwear designed to give you the greatest comfort, the best fit and the highest quality. So step into the latest Asolo and GORE-TEX® footwear and stay one step ahead. For more details contact Asolo on 01539 740 840 email [email protected] or visit www.asolo.com MODEL FEATURED: FLAME GTX. ASOLO & GORE-TEX® FOOTWEAR - PARTNERS IN THE PURSUIT GORE-TEX®, GUARANTEED TO KEEP YOU DRY™, GORE® OF PERFECT FOOTWEAR. and designs are trade marks of W.L. GORE & Associates. 2 the Update SUMMER 2010 - ISSUE 71 OUTDOOR LAYERING NEIL MCADIE FROM RAB EXPLAINS HOW REVISITED THE ‘LAYERING STORY’ HAS BEEN UPDATED Not so many years ago, choosing outdoor clothing for your trip to great example of this is the Rab Vapour-rise jacket which is wind resistant, the mountains was a relatively simple affair. We had all heard of extremely breathable and comfortable through a range of activity levels or layering and the choice of a wicking base layer, warm mid layer and a temperatures. This is the very essence of an active windproof mid layer. waterproof outer shell was straightforward. So far so good, but the problem was that the system lacked fl exibility to adapt to different Other windproof and lightweight options are better climates and meant that you had to wear a waterproof to protect from thought of as ‘stopping layers’. Typically these the wind - even on a dry day. are light to carry, completely windproof and offer more warmth with less breathability. Perhaps Thankfully the last ten years have seen huge advances in fabric technology the ultimate examples are Primaloft insulated offering lighter, more breathable and more fl exible options than ever before. garments, with tiny pack size and low weight yet It’s a complex area however, and a short exploration of the pros and cons of instant warmth (try the Rab Photon Jacket or what’s on offer will help in fi nding the garment most Generator Jacket in this class). Light and warm suited to your activity. they most certainly are, but at the expense of breathability. So play them to their strengths Most of us have worn fl eece and fi nd it lightweight, and carry one for lunch stops, cold summits comfortable and breathable but the wind whistles and overnight camps. through. Replacing this with a windproof mid layer for walking and mountaineering is In conclusion there are now a huge number the crux of the issue. Technical windproof of products out there that let you enjoy the mid layers can be most easily divided into hills without relying on your waterproof as a ‘active layers’ and ‘stopping layers’. windbreaker, but understanding the fabrics Rab Photon Hoodie is crucial to getting the most out of them. Active layers are designed to provide Breathability is the key for active layering, maximum breathability when on the and lightweight warmth is the key for layers move. They will also be windproof, or to pull on when you stop. Combining these will give you the very best of more likely highly wind resistant, and what is now out there on the market to keep you comfortable and safe in the form the ideal mid layer for walking high hills. Have fun! Rab Vapour-rise jacket fells or climbing on multi-pitch crags. A MAPS FOR FREE? UNFORTUNATELY NOT Our last issue of The Update includes the standard 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer maps. featured news that a European Instead a new product is to be made available; unfortunately this OS directive might result in Ordnance VectorMap District map is unlikely to have the detail required in rural Survey maps becoming free. areas to make it much use for walking, but we will see. Whoopee, we all cried. However The situation with users having to pay for the same Landranger and just before Easter the government Explorer mapping twice, for instance for use on computer and then on released details of the free mapping GPS, remains completely unchanged. Having dangled the prospect of to be available under the new OS free maps in front of us, perhaps it is now time for Ordnance Survey to OpenData scheme. Much to our review its pricing? ViewRanger mapping app on the iPhone disappointment this no longer 3 the Update SUMMER 2010 - ISSUE 71 GEAR ROUND-UP Andy Airey reckons we’ve got it covered when it comes to summer sun Here comes summer… hopefully! We must deserve a good both blending organic cotton with 55% hemp. The fl attering cut of the summer this year after the recent washouts. Surely a proper Island Top (£49) and the linen-like fabric mean this has been a real winter should be followed by a proper summer - if that’s the case favourite; combine it with the Island Pant (£69) to make your easy then we are prepared! wear/easy care set for hot weather travel or those balmy summer evenings. Our range of Royal Robbins clothing has proved to be the most popular for years; the combination of colour, fabric and design has hit For those of you who want to project a positive the nail right on the head. Best seller this season has been their Cool environmental statement then go for Patagonia’s Mesh range; Royal Robbins Cool Mesh fabric is now a blend of regular Live Simply T-shirts; organic cotton of course, men and organic cotton, it has a much softer handle get a deer print and women a guitar, we have a than its predecessors and the open mesh couple of colours of each and both men’s and weave ensures that it is ideal for hot summer women’s versions cost £29. days when you need to fi nd comfort. If you need functional clothing for mountain Women gain three Cool Mesh pieces in a activities then you require something quick-drying selection of colours - a Short and harder-wearing than cotton or hemp.
Recommended publications
  • National Register of Historic Places Registration Form

    National Register of Historic Places Registration Form

    NPS Form 10-900 OMBNo. 10024-0018 (Oct. 1990) United States Department of the Interior » , • National Park Service V National Register of Historic Places Registration Form This form is for use in nominating or requesting determination for individual properties and districts Sec instructions in How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (National Register Bulletin 16A). Complete each item by marking "x" in the appropriate box or by entering the information requested. If an item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" lor 'not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and area of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions Place additional entries and narrative items on continuation sheets (NPS Form 10- 900A). Use typewriter, word processor or computer to complete all items. 1. Name of Property____________________________________________________ historic name Camp 4 other name/site number Sunnyside Campground__________________________________________ 2. Location_______________________________________________________ street & number Northside Drive, Yosemite National Park |~1 not for publication city or town N/A [_xj vicinity state California code CA county Mariposa code 043 zip code 95389 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this Itjiomination _irquest for determination of eligibility meets the documentationsJand»ds-iJar
  • CC J Inners 168Pp.Indd

    CC J Inners 168Pp.Indd

    theclimbers’club Journal 2011 theclimbers’club Journal 2011 Contents ALPS AND THE HIMALAYA THE HOME FRONT Shelter from the Storm. By Dick Turnbull P.10 A Midwinter Night’s Dream. By Geoff Bennett P.90 Pensioner’s Alpine Holiday. By Colin Beechey P.16 Further Certifi cation. By Nick Hinchliffe P.96 Himalayan Extreme for Beginners. By Dave Turnbull P.23 Welsh Fix. By Sarah Clough P.100 No Blends! By Dick Isherwood P.28 One Flew Over the Bilberry Ledge. By Martin Whitaker P.105 Whatever Happened to? By Nick Bullock P.108 A Winter Day at Harrison’s. By Steve Dean P.112 PEOPLE Climbing with Brasher. By George Band P.36 FAR HORIZONS The Dragon of Carnmore. By Dave Atkinson P.42 Climbing With Strangers. By Brian Wilkinson P.48 Trekking in the Simien Mountains. By Rya Tibawi P.120 Climbing Infl uences and Characters. By James McHaffi e P.53 Spitkoppe - an Old Climber’s Dream. By Ian Howell P.128 Joe Brown at Eighty. By John Cleare P.60 Madagascar - an African Yosemite. By Pete O’Donovan P.134 Rock Climbing around St Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai Desert. By Malcolm Phelps P.142 FIRST ASCENTS Summer Shale in Cornwall. By Mick Fowler P.68 OBITUARIES A Desert Nirvana. By Paul Ross P.74 The First Ascent of Vector. By Claude Davies P.78 George Band OBE. 1929 - 2011 P.150 Three Rescues and a Late Dinner. By Tony Moulam P.82 Alan Blackshaw OBE. 1933 - 2011 P.154 Ben Wintringham. 1947 - 2011 P.158 Chris Astill.
  • A Historical Geography of Yosemite Valley Climbing Landscapes J

    A Historical Geography of Yosemite Valley Climbing Landscapes J

    Journal of Historical Geography 32 (2006) 190e219 www.elsevier.com/locate/jhg Mapping adventure: a historical geography of Yosemite Valley climbing landscapes J. Taylor Departments of History and Geography, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, V5A 1S6 Abstract Climbing guidebooks are invaluable resources for examining how modern recreation has inscribed val- ues onto public landscapes. The history of rock climbing in Yosemite Valley is particularly instructive be- cause it was a principal location for modern rock climbing and influenced modern environmental thought. Examining climbing guidebooks for Yosemite Valley also reveals a cultural shift during the 1960s in how climbers represented themselves and their deeds. New trends in route descriptions and naming practices re- flected shifts in social mores, environmental conditions, and sporting behavior. Guidebooks produced since 1970 suggest a coarsening progression in sport and an altered community demography, yet these texts also illustrate how change reinforced climbing’s values and customs. Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Yosemite; Guidebooks; History; Gender; Recreation In August 1933 a young San Francisco lawyer named Peter Starr hiked into the Sierra Nevada wilderness and disappeared. A huge search ensued, complete with elite climbing teams and the first ever use of airplanes in a Sierra search and rescue. Three weeks later another climber found Starr’s body on a ledge of the steep, previously unclimbed northeastern face of Michael Minaret. Peter Starr’s death rocked genteel California. News reports and polite society obsessed about him, but at the service Francis Farquhar, president of the Sierra Club, transformed Starr from victim to hero.
  • Eiger Anniversary Climb Irish Team Repeat Barrington’S first Ascent

    Eiger Anniversary Climb Irish Team Repeat Barrington’S first Ascent

    Winter 2018 €3.95 UK£3.40 ISSN 0790 8008 Issue 128 Eiger anniversary climb Irish team repeat Barrington’s first ascent Vandeleur Lynams First continuous round completed: 273 Irish peaks in just 56 days www.mountaineering.ie Come along and develop your winter Discounts for early bookings, group bookings mountain skills, expand your and aspirant mountaineers knowledge and meet fellow walkers, mountaineers and climbers who enjoy snow and ice For further information: Call the Training Office on 01 625 1112 or email [email protected] A Word from the edItor ISSUE 128 The Irish Mountain Log is the membership magazine of Mountaineering Ireland. The organisation promotes the interests of hillwalkers and climbers in Ireland. Mountaineering Ireland Welcome Mountaineering Ireland Ltd is a company limited by guarantee and éad míle fáilte! As we come to registered in Dublin, No 199053. Registered office: Irish Sport HQ, the end of another year, which National Sports Campus, seems to have flown by again, it Blanchardstown, Dublin 15, Ireland. is always good to do a little Tel: (+353 1) 625 1115 stocktaking. the promised indemnity Fax: (+353 1) 625 1116 CIt has been another busy year for [email protected] scheme could deliver assured www.mountaineering.ie Mountaineering Ireland, your national ❝ access for recreation in most governing body. CEO Murrough McDonagh and Hot Rock Climbing Wall his excellent staff have certainly been kept on upland areas in Ireland. Tollymore Mountain Centre their toes. Our membership has increased and, Bryansford, Newcastle overall, the numbers of people going County Down, BT33 0PT 2019 walking season (see report, page 6).
  • Pinnacle Club Journal

    Pinnacle Club Journal

    © Pinnacle Club and Author All Rights Reserved THE PINNACLE CLUB JOURNAL No. 22 1991-1993 © Pinnacle Club and Author All Rights Reserved THE PINNACLE CLUB JOURNAL 1991-1993 No. 22 Edited by Dee Gaffney © Pinnacle Club and Author All Rights Reserved THE PINNACLE CLUB JOURNAL 1990-1993 THE PINNACLE CLUB Founded 1921 OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE - 1993 President MARGARET CLENNETT 17 Orchard Lane, Prestwood Bucks. HP160NN Vice President STELLA ADAMS Hon. Secretar\ CATHY WOODHEAD The Anchorage, 15 Ty Mawr Road Deganwy, Gwynedd LL31 9UR Hon. Treasurer SALLY KEIR Hon. Meets Secretary MARY WATERS Hon. Membership Secretary LOUISE DICKIE Hon. Hut Secretary RHONA LAMPARD Hon. Librarian SUE LOGAN Hon. Editor DEE GAFFNEY Hon. Auditor FERN LEVY Committee Mandy Glanvill Marlene Halliwell Val Hennelly Helen Jones Elaine McCulloch (dinner organiser) Suzanne Pearson Key Proudlock (co-opted) © Pinnacle Club and Author All Rights Reserved THE PINNACLE CLUB JOURNAL CONTENTS Idylls in the Winds Margaret Clennett................5 A Nice Walk Jane Stedman.......................9 Nepal 1992: A Life of Luxury Shirley Angell.................... 11 The Forbes Arete - My first alpine steps Penny Clay......................... 15 Time in the Sun Kate Webb......................... 18 A Solo Traverse of the Welsh 3000 foot Mountains Gill Ollerhead ....................23 Hot ? Rock Annabelle Barker...............28 Trudy's First Tour Marguerite .........................31 Arrampicato con Gloria Angela Soper .....................34 By Klepper in the Charlottes Ann Wheatcroft .................37 It is better to travel hopefully.. Sally Macintyre .................40 The Adventures of Buffalo Bill and the Armpit Hoppity Rabbit ..................43 Rock Climbing in the Dauphine Stella Adams......................46 The Tale of the Middle-Aged Mariners Mary Waters ......................48 Mice, Megaphones and Muscles (Half Dome the Slow Way) Hilary Lawrenson ..............50 On Location Gwen Moffat .....................54 Cwm Dyli Hydro Station F.
  • Mile High Mountaineer the Newsletter of the Denver Group of the Colorado Mountain Club Volume 43, No

    Mile High Mountaineer the Newsletter of the Denver Group of the Colorado Mountain Club Volume 43, No

    Mile High Mountaineer The newsletter of the Denver Group of the Colorado Mountain Club Volume 43, No. 4 April 2011 • www.hikingdenver.net www.cmc.org HALL OF MOUNTAINEERING Royal met Liz Burkner, a UC Berkely student working EXCELLENCE GALA... a summer job in Yosemite’s Ahwanee Hotel, in the 196l. Married in 1963, the couple’s love of climbing has taken calls all CMC Mountaineers to attend the April 9th event them to Spain, France, Switzerland, and the UK. Liz to induct five of the most significant mountaineers of became the first woman to accomplish a first ascent on our time in the Hall of Mountaineering Excellence the Northwest Face of Half Dome, and the first woman The inductees honored into the Bradford Washburn to have completed a Grade VI climb. Mountaineering Museum Hall of Mountaineering Come to listen to Royal Robbins’ stories as well as Excellence this year include Tom Hornbein, Fred Beckey, those of other inductees. The event will be held at the Royal Robbins, Miriam Underhill and Willi Unsoeld. The American Mountaineering Center at 710 10th Street in evening will be filled with stories of each mountaineer’s Golden, CO. Doors open at 5:30pm. Tickets are $75 for greatest ascents and expeditions, fond memories of the individuals and $125 for couples and can be purchased inductees no longer with us, as well as an appreciative through the American Mountaineering Museum website look at each one’s work beyond the climbing world. www.mountaineeringmuseum.org. Guests will enjoy a cocktail reception in the museum, Contact Shelby Arnold 303-996-2763 or email catered dinner, entertainment, live auction and keynote [email protected].
  • For Office.Use -';11

    For Office.Use -';11

    /' FOR OFFICE.USE -';11 I .I I ; I "~ II ~ ~ i ~ i i ~ ~ I ! i I ;;:~ .~ J A3 I .'t,. ., ~ , Twospeeddemonshaveturnedthemostfamousbigwallofall intoaverticalracetrack,butastheyrushtoglory,theirpeers THEwonder:Howlongbeforea spectacular-andlethal-crash? II"' II:" t: CLIMBINGWAR BY YI-WYN YEN utes when Herson stopped to fixa broken shoelace, they covered the route in 3:57:27. This time Florine rushed to congratulate himself, sending out a snarky e-mail to sev- HE NEWS spread through Yosemite eral climbers, including Potter and O'Neill. "Even I'll Valleylast Oct. 15like a Santa Ana wild- admit this one is goingto be hard to break;' Florine wrote. fire: Dean Potter and Tim O'Neill had Turns out it wasn't hard to break at all. On the morn- scaled EI Capitan's Nose route in less ing ofNov.2, Potter,30, and O'Neill,33, eclipsed Florine's than four hours-three hours, 59 minutes and 35 sec- mark by a half hour, in view of their nemesis, who for onds, to be exact-a benchmark previouslybelieved to be five straight mornings had dropped offhis infant daugh- as untouchable as the four-minute mile had once been ter, Marianna, at a day-care center and raced over to for runners. Word of the feat, as it so often does when it Yosemite Meadow to see if his rivalswere on EICap. Un- involves Potter, soon reached Hans Florine, who had bowed, Florine resolved to launch another assault on the Nose, but it had to wait: the day before he had broken 11'1 held the Nose record of 4:22.
  • Wringing Light out of Stone

    Wringing Light out of Stone

    MOUNTAIN PROFILE THE PALISADES I DOUG ROBINSON Wringing Light out of Stone So this kid walks into the Palisades.... I was twenty, twenty-one—don’t remember. It was the mid-1960s, for sure. I’d been hanging in the Valley for a few seasons, wide-eyed and feeling lucky to be soaking up wisdom by holding the rope for Chuck Pratt, the finest crack climber of the Golden Age. Yeah, cracks: those stark highways up Yosemite’s smooth granite that only open up gradually to effort and humility. Later they begin to reveal another facet: shadowed, interior, drawing us toward hidden dimensions of our ascending passion. ¶ The Palisades, though, are alpine, which means they are even more fractured. It would take me a little longer to cut through to the true dimensions of even the obvious features. To my young imagination, they looked like the gleaming, angular granite in the too-perfect romantic pictures that I devoured out of Gaston Rébuffat’s mountaineering books. My earliest climbing partner, John Fischer, had already been there— crampons lashed to his tan canvas-and-leather pack—and he’d returned, wide-eyed, with the tale of having survived a starlit bivy on North Palisade. [Facing Page] Don Jensen climbing in the Palisades, Sierra Nevada, California, during the 1960s—captured in a photo that reflects the atmosphere of the French alpinist Gaston Rébuffat’s iconic images of the Alps. Many consider the Palisades to be the most alpine region of the High Sierra, although climate change has begun to affect the classic ice and snow climbs.
  • Climbers' Guidebooks 551

    Climbers' Guidebooks 551

    2 INDEX GENERAL BOOKS: 1- 530 FICTION: 531 - 542 CAVING: 543 - 547 SKIING: 548 - 550 GUIDEBOOKS (ENGLISH LANGUAGE): 551 - 823 GUIDEBOOKS (FOREIGN LANGUAGE): 824 - 855 WALKING/TREKKING GUIDES: 856 - 866 FOREIGN LANGUAGE BOOKS: 867 - 877 JOURNALS 878 - 947 MAGAZINES: 948 - 964 PHOTOGRAPHS: 965 - 967 1. Abraham, A.P: BEAUTIFUL LAKELAND: Abraham, Keswick; 1920: (2nd) edition. Hardback, 52 pages, 32 monogravure plates (including one on front cover) by G.P Abraham of Keswick, 28.5cm. Head of spine lightly bumped with a 1cm joint split reglued (darkened) at head and base, corner tips also reglued; foxing and browning mainly confined to outer page-edges and endpapers, overall a VG presentable copy. General commentary on the Lake District; enhanced with fine Abraham photographs of the period: £10.00 2. Abraham, G.D: BRITISH MOUNTAIN CLIMBS: Mills & Boon; 1937: 4th edition. Pages xvi + 448, 18 plates, 21 outline drawings, 17.5cm. Complete, but pages 49-64 bound out of sequence. Previous owner’s bookplate inside front board; faint water stain lower corner of frontispiece and a slight touch of wrinkling in vicinity; surface glaze dull (8x8cm) on lower rear corner of rear board; slight foxing top outer edge of pages; but otherwise a Near Fine very clean copy in (dust wrapper condition - spine age- darkened, slightly rubbed and tiny loss at base) d/w now protected in a loose plastic sleeve. Primarily a guidebook but also useful for the history of early British climbing: £25.00 3. Abraham, G.D: BRITISH MOUNTAIN CLIMBS: Mills & Boon; 1945 5th edition: Pages xvi + 448, 18 plates, 21outline drawings, 18cm.
  • Alpine Roulette the Impermanence of Alpine Permafrost—And How This Changes Everything in MY MEMORY's EYE, I Can Easily See the Mistake

    Alpine Roulette the Impermanence of Alpine Permafrost—And How This Changes Everything in MY MEMORY's EYE, I Can Easily See the Mistake

    AAC Publications Alpine Roulette The Impermanence of Alpine Permafrost—and How This Changes Everything IN MY MEMORY'S EYE, I can easily see the mistake. As I scampered up a granite wall on the Swiss side of the Aiguilles Rouges du Mont Dolent, I’d noted with mild curiosity that waterwas dripping from under the two-meter-tall block of rock I was about to climb over. Butthe granite face felt so solid after the choss of the last several pitches that I paid no mind to this wet patch. Then I touched the top of the block. Suddenly both the block and I were airborne. I flipped over and ground down the wall headfirst, thinking over and over, “I will not let this kill me, I will not let this kill me...” as rocks tumbled beside me and I waited for the rope to catch my fall. Fifteen meters later, it did, having snagged on a flake that cut it halfway through. I was indeed still alive, but my feet had broken, as X-rays later revealed. A helicopter came to whisk me off to the hospital, then returned to pick up my partner. In hindsight, it’s obvious the dripping came from ice that had been holding the rock in place.The block would have fallen anyway that summer of 2010, whether or not I’d been there to catalyze its erosion. I have no beef with erosion. After all, without erosion the Aiguilles would be an uplifted plateau that horses could walk over, not a spiny ridge attractive to climbers.
  • Charles “Butch” Farabee

    Charles “Butch” Farabee

    Transcription: Grand Canyon Historic Society Interviewee: Charles “Butch” Farabee (BF) Interviewer: Tom Martin (TM) Subject: Butch recounts events while working at Yosemite National Park, 1971-1980 Date of Interview: June 18, 2020, Part 9 Method of Interview: Telephone interview Transcriber: Anonymous Date of Transcription: 10/6/2020 Transcription Reviewers: Sue Priest Keys: Jim Bridewll, Yosemite National Park, climbing rescues, Camp 4, Yosemite Mountaineering School, Wayne Merry, Pete Thompson, search and rescue, helicopter rescues, El Capitan, hang gliding, Glacier Point, parachuting, rappelling El Capitan TM: Today is Thursday, June 18, 2020. This is Part 9 of a Grand Canyon oral history interview with Charles “Butch” Farabee. My name is Tom Martin. Good afternoon, Butch. How are you today? BF: Hi, Tom. Good. Thanks. TM: Great. May we have your permission to record this oral history over the phone? BF: Yes TM: Thank you very much. At the end of the last history discussion, you had mentioned you became friends with a climber, one of the cutting edge climbers of Yosemite at the time, a guy named Jim Bridwell. Can you talk a little bit about the climbers camp, Camp 4, and the cutting edge climbing that Bridwell and others were doing? And how did the park keep up with these people? How did the park work on its rescue skills to help these people when they got in trouble? BF: Okay. In late ‘68 I believe, Pete Thompson who was Assistant Valley District ranger, which is the position I had for a long time, but was simultaneously the park’s overall search and rescue officer, and of course, it wasn't too long and that turned into a full time position, but initially he was in a different job.
  • Downward Bound: a Mad Guide to Rock Climbing, by Warren “Batso Harding, with Illustrations by Beryl “Beasto” Knath

    Downward Bound: a Mad Guide to Rock Climbing, by Warren “Batso Harding, with Illustrations by Beryl “Beasto” Knath

    Downward Bound: A Mad Guide to Rock Climbing, by Warren “Batso Harding, with illustrations by Beryl “Beasto” Knath. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1975. 204 pages, numerous photos and draw­ ings. Price $7.95. Climbing autobiographies have never become popular in American climb­ ing, probably due to the lack of audience. The scene has never had a public following as in such urban cultures, as France, which has produced many fine mountain memoirs, or Britain, which has also had a goodly number. One event in American climbing certainly did catch the public s fancy: Warren Harding’s climb of the Wall of Early Morning Light. Whether this was attention long overdue, a fluke or as Warren says, “Merely the result of a slack period in the overall news scene,” it gen­ erated a lot of public interest, gave Warren his long overdue fame— though not fortune—(he mock-laments that his first ascent of the Nose twelve years before was eclipsed in the news by the death of the Pope), created widespread fear and loathing in the climbing community, and eventually resulted in this book. Into this literary void steps the modest Batso, at times unsure for whom he is writing. The climbing community has read his trenchant pieces of satire—directed as much at himself as at others and loved him for it. Some of this new wit is obviously for them, but the book is basi­ cally for wider audiences. It starts with a lengthy discourse on the con­ duct of climbing, with answers to the question of “How does the rope get up there?” works into climbing “Philo-pharcy” and Warren’s life as a rock climber, and climaxes with “the big motha climb” itself.