Yeah, that is a great shot. and a great book to have!

Those bamboo bongs are lung crushers

Steve1215 wrote:Btw: to really appreciate climbing in the 1970s you have to take a few longish, steep whippers onto a "swami belt." When the rope went tight...sometimes you felt like simultaneously vomiting and moving your bowels, all at once. God knows what it did to my kidneys and ureters.

``steve

For the full experience you had to take the fall on goldline. And your belay partner had to have rope burns on his back and/or arm for the next several days from catching you. At least that's what they taught us at the Colorado Outward Bound School. Then again, COBS also made us use leaves, pine cones, and (above tree line) rocks instead of toilet paper, so it could have been part of the whole "learning" experience.

Congrats Guyzo!
Now that's some cool beans...
Any interest in an old pair of RR climbing shoes size 8 1/2 ish?

Steve and all..... it cost me a ton of cash to get into that book.

I did pay my dues to become a Stonemaster.

To become a StoneMaster all one needed to do was "Lead Vahalla" one of the first 5.11 in the world.

Chuck Wilts (the guidebook author) commented that he thought 5.11 was not possible by humans.

That was a red cape to go after.

I think I did about the 10 ascent, thats what Largo said.

It took Mike Pope and I about 20 tries to get up it, spread out over one summer and fall, (yes, I do have P1 wired and can still crank that one off at will) Mike left the door wide open for me when he fell at crux and went down about 25 feet and banged off the little ledge. (yes a hip belay was used)

I was suffering from a wicked cold and was so jacked up from taking cold medicine I really didn't care about anything.

When I caught hold of the "Football" I really didn't know what was keeping me there, a few more moves and it got easier.

Pope lead the last pitch and the party was on.

We did some heavy drinking, of the "Tom Collins" later that nite.

Sometimes you just get lucky.

I´m impressed!
Any photos?

Climbed beside Pat Ament this spring at the gunk's. Started chattin with him about Colorado b'fore I even knew who he was. Pretty cool dude.

charles wrote:I´m impressed!
Any photos?

Thanks Charles.

Unfortunately no photos, I didn't own a camera back then. We were way to busy climbing things to take pics.

And belaying, back then, took both hands. You know.

That is pretty awesome! Largo's writing gives such a colorful flavor to those 1970s Southern California daze. Must have been great to live that...

Guyzo wrote:

charles wrote:I´m impressed!
Any photos?

Thanks Charles.

Unfortunately no photos, I didn't own a camera back then. We were way to busy climbing things to take pics.

And belaying, back then, took both hands. You know.

Indeed - both hands, shoulder and loads of luck.

Steve1215 wrote:I'm sure Guyzo would not mind me mentioning California's other illustrious Stonemaster, Tobin Sorenson--the boy from Covina, California.

From the late 1970s, here are a few of Tobin Sorenson's major alpine climbing accomplishments:

FA of the Dru Couloir Direct, Chamonix, with Rick Accomazzo
First continuous ascent of the Eiger Direct, with the late Alex McIntyre
A ropeless solo ascent of the Matterhorn North Face, done in 8.5 hours
Grand Central Couloir, Mt. Kitchener, Canadian Rockies, with Jack Roberts

Sorenson later died in a fall on Mt. Alberta's North Face, during a solo attempt in 1980, at the age of 25.


Here is a photo of Tobin Sorenson from my image bank:

http://www.summitpost.org/user-profile-image/551560


----

The only point where I could even half way relate to someone of that calibre is that I also wore EBs

There are a lot of apocryphal stories about Tobin Sorenson. He was, as you noted however, a very competent mountaineer. I'd be hard pressed to believe he'd solo the N. Face of the Matterhorn in a pair of jeans.