Kickin' It Old School

[mrbrejcha]

I'm broken and on the couch, still.. I went looking through my old pics and stories, but I'm sure you guys can do better.

Hit me with some arm chair action...:popcorn:

Old school (remember when style) TRs and pics...remember when you didn't have cams? Survived your first year of trad climbing? What did you climb? Stories or pics, I'm bored and love it all.


_ A Broken brejcha

[CarpeyBiggs]

stop drinking and crying about being broken. wait until this weekend, then we won't need "remember when" TR's. we'll be blowin' shit up and livin' large like only our broken selves can.

[accadacca]

stop drinking and crying about being broken. wait until this weekend, then we won't need "remember when" TR's. we'll be blowin' shit up and livin' large like only our broken selves can.
There should be a whole lotta TR's lighting up the red dots on Bogley next week. :afro:

[Bo_Beck]

Not so much old school, but nonetheless my beginnings. When I moved to St. George 21 years ago seeing folks rappelling off of Dixie Rock aka "Sugarloaf" stimulated my taste buds. Geared myself up and voila 2 weeks later I was a pro.Unfortunately several weeks later I became bored with just going down so I took my 8mm accessory cord, small rack of carabiners and brand new EB's out to snow canyon and decided to try my hand "solo" rappelling up a bolted 5.7 climb. I clipped the end of the rope with a non-locking biner to the first bolt, paid out enough slack to arrive to the second bolt and then rigged my "8 ring device" as a rappel and continued upward (assuming that if I fell I could grab the rope and brake my fall). Well...I made it to the second bolt, then the third and on my way to the fourth got a bit sketched out and looked down and my anchor biner had come undone from the anchor bolt. Oh-oh!:scared: Well....I gingerly downclimbed and made it home safely. 2 weeks later I enlisted some "climbing lessons from Matt Kindred and John Tainio. I had the good fortune (luck) to gain some much needed instruction, and later climbed with others to include Todd Perkins, Jorge Visser, Randy Leavitt, Ron Olevsky and a whole slew of climbers that showed me some tricks of the trade. A few years later I had progressed to the point that I felt it necessary to establish new lines (just to see If it could be done) such as Aftershock, Living on the Edge, Hair of the Dog, Cease Fire, unnamed aid stuff on Paria Point in Zion, and a few others. I will say that putting up new routes starting from the bottom was the highlight of my climbing career though! Putting in a bolt with a hand drill while precariously perched on a small edge, or placing a nut that might hold a fall knowing that there is no guarantee of more protection above has a way of stimulating a steady flow of endorfins. One thing is for sure though.....this gave me a respect for those "old-schoolers" before me that were the true pioneers of modern day climbing!:nod:

[nieder]

Awesome story Bo, I had similar self-taught fumblings/beginnings in Snow Canyon, except I lead "Roar of the Greasepaint" on a fuzzy 11mm static rope, using old Hi-Tec hiking boots that you surely sold me at Outdoor Outlet in the mid 90s. My belayer belayed me on a deeply grooved 8 and held me as I fell on the crux onto the static rope, I am really grateful to be here today!