http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203863204574345003001544422.html

:))

I knew my pack was too light. I need to carry books written in Greek.

that was me about 5 years ago! ;-)

Pretty big difference from what this guy was doing in the backcountry and what most people who visit this site do. in other words, most people here appear to be concerned with going light so that they can go farther and faster. You just dont see a lot of people talking here about peak bagging, and the one section for alpinism here, is minimal.

i mean, dont get me wrong. when i am going to in to hike only, then my base weight is like 5-8 pounds, depending on the season. i hike fast, and i try to hike as far as i can-- sometimes 30 miles a day. and doing ascents on those east side peaks requires gear, to varying degrees, depending on when you do it.

and hey, this guy was an alpinist-- you can see from the pic he had a rope, ice axe, etc. the modern equivalent would be going in the backcountry with the same stuff-- the climbing rope, harness, your rack, crampons, ice axe. As anyone who has engaged in such endeavours knows, the pack is more like 40-45 pounds after thats all been added. so, though times have changed, we have better and lighter materials in ropes, racks, axes, etc, the modern day equivalent is not a far cry from this guys base weight.

if your pack weighs that, and all your doing is hiking, then, like i said, the comparison is apples and oranges.

anyway, i love these east side guys-- there are still a lot of guys like him when you go over there, even today. god bless 'em.

Edited by nevadas on 09/16/2009 11:19:06 MDT.

Tough old bird.

Was he perhaps related to Grandma Gatewood? A son perhaps? :D

Hanging out in Yosemite one summer the inevitable Norman Clyde stories would seep out of the foggy climber's brains late at night. Enough homemade peach wine and poetry weed usually brought out the best ones.
Eventually the valley got too hot to hang around so I headed up to Toulumne where I immediately lost my girlfriend to the first guy who bathed on a regular basis, depressed I went to the eastside, to Norman Clyde country.
I hauled my life's belongings up to Third Lake and climbed around for a half week when on a whim decided to cross Contact Pass into the next drainage, the South Fork.
Contact Pass is the traditional approach to Temple Crag, a beautiful mountain Norman bagged in 1925 or so.
I would guess that I had maybe 55# and as I rest stepped up I would keep telling myself Norman did this with the entire Bishop library on his back, hauling canned food, a picnic table, maul and bow saw, ... each step I added a new item so by the time I reached the pass the climbers resting there sat transfixed listening to my mantra rising up to them. I don't know if Norman ever carried a small Buick with a straight 8 up Contact Pass but I belive there are some boys in Colorado who think so. I did share my watermelon with them.