MudNCrud Forums
Climbing and ... Climbing => Masters of Mud -- Pinnacles => Topic started by: Uncle Stinky on March 21, 2009, 06:51:25 AM
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I won't bore you with a bunch of climbing photos as most here climb much harder than I do. Great trip- Saw Elk, on Pacheco Pass at San Luis Res., very cool. Lots of wild life in the park-quail, turkey, rubber boa, baby rattle snake, condors, vultures, other raptors, rabbits, drunk college students who had crashed a borrowed car over the steep ravine between Bear Gulch and the camp ground and then walked back to campground without shirts or shoes, and tens of thousands of painted lady butterflies flying up the flood plain.
Rant Alert
One question-Was I a jerk or was he a jerk. On Wednesday I was going to tr my kids in one of the easy climbing areas, First the Tourist Trap- full with the Private school group with guides, next through the caves to First Sister and again full of the private school group with guides, checked out the upper Sisters but too exposed for the little ones. Then on to Teaching Rock and you guessed it- taken up with the guides, two ropes hanging down but no one climbing. The head guide said they were waiting for the kids to show up. I asked if we could do a quick top rope as my kids were getting grumpy, and I too. He said no his insurance would not let him. I replied no, I meant with my rope and I could set it up in minutes and take it down before the students showed up. He again said no, he had a permit to use the area and he was going going to use it. He also said he was there first and that whoever is at a place first has dibs on a climb. He said he had permits on all the areas he was using. And he said he would be done in a couple of hours anyway. I was going to ask him if I was there first if that would overrule his permit but decided to play the nice guy, I dropped some names and bs'ed about other climbing areas and asked again if I could set up and take down quickly before his group showed up as there as there was nowhere really for the kids(he and another guide were just eating lunch).
Then the thing he said that pissed me off was when he finally said," You're lucky I am feeling nice and you can use one of the tr until the group shows up" I said thanks and left it at that but I truly thought that guy picked up some bad Karma. We were able to get in about 20 minutes of climbing. At the time I did not know there were three sets of bold on top or I would have clipped into the third as they were only using two of them. And he did get some bad Karma because when we all got back to the campground the store was to be open but it was not and he was out of beer. SCHADENFREUDE YES!!!
Sorry for the rant but this is the first time I have been to a place climbers were not willing to share.
Pinnacles March17-20
Campground was pretty empty except for a huge group of a private school students loud but not too bad.
Camp cook
(http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n96/uncle-stinky/morepinnaclesanddad09010.jpg)
Tom Turkey- strutting his stuff
(http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n96/uncle-stinky/morepinnaclesanddad09036.jpg)
Wild flower-Indian Warrior
(http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n96/uncle-stinky/morepinnaclesanddad09086.jpg)
Condor
(http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n96/uncle-stinky/cabinandpinnaclesmarch09192.jpg)
Kids messing around
(http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n96/uncle-stinky/morepinnaclesanddad09020.jpg)
Where the car went over the edge We did not learn the full story until the next day.
(http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n96/uncle-stinky/cabinandpinnaclesmarch09244.jpg)
Of course Photographer's Delight after a long hike
(http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n96/uncle-stinky/cabinandpinnaclesmarch09168.jpg)
Old folks at Tourist trap
(http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n96/uncle-stinky/morepinnaclesanddad09053.jpg)
Sindbad
(http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n96/uncle-stinky/cabinandpinnaclesmarch09242.jpg)
Teaching Rock
(http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n96/uncle-stinky/morepinnaclesanddad09027.jpg)
Bad Photo- but Condor flying overhead while climbing
(http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n96/uncle-stinky/cabinandpinnaclesmarch09194.jpg)
Burgundy Dome
(http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n96/uncle-stinky/cabinandpinnaclesmarch09208-1.jpg)
The Grasshopper
(http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n96/uncle-stinky/cabinandpinnaclesmarch09218-1.jpg)
The hike in
(http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n96/uncle-stinky/morepinnaclesanddad09015.jpg)
The last one, I promise-
The Cave
(http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n96/uncle-stinky/morepinnaclesanddad09019.jpg)
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Nice trailer. Do you rent?
Come on out to the rockpile event.
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way to go Uncle, As I read this again I believe you should have gathered a group of agro condors and let em loose on the perps. Well it was a beautiful few days and I know you enjoyed it!
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Unfortunately the guides, and the groups that are associated with them, tend to be an unfriendly crowd at the Pinnacles.
Perhaps some day the group attack is the right approach. Wait until they are setup then get a whole bunch of regulars to show up with some kids. Then just start ranting about how unfriendly they are. It needs to be done in the loud I am a friendly goof kind of way. The perfect mix would be Brad, Uber, and Bruce H. Oh, and Chris. Somebody would have to have a camcorder. Clint would be great addition too, incredible wit but very quiet.
My imagination runs wild.
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The perfect mix would be Brad, Uber, and Bruce H. Oh, and Chris. Somebody would have to have a camcorder. Clint would be great addition too, incredible wit but very quiet.
Jeepers, that would be a riot to have that crowd together. The only one missing is Salad.
Now if all of the above mentioned made it to the Rockpile......what a time to be had.
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MUCCI, nice to meet you up there, Yes we had a great time with perfect weather the only bad part was the attitude of the guides, one reason I did not go off was in case some one in the future was in the same situation the guides would not hold it against them. You were right the condors were awesome and the kids were happy to walk down hill on the way back.
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Salad and uber with the rest of that lot. Oie
Jeepers, that would be a riot to have that crowd together. The only one missing is Salad.
Now if all of the above mentioned made it to the Rockpile......what a time to be had.
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UBER!!!
:ciappa:
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Great trip report, and great trip.
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Couldn't have done it without the new guide book. Excellent work Brad.
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Thanks about the book. I am still having trouble, though, with my copy. Seems the little boxes at pages 382 - 390 keep getting harder and harder to fill. This season my ratio is more than one day of climbing at Pinns for each new route accomplished.
And I sure wouldn't have been as nice to those "guides" as you were. I guess I've gotten too old to put up with that shit; I think I would have escalated quickly (but peaceably).
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I've had a brisk exchange or two with guides before, too. I was once taken aback when they claimed most of Discovery Wall, unoccupied ropes everywhere. I'd like to know what sort of permit they have since commercial activity such as guided climbing is not allowed in the park. You might ask to see a permit next time and offer to fetch a ranger up to check on its validity. Or see if a nasty old guy like me is around to do so. If there's a route free and room on top, climb.
Waldo
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Paging LandShark.
He used to guide at the Pinnacles and might remember the rules.