April 1, 2011 George Foster

Top 3-ish Moments in Climbing

Uh oh i fear i may have opened up a can or 2 (or 3 if you will) of worms here. This title suggests that i may soon be inundated with every Tom, Dick and Reginald’s story of “the day i sent V0-” or “the day i conquered Malvern hill”. Well hoo-la-la (just ignore me i’m undersexed and jealous)!

It was pretty hard to think of the moments i’m about to share with you. Some of them are just that, moments, in the strictest sense of the term, others cover ‘moments’ drawn out over hours and, maybe, days. In truth i’m continuing to waffle on like this to buy some time while i think of any………got one……..and another…….the third??……err………yup! That last bit wasn’t a commentary of me wanking (jerking off in Yankspeak) by the way. And you’re back in the room!

Now that we’re all friends again i’ll begin……….

1. The 30 mins of direct sunshine that lit up the east face of Stok Kangri resulting in a spectacular, momentary, chain of events, namely, and in third person context – George sees the most incredible view that he has ever seen in his life, George sees the rope linking him to Jim, George sees the precariousness of their position on the steepest section of the face, George sees the rope linking him to Jim in a significantly different light (the sun was still shining so it wasn’t that), George looks to his left and sees fresh avalanche tracks some 100-200m distant, George smiles and thinks ‘this is a great place to die but i’d really rather not!’

2. The moment when i was soloing Flying Buttress Direct and turned to see a hot university girl watching me, gave her a smutty ‘Dick Dastardly’ wink and cut-loose one handed on the first overhang. What a dickhead! I love the occasional bombastic display of arrogance as much as the next man!

3. The ENTIRE journey round California and Oregon in 2009. Wa-wa-wee-wa! If i HAD to pick highlights they would be, in no particular order……..buying a van and driving it; bomb-bursting up to Oregon for what turned out to be no reason whatsoever; climbing at Smith with Dom and Laura; the butterfly that landed on my hand while i was abbing down from Bachar-Yerian; Mammoth Lakes coffee place; the one, the only, I.V.; Shannon’s trailer in Santa Cruz; the DIY on the van; the enormity of the Buttermilks; rallying The Duchess round the dirt tracks (sounds kinky); crashing into walls in order to stop; endless coffee; Ben getting a gob-job in L.A.; Amoeba records in L.A.; scientology stalking in L.A.; the time Dom and Micah came to stay; Thanksgiving hospitality in Bishop; people still reading this – well done, i’m proud of you, you’re almost there; waking up in the girls bed in I.V. to an awesome view – ahhhh yeahhhhh; hanging out with Sienna, Mariah, Shannon and co. in Santa Barbara; meeting Big Al from the Verdon……this list will outlast me i tell you so i’d better stop!

That is all i guess – well within the self-imposed boundaries at least – can you think of any? 

I realise of course that i’ve asked for ‘reader’ (as if there are any) input on these kind of things before, all of which have ended in abject failure….but you never know! And seriously i don’t give a poop about your V1 redpoint okay?! Relax, i do really.  

Comments (3)

  1. Top 3? Hard to pin down. Probably cruising 7a in Font in front of a whole bunch of very nice burly boys I didn’t know who couldn’t touch it (yes, I was as surprised as any of them!). Topping out on my first 7b in Siurana which everyone else avoided because it was nails. Don’t think I’ve ever been higher. Getting to the top of the Old Man of Stoer, despite losing every ounce of climbing ability right at the beginning of the route.
    I’ve been out of climbing for a wee while now (and it’ll be a wee while longer before I’m able to get back to it) but your post made me remember exactly how frustrating it’s been not climbing and exactly how much I am looking forward to getting back to it!

  2. cool Emma, hope you don’t have to wait too long to get back to it.

    Cal, that could have been one of a hundred nights – Dave you old sleazebag you!

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