Film Diary

1973 Webster - it's Hammer Time!

As a child Ed Webster read “Everest Diary”, an account of the first Americans to climb Everest.  This book left an indelible mark on Webster’s memory, one that has inspired Ed his entire life (I shudder to think what kids influenced by Justin Bieber will be inspired to achieve…).  Even though a 1988 ascent of Everest cost him eight fingertips, the excitement of the mountains still resonates through his bones.  Yet before climbing Everest numerous times, Webster traveled the United States… climbing… well everywhere.

First Ascent of Super Crack 1976 (Indian Creek) - Now that's a crack!

Barely into his teens, Webster ditched high school classes to climb with up and comer “Hot” Henry Barber, eventually moving out west to attend Colorado College during the early ’70s to climb with Colorado luminaries like Jim Erickson, Art Higbee and Pat Ament… to name a few.  He went on to establish many classic routes such as The Scenic Cruise in the Black Canyon and Super Crack in Indian Creek.

Spending nearly all his life creating and collecting adventures to tell, it’s no wonder Webster is a skilled storyteller.  In the clip below, Webster describes his first meeting with pioneer rock climber Fritz Wiessner.  Born in 1900 Germany (now that’s old school!), Wiessner emigrated to the United States and established the most difficult routes in places such as the Gunks in the ’30s and ’40s.

Currently Ed resides in Maine as an author and lecturer.  His most recent book Snow in the Kingdom is currently sold out but Ed told us that a new print should be out in a couple of months.  He’s also planning an upcoming lecture tour, so if you would like more information about having Ed speak, email him at edwebster@mtnimagery.com!

-from alex-

Most of our stay in Las Vegas included watching three-fourths of Snake Eyes starring Nicholas Cage, Tomb Raider II and the beginning of GI Jane.  Not the typical Vegas story… you know, like with sex and drugs.  Though, we weren’t looking for glitz and glamour. We were just trying to forget the pain of Bishop.

To us Bishop no longer represented another town we had passed through but a dark period of time.  A sort of manic-depressive episode.

Bishop Day 1 included four interviews (Don Lauria, Peter Croft, Eric Beck and Joe Kelsey).  The busiest day of the trip sofar had been effortless.  We we’re in sync and sipped Olympia as we setup for our last interviewee Joe Kelsey.  Life was grand. We had also seen a VW specialist mechanic earlier this day as well to fix up the bus.  He said the parts would be in by tomorrow.

Bishop Day 2 provided the realization that we had yet to hit rock bottom.  Our brakes had been wasted by the steep declines of Monitor Pass coming from Yosemite.  We had also lost the use of reverse somewhere outside of Palmdale about five days previously.  Up until this point we had made it work but we decided if we were to continue to the East Coast these problems would have to be checked out.  Day 2 had been devoted just for these reasons.
In the morning we dropped off the VW at Tim’s shop.  Randy, a local deadhead, gave the four of us a lift into downtown Bishop, while we would wait for repairs.  We parted at the local coffee shop and wandered aimlessly through town.  Around five PM Oakley and I hitched a ride back to the repair shop.  When we arrived Tim notified us that the part had not yet arrived.  We would have to wait another day.  I felt like committing a murder suicide or at least breaking something.

Bishop Day 3 felt like Groundhogs Day except without Bill Murray.  It was agonizing to look at this town we weren’t supposed to be in.  After we dropped off the bus again in the morning, the four of us couldn’t even get a lift into town.  We walked the entire drag of Bishop to the same coffee shop.  Around five PM Oakley and I hitched a ride back to the repair shop.

I had asked an old couple at a stoplight and they told us to hop in.  I hinted a German accent and asked “Kommen Sie aus Deutschland?”as we got in.  Originally from Cologne, they were residents of Bishop for over twenty-one years.  With my broken German, I talked to the man driving about Clydesdale horses and “Mule Days”, a Bishop tradition of bringing mules into town….from what I could gather.  I couldn’t understand his wife who mumbled short questions from the passenger seat.  I smiled, looked at the husband for some help and then simply apologized for my horrible language skills.  It seemed like a good omen though that Germans were giving us a hitch to a German auto-shop to fix a 30 plus year old German van.
We waited two hours as Tim worked after the shop’s hours to get the bus done.  We then picked up Nick and Corene from the coffee shop.  Within three days, I had turned against innocent Bishop and yelled nonsense out the window as we drove out of town on our way to Vegas.

Mule Days!

Our second round of interviews has begun, and so the roadtrip saga continues.  An entry from our Cinematographer, Nick Louie:

The ’76 Volkswagen Bus breaks down (sort of) in Bishop, California.  This is just another detour in our makeshift road trip.  Add in a collection of run-ins with the local law enforcement and I’m filled with enough adventure to last me the rest of the year.  But we press onwards, seeking out the fabled pioneers of American rock climbing, while our car visits the Sierra German Auto repair shop.

After interviewing in Bishop, Joe Kelsey offers to help with our car troubles.  What a sweet man.  He is one of the many climbers that I have come to admire, not simply because of their historical climbing accomplishments (which I have relatively little previous knowledge about), but because of how much they care about us.  During our interview with Jerry Gallwas, we were greeted with wine, cheese, and fatherly advice for our trip ahead.  When we visited Tom Frost, he served as temporary crew for his own interview and then took us out to one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time.
I didn’t know what to expect from these historical figures, but I don’t think I could have anticipated all the warmth and wisdom eagerly shared.  Their openness inspires me to pursue passions as irreverently as they do.  Royal Robbins, often looking epic and unapproachable in famous photographs, made us coffee while giving us encouragement for our work ahead.
We are approximately halfway through the road trip month, and I am pleasantly surprised to have found such hidden gems of humanity scattered across the United States.  One story I want to share with friends and family when I get back home is of our time with these famous America rock climbers, and how we wouldn’t have gotten as far as we did without them (in more ways than the obvious).

– Nick

The answer is yes.

I channeled him from the dead, and thats what he said, so suck on that doomsday neophite internet naysayers!

That is all I have for now. I’m off to the desert to film some miraculous interview/climbing footage for the money & hair raising demo.  I have a cornucopia of stuff to share when I get back, including a transcript of the live Oakley-John Muir seance.