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Smoke Blanchard
#19411 10/25/11 09:38 AM
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 742
K
Ken Offline OP
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K
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 742
I'm a guy that happens to be taken by history, and is interested in that what has come before.

Smoke Blanchard was one of the giants of eastern sierra mountaineering. From his Wiki listing:

"A direct influence on every major guide currently working in the Sierra or is linked to them by a single degree of separation."

And so it goes.....

Anyway, there is a current amazing discussion thread about Smoke, with input from PRINCIPALS, and some amazing photos, and resurection of his climbing course in the Buttermilks, started by the famous Doug Robinson:

http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/1383032/Smoke-Blanchard

The story of the pin, by itself, is worth the visit.


Re: Smoke Blanchard
Ken #19425 10/26/11 06:29 AM
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I remember seeing a topo of Smoke's Buttermilk rock route in a past issue of Eastside magazine; perhaps in 2009. Inyo SAR used to use parts of it as a route-finding training course. I recall doing sections of it; wasn't all that easy in places. Our "starter" for litter lowering/raising practice was in an area of the Buttermilks called "Picnic Valley." There is some nice 1 - 2 pitch routes in that area that the boulderers seem to avoid.

Re: Smoke Blanchard
Bob West #19428 10/26/11 08:20 AM
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Ken Offline OP
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Bob, thanks so much for the correction. You see how the legends get started, you hear one thing, you put one thing together with another, and make assumptions....whew!

I suppose some of that is the romantic notion that one thing flows from another, and all things are connected, when, of course, they are not.

I've corrected that mistake.

Re: Smoke Blanchard
Ken #19435 10/26/11 07:19 PM
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Posts: 202
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Woodsy Guy
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Well, full disclosure. I once gave Smoke Blanchard a citation for a dog in the NP backcountry. I feel bad about that (sorta) but he tried to claim he didn't know he was in Kings Canyon NP. Might have let it go otherwise, but being shined on annoys me.

But the best part of the story is that the dog was given him by Tenzing Norgay (climbed Everest with Hillary in '53). Extremely cool, but not enough, alas... .

George


None of the views expressed here in any way represent those of the unidentified agency that I work for or, often, reality. It's just me, fired up by coffee and powerful prose.

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