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54 year old sends Pink Flamingo (5.13)
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Votes: 5 |
Comments: 16 |
Views: 8682
by John Bradbury
Chick Holtkamp redpoints Pink Flamingo (5.13) in Indian Creek at 54 years old!
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Chick (Cleveland, Ohio) has been climbing at the Creek for years. For the last 6 or so he has been making a yearly pilgrimage from mid April to May, with a troop of crack addicts from his home town of Cleveland. Chick has aspirations of ticking all the 5.13's in the Creek and started with Pink Flamingo, a rattley fingers (purple Camelots) splitter.
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Chick worked the route for 3 days before sending it clean. Next on the list, Trix are for Kids.
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16 Comments
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devilontheloose    2008-06-05 |
Keep Cranking Hard... |
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timmy_t 2008-06-05 |
http://friendsofindiancreek.org/camping.php "Actual climbing restrictions in the plan are few. As always, no climbing where it conflicts with cultural resources (like Pink Flamingo and other routes near rock art and ruins)..." whoops! |
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camhead 2008-06-05 |
yeah, I was just going to mention the petroglyph thing. please stay of off pink flamingo. oh, and nice send. |
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angry 2008-06-05 |
I don't want to take away from this send, it's impressive in a way. Still, climbing a route that you can actually touch a petroglyph from really is unacceptable. Shame really, as I'd like to climb the route. I can't think of another established 5.13 out there that has a petroglyph, please choose one of those instead next time. |
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dpurf 2008-06-06 |
Maybe someone should tell Katie Brown the same thing. from You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leja1zawFl0 |
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Facelyss 2008-06-09 |
That guy's a stud! He's 54 and looks great, that's something in itself, but rad send man. |
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Achilleus30 2008-06-09 |
You kick ass man. I can only hope, and work towards 5.13, and I'm 31. I just redpointed my second 5.11a two days ago. I have a long way to go, but I'm still improving a lot. |
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granitegripper 2008-06-10 |
I bow in front of any climbing god that can send a 5.13. Doing it at 54 also indicates a gentic disposition toward injury resistance. No one can claim that until they have had decades of experiences. Again I bow before the climbing gods. |
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coach_kyle 2008-06-10 |
Chick Holtkamp at 54 does not count as a 54-year-old. The header should read, "Bad-ass climbing hard slightly longer than expected". |
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jughead 2008-06-11 |
Very nice send Yadayadayada at that age Blah blah blah, Dosn't make a blind bit of difference there are other 5.13s out there to be climbing without putting chalk dust and rubber smears on a rare and well preserved site of our ancient heritage. As climbers we should have the sense and self control to respect these kind of places which are only still there because the blundering general public hasnt had a chance to ruin it... yet |
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pinkly_taurus 2008-06-19 |
"Chick has aspirations of ticking all the 5.13's in the Creek" I think he might be starting a little late in life for that. Hong Kong Phooie makes Pink Flamingo look like a cake walk. |
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clee03m 2008-06-19 |
He should be old enough to know better than to climb where it conflicts with cultural resources thereby threatening access for the rest of us. |
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rockinboise 2008-06-20 |
I got to watch this guy climb last April at the creek, he warmed up on a 5.12. Sick... If people were really that opposed to having a route like this climbed because of the petroglyph, you should block it off, close it, make it apparent that it should be left alone. |
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woogly 2008-06-23 |
You can't effectively "block off" or "close" a route. Pink Flamingo can be climbed without touching the petroglyph (I didn't when I climbed the route in May of this year); that said, I'm not sure if I would have tried the route had I known either that the petroglyph was real or that there was an ongoing conflict surrounding the route. Walking up to the route, one might not be able to verify the authenticity of the petroglyph simply by sight, as the area also contains anachronistic graffiti; the effect being, of course, that one may take less care when climbing near the petroglyph. As I said, I was very careful, nonetheless, not to scuff it with careless footwork, which is a very real possibility. In any case, extreme care should be taken to preserve rock art (and, in parallel, climbing access). In this case, I tend more to agree with the 'unofficial' closing of the route-which keeps all but a few from climbing on it. At least the grade is relatively stratified and there is no easy toprope setup-that keeps the crowd a bit more rarified. |
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chris13b 2008-06-27 |
Chick has always beend a strong crack climber.He has a strong Yosemite background.He put up an "astroman" style wall near lLeaning tower over 30 years ago |
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Betahappy 2008-10-25 |
sick man
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