Mike leads Baby, 1980

Here is a four-panel shot of Mike leading Baby; my guide book has the date 6/29/80. It was our first route in the 'Gunks. Mike and I were at graduate school at the time. This photo-montage demonstrates some of the practices "back in the day". Note the sparse gear placements from a rack of stoppers and hexes and tied slings. Mike is wearing the shoe of the previous decade: EB's. We didn't have Prana so we just wore whatever... I'm pretty sure that the 11mm rope was rated for at least 3 falls(!). Seems to have been some discussion of Trad boasting somewhere in the General Forum lately. I'm not boasting, but this is the way we did it back then.