Photos by curt

The hardest Gill route on the Sylvan Lake boulder, sent on 7/31/09--not too bad for a washed up 53 year old.

How to stack two stoppers

One method of employing stacked stoppers

This is John Gill bouldering on a nice traverse problem on the Puppy Dome boulders in Toulumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park. Photo by Curt Shannon on June 7, 2004.

Here are some Jrat products from years back--a swami belt, that I still use, and a chalk bag.

Bob VanBelle is a blur as he begins to move up to the crappy intermediate hold on the pocket problem at West Elden. Oldskool B1

Here is an old number (1) forged friend with a Gunks tie-off loop. Notice how the cord runs between the trigger cables, allowing the unit to be placed with either side facing up.

You sort 'em out. bobd1953, curt, and taorock after a morning bouldering session at Binghamland on May 22, 2004. Photo by jonapprill.

Joshua Tree is full of old artifacts from its history as a mining and ranching area. Here we borrow an old miners car on the way to our chosen crag. The photo was taken by Eddie Bebout.

Another twentysome year old photo of me climbing in Joshua Tree. Here I am leading the crux of Grit Roof. Notice the careful avoidance of those sissy face holds out left. Haha.

Here's a mid 80s shot of me sporting lycra and leading Make or Break Flake (5.10b) in Joshua Tree. The pants may be totally homo but at least I didn't give up my swami for a seat harness. Hahaha.

Just another Joshua Tree 5.10d that John Stannard would climb so easily that you could never tell where the crux was.

Here's a picture of Hidetaka Suzuki leading Sole Fusion--one of the most "out there" pitches you will ever come across. It is a classic John Bachar sandbag 5.12a and starts on top of Swept Away. So, after the first move, you're already a couple hundred feet off the deck.

Another 20+ year old photo from the Shannon collection. Vector is one of my favorite crack climbs at Joshua Tree. Originally done by Tony Yaniro and rated 5.12, it was later down rated because--well, it was done by Tony Yaniro.

I found this old picture while rummaging through an old junk box. I am leading a route here called Butterfly Crack. It has a nice little 5.11c (V3) boulder problem start and then eases off to 5.9 for the remaining 30 feet or so. This was most likely 1983.

This is a photo I took of Jean Bonner leading Broken Glass in Joshua Tree--probably around 1990. John Stannard is belaying.

Here I am leading (with no falls) Gates of Delirium in about 1984. Gates is a steep, very thin 5.12 face climb put up by Tony Yaniro in 1975. I am just past the technical crux, which comes at the first bolt.

Here is Kerwin Klein on the Gun Club boulder a few years ago. Kerwin discovered and developed this bouldering area at JT. Photo by Sandy Draus.

This is a photo of John Arthur leading Squiggles in the Gunks. The picture was taken in October of 1980, during my very first visit there.

Here is another photo showing the left route on the x-files boulder in Joshua Tree NP.

This is a photo of one of the several good boulders found in the Covington Flats area of Joshua Tree National Park.

This is a picture of my father doing a handstand 120 feet above the St. Croix river at Taylor's Falls in the late 1930s. So, I guess my addiction to rock climbing could be genetic.

I am just about to top out here on a nice Gunks boulder problem called "Susie A" near the Uberfall. You can see the attentive spot I am getting from Mike Freeman, who is barely visible in the lower RH corner of the photo. This was taken in June of 1990.

This is a photo of me on the first ascent of "Four Wheel Drive" a thin technical B1 problem at Boulder Basin campground. The picture was taken in April of 1981. Photo by Mark Jacobs.

This is an old John Gill boulder problem near the Leaning Tower on an overhanging face called the Tombstone. This photo was taken in April of 1981.

This is a photo I took in April of 1981 of Mark Jacobs on the classic John Gill problem called Outlet Boulder. It involves strenuous liebacking up and over an overhanging bulge to access the finishing holds.

I took this picture of the Mohonk Mountain House on my first trip to the Gunks in October of 1980. Later, John Stannard sent a copy of it to Dan Smiley because he thought it was the best MMH picture he had seen.

Me (Curt) bouldering at Dixon Springs in November of 1980. It was Deer season and everyone else in the area had high-powered rifles. Hell yeah I was wearing red!!!

This is a nice dynamic problem up a beautiful piece of overhanging monzonite. Photo taken by Mike Reardon in January of 2003.

These three pictures, taken by John Gill in 1991, show Curt Shannon on the right-to-left crux section of the Ripper Traverse.

This photo, of one of the country's most famous boulder problems, was taken by John Gill in 1991. It shows Curt Shannon doing the "Ripper Traverse." This same photo also appears in the book "Master of Rock" Second and Third editions.

In April of 1981 I first repeated Gill's infamous "Little Flatiron" problem at Devil's Lake. I have dusted off the documentation and posted it here.

Another "old fart" bouldering picture. Actually, folks would normally use a rope for this back in the day, but with the new bouldering pads, it is now probably just another 25 foot highball.

This is a picture of Curt Shannon doing the Gill variation on Flying Buttress in July of 1984. I remember being the first person to use Fires in the Needles--afterwards everyone wanted them.

Yours Truly, back in the day doing the "Gill egg" boulder problem in the Gunks. This was August of 1981 to be precise.

This is Curt Shannon in Scotland a couple of years ago. Still look the same now--just dryer.