autobiographical) I
recommend the chapter in the Time-Life book, Cactus Country where he
described his climbs of Baboquivari, Montezuma's Head & Cerro Pinacate
(I've seen his signature in the registers of the last two), and a book of his
essays, perhaps Down the River or Abbey's Road. In all he wrote 7 novels
(one, The Brave Cowboy was made into the 1962 movie Lonely are the
Brave with Kirk Douglas), 8 books of essays, 3 travel books, 2 anthologies
of his writings and a journal.
But also I want to suggest to you a
collection of two audio cassettes made in 1987 with Edward Abbey reading 10
selections from 5 of his books including Desert Solitaire. Sometimes the
readings are humorous, sometimes serious, but they are always reflective of the
desert and canyon country he loved. This 3 hour long collection (#3524) is
entitled, Freedom & Wilderness, costs $16.95 plus $4.50 shipping and
can be ordered from North World Audio Press at 1-800-336-5666.
And
finally, I suggest to you a one hour video documentary compiled in 1993 by Eric
Temple. The video, part biography, part tribute, is a look back at Abbey's life
as remembered by 16 of his closest friends and family members. There are film
clips and interviews with Abbey and footage of Arches, canyonlands, Grand
Canyon and Great Basin National Parks and the Sonoran desert. Edward Abbey
lives and speaks through this well-made video. It is available for about $30
from Eric Temple Productions at 1-800-644-4747. Happy Trails -- Ron Jones.
TRIP REPORTS
Sue Wyman-Henney and
Vic Henney
Triple List Finish Sept 16-18
Butterbredt (HPS),Morrison
(SPS)
Glass (DPS)
(Private Trip) by Tom Sumner It wasn't until
after the incredibly possessed Sue and Vic completed a summer of continuous and
berserk peak bagging in the Sierra that they realized that both of them were
very close to finishing the SPS and DPS lists together (the DPS list for a
second time) and that Sue was perilously close to finishing the HPS list
too |
(Vic had finished the
HPS list in 1982). Mt. Morrison would indeed be their triple list finish. In
fact, they got 30 (!) Sierra peaks this summer. By contrast, I got three.
Anyway, because they really didn't know how many peaks they would get, they
weren't able to plan nor to send out their "list-finishing party" invitations
until three weeks before the event (sadly, not enough notice for some). Still,
it was enough notice that many of us were able to join them on what turned out
to be one of the most enjoyable and weather perfect weekends for climbing (and
partying) that I can remember.
Butterbredt:
Friday
afternoon Sept. 16 a small group of us met at the Jawbone Canyon turnoff from
Highway 14 around 6:15. Following Vic and Sue's dust (a precursor of roads to
come), we drove to the trailhead of Butterbredt some 15 miles from the highway.
Igor Mamedalin led the happy group up the peak staying to the right side of the
rocky gendarmes that appeared just before each saddle. Armed with bottles of
champagne and Cold Duck (yecch!), we were able to climb the peak while it was
still twilight. We reached the summit just after dark and were greeted by a
beautiful harvest moon in the east by whose light we celebrated Sue's HPS list
finish. For Sue this was an especially memorable night as she climbed her first
HPS peak 30 years ago and has been slowly working on the list ever since. (She
must have climbed her first peak at age 2!) The descent by moonlight was
beautiful and mystical as the light was bright enough to see one's way, but it
was still dark enough that there were haunting and interesting shadows on the
rock formations. We found a sandy trail which eventually formed a descending
chute for running down which reminded Sue and me of our descent of Paricutin
volcano in Mexico a couple years before. After arriving back at the cars, the
group decided to split up and to reconvene at the trailhead of Morrison the
following morning at 6:45. Those participating on the Butterbredt hike were:
Sue and Vic, of course, yours truly, Igor and Suzanne Mamedalin, "RonRon"
Young, Gene Mauk and Vi Grasso. By the way, Mary Motheral did stop by the
meeting place to congratulate Sue and Vic, but was on her way to the Sierra and
couldn't do the hike. |