The story behind Squamish route names

[pbeckham]

Neat and Cool was indeed named for the graffiti sprayed at the base.
After Dave and I climbed it the graffiti "I am Neat and Cool" seemed to sum it up nicely.

Cruel Shoes was named after a short story by Steve Martin.
Originally I was thinking along the lines of Yosemite's "Sailin' Shoes" or Little Feat's "Feets Don't Fail Me Now". My feet hurt so bad after sessions of hand drilling on lead in way too tight EBs that Steve's twisted story seemed appropriate.

CRUEL SHOES

[i]Anna knew She had to have a new pair of shoes today, and Carlo had helped her try on every pair in the store. Carlo spoke wearily, "Well, that's it. That’s every pair of shoes in the place."
"Oh, you must have one more pair. . . .”
"No, not one more . . . . Well, we have the cruel shoes, but no one would want to try . . .
“Yes, let me see the cruel shoes!"
"No, you don't understand, you see, the cruel shoes are . . .'
"Get them!"
Carlo disappeared into the back room for a moment, and then reappeared carrying an ordi­nary shoebox. He took off the lid and re­moved a hideous pair of black and white pumps. But this was not an ordinary pair of black and white pumps; both were left feet, one had a right angle turn with sepa­rate compartments that pointed the toes in impossible directions. The other shoe was six inches long and was curved inward like a rocking chair with a vise and razor blades to hold the foot in place.
Carlo spoke hesitantly, ". . . Now you see . . . they' re not fit for humans . . ."
"Put them on me."
"But...
"Put them on me!"
Carlo knew all arguments were useless. He knelt down before her and forced the feet into the shoes. The screams were incredible.
Anna crawled over to the mirror and held her bloody feet up where she could see.
"I like them."
She paid Carlo and crawled out of the store into the street.
Later that day, Carlo was overheard saying to a new customer, "Well, that's it. That’s every pair of shoes in the place. Unless, of course, you'd like to try the cruel shoes."[/i]


The Daily Planet was the newspaper Clark Kent worked for and was Peter's idea after pushing the route forty feet above our high point. Cosmic Cowboy was our working title and while I felt great up on that wall, I felt more like stick boy than Superman. After pushing the route up to the roof, I opted to leave well enough alone and The Planet it stayed.
Peter came back later to deek left out of the corner for Fortress of Solitude, the place Superman retreats to to reflect when the going get's tough.

Contrary to bk's odious and inaccurate aspersions, Altered States was a working title inspired by the movie title where William Hurt's character uses psychotropic substances and a sensory deprivation tank to revert to a powerful simian state and generally run amok. The climb was eventually named after Mahavishnu John McLaughlan's super heavy Vital Transformation and both names referred to the need to change my perception to succeed on the overhanging thin crack, not to softening locks with pitons.

Movin' to Montana, inspired by a tune by Zappa and my marriage to a great gal from MT
Java Jive, a tune about coffee consumption covered by Manhattan Transfer
High Plains Drifter, a film by Clint Eastwood
Last Train to Hicksville, a cool album by Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks
Pleasant Pheasant, hard driving funkmosis by Billy Cobham and the late Brian Brecker
Mata Hari, a famous spy and a cool tune by Al Dimeola

More later.

PB

[NateDoggOG]

Awesome. Stories are great.

[squamish climber]

Perry, thanks for dropping by to correct the record and providing some great back-stories to these route names. I bet looking at the latest issue of Alpinist on the Chief North Walls brings back some memories. I would really like to hear some of those stories. Please keep them coming.

[thebigchin]

The Daily Planet was the newspaper Clark Kent worked for and was Peter's idea after pushing the route forty feet above our high point. Cosmic Cowboy was our working title and while I felt great up on that wall, I felt more like stick boy than Superman. After pushing the route up to the roof, I opted to leave well enough alone and The Planet it stayed.

Didn't Dan Canton come by a few weeks later and remove all of your fixed pro on DP thinking that he was seconding the Sheriff's Badge?

[Peter]

I was told the story behind "Coitus Interuptus" a route at Almost At Pet in Murrin (just of the main trail to Pet Wall). Apparently, the route developers took a break from cleaning the route and were hanging out at the bottom. As they were looking off into the forest they see a man and woman sneaking off the trail to find a nice private place to increase the human race. As things got further and further "into it" they finally decided to make them aware of their presence, much to their surprise.

I believe Astronomy (aka Mad Englishman and dog) and Big Scoop have some related history behind them that perhaps someone more in the know can shed some light on....

[scrubber]

Karen's Math below memorial ledge was named in honor of of our good friend Karen Kogler, who was killed ice climbing in the Rockies in 2000. Since Parks had asked that no more plaques be installed anywhere on the Chief, we were looking for something different to honor her memory. I had spotted the line while cleaning Calculus Crack and filed it away as something to check out later. Bruce Stover and I were chatting about what we could do for Karen when I remembered the flake. I mentioned that it might make a decent route if we could figure out how to get the last few feet up to Memorial Ledge. If it worked we could name it after her.

One blustery day in November we went up there and scrubbed it down. We were pleasantly surprised that there was indeed a finish too it. After it was established we asked for input on the name from Karen's father Hans. Hans had climbed many of the easier routed on the chief with Karen as his rope gun over the years. He suggested Karen's Math. It didn't really make much sense to us until he explained that Karen was always struggling at math in school. However, when she was climbing she could always keep a whole route's worth of pitch lengths and grades straight in her head, with no need for a topo. He figured she had finally found the kind of math that worked best for her.

Kris

[gnarnaphobe]

One day in the late 1970s after a first ascent in Squamish, Ed and the two first ascentionists were sitting around the top of the cliff. They were thining what the route should be called. A Beatles tune? A Carlos Castaneda character? Ed, staring across the channel at the fast food on the 99, said "man, all I can think about is burgers and fries!"

snagged this little tid bit from http://gumbiesoncrack.blogspot.com/

[Anders Ourom]

1980, IIRC. We had been walking along the top and below B&F for several years, without paying it much attention. A low angle rather vegetated cliff. There were then no houses on the top, or anywhere near - the closest were well to the east or south, until about 1992. Climbers sometimes camped there.

[Jeff Thomson]

For me naming routes has been one of the great pleasures of putting up climbs.
BK earlier made the statement "

ah... another would be Dora's Delight, which I'm sure can best be imagined".

So actually there is a little story behind that name. When I was working on routes in the Bulletheads, specifically on the Slot Machine wall, I met a lovely young couple about to start "Slot Machine". I chatted with them briefly and learned that the girl's name was Dora. I then walked around to the top in order to rap down and check out what was to become "Stiff Upper Lip".
By the time I was rapping down the couple were at the top of the first pitch of "Slot Machine" and she had her shirt up over her head and, shall we say, was indeed being "pleasured" by her partner.
Quickly and quietly I pulled myself back up to the top of the crag in order to avoid potential embarrassment for all concerned. Besides, who was I to interrupt this lucky young lad.

[NateDoggOG]

What about pipeline? Done first as an aid route with sawed off chimney pipe as pro. Apparently the FFA wanted to rename it pipeloads...

Bump! And I now get the meaning for the name Pipeloads...... I believe the whole story behind the first free ascent was posted on Supertopo, and was something about how the FFA was also done without a rope, onsight I believe. I can't recall the name of the climber, but apparently he was high off his rocker when he pulled that.

[Christian Shelton]

Wow! Good to know the history behind those names. The cruel shoes, a pair of black and white pumps are not for humans!! That's a cool backdrop in there. Looking for more of such stories