Darrin, Eric, Bill in Yosemite.
Bill on "Ship Wreck", Joshua Tree.
Bill, always the safest guy.I would not be here climbing if it wasn't for Bill Burges. About 14 years ago, a good friend that I grew up with, Darrin Steiff, started climbing with this really nice guy Bill. They were going to Joshua Tree every weekend. Darrin and I grew up surfing the Ventura coast and climbing was the last thing on our minds. One day, Darrin and his wife Christy, asked if I wanted to go to Stoney Point to go climbing. I finally broke down and went. Bill had been teaching Darrin how to place gear and build anchors. I saw that Darrin was really having a lot of fun doing something different. I ended up buying a pair of shoes and started going to J-Tree with Darrin and Bill. I was living in Manhattan Beach at the time and Bill lived about 15 minutes from me. Darrin lived about an hour away and would meet Bill and I in J-Tree or where ever we decided to go.
Darrin, Bill and I were mostly trad climbing at that time and bouldered every once in a great while. I started climbing almost every weekend with these guys and really became addicted really fast. Bill and I had many epics on our adventures. Those were the days of getting off a multi pitch route in the dark and trying to find our way through the dark back to the truck. So many memories, so many stories. One in particular comes to mind; Bill and I were in the Valley and he wanted to do "Braille Book". I think it was like a 6 or 8 pitch 5.8. We got up the base of the climb way too early in my mind. We took off trading leads and only had small Gatorade bottles hanging off our harnesses. There was a party of three that were moving much faster than we were coming up from behind. The leader had done this route before and asked if they could pass. We said, not a problem and then proceeded to wait for far too long. By the time the party of three finally got far enough past us, we were blazing in the sun and almost out of water. On the next pitch, I was fallowing and could not get out a cam that Bill had placed, so I left it not knowing what to do. When I got to the next belay station, I had told Bill and he wasn't even pissed. He had to rappel down to clean the piece I had left. I think we still had like 5 pitches to go. Once the other party got far enough along, I began to lead the next pitch. As I got closer to the next belay ledge, the two followers were sitting were I needed to get to so I could set up and anchor. I waited while stemming for at leased 30 minutes or so. Bill started tugging on the rope because he had been waiting wondering what the hell was going on. I managed to slide my ass between the two followers and set up an anchor. By the time Bill climbed up to me, the other party were off and running. The next pitch was an off width that spooked the shit out of Bill, so he came down and told me to go for it. I did it and we meandered our way to the top of the route. There was a point during the last pitch were Bill was belaying me, dieing of dehydration, thinking to himself, Eric, just run it out and lets get the fuck out of here. He told me what he had been thinking when we were hiking down through hordes of mesquites and dry mouth so bad, I could barley swallow. Once we got to the truck in the dark of course, we headed to the Valley store and drank gallons of water, Gatorade, soda, you name it. Darlene, Peter and Korene were waiting at Darlene's house in El Portal to have a barbecue. We got there way after dark explaining our epic adventure. That was a typical day for Bill and I.
We did many routes together including, Reeds Pinnacle Direct, Royal Arches(simo climbing), Nutcracker, Braille Book, Bishop's Terrace, After Six,Positively 4th street, Beverly's Tower, Weat Thin, Catchy, Central Pillar of Frenzy, The Regular Route on Fairview Dome, Sail Away, Ace of Spades, Invisibility Lessons, Opes Crack, Sidewinder, Touch and Go, Loose Lady, Young Lust, Exorcist, Bird of Fire, Heart and Sole, Right Baskerville Crack, Solid Gold, Tossed Green, Tax Man, Caught Inside on A Big Set, Effigy Too, Party in the Desert, Clean and Jerk, and so many more. It has been many years since I have climbed with Bill, but I can remember every single route we had done together.
I had a good friend in high school, Demeat Fritz that I hadn't seen in a long while. He was now bouldering a ton and we reconnected. He really showed Bill and I what being strong really meant. We started going to a place in Ventura county called the Swimming Hole. We would go every weekend. We would mountain bike in, boulder all day, then bike back out in the middle of summer. We had a really great crew of guys that pushed each other. Demeat, Jeff Johnson, Bill, Darrin Stieff, Ray Ray, SpoMan, and myself. Bill and I were by far the weakest climbers, but tried to keep up the best we could. We did crazy shit with very small pads because this was back when crash pads were not being made yet. Lots of sprained ankles. Those were really good times.
I move to San Diego and sort of lost contact with Bill. We had met in J-Tree a couple times, but life stated to get pretty hectic for me. I think Bill moved back to Hawaii for a short bit, but ended up back in Redondo Beach. I managed to get a hold of him a couple months ago and it was really nice to hear his voice again. I feel really bad for not keeping in touch more often. He was by far the nicest guy in the world. He loved surfing, climbing, running, mountain biking, and reading. Bill was a super smart guy that always encouraged others to do their best. Bill will be missed.
Darrin, Bill and I were mostly trad climbing at that time and bouldered every once in a great while. I started climbing almost every weekend with these guys and really became addicted really fast. Bill and I had many epics on our adventures. Those were the days of getting off a multi pitch route in the dark and trying to find our way through the dark back to the truck. So many memories, so many stories. One in particular comes to mind; Bill and I were in the Valley and he wanted to do "Braille Book". I think it was like a 6 or 8 pitch 5.8. We got up the base of the climb way too early in my mind. We took off trading leads and only had small Gatorade bottles hanging off our harnesses. There was a party of three that were moving much faster than we were coming up from behind. The leader had done this route before and asked if they could pass. We said, not a problem and then proceeded to wait for far too long. By the time the party of three finally got far enough past us, we were blazing in the sun and almost out of water. On the next pitch, I was fallowing and could not get out a cam that Bill had placed, so I left it not knowing what to do. When I got to the next belay station, I had told Bill and he wasn't even pissed. He had to rappel down to clean the piece I had left. I think we still had like 5 pitches to go. Once the other party got far enough along, I began to lead the next pitch. As I got closer to the next belay ledge, the two followers were sitting were I needed to get to so I could set up and anchor. I waited while stemming for at leased 30 minutes or so. Bill started tugging on the rope because he had been waiting wondering what the hell was going on. I managed to slide my ass between the two followers and set up an anchor. By the time Bill climbed up to me, the other party were off and running. The next pitch was an off width that spooked the shit out of Bill, so he came down and told me to go for it. I did it and we meandered our way to the top of the route. There was a point during the last pitch were Bill was belaying me, dieing of dehydration, thinking to himself, Eric, just run it out and lets get the fuck out of here. He told me what he had been thinking when we were hiking down through hordes of mesquites and dry mouth so bad, I could barley swallow. Once we got to the truck in the dark of course, we headed to the Valley store and drank gallons of water, Gatorade, soda, you name it. Darlene, Peter and Korene were waiting at Darlene's house in El Portal to have a barbecue. We got there way after dark explaining our epic adventure. That was a typical day for Bill and I.
We did many routes together including, Reeds Pinnacle Direct, Royal Arches(simo climbing), Nutcracker, Braille Book, Bishop's Terrace, After Six,Positively 4th street, Beverly's Tower, Weat Thin, Catchy, Central Pillar of Frenzy, The Regular Route on Fairview Dome, Sail Away, Ace of Spades, Invisibility Lessons, Opes Crack, Sidewinder, Touch and Go, Loose Lady, Young Lust, Exorcist, Bird of Fire, Heart and Sole, Right Baskerville Crack, Solid Gold, Tossed Green, Tax Man, Caught Inside on A Big Set, Effigy Too, Party in the Desert, Clean and Jerk, and so many more. It has been many years since I have climbed with Bill, but I can remember every single route we had done together.
I had a good friend in high school, Demeat Fritz that I hadn't seen in a long while. He was now bouldering a ton and we reconnected. He really showed Bill and I what being strong really meant. We started going to a place in Ventura county called the Swimming Hole. We would go every weekend. We would mountain bike in, boulder all day, then bike back out in the middle of summer. We had a really great crew of guys that pushed each other. Demeat, Jeff Johnson, Bill, Darrin Stieff, Ray Ray, SpoMan, and myself. Bill and I were by far the weakest climbers, but tried to keep up the best we could. We did crazy shit with very small pads because this was back when crash pads were not being made yet. Lots of sprained ankles. Those were really good times.
I move to San Diego and sort of lost contact with Bill. We had met in J-Tree a couple times, but life stated to get pretty hectic for me. I think Bill moved back to Hawaii for a short bit, but ended up back in Redondo Beach. I managed to get a hold of him a couple months ago and it was really nice to hear his voice again. I feel really bad for not keeping in touch more often. He was by far the nicest guy in the world. He loved surfing, climbing, running, mountain biking, and reading. Bill was a super smart guy that always encouraged others to do their best. Bill will be missed.
sorry to hear, ez.
ReplyDeleteThanks bro:)
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