Who remembers the climbing scene in Star Trek - The Final Frontier? The crew had time off so Kirk, Spock and Bones went camping in the meadows of Yosemite. Before long Kirk soloed the Nose with Bones stressfully watching him from below through some space age binoculars. A mighty long way up Spock started talking behind Kirk (he was flying with his rocket boots). Kirk lost his concentration and slipped on some crumbly fake rock "halfway up El Cap". Spock caught him inches from the ground after a fall that would make Kevin Smith's fall of Boggle look like child's play.

These two treads made me want to post this:
- Best (most awful) pop culture climbing movies
- Setting Goals

Anyway, to make it interesting, who can guess the climber that doubled for Captain Kirk? No cheating please, anyone can google it, so just guessing, or if you happened to know the answer you can also post. Extra points for naming one of the riggers.

My money is on Emile knowing the answer

Live long and prosper \V/

lol, that's very flattering, but you've severely stumped me. I remember the scene, but I'll have to google the answer.

Cool post though - forgot all about that scene until now

I'll take a stab in the dark... Ron Kauk perhaps??

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oh dear, if Emile doesn't know then maybe one of the old guard will remember.

I completely forgot to say what the real reason for my post was! Hector, Ningo and the Porterledge are going to attempt the Nose. Good luck boys! May the force be with you... wait wrong movie .... Live long and prosper then.

Here's a link with the scene (well most part of it, the conversation with Spock is edited out): http://vimeo.com/16005177

Nope, it's not Ron Kauk - wrong movie :-)

More trivia: They just couldn't resist working in the famous Mallory quote (Spock asked Kirk why he was climbing the mountain)

Should we know? I'm guessing one of the well known soloists of that time; Looks too short for John Bachar, so I'm going for Peter Croft.

And as a bonus, anyone know exactly what shoes he's wearing? Look like an old version of the Boreal Ballet.

Wild guess: John Long?
2nd wilder guess: a cleaned up Dan Osman?

No, it's not Croft either.

Dan Osman - hahaha! John Long is an excellent guess, but also wrong.

I don't know if you "should" know the answer, but he is certainly well known. I'll confess that I didn't guess right either, I had to look at the credits at the end of the film. That's were I also saw the name of a very famous veteran in the rigging team (with his nickname he would have made a good stunt double for Spock).

Hint: Look closely, he's not exactly skin and bone. He's a big guy and was a really good choice to double for Shatner (in my opinion in any case). He was perhaps not a rock star like Kauk and Bacher, but he was rather known as a prolific route finder.

Looks like Boreal shoes to me too.

Definitely Boreal, but which ones.

Randy Leavitt?

Tony Yaniro?

Running out of knowledge of 80s US rock stars. It is an America right?

John Dunn? He is a big guy.

Todd Skinner

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I think I underestimated this little game

No, all wrong so far. John Dunn isn't a bad guess, but way off since the guy I'm looking for is indeed American. Todd Skinner isn't such a bad guess, but Tony Yaniro and Randy Leavitt in particular are hot guesses! Peter Croft is the best guess so far.

Another hint: He is obviously climbing solo in the movie, but I can't find any reference to him ever being known for solo climbing. In fact he is known for quite the contrary: safe trad and bolted routes. He is also a guide and involved in anchor replacement. He is still alive as far as I know.

Kurt Smith?

I put him in an earlier post, but deleted it.

Been very tempted to Google this, but haven't. Which got me thinking Is Google Making Us Stupid?
Still thinking

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Derek Hershey maybe, although he was famous for his solos, also british i think.
Jim Karn, maybe he came along a bit later
Also thought of Peter Croft?
John long maybe, also a soloist if I'm not mistaken?
Japanese/American big waller Pete Tekada
Greg Child?
Clive Curson??.... maybe not
John Middendorf?
Johnny Dawes?

I'm running out of old toppies here...
When was this star trek made exactly, might narrow things down a little.

I remember checking out all these geezers on the covers of old 80s climbing mags at bergsport in sunnyside.
Man them geezers got us amped back then....

I googled " is google making us stupid" and it gave "About 33,700,000 results"

I think its making us lazy but smarter.

Garvin

Kurt Smith is colder than your previous guesses.

This one is actually quite interesting. I thought google would give it away easily, but that's not the case. I only found it on my 5th search! I agree with Garvin, it can make us lazy, but it sure can be useful, but not for everything.

Hersey is my favourite climber, but he was British and also very much famous for solo climbing. Not to mention dead
Never heard of Jim Karn.
Peter Croft is very close as I said before
John Long was also already mentioned.
Pete Tekada - Interesting, but no it's not him either.
Greg Child - Good choice, but no, it's not him. He's Aussie by the way.
Clive Curson - heehee, no ways! I'm sure Clive will be flattered
John Middendorf - Decent choice, right crowd, but no.
Johnny Dawes IS British climbing, so no

More hints: The movie was made in the late 80s. The next one will give music lovers an unfair advantage. The guy I'm looking for has the same surname as a musician who died in a plane crash in the 70s - very famous plane crash btw.

I'm very surprised that nobody guessed the rigger yet. You don't get more famous american rock climbers than that guy...

Eish Shorti, scratching my head sore!!

The only others I could add for now, that where part of the middendorf crowd would be
Jeff Lowe (I think its Jeff)
Not Xavier Bongard.. swiss and departed
Jim Bridwell
None of these ring a bell with a famous muso plane crash, so I'll have to sleep on it a bit.

Would you allow any consultation with climbing literature/books.
I know they dont say anything about star trek, but refer to groups/crowds/people of the time.

Cool topic though...

This is a huge stab in the dark, but is either perhaps that guy called "Chongo"?

Captain Kirk was fit, Danny Crane not so much

Shoes are Boreal Ballets with the laces not showing (so it looks futuristic

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If its not Clive, then it has to be Mike Behr!
Fits the profile too, not the nationality though...

He He Chongo!!
Think he may have been too busy with climbing theology and phylosophy and slacklining.

Well at least you get the bonus points for naming the rigger. Lucky as hell, but it always would have been a lucky guess since it is such a behind the scenes job

Don't read too much into the "right crowd" comment. I used that term loosely. They weren't necessarily the greatest buddies (they might have been, I just don't know).

Sure you can consult your literature! Actually I don't really care if you use google. Just don't go and google something like "who doubled for kirk in the climbing scene of Star Trek V". You'll probably get the wrong answer in any case.

Just to be clear on the musician. He wasn't al that famous himself, it's more the plain crash that was the big deal.

That reminds me of a joke: How do you tell if someone's a red neck Jedi? Even a Wooki is offended by their body odour.

No, it wasn't Chongo
Nor Big Behr

Er missed that.. who was the rigger?

Bob Gaines -

First hit on google after typing Star Trek V!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098382/fullcredits#cast

Well done genius!

At least it was more fun than I thought it would be

The answer is indeed Bob Gaines. Bob is the director of a rock climbing school. One of his guides is Peter Croft. The musician with the same last name was Steve Gaines, who died in the Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash.



Here's a little article about him

The famous rigger I was looking for: Jim (The Bird) Bridwell.

Must admit I've never heard of him.

I love a bit of trivia though, anyone got any more?

That was fun Shorti
Can't say that I had heard of Bob before!

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Hi
Alpinist magazine has a weekly guess the climber on their Facebook page. Basically they post a picture of somebody on a route. You then have to name the climber and the route or something and you can win a 2 year extension to your current subscription. It helps if you have a full set of Alpinist magazines because all the pictures are from the magazine. Reckon it could be a fun thing if we have something similar with an SA slant on this site. Maybe scan some pics from old MCSA journals or Southern Rock magazines.

Cheers
Ian

I'm glad you guys liked it Please tell me you at least know who the Bird is! Maybe Bob's not so well known to us, but I imagine he is very well known in the USA.

Good idea Ian, but I think the prizes is not necessary and it need not be every month. Prizes will draw more smart asses and monthly will make it a chore. I think whenever someone has a good quiz he should just feel free to post it and try make it fun and interesting.

Heres a nice easy one!!

Guess who he was a stunt double for??!