Even damp it looked sticky.
April 20, 2012 2:27 PM Subscribe
In the spring of 1977, a Lockheed Lodestar crashed into a lake in Yosemite National Park carrying six tons of Mexican marijuana. The US government recovered most of it. Camp Four got the rest. A true stoner fable by Kief Hillsbery.
Have a great weekend, everyone.
Have a great weekend, everyone.
Jeff Long wrote a great novel based on this event, that I read multiple times back in high school: Angels of Light. All about big-wall climbing and the Camp Four dirtbag culture.
John Long (no relation) based a lot of his screenplay that became Cliffhanger on the story, but I've always felt that Jeff Long's book would have made a much better movie (actually, just about anything would have!), and that he'd been kind of ripped off.
posted by Flashman at 2:38 PM on April 20, 2012
John Long (no relation) based a lot of his screenplay that became Cliffhanger on the story, but I've always felt that Jeff Long's book would have made a much better movie (actually, just about anything would have!), and that he'd been kind of ripped off.
posted by Flashman at 2:38 PM on April 20, 2012
Lockheed Lodestar
Just to help set the stage
posted by Thorzdad at 2:49 PM on April 20, 2012 [5 favorites]
Just to help set the stage
posted by Thorzdad at 2:49 PM on April 20, 2012 [5 favorites]
Hmm. Some interesting aspects of this. If you notice in that thread the pilot's wife is apparently a member there, and he (Jon Scott Glisky) was a climber? Two white dudes from Seattle flying an old bomber full of mj? That's a heck of a story in itself!
posted by Big_B at 3:00 PM on April 20, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by Big_B at 3:00 PM on April 20, 2012 [2 favorites]
Holy crap. From a later post in that thread:
"Interesting reading especially because it was my husband in the plane..There are always to sides to a coin-I'm glad there was to this one. There was a lady hicker that wrote an article similar to yours in National Geographic Explorer a few year ago (about 2-3 yrs.) First one to climb the face on the big rock...You wouldn't know her name by chance? Yes those were some high times all right...funny after all thse years to think that good could have come out of what happened....I'm so please. Respond if you feel comfortable in doing so. Thanks for the other side!"posted by zachlipton at 3:04 PM on April 20, 2012 [3 favorites]
Holy crap. From a later post in that thread:
Kief himself pops in on page 2. Heck of a thread, that one.
posted by theodolite at 3:06 PM on April 20, 2012
Kief himself pops in on page 2. Heck of a thread, that one.
posted by theodolite at 3:06 PM on April 20, 2012
"Heck of a thread, that one."
Yeah, it's almost platonic. Besides including the widow of the pilot, numerous people who were there at the time and/or smoked Airplane (though no one comes forward to say that they personally salvaged some), and the author of the quoted article (who mentions that this was his first published piece and then name-drops Krakauer's praise of it), there's also provocative unsubstantiated rumors from a problematic poster that begins some back-and-forth sniping that includes a mention of his former job at McDonald's and his lawsuit about it.
In about fifty posts to the thread, tops.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 4:05 PM on April 20, 2012 [4 favorites]
Yeah, it's almost platonic. Besides including the widow of the pilot, numerous people who were there at the time and/or smoked Airplane (though no one comes forward to say that they personally salvaged some), and the author of the quoted article (who mentions that this was his first published piece and then name-drops Krakauer's praise of it), there's also provocative unsubstantiated rumors from a problematic poster that begins some back-and-forth sniping that includes a mention of his former job at McDonald's and his lawsuit about it.
In about fifty posts to the thread, tops.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 4:05 PM on April 20, 2012 [4 favorites]
This Kief Hillsberry? Dang.
It's the genesis of the drug smuggler plane from Lost, innit?
posted by mwhybark at 6:01 PM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
It's the genesis of the drug smuggler plane from Lost, innit?
posted by mwhybark at 6:01 PM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
Caaaares of the past are behind
Nooooowhere to go but I'll find
Juuuuuust where the trail will wi-hi-hi-hind
Driiiiiiifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeeeeeeeeeeds.
EE-hah! EE-hah!
posted by Twang at 9:49 PM on April 20, 2012
Nooooowhere to go but I'll find
Juuuuuust where the trail will wi-hi-hi-hind
Driiiiiiifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeeeeeeeeeeds.
EE-hah! EE-hah!
posted by Twang at 9:49 PM on April 20, 2012
The author of the piece and the wife of the pilot showing up in the thread is beyond amazing.
Thanks for the post!
posted by deborah at 10:35 PM on April 20, 2012
Thanks for the post!
posted by deborah at 10:35 PM on April 20, 2012
That was a very cool read.
posted by shoesietart at 12:11 PM on April 21, 2012
posted by shoesietart at 12:11 PM on April 21, 2012
When I first saw the post, I assumed i would be another version of the story, and my first thought was to drop a link to that SuperTopo thread. Never thought the post would be that thread. Awesome.
There's actually another SuperTopo thread on the crash, spanning seven years, 1300+ comments long and counting. Plenty of personal anecdotes and even pictures. The pilot (3rd row, 5th from right), rangers excavating the crash site, and even a few of the score.
posted by lost_cause at 2:13 PM on April 21, 2012 [4 favorites]
There's actually another SuperTopo thread on the crash, spanning seven years, 1300+ comments long and counting. Plenty of personal anecdotes and even pictures. The pilot (3rd row, 5th from right), rangers excavating the crash site, and even a few of the score.
posted by lost_cause at 2:13 PM on April 21, 2012 [4 favorites]
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posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:33 PM on April 20, 2012