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gdstorrick
Trad climber
PA
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I visited Walter Marti in 1982. While I was there, I saw some earlier Jumars that pre-dated the ones Steve showed here. The earliest Jumars had what I call "Z-shaped" teeth. I don't have any of those in my collection so they are not shown on my web site. I'd love to get a pair; perhaps someday someone will be nice to me, then I can share them on my site.
The Yellow Jumar that Steve showed isn't the original one of those either (and Steve never claimed it was - I'm just sharing information). There was a short-lived model where the safety had a "beak" (as Walter Marti's secretary called it - she was translater when I visited).
Then there was the Jumar Combi, ca. 1977. These never made it into real production, and in 1982 Walter Marti didn't even have a pair himself. Ian Ellis, a former caving vendor had a pair, but he has disappeared from caving circles and I haven't been able to contact him. The former owner of Expe in France also had a pair, but they've gone elsewhere as well. It is a shame, it was a really interesting idea: stamped frame (but looking nothing like the Petzl, plastic cam with replaceable metal teeth, safety catch that kept the rope from coming out the side, and a pulley that clipped onto the ascender for hauling. Walter Marti decided that it was just too much of a change from tradition.
Gary Storrick
PS: Glad to hear y'all like my site. Thanks for your support!!
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bmacd
Trad climber
100% Canadian
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Gary I like the story on your site about sledgehammering the yellow jumar, and it survives. What is your favorite ascender of all time ?
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kinnikinik
Trad climber
B.C.
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Steve-While jugging and cleaning a pitch the casting that the cam pinches against simply fell off. without warning the jumar simple came off the rope sans a piece of casting.No idea where this particular unit is today-happened 16yrs ago.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Thanks for the clarification about the casting failure! That must have been spooky, to say the least.
I never claimed that the yellow Jumars were original so I am a bit confused about Gary's comment.
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gdstorrick
Trad climber
PA
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Sorry Steve, I didn't mean to imply that. I edited my post to clarify the point. I hope it is OK now.
Gary
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gdstorrick
Trad climber
PA
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bmacd asked me, "What is your favorite ascender of all time ?"
There isn't a simple answer to that. Cavers use ascenders differently and in different environments than climbers. Many cavers use the Frog system, which works better with certain ascenders that other systems don't use. Still, for my purposes most of the time, I prefer the small CMI UltrAscender modified with my own style of safety latches (based on the safeties on the old gray Jumars). Most handled ascenders are bigger than they need to be (and the handle is not to hang from - that tires the arms), and extruded frames are more rugged than cast or stamped ones. After that, its on to the little things that are not so important and really depend on personal preference.
That said, I put a lot of value on knowing how to use Prusik knots (I prefer helicals - so I love the old little Salewa ascender) and knowing the RBS knot (and a few others like it).
Historically (caving), I went Prusiks-> Gibbs ->Prusiks ->Jumars ->CMIs.
Gary
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Mark Force
Trad climber
Cave Creek, AZ
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When did jumars first start showing up in Yosemite?
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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They came in the Yosemite scene around 1963 or so when the "Yosemite" hauling system was being developed. Being able to have hauling and cleaning happen at the same time was revolutionary and made it possible for a team of two to move with peak efficiency. Royal worked out the details and he and Tom Frost put the technique to good use on the second ascent of the Dihedral Wall and along with Glen Denny on some early recons on the North America Wall in 1964.
This view was new in 1964. Tom Frost photo.
Tom Cochrane mentioned that his original set of Jumars came with a set of laid rope rigging. I finally got a chance to see what he was talking about in a recent ebay listing. These are second generation Jumars.
I confirmed that the rigging shown was original equipment from the seller even though I did not buy this set.
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Mark Force
Trad climber
Cave Creek, AZ
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Thanks, Steve! You are the consummate historian!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Still a few details about the Jumar story to work out.
Certainly among the top ten gear innovations,IMO.
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TomCochrane
Trad climber
Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay
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The original rope in those slings appears to be sisal, which was adequate for crevasse self-rescue, but certainly not for prolonged ascents on climbing ropes. After reports of failure went back to the manufacturer, they started shipping without the foot loops. The unfortunate result of that was the original brilliant design for the foot-loops was lost upon the climbing community.
If you look closely at the foot loop of those original slings, you can see the kink where someone has untied the marlin spike hitch that was originally used to hold your foot from slipping out of the sling.
You can also see that the straight run of the sling can slide up and down through a carabiner clipped to a figure-8 chest harness. This allows rapid smooth ascent and stopping in various braced positions as well as seamless transition back and forth to self-protected free climbing on various angles of rock, and also allows you to let go with both hands free to work on cleaning gear. This is a very efficient technique that seems to have disappeared into ancient history.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Tom- Since you bought original run Jumars without the blue-red safety levers did your set of rigging have two slings without color coding?
Now to the question of who first came back with a set of Jumars from Europe.
Royal coming back fro his first trip to the Alps would be my first guess.
Any recollection Tom?
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TomCochrane
Trad climber
Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay
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I don't recall any color coding, and I think that original pair eventually wound up with Kim Schmitz.
I now know that Joe McKeown in Berkeley bought a pair about the same time I did in the early 60s. However we didn't know each other at the time and only met recently through ST.
In about 1960 I had been trying to contrive a rope climbing device using yachtline camming hardware. Then I saw Jumars advertised as a radical crevasse self-rescue device in a Sporthaus Shuster catalog that Yvon gave me. I recognized they had succeeded in designing what I had failed to visualize properly. I brought the first mail order pair of Jumars into the valley that I knew about in the early 60s.
I showed this pair of Jumars to Royal and Pratt, who on first sight considered them to be an inappropriate and dangerous contrivance for Yosemite climbing.
I first used these Jumars on a significant climb with Sacherer on the El Cap Tree Direct. I took a long leader fall when a RURP sling broke, and Frank belaying from the ground lowered me from a high point up the RURP ladder. The next day Frank assumed we would just pull the ropes and leave the gear on the overhanging wall. However I Jumared up the belay line to my high point. The factory-provided slings frayed and broke when I was high off the ground, leaving me hanging by the handles until I could connect an aid sling. This story (related in more detail elsewhere on ST) gave Jumars a very bad reputation in Camp 4, that I had to work hard to overcome.
After this experience Royal and Pratt seriously didn't like Jumars and tried to dissuade me from using them. Then one day they watched me race up the ropes strung for filming on the West Face of Sentinel. That's another story told elsewhere on ST.
Royal was very angry with me over the West Face incident and bumped me from the NA Wall team. But he did reconsider Jumars and tried them out with me. He didn't like my replacement one-inch sling material in the similar arrangement as the factory slings, but with the slings continuing through the loop on top of the handle. However Royal borrowed that first pair of Jumars for several walls that summer, and so did Kor.
The follow summer, now with Royal's blessing, everyone had purchased their own Jumars. ('Everyone' being the dozen of us who were venturing onto big walls in those days.) And yet ever since, people have not learned to use the original beautiful sling design, which allows working with both hands free at any point, and allows seamless transitioning to and from self-belayed top-roped free-climbing.
Incidentally I also tried for years to devise a camming crack anchor and never was happy with my designs. I was very chagrined when someone who knew about this first showed me a 'Friend'.
Note that there is another important device I have been using for fifty years that Royal never approved, and so has never been introduced into the climbing community. In particular Bridwell and Hoover made several attempts to replicate the capabilities of my solo belay device and never figured it out. I call it 'The Snatch'. It reliably operates hands-off with no moving parts. I think it is also applicable for simul-climbing.
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couchmaster
climber
pdx
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Great story and info. Thanks for sharing with Steve who was smart enough to ask, and with all of us. Any pictures or links to the "Snatch" Tom?
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Ihateplastic
Trad climber
It ain't El Cap, Oregon
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Tom,
If you have ANY of those old prototypes in a box somewhere THAT would be something this community would LOVE to see!
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Jimmer
Trad climber
Orland Park, IL
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If anyone is looking for a pair of the original yellow Jumars, I have a pair I am selling. They are used but in good shape.
Also have other climbing gear including Chouinard Stoppers, RP's, Wild Country Chocks/Stoppers, Crack-N-Ups, Chouinard / Leeper Hooks, and Leeper Cam Hooks.
Am also liquidating my entire collection of 500 climbing guides, many very rare and hard to find. Also, many signed such as the Conn Guide to the Needles.
Shoot me an email: jimmerson@earthlink.net.
Thanks.
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Big Mike
Trad climber
BC
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This kid's younger than his Jumars!!
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Rolfr
Social climber
North Vancouver BC
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Still have a pair, I like the blue and red stops on them to differentiate left and right. I use them almost ever week to jug the fixed lines on my projects. Probably a newer version, only 30 years old.
I backed them up with a sling through the bottom of the unit to back up the hole for the biner, but then..... the sling is as old as the jumar! I still backup any ascender with a bight in the rope ever now and then , or a grigri.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jan 11, 2014 - 09:14pm PT
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During the presentations at the Diamond Reflections event in Boulder this past summer Huntley Ingalls mentioned what is likely the first verified use of Jumars on a rock climb in North America in May of 1962 when Barry Corbett on assignment for National Geographic magazine covering the first ascent of the Titan showed them to Kor, Ingalls and Hurley.
Layton and Huntley were intrigued and pressed them into service while George remained skeptical and stuck to prusik slings.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jan 24, 2015 - 10:58am PT
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If you ordered a pair of the first Jumars to be available from Europe then here is what you would have received in the mail.
Had the instructions been intact I would have gone after these on ebay. I hope that the winner will post up here.
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