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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 24, 2010 - 12:51pm PT
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Keeter: Thanks for posting more catalog pages. That is a great photo of you and RR!
As I was looking through the items, I suddenly had my memory flash! Edelrid Avalanche cord!! I have an Edelrid Avalanche cord!
Found it in just a few minutes of looking, in the very bottom of my duffle of tele-gear. Easily the oldest item in there!
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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 24, 2010 - 01:33pm PT
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Tami:
We used to joke that the correct procedure with the Avalanche Cords: was to keep them in a bundle and shake them at approaching avalanches.
My pal Stein was the weakest skier in a group skiing off a steep ridge, below a peak, in the Sawtooths back in the early 70’s. Of course they all had 60 lb packs too.
Stein fell, and was trying to reattach a ski: when a sizeable slough of snow came down at him.
All he could do was shake his ski at it.
Worked like a charm.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Oct 24, 2010 - 01:51pm PT
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I particularly liked the high-tech avalanche cords. The ones with a metal swage every 5 metres or so, with a little arrow pointing toward the person to which it was tied. Assuming you tied on the right end, that is.
Was anyone ever successfully found and rescued through use of an avalanche cord?
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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 13, 2010 - 05:32pm PT
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Keeter: I clicked with your photo of the Alpelit Ice axe! Acquired this one recently. I had previously only vaguely connected Alpelit with Mountain Paraphernalia.
Was the photo you show: also from the 1978 Mountain Paraphernalia catalog?
The other question on Alpelit is from noting that the pick is stamped: R Desmasion. I have read that there was a Desmasion model of Laparade axe. Was the Alpelit axe also made by Laprade?
Here's photos of my nearly-unused Alpelit.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 13, 2010 - 08:12pm PT
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Pretty sure I still have my Edelrid avvy cord. Used it on occassion although
on none of the three occassions I should have used it. Wait, make that
two as the third occassion I guess I would have had to find myself by myself -
I guess that was why I didn't use it that time.
Never did find that one ski pole - a small price to pay I suppose.
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tom woods
Gym climber
Bishop, CA
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Nov 13, 2010 - 11:26pm PT
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Here's a weird tangent- My mom and aunt worked for Tompkins and Esprit way back when.
It seems all these sewing companies were related back in the 70's in the Bay Area.
When I was a kid, I used to back pack with a prototype internal frame pack. There were to tube shaped pouches against the body that you were supposed to stuff with your sleeping bag to get the stiffness into the pack. It didn't work very well, but I can see the idea.
Anyway, my mom and my aunt started making teddy bears, another sewn item, back in the seventies. That company became Basic Brown Bears, well loved by many school children in the Bay Area until the late 90's when the entire company was ripped off by Build A Bear.
The build a bear folks came in and offered to buy the company, they learned how it all worked, signed non disclosure agreements, then stole everything. They even told their investors that they were the president of our company.
It was my first experience with corporate America. They are all thieves, and they have enough money to make their crimes legal. We sued, settled when legal fees added up to high, and later went out of business competing with a company that was essentially our own.
BTW- I loved the RR auto biography. I can't wait for the next part.
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Keeter
Mountain climber
Durango, CO
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Nov 14, 2010 - 04:14pm PT
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Fritz
The Alpelit ax was not from LaPrade. The Desmaison imprint was wide spread at the time. Rene was one of the most well-known guides of the era (like Rebuffat before him) and his name was also on the Galibier Super Guide. Hence, he was sometimes called the Super Guide, although I think it was not something he enjoyed.
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Keeter
Mountain climber
Durango, CO
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Nov 14, 2010 - 04:19pm PT
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Tom, the pack you're referring to was eventually named the Ultima Thule and was produced by Rivendell in an old church in Driggs, Idaho. The body was three tubes with the center one being triangular in section. The bottom of the pack was a horizontal pocket as is still common. If stuffed properly and firmly, the load produced the stiffness. Most models which followed used parallel aluminum stays or crossed stays, not that much different from today. The connection through Esprit and the Thompkins' was for factory and fabric sourcing. Both Chouinard and Robbins worked closely with Esprit's manufacturing agents to produce their canvas shirts, pants and shorts. I attended several Esprit sales meetings to learn more about the apparel business at the time.
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hooblie
climber
from where the anecdotes roam
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Nov 14, 2010 - 07:05pm PT
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i always thought an avalanche cord might have some merit if it was deployed
as a tether for a helium balloon. wind and trees might be a problem
during the ascent, but on a calm day it would surely offset
the weight of the lawn chair
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tom woods
Gym climber
Bishop, CA
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Nov 14, 2010 - 08:58pm PT
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Thanks Keeter. Small world, eh? I didn't know how my parents got the pack, only that it was a prototype. You even had to stuff the waist strap.
Now that I think about it, I may have seen a Rivendell pack, probably here on supertopo.
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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 14, 2010 - 10:45pm PT
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Keeter & all: Thanks for posting up! All input is good on this great historical thread (except lawyers & bickering).
My latest history project is trying to give dates for carabiner production from Chouinard & Robbins.
Clint C. has been a great help on this for Chouinard biners, but I am not able to do much to show production dates for the two models of Robbins/Salewa carabiners.
I think they were both introduced in 1978, based on the Salewa ad I showed earlier in this thread.
Any more ads or info to share???
Robbins sold the hollow Salewa biner shown in the above ad and a solid biner, that was (I think) a little more popular.
Any heros with ads or stories on either carabiner out there???
No problem---any other Robbins/Mountain Paraphernalia stories or photos are welcome!
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Nov 14, 2010 - 11:21pm PT
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I remember buying the Robbins carabiners in 1976, and still have a few of them.
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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 14, 2010 - 11:26pm PT
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Mighty Hiker! Cool!! Please dig those Robbins binners out and share which model you have. I suspect the solid one came first!
Much Thanks! Fritz
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Thorgon
Big Wall climber
Sedro Woolley, WA
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Nov 15, 2010 - 04:13am PT
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Fritz,
I still have my PA's from way back! They were way better than Chucky Taylor high tops! LOL
Thor
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Keeter
Mountain climber
Durango, CO
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Nov 15, 2010 - 12:21pm PT
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I still have a near rack full of the hollow (tubular) RR biner by Salewa. At the time, Salewa was imported by both MP and Chouinard. The RR version was a straight oval (carabiner rappels were still the norm) and the C version was the now classic Chouinard D shape.
LaPrade carabiners came in a few models with variations on the D shape and different strengths. The lightest and cheapest was flexy under body weight as pointed out above, but the burly ones where the strongest of their time. They were more money however. Imported goods at the time were rocketing up in price due to the rampant inflation of the Carter years. We were borrowing money at 18% !!!! Mountaineering boots went from $75 to $190 during that period.
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sowr
Trad climber
CA
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Apr 11, 2011 - 10:12pm PT
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Chris don't you still use that gear though?
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Benjamin
Boulder climber
Denver, CO
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I am interested in purchasing back issues of Off Belay Magazine, and seeing as how in this thread many people mention their collections I was wondering if anyone was willing to sell.
My dad started subscribing to Off Belay after the first year it was out and always mentions how he wishes he had that first year's worth of issues. I thought it would make a wonderful Christmas present for this year.
Please let me know:
benjamin@benjaminthomas.org
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crunch
Social climber
CO
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What a great thread.
Love this pic of the old Achille Wonder headlamp. Owned several, back in the late 70s.
We used to joke, "The Wonder headlamp: I WONDER why it's not working this time?" as they were so unreliable. Something would always be loose, detached, shorted out. Or the clunky switch turned on by accident and the battery dead. Maddening!
A 100% reliable source of light, after sundown, is taken for granted now, yet, really, it's a modern luxury. And a really big deal, in midwinter, far from the trailhead. A huge thanks to Petzl for driving modern development!
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rollingstone
Trad climber
Seattle
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Nov 10, 2011 - 08:53pm PT
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Great memories, Fritz. I remember buying my first pair of Galibier Makalu boots from Bruce Franks, probably my sophomore year at WSU...fall of 1972 or so. I don't think you had purchased NWMSports yet. It was also around that time that some of us got the idea to have RR come to Pullman to give a slide show. I remember nervously dialing his number in Modesto, and being almost unable to speak when RR answered the phone. I was so young and naive back then, but I sure did not think of Royal as any ordinary human. Man, this was RR I was speaking with!! I stammered something about him doing a slide show in Pullman, and he graciously replied that he would certainly come to WSU to give slide show about various Yosemite/Alps first ascents. When I asked how much he charged, I was shocked to hear that his normal fee was $200.00, plus expenses, if memory serves me right. Younger readers should know this was 2/3 the amount of a semester's tuition; I just could not see where we would ever get that much money, so I mumbled something about having our club vote on it, and politely hung up. I never had the nerve to call back. I can laugh about it now. I do remember the great slide show that John Cleare gave, and the fine photo he took of Mike Nelson bouldering at Granite Point that graced the cover of our club climbing magazine. I still have those issues buried somewhere in the basement. Thanks for the great memories.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 10, 2011 - 09:16pm PT
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Crunch,
HaHaHa! Man, those things were nigh unto worthless! I only threw my last
one away a few years ago. I was thinking some museum of bad design might
want one. They did look really good in the display case though.
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