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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Dec 30, 2010 - 12:29pm PT
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So, these half size rigid stem Friends were in production for 2-3 years only before the Tech Friends replaced them?
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nutstory
climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France.
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Dec 30, 2010 - 01:11pm PT
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No Steve, these half size rigid stem Friends were in production for just one year, from 1986 to... 1986.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Dec 30, 2010 - 01:37pm PT
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Stephane,
Nice work on finding the ad.
The upper one in your photo is inscribed SIMOND.
Simond made very close versions of regular sized Friends also.
Maybe they licensed the patents from Wild Country, but modified the stem size for the 1/2 size?
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Dec 30, 2010 - 01:53pm PT
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I am surprised that they went to that kind of trouble and expense for what seems to be only two distinct runs. I wonder if they had breakage problems with the titanium stems?
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nutstory
climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France.
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Dec 31, 2010 - 03:14am PT
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Clint: I guessed that, when I posted the photograph of the ½ Friends, someone would ask about Simond. No Clint, Simond did never produce Friends. In fact, Simond is one of the most famous French manufacturers of climbing equipment, based in Chamonix, and they were the French distributor for Wild Country. That is the reasons why all the Friends bought in France were stamped “SIMOND” on one side of the stem.
Here is a page extracted from an old Simond catalog. You may notice that the Friends shown here are original ones, with circlips at the axle ends. It is not that easy to find such a photograph as this version was just marketed for a few weeks.
Steve: When I met Hugh Banner in 1996, if I remember well, he told me that the first generation ½ Friend was very costly to produce, so Wild Country marketed a second generation that, unfortunately, had a more “fragile” stem.
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nutstory
climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France.
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Dec 31, 2010 - 05:22am PT
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Here they are:
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froodish
Social climber
Portland, Oregon
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Dec 31, 2010 - 10:48am PT
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I believe that the first half size friends were made by Malcolm Matheson from Oz. Mid 80's? Some where ti and some were alloy.
Yep, I brought one of HB's 1/2 size Ti "Friends" back from a trip to Arapiles in I think '85.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Dec 31, 2010 - 02:33pm PT
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Stephane- Do you actually mean "circlips" on the original Patent Pending Friends or the flat nuts?
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nutstory
climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France.
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Watusi
Social climber
Newport, OR
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Yes, bought my first 1/2 sized friends, (pre wired bliss,) from both Rob Oravetz and "Horshum Bruce," Malcolm Matheson, in the Valley 84-85 to take back to Josh with me. Used 'em on my first lead of Equinox... :)
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Thanks Stephane!
Any idea how many were produced with the circlips?
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nutstory
climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France.
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No Steve, I don't know but they were recalled that it the reason why they are so rare.
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Hey, is this one?
Its still getting used!
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nutstory
climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France.
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None of the early rigid “friends”, 1/2” and 3/4”, in my collection has an aluminium alloy shaft with the upper part nicely machined with such a reduced thickness. It would be a great privilege to enhance the Nuts Museum with samples of these magnificent little cams made by Dave Altman, Rob Oravetz and Eben Stromquist. Would there be anybody out there on supertopo that would be willing to part with such a gem…?
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FTOR
Sport climber
CA
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I know I keep promising to dig through some long ago stashed boxes and get a set of these for your collection. These were probably the first quality 3/4 and 1/2 made for resale. Other 'homemades' were out there but none matched ours. And yes I knew HB from Aus back then. We talked shop on our processes, he was hand filing his cams... a true garage shop approach, not the most accurate means of holding the shape that is critical for them to hold properly. I was working in eben's shop and was cutting everything from patterns using the same alloys or better than true friends. But it was more a labor of love than a real money making enterprise, it supported a couple of seasons of being a climbing bum. I was also making and climbing with the first large friends that i know of, 5-7. Those would be truly rare now, in fact other than a couple i still have somewhere i wouldn't know where any of these wound up.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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FTOR---Dig brother, dig! Sounds like you have some rarities for show and tell!
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rurprider
Trad climber
Mt. Rubidoux
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Acer- Rokover & Cosmiccragsman are right on. The cam on the left has a titanium stem. They came out a few years after the originals. I have two hanging in my closet.
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nutstory
climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France.
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FTOR: thank you very much for keeping my request in mind. Your high-tech little cams truly would find a good home here in Corsica.
One of your #6 enjoys a happy retirement in its special niche at the Nuts Museum...
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