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Fritz
Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Jul 18, 2011 - 08:14pm PT
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Norbert Olberz, founder of Sport Chalet Inc., passed away from natural causes on Friday, July 15, 2011. He was 86.
(From Sports One Source)
Olberz founded the company in 1959, served as Sport Chalet's chief executive officer until 1999 and as chairman of the board until 2001. Over the course of five decades he not only built a successful, publicly traded sporting goods business but was widely recognized in the industry for his innovative thinking, his commitment to his employees and community and his relentless belief in the power of recreation to lift an individual's spirit.
Olberz is survived by his beloved wife of 52 years, Irene, his sister, Elizabeth Lepper, his son, Eric, and by his grandchildren Karl and Markus.
Trained as a pastry chef, Olberz immigrated from his native Germany to Canada prior to settling, permanently, in the United States. He learned to ski on Oregon's Mt. Hood and, captivated by the sport, sank his entire life savings - $10,000 - into the 1959 opening of a ski shop in Southern California's La Caņada Flintridge. Together with his new bride, Irene, they - quite literally - lived their dream; sleeping on cots in the back of the store and cooking over a single burner propane stove, they grew the business from a niche store for winter sport enthusiasts into a leading retailer of sport specialty gear that, over the next decade, came to include scuba, mountain climbing and footwear.
Olberz' gift for listening to his customers was one of his biggest strengths and, through them, he moved into new areas of retail with their guidance. One of his favorite stories was of a woman who came into his store, mid-summer, wanting to buy her son a mitt and Olberz, thrilled at the idea of selling winter mittens off-season, was fascinated when she explained that she was looking for a baseball mitt. After asking her to explain what a baseball mitt was - followed by a request to explain what baseball was - Olberz moved into carrying team sports equipment and, in 1974, opened a 30,000-square foot store across the street from his original location. Always striving to offer something genuinely unique to his customers, he added an indoor "mountain" and ski ramp where customers could hone their skills prior to investing in new equipment.
In 1981, Olberz doubled the size of the company by opening a retail location in Huntington Beach, CA and expanding into ocean sports and, by 1992, the company went public, trading on NASDAQ under the symbol "SPCHA."
A consummate entrepreneur, Olberz opened and expanded a variety of businesses over the decades including a popular ski area motel, a travel company specializing in adventure activities and manufacturing companies that produced outdoor gear under the brand name Camp 7 and athletic apparel under the brand Pacific Mountain Sports.
Olberz was a loved employer who developed five key principles to guide Sport Chalet and Sport Chalet employees through fifty years of retail success:
To See Things Through The Eyes of the Customer
To Create Ease of Shopping
To Do A Thousand Things A Little Bit Better
To Not Be the Biggest, But the Best
To Be the Image of a Sportsman
In 2006, at age 80, Olberz, with his son Eric, began work on a new multi-million dollar shopping center and corporate office in La Caņada Flintridge, directly over his first store. In 2009, Olberz was inducted into the National Sporting Goods Hall of Fame and, in 2011, was the recipient of the Far West Ski Association's "Snow Sports Builder Award."
As a result of Olberz' business acumen, unique ability to detect trends in the retail marketplace and his commitment to the outdoors and recreational sports, Sport Chalet now operates 55 retail locations throughout California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona, as well as an online store, www.sportchalet.com.
A memorial service for Norbert Olberz is scheduled for 12 noon, Friday, July 22, 2011 in the Van De Kamp Hall at Descanso Gardens, 1418 Descanso Drive, La Caņada Flintridge, CA, 91011.
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Anastasia
climber
hanging from an ice pick and missing my mama.
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Jul 20, 2011 - 12:56am PT
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I bought my first harness from Sport Chalet. I worked there for three years and... Well, those were really fun years. Rest in Peace Norbert... I hated when the company went public... It destroyed a big part of why it was so fantastic. The biggest part missing was having Norbert at the helm. Though honestly I really don't miss the orange decor and the red shirts.
Hugs,
Anastasia Sherman
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jul 20, 2011 - 01:48am PT
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We used to call those Camp 7 North Col bags purple slugs. They were quite common - one of the few bags that MEC carried in the later 1970s.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 24, 2011 - 02:33pm PT
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Nor-Bump!
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nick d
Trad climber
nm
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Aug 21, 2011 - 02:25am PT
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I've still got a matching right and left pair of the purple North Cols.
Getting pretty flat after 30 years but still make good summer bags. Back in the day it was a great winter setup!
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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Aug 21, 2011 - 11:50am PT
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This week was my uncle's funeral.
It was all family except for one childhood friend. His name escapes me now, but it began with a K. Dan Horner's dad was there and the conversation turned to climbing.
It turns out my uncle's boyhood friend and his wife owned Highland Outfitters in Riverside where I'd bought my first climbing shoes.
Back in the day he'd gone on a ski outing with the Sierra Club to Sequoia. Norbert was there and as a fellow sporting goods store owner was telling him how cross country skiing was going to be the next big thing.
He'd sold seventeen pairs of skis that season.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 2, 2012 - 01:04pm PT
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Norbert Memorial Bump...
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oldgear
Mountain climber
Olympia, WA
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This is Bruce at History of Gear. To all Purple Slug fans! Upon seeing all these posts related to George Lamb and his sleeping bags, I thought people might appreciate learning that when George Lamb and I spoke a few years ago, one of his most enduring satisfactions was about his sleeping bag designs. George is a modest and unpretentious guy, yet was confident that his bags were among the very best when marketed in the 70s. Decades later, after the tests of time, he'd become more certain that his original designs and their execution were still something to be very proud about.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 6, 2012 - 09:54pm PT
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Nice background Bruce!
Thanks for the share.
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Charlie D.
Trad climber
Western Slope, Tahoe Sierra
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Anyone remember Sid Mountain at Sports Chalet in the 60's, always thought he might be pulling our legs as we fondled the gear there as kids. The was another old Sierra Cluber there by the name of Himmelrich who's son I went to high school with and did some climbing, he ended up in a serious accident at Tahquitz which was described in one of Wilt's guides before " they became to numerous to mention". Fond memories of Sports Chalet back when all the mountain gear was in a small alcove, ice axes and crampons on wood doweled ranks in the center. Not sure but it must of been the first or nearly the first mountain gear store in So Cal. Amazing to think how dramatically it has all changed.
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R.B.
Trad climber
47N 122W
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Wow!
I always remember my dad, Douglas J Black, ornamental iron worker extraordinaire, talk about the "ring angle" pitons he used to sell to the US Army by the 5 gallon buckets. He could really take a piece of steel and visualize it in his head and make something out of it. I was fortunate to grow up in a climbing family, and my dad was the bomb back in the 60's in Central AZ.
Steve, TFPU - Love it!
EDIT: Steve, Not sure he has many left; I have one. He also did custom bolt hangers with the stainless ring in them too.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 7, 2012 - 01:37am PT
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What a surprise! Very cool!
Does he have many of the ones with stainless steel rings still around?
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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i have a camp7 sleeping bag from sport chalet..did'nt know it was an old brand!
love the thread!
go norbert.
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Grampa
Trad climber
Orange County
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Great Find!!!!! Thanks.
I did not see Chouinard Lost Arrows or the Yosemite Hammer in the catalog.
When did these come out?
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 7, 2012 - 03:04pm PT
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Grampa- Chouinard made Lost Arrows completely by hand from the outset in 1957. The familiar die-forged Arrows came into production in 1963.
The Yosemite Hammer came out in 1966 and the Alpine Hammer the following year.
I have a LA nut tool for you too! I will email you with the details.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 25, 2012 - 05:27pm PT
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Thanks for the Grivel horizontal Grampa!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 4, 2016 - 01:57pm PT
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Soft iron piton bump...
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Curt
climber
Gold Canyon, AZ
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I just put in my order for the 60m (200ft) bicolor Edelrid rope for $39.50
Curt
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