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Ed Bannister
Mountain climber
Victorville, CA
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Feb 24, 2006 - 11:57pm PT
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Geez, the only positive thing I can think of was that the thing was available in Dacron instead of nylon, more resistant to some of the acids that prematurely aged nylon in caves.
But only Tall Matt caves anymore right?
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WBraun
climber
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Feb 25, 2006 - 12:02am PT
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I had one at one time and that phucked up sorry excuse for a harness just about cut your balls off after an extended hang at the belay.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Feb 25, 2006 - 12:05am PT
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yeah the ballbuster.
that's why in the movie i just mentioned, a grrrl is strapped intoit.
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Off White
climber
Tenino, WA
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Feb 25, 2006 - 12:30am PT
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I've got a worn out purple one and a "newer" red one with the plastic gear loops. That purple Whillans was a big step up from my seat belt webbing swami from A Striving After Wind, short lived climbing shop in San Diego. They're still in service as fall protection, better than those OSHA units where you clip your rope between your shoulderblades. When I'm feeling a wee bit cruel, I'll use the newer one as a loaner harness for climbing. Heh.
Wonder: the folks in BVB's pic are bob vanbelle, galen kirkwood, doug white. I dunno why it might be familiar to you unless you're another san diego late seventies ex-pat or a follower of bvb's online excess.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Feb 25, 2006 - 12:34am PT
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off
ain't it a shame we lost connie?
I mean altogether?
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Feb 25, 2006 - 12:41am PT
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Off White
climber
Tenino, WA
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Feb 25, 2006 - 12:50am PT
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Sure is Roy, she wound up in Florida last I heard, left the game altogether. Does it get any worse than Florida? Still, I think life got better since her bad bad days in North Hollywood. Climbing's been a saving grace for many of us, but it wasn't enough for Connie. Good to see you're still kicking around, it's been a dog's age since I've seen you.
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Wonder
climber
WA
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Feb 25, 2006 - 01:01am PT
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Offwhite, i grew up in carlsbad, i lived in idyllwild for many years, i lived in poway, climbed Mt. woodson. Moved to the valley in '78. then moved to SF. You been fallownig this thread. I have climbed & skated all over. who are you?
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Feb 25, 2006 - 01:10am PT
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Off:
Man you guys were doin neet stuff up their in Oly, ('member more recently courtney love did that song 'bout olympia?) hey, what's Twilly doin'?
He took MP & I on a tour to the Sunny Muffin' tree: Mike and I will never ferget that.
hmm. lemmme see, this was right after we toured the soccer field for inspiration!
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todd-gordon
climber
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Feb 25, 2006 - 01:11am PT
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Hell, I've fallen on all sorts of stuff......Diamond Dogs, Rubicon, O'Kellys, Coarse and Buggy, Serpentine, Insomnia, Scary Monsters, Spider Line, Naked Edge, Levitation, Wanger Banger,.........I've grounded on aid routes (5 stitches in my face), been lowered off the end of the rope (broken ribs), took aid whippers on everything from Monument Valley to El Cap....I've fallen off of routes in at least 5 continents, ....BUT, I've never rap-bolted, died my hair...(what hair??), wore lycra (in public, that is....), placed a hex in the last 20 years, climbed a 5.12...(cleanly anyways...), owned a bouldering pad, drank a Red Bull, ....I haven't climbed Mt. Whitney....(THAT I hang my head in shame over....), ....I don't have my masters Degree, AND I've been to Oklahoma AND England.....(yeah... and I still don't get no respect.....)...and NOW... my wife is presently on bed-rest 3 months before the twins are due.......I'm TOAST!!!!!!......It's over.....I'll be lucky if I can fall my way up Double Cross soon!!!!!!(Growing old aint' for sissys.......)....Circling the drain......
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Off White
climber
Tenino, WA
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Feb 25, 2006 - 01:11am PT
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I'd be the one on the right, Doug White, though many know me as Off. You live in Washington now? Which part?
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Wonder
climber
WA
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Feb 25, 2006 - 01:13am PT
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PS i luv my OSHA harnes, but i wouldnt wear it on the crags. If you didnt climb between 1970 & 1984 you dont know me an dit dont mean nottin.
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Wonder
climber
WA
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Feb 25, 2006 - 01:16am PT
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So you live in WA give me a call. i live in seattle
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Off White
climber
Tenino, WA
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Feb 25, 2006 - 01:22am PT
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Roy: der Twillmeister was in Missoula last I heard, cycling been runs of environmental actions and serious alcohol binges, BVB'd would have more current info. Still doing neet stuff in Oly, Rancid liked Oly better than Ms Love did, wrote a nice tune about the town after a show here. We've even got some decent climbing in town, literally in my front yard:
Just to keep on topic, I took a 40 footer on a Whillans on the Happy Hooker on Trono once, didn't notice any testicular impact. The fall sucked those babies back inside, didn't descend again until I made it back to the car.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Feb 25, 2006 - 01:23am PT
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hey wonder,
check yer email,
'member skate board roy?
'aint me but it could be you-
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Feb 25, 2006 - 01:30am PT
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all right all right,
not to hijack or scarf the thread:
'nice peels in a whillans:
I took a 50'er off (no pun) west crack in the meadows in a whillans
'Peeled Off (ahem) orange peel in Josh (Saddle Rock)
25' off Zig Zag (Taquitz) but wasn't died in... does that count?
ps
'nice to know you are well off white!
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erich volkstorf
Trad climber
seattle
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Jan 14, 2008 - 02:25am PT
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OK, I was trying to see if Climb High or someone else still made the Whillans Harness. It's an old topic, but I feel that I have to respond. My Whillans Harness is a beloved piece of my climbing past along with my Super Guides and RRs. But if you guys think it was a ball crushing monstrosity, it is clear that you didn't take the time to figure it out or even read the instructions. While it certainly looks like it would take your balls off, or at least divide them, it works quite well. A 'biner goes through the crotch strap and the rope goes through that and ties off on the waist. If you fall, you are pushed back against the the thigh straps, not unlike a bosun's chair. It was great for aid, certainly, but also for big mountain stuff. It was critical that it was tied in right.
Shared a few beers with the plumber once, great guy, from the less PC period of late classic British climbers. Smoked like fiend and drank like a fish.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jan 14, 2008 - 02:36am PT
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I had a Whillans harness from about 1975 to the early 1980s, and was happy with it. They were a vast improvement over a swami, at least if you planned on falling, rappelling, or hanging in it. It was just a matter of putting the thing on properly.
I had a fair number of falls in my Whillans, from 5 to 20 metres, without problem. I still took a belay seat for hanging belays, particularly on the few walls I did, but it wasn't critical. And no more need for a diaper sling for rappelling.
And I once had a beer with Don Whillans in the Padarn Lake Hotel.
Commercially-made modern-style harness weren't much available until the early 1980s, at least not in Canada. Chouinard made a variant of the Whillans from about 1976, and there was other stuff, but it never got here. The sewn leg loops + swami setup never really appealed.
The last Whillans harnesses were probably made nearly 20 years ago - anyone who's still using one is on a time bomb.
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Michael Hjorth
Trad climber
Copenhagen, Denmark
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Jan 14, 2008 - 02:42am PT
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Sweden, 1984
Michael Hjorth
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survival
Big Wall climber
arlington, va
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Jan 14, 2008 - 03:37am PT
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Many hundreds of pitches fell to my mighty Whillans harness, including quite a few big walls. Always loved the gear loops, tried not to make a habit out of falling in it. It was the best thing going for a long time it seemed. Yarbles aside boys.....
yarbles aside. Mine was orange.
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