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karabin museum
Trad climber
phoenix, az
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 11, 2011 - 11:02pm PT
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Jaybro - I am not sure exactly when these bags were created, but I have seen many of them so they definitely are not rare. My friend purchased his in the early 1980s. If I remember correctly, Don Lauria on the "Dolt Stories" thread talks about the new Dolt owners that took over the business. I have not had time to locate them for answers. Nice bag though!
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karabin museum
Trad climber
phoenix, az
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 11, 2011 - 11:27pm PT
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Drljefe - Arizona Climber was created by Mike Covington in association with Runout Productions. At first the publication was 8 pages for each issue, for the first 4 publications, then became like a thin magazine. 10 publications ran from June 1991 to May 1995. I am missing #6. Mike worked as a designer publicist before starting Climbmax Climbing Center in Tempe Az. The question you asked was do I have the Prescott Pump issue which I show below.
If this does not answer what you are looking for, send me a member to member email with your address and I will send you a photocopy.
Please note the final paragraph on page 2.
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karabin museum
Trad climber
phoenix, az
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 11, 2011 - 11:33pm PT
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Fritz - Do you know what year the Otto Wiedemann carabiner was created?
Dingus Milktoast - The key words are Famous Climber, and Homemade. But I am not here to argue about assumptions.
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drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
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Jul 12, 2011 - 02:11am PT
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Marty, wow, thanks! !!!
Here I thought you'd snubbed me. Then I realize you probably had to sort through mountains of ACTUAL climbing memorabilia to look for that article. ..and I appreciate it!
That was a fun day.
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karabin museum
Trad climber
phoenix, az
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 12, 2011 - 09:29am PT
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Vulcan,
Yes you are correct about your statement about Chris Sharma helping out with "Andys" Camp.
The point I was trying to make is that Chris is stepping up to help others, not running around saying look at me look at me! The media that follows him around gets his present stories and he still has to show up occasionally in the magazines due to Sponsor demands. If Chris had it his way he would be chilling next to a beautiful stream staring at a huge overhanging wall of rock with nobody around except his wife and closest friends. Chris has the right idea in life! Living peacefully!
Jim: Many rescue teams throw away carabiners that they accidentally drop. Climbers, especially aid climbers will use their twisted old even damaged carabiners to the very end. I speak from my own experience as well. Thanks for your many posts!
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karabin museum
Trad climber
phoenix, az
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 12, 2011 - 09:39am PT
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In January 1999, Dale Stewart called me and asked if I could help on a project at the Arizona Science Center in downtown Phoenix. Many of you know Dale, he owns the Arizona Hiking Shack in Phoenix. The IMAX movie "Everest" was coming to the Science Center and not just the movie, David Breashears was going to be there in person. I never knew much about David, but I was amazed on how this guy didn't just climb up Everest, he lugged up a ton of huge cameras and massive film reels to capture his Everest creation. I instantly respected David Breashears, and was excited that I was part of the fun.
Dale and I were instructed to create two climbing routes on the outside second floor wall of the Science Center. It was no big deal since it was a 20' low angle slab and a cake job. Hammer-drilling rock always makes me feel powerful like "Rambo." We installed about one hundred drop set anchors, installed Chris Raypole's Climbing Dynamics Holds to them, and created two easy climbing routes for people who wanted to try climbing during the "Everest" event. Dale and I noticed that we had a few extra days before the event started, so we talked to the coordinator at the Science Center and mentioned that we could dress the show up a bit. Dale has the climbing store, Marty has the climbing connections. We decided to create a climbing scene and display in the main lobby in front of the IMAX theater.
I am not a big ice gear collector so I had to reach out to people to find some cool display items. I heard about this guy that lives in Prescott Arizona, which is only 1 1/2 hours away from Phoenix. This guy is a disabled climber named Tom Whittaker, who made the first one legged/disabled ascent of Everest. No he didn't just use one leg to climb the mountain, he had a prosthetic lower leg section that had different crampon parts that he could attach to it. So I drove to Prescott to meet this legend. Tom and I instantly hit it off as he served me crumpets and tea and we shared laughs. He didn't just let me borrow some of his gear, we were able to have him give slide show presentations to the visitors, and talks of his Everest ascent at the Science Center. This was turning out pretty cool!
I had Tom's prosthetic leg in the display, summit oxygen tank and many more items of interest. I called climbers in town and borrowed gear from Bill Dacier, Tim Penner, Wally Vegors, Brett Bigelow, along with some Karabin items as well. The display turned out fantastic! Dale went overboard with a full basecamp display with manikins on portaledges and more. It was classic since the Science Center only asked for a simple two route attraction. Tom Whittaker's story was beyond touching, and easily drew a tear to many. Tom you are totally an amazing inspirational person! It finally came the time for the showing of the Everest movie, and I was excited to finally meet David Breashears.
David gave a short speech before the movie started, and then disappeared. The Everest movie was incredible! What an amazing job he did filming this beautiful, but at many times, vicious peak. After the movie I searched around for David and he was nowhere. I asked "Where did he go?" I was told that he was on a very tight schedule so I was left standing there with the Everest movie poster unsigned, all alone and bummed. Suddenly I saw him and stopped him as he walked by with his entourage. He said "Wonderful Display", signed my poster and walked away all within 45 seconds. I stared calmly at this legend as he disappeared from my sight, but I knew that he was just too busy to see me. Not a big deal! The whole Everest Festival that Dale/Marty/Tom/Science Center created was the best!
A few years later my divorce happened. I had nowhere to go but a small apartment that my kids and I made the best of. Somehow we crammed everything in our life into a few hundred square feet. I was able to get a job at the Phoenix Rock Gym, which I am very grateful to Paul Diefenderfer for since nobody else was hiring at the time. Life was tough, but I remained chin-up in my faith and knew all was going to be okay. In December 2002, I received a phone call from Kathi Reichert who was working for the City of Phoenix Parks Department at the time. She asked me if I could create a display for an upcoming event at the Phoenician Resort in Phoenix. Kathi had a simple table top plastic display cube to for the display, which would be placed outside the main room of the event. I agreed to create it and found this display to be another cake volunteer job.
I asked Kathi what the event was about, and it turned out to be a $50 per seat major charitable event on December 12, called "Everest: Mountain Without Mercy,'" and the main speaker was David Breashears. Cool! I was real busy at the time juggling work, thinking about the display, getting used to this new child support idea, and Christmas was just two weeks away. I decided that I could put together the display on the fly, and could gather the gear from my apartments crammed closets the night before the Event. I arrived home at 5:00 that night and there was a small puddle outside my front door. I lifted my eyebrows in amazement of the mystery. The front of my apartment has many tall windows and I was located on the first floor, in a cozy corner of the complex. On the outside, the windows were completely dry, but on the inside of the windows, it looked like a lawn sprinkler was spraying everywhere as water rolled down the them.
I hastily opened my front door and felt a swoosh of heat hit me in my face as I stared at my apartment being flooded by very hot water. It felt like it was 160 degrees in there and visually I could see 2 1/2 to 3 inches of water pooled up on my apartment floor. Luckily I didn't just run into the apartment since I noticed on my bookcase that all of my Chouinard catalogs and many historic books were on the bottom shelf, and the water was within 1/8 inch of destroying them. I tipped toed in like the tooth fairy. I mean, I was not even breathing as I slowly reached the catalogs to save them. As I stared at the floating presents around the Christmas tree, I called the apartment manager and insisted that he has two seconds to get to my apartment before I kick in the door of the unoccupied apartment, which was two doors down from me.
We discovered that a hot water pipe, which was the main pipe for the entire complex, had ruptured under my bathroom floor, and the pressure of it having nowhere to go forced the hot water into my apartment. Every wall, picture, cabinets inside and out was dripping down with water from the hot water mist. Myself and the apartment manager moved almost everything I had until 4:00 in the morning to save whatever I could from being ruined. Keep in mind, we were not just moving a few couches, you also had hundreds of catalogs, thousands of pieces of gear and the moving seemed like it was never going to end. No folks, no tears from Marty! This was response time not remorse time! I didn't even say one swear word, and I don't think I even said one word to the apartment manager while the moving process was happening. Oh yeah, I still have to get display items together for the big Everest event which was starting in just a few hours.
By 8:00 in the morning I met Kathy over at the Phoenician Resort and began setting up the display. I was beyond spent and felt like I had climbed Everest solo in one push. My calves were killing me and the blisters on my feet from my soaked tennis shoes were wide open. David Breashears came up from behind me to see the display I was creating. He mentioned to me that he wanted me to be present at the event. I started to tell David that there was "NO WAY, YOU DON'T EVEN UNDERSTAND," and he cut my explanation off insisting that I go home, get cleaned up, and be back here within two hours. "Lord, does this ever end?" When I arrived home, two guys were jackhammering the floor of my apartment and had a 4 foot pile of dirt in my hallway. The entire complex water supply was shut down. From the jackhammering, I noticed the mud splats that covered the walls of my apartment all over all of my signed superstar pictures that I had hung throughout. I had no more time, but had to use hand wipes to bathe, remember there was no water, and find something to wear and get back to the resort for the start of the event.
Since it was Christmas time, I figured the colorful Christmas sweater would work okay since everything else I had was in a great pile. Man my energy was gone as I walked up to the Phoenician Resort wondering why I even was there. Just outside the doors of the great room, David met me and said that I was just in time. He told me to follow him and then he escorted me into the room. I immediately felt like I was out of place as I noticed over 200 people all wearing black and white suits and tuxedos. The women were even dressed to code. My colorful Christmas sweater sure stood out! I saw that Paul Diefenderfer my boss was there in the back of the room, and my Xwifes company owner Preston McMurray was there in the crowd also.
So 200 or so of these people were owners of the biggest companies in Arizona. Gulp, but I followed David where he escorted me to the very front table of the room. I sat down feeling so out of place and knew nobody, then David walked up on stage and gave a beautiful presentation about himself. At my table was the president of APS, president of Motorola, and so many other huge people that were looking at me and not talking to me. Before the presentation was over, David made an announcement, had me come up on stage, and said to the crowd how much he appreciated everything I had done for him every time he came to Arizona. He gave me a big hug in front of the clapping crowd where my hug back to him almost crushed him. Once his speech was finished, he sat next to me for the dinner.
I assume there was an extra seat reserved in case David brought somebody with him to the event. It was at this time that I truly recognized that there definitely is a God. Think about it! Everybody paid to be there, I did not. Everybody was an owner or was associated with companies worth over one million dollars, and I had nothing and was in the process of just about losing everything. Everybody was dressed beautifully, and I still was wearing wet tennis shoes and was wearing a LOUD colorful sweater that stood out like a beacon. I became the honored guest where David was the speaker, and then sat beside me, and I ate dinner with him. That was a huge moment in my life!
David, I am so grateful for meeting you the way it unfolded. You are an amazing speaker and your climbing talents will be well noted in the history books. Thank you for enhancing my life beyond anything I thought possible.
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karabin museum
Trad climber
phoenix, az
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 12, 2011 - 10:01am PT
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This time we forgot to make hotel reservations. My friend Robert and I arrived into Salt Lake City for the summer Trade show, grabbed the keys to our Alamo rental car, and were off to the show. As usual the excitement was on and we were probably dancing in the car in anticipation to shaking hands with all of the stars, and seeing many of our trade show friends again. You see, we were here to represent! Represent our paparazzi passion which flowed in our blood like an ocean. Robert was still new to this fun, but was becoming really good at it. During the show he would sneak away from me and then appear an hour later smiling. He never discloses what he was up to until we got to our hotel room at night.
Robert and I were in somewhat competition with each other, on who could get the most signatures from the most superstar climbers at the show. Robert Olson is also know as the Olson Climbing Collection. He really connects good with all of the young rock stars where I knew of many of the older stars from the past. I always thought I had it made, since most these older rock stars became company representatives, and Robert had not caught onto that fact just yet. You could call it my "failsafe" reserve.
The first day of the show had just finished, and we lugged off our prize booty to the car and then started looking for a hotel to stay for the three nights. You see, at a show with tens of thousands of people attending, there should be no problem finding a hotel, right? We drove around in circles in what seemed like eternity to find a vacancy sign. There was nothing! I mean nothing except for this place called the Capital Motel. At the amazing cost of only $22.00 a night, we knew already that we were in trouble. The room was scary, and both of us leaned our head into the room to visually see what was there before entering. We then discovered that the hotel was going to be the adventure, the show was just the appetizer.
It was a room that had a smaller second side bed room and a bathroom. The bed was up on milk crates and was balanced in such a way that if you sat down too quickly, the bed would collapse. Kinda like playing the game "Don't break the ice." The bed collapsed many times and we constantly had to rebuild it. All of the closet doors were nailed shut. Like 10 nails in each door which were just smacked into the front lip of the door by some amateur carpenter or something. The bathroom light was an old fashioned style, two bulb unit where it had a push button switch between the bulbs, but the switch was pushed inside the unit. So to turn on the light, you had to put your finger into the hole and blindly feel around for the push button and hope you did not electrocute yourself by accidentally hitting the wires. Yipe! I believe I said to Robert, "You go first!" The bathroom window didn't shut and was opened about 14." But we accepted the Capital as our home for the three nights.
We were exhausted! We turned the lights off to finally hit the hay and suddenly, the loud music started. There was a bar next door, where the festivities started at 10:00 and went on through the night. The bar was located just outside of our bathroom window. The only sleep we got was from 2:00am till 5:00am, where we were abruptly awakened by a crack head pounding on our door which was asking to purchase more drugs from our room. Sweet! We decided to just get up then, go for a big breakfast, and get to the show. We absolutely did not want to leave our luggage in the room while at the show, so we had to pack our bags every morning, and unpack every night to protect our belongings.
At the show the next day we ran into some of our Arizona friends, JBone and Patrick Luther, who is know as Fish. Not to be confused with the real Fish who is Russ of Fish Products. Sorry about getting sidetracked but I remember Susan Peplow demanding/insisting to Patrick the he better change his nickname since her boyfriend already had that "handle." Susan scared him yes, but Patrick's nickname remained 'Fish.' JBone and Patrick had nowhere to stay so we let them share our comfortable room. What was cool is that Jason Kehl is a friend of theirs, so while we were all in the hotel room suddenly there was a knock on the door and in comes Jason. Robert always wanted to meet Jason and Jason is one of Roberts ultimate celebrities. Robert of course was in the bathroom at this time while the rest of us were having fun talking and joking with Jason. When Robert came out of the bathroom and saw Jason standing there Robert was floored in Awe. I mean he was babbling trying to say hello and almost hyperventilating. Jason was loving it!
I already got a few signatures from Jason for me, then was having fun watching Robert tripping over himself to find his photo lot to be signed. Robert was suddenly interrupted by a phone call from his wife Simona, excused himself and went into the other room to say hello. Jason was enjoying the fun, but had run to find his friends somewhere down town, and left the room. You can imagine how crushed Robert was when he excitedly came back into the room to find his ultimate hero, had left. Yes he dropped to his knees with arms extended to the sky yelling "Nooooooooo!!! Jason had actually left out of the state that night and was not present at the last day of the show. Robert however already had 75 signatures and was way ahead of me and he proudly rubbed it into my face. Wrongooo!
The last day of the show I pulled out my trump card, and I targeted the climbing reps like Conrad Anker, Bobbi Bensman, Dale Bard, Johnny Woodward, Russ Clune, Henry Barber, and so many other fantastic climbing superstars that Robert did not know. On the airplane back to Arizona, we did an overall count and I topped his signature count by 5, which Jason's signatures were the reason I came out on top.
For a side note, Jason Kehl is an amazing artist besides his climbing accomplishments. Jason is known for his skullet hair style, tearing up any boulder problem that is V10-V14, a climbing hold shaper for So-Ill products and his personal company Cryptochild, a huge magazine contributor - visual and editorial, and is really an awesome warm person. He puts his art talents into everything he does, and all of his pieces are amazing. Jason really opened the door to showing the young generation that climbing hard is still about heart and passion over the ego most kids get these days. Ever since we saw Jason compete in the 2004 PCA comp at the Front, Robert and I always wear face paint at every competition we enter. We still do not know how Jason pinned the competitors number sheet to his back while he was competing shirtless. Jason has a way of keeping one step above the obvious.
In my book Jason you totally rock!!! You are awesome!!!
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Elcapinyoazz
Social climber
Joshua Tree
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Jul 12, 2011 - 11:40am PT
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It's nice that you like to collect gear and all, but the fanboi slobbering over climbing "celebrities" is a bit much.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Jul 12, 2011 - 12:04pm PT
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This whole thread is a bit much. Tone it down Marty.
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blahblah
Gym climber
Boulder
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Jul 12, 2011 - 12:40pm PT
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At the show the next day we ran into some of our Arizona friends, JBone and Patrick Luther, who is know as Fish. Not to be confused with the real Fish who is Russ of Fish Products. Sorry about getting sidetracked but I remember Susan Peplow demanding/insisting to Patrick the he better change his nickname since her boyfriend already had that "handle." Susan scared him yes, but Patrick's nickname remained 'Fish.
Hilarious! Nice to see people stand up for themselves against bullying. Like there is only one freaking "Fish" out there--ever watch Barney Miller?
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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Jul 12, 2011 - 12:57pm PT
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Thanks for sharing these stories. I'm sure you have many more and hope that you keep posting some of them. You couldn't end up with a collection like yours if you didn't have unrestrained enthusiasm for the people. I like the honesty in your tales.
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looking sketchy there...
Social climber
Latitute 33
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Jul 12, 2011 - 01:12pm PT
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Great stuff and stories Marty.
As climbers, we shouldn't be unfamiliar with the concept that it often takes fanaticism to achieve excellence.
That such a keen passion has collateral effects on one's personal life isn't uncommon among climbers either.
Climbing is just now coming to the point where Marty's attempts to preserve its artifacts (and history) can be appreciated.
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FTOR
Sport climber
CA
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Jul 12, 2011 - 01:35pm PT
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myself, (rob o), dave a, and our design/machining mentor eben s. were hand building 1/2, 3/4, 5, 6, and 7" 'associates' quite early on. they have popped up here on occasion. i have long been promising stephane a set for the museum. of the large ones, i can't remember how many of these i made for resale, not many. at the time they were quite pricey for most climbing bums like myself, think i was asking $75 -100. seems yates obviously took a look at these and married them to a wired stem, probably to get around patents.
can't really get behind bearing it all in a very public arena, but find the gear nostalgia of interest. hope you're at good place.
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crunch
Social climber
CO
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Jul 12, 2011 - 03:15pm PT
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"Associates" That's great!
Mine's going to a museum only when you drag it out of my cold, dead hands:
This one fits in cracks just too wide for my biggest Camalot.
Thanks for all the photos and stories, and for caring enough to try to make some kind of narrative out of all the funny gadgets that climbers make.
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rockjockrob
Boulder climber
Tempe, Arizona
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Jul 12, 2011 - 07:50pm PT
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Inspiring... Marty, you are awesome. I remember Jason's entrance into the Capitol Dive a little different, but I think your picture captures the energy and excitement.
I can hardly wait to see the climbing family at the show next month. Keep the energy going bro!
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Fritz
Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Jul 12, 2011 - 08:18pm PT
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Marty: re your question: Fritz - Do you know what year the Otto Wiedemann carabiner was created?
Nope. I was blissfully unaware of its existance until your photo/question. Couldn't find anything in a Google search today either.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Jul 12, 2011 - 10:36pm PT
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I've got lots of cool gear but the Kor descending ring made from bailing wire have got to be right up there.
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Jul 12, 2011 - 10:41pm PT
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I do not personally know Marty, but know people that do. I posted what I thought was a fairly reasonable post early in this thread and received a few PMs from his friends that I was off base.
Marty, keep posting up these wonderfull thoughts. I may disagree with you on some points, but that is as it should be.
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ChampionSleeper
Trad climber
Phoenix, AZ
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Jul 12, 2011 - 11:16pm PT
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Goddamn Marty! Where have you been all this time? This is your climbing museum!
And for anyone who is not into it, leave the building. And get over the Jesus thing for God's sake. Will you allow a person's religion to totally blind you to any other aspects of their character/personality? I don't have to agree with Marty's religious views to enjoy hanging out with him, climbing with him, and hearing about climbing history. This is Marty's normal enthusiasm level. Much higher than average, but that's not a bad thing.
Keep it comin' Marty! And when this thread is done, start a new one. It's nice to see a hippy shirt in person, but it's way cooler to get the whole story here.
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