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joemor
May 1, 2002, 9:00 AM
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i want to know more about the pro used in and after the days when u used to climb with a bag full of rocks and chocks. obsoliete pro ect.
joe
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rickoldskool
May 1, 2002, 5:20 PM
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Did you know, the Brits were the first to use "nuts" as pro? Real machine nuts, slung with cordage or webbing. Today we still call these little "chockies" NUTS.
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camhead
May 1, 2002, 5:53 PM
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Various sizes of webbing knots also have been used for pro, shoved into cracks as stoppers.
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krustyklimber
May 1, 2002, 7:06 PM
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The "clean ethic" wasn't yet in vogue, so they/we used Ring Angle Pitons, and just pound 'em in where you could.
There's a way to hold your hammer and a piton in one hand, so while hanging from the other you'd start the pin and hammer it home, clip a big heavy steel 'biner to it (those high zoot aluminum cost too much) and climb on!
Jeff
P.S. On the subject of prehistoric pro. I recently saw a documentary on the travels and conquests of Alexander The Great, and they found climbing gear left over, from an unsucessful siege, on a Mongolian monestary. Among the climbing artifacts were; 6 bronze pitons (which were just hooks you laid the rope over), 3 lengths of braided leather rope (they appeared to be about 20m each), and about a dozen knotted balls of cord (like what was mentioned above).
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radistrad
May 1, 2002, 7:13 PM
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Devils Tower was first climbed by driving wooded steaks into the crack, I think some of them are still in place (dont know for sure).
Its hard to imagine climbng w/o all of our high tech gear. I love technology.
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camhead
May 2, 2002, 4:44 PM
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Wooded steaks?
Would those be well-done?
Sorry, couldn't resist.
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mikedano
May 2, 2002, 5:16 PM
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That old stuff is so freakin' sketchy.
My scariest climbing moment came two years ago when my Dad found out I was climbing and offered to belay me using his 30-YEAR OLD ROPE, from when he used to climb.
The thing was static and didn't even have a sheath, just braided...
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jmlangford
May 10, 2002, 12:34 AM
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I have a box of Yvon Chouinard's original pitons. Stuff that he made and sold off the back of his car in the 50's. Got a couple of those famous RURPS-pretty neat stuff. He also made some carabiners, heavy steel things. Most this equipment has Y.C. stamped in it.
Scariest climbing moment was getting ready to rap off a rock with no easy way down and my dad, testing the anchors as he always does, lifted the bolts right out of the rock with his bare hands. I can't remember how we got down, I was only 7 or 8 years old-but he rigged something up and we rapped off. the bolts that came out were so old it was pathetic.
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jgill
Jun 7, 2002, 3:39 AM
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In the late 1950s I drove around Jackson Hole with Yvon, in his ancient car, looking in trash heaps for pieces of stovepipe he could take back to CA to use in his shop and forge. I lost one of his first chromalloy knifeblades: He and I were doing the FA of a little spire in Garnet Canyon and I was leading the crux pitch. Couldn't find a decent crack for a regular piton, so I pulled out a knifeblade and placed it in a hairliner and bashed it with my hammer - without first putting it on a piton-keeper. It made a beautiful high pitched zinging sound as we both watched it disappear into the canyon below. Yvon never made a critical remark, but I felt pretty stupid!
[ This Message was edited by: jgill on 2002-06-10 19:56 ]
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jmlangford
Jun 7, 2002, 3:58 AM
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The route John is talking about, I believe, is The Knob. This is a tower just to the right of the Fifth Column in Garnett Canyon. The guide book says "...protection in this last chimney is difficult to obtain." That must have been where you dropped the rurp.
P.S. I love these stories from this era...thank you for coming on the site and sharing them!
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oldfossil
Jan 31, 2007, 12:49 PM
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To bad you didn't get any pictures of the wooden stakes. They would of been an interesting picture to add to my site and my book.
Ed Tieman
be188e@hotmail.com
www.greenwaterclimbingarea.com |
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salamanizer
Feb 5, 2007, 4:20 AM
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Here's some of those ring pitons as previously mentioned. Also a couple early soft steel knifeblades I aquired from an estate sale. I'm not quite sure when these were made, probably sometime in the late 40's or 50's.
The inscription on the side says U.S. Preston 44.
Anyone else know more about these???
I just thought they were a cool bit of history to have.
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cosmiccragsman
Feb 5, 2007, 4:30 AM
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Those might be military issue. They almost look like the ones my Dad used to get for me from the Marine base at 29 Palms in the mid 60s.
Cosmiccragsman
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cintune
Feb 5, 2007, 4:34 AM
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I have a couple of nearly identical knifeblades stamped "U.S. ADC 73" and then an "M" in a circle. Got them at an army surplus place a long time ago. Always figured they were 10th Mtn. Division kit.
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