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General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

Classic photos of outdoor adventures in the 60s 20-Mar-2014 At 2:55:56 AM BA

Message

On 19/03/2014 FatCanyoner wrote:
>yet most of the responses are from people who seem
>to have first hand knowledge of the gear and techniques in use... I guess
>it just confirms that old climbers never die, they just sit at home using
>online forums! :-P

In Victoria, in the late '60s - early '70s, the climbing footwear of choice was cheap 'gym boots'. I trashed many pairs before importing some EBs from France.

If you didn't have a lot of gear what use was a long rope? I had 5 slings, three of which had nuts (home made from brass hexagonal stock). Use one sling at each belay and that leaves 3 pieces of pro per pitch (if you could find placements for them) and the ropes were made in Australia at Kinnears rope factory in Footscray. An abseil on the ropes (over the shoulder - hence two rope burns on the neck) would get the twist out of them. And yes, my first tent was a Paddy Pallin. Walled, with ties for the doors at either end so it could be "Abdulled".

And no, we don't sit around at home using online forums, this fat old fart is currently sitting in a hotel in Oslo (and it snowed this morning).