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Chockstone Forum - Gear Lust / Lost & Found

Rave About Your Rack Please do not post retail SPAM.

Author
Australian made climbing gear
TimP
18-May-2015
12:12:29 PM
What gear is or has been made in Australia? All I can think of are RP's and Malcolm Mathersons cams. There must have been harnesses at some stage; does anyone know / recall Australian manufacturing of climbing gear?
grangrump
18-May-2015
12:31:39 PM
Someone was selling plastic nuts a while ago, which I think were made in Australia.

ajfclark
18-May-2015
12:50:23 PM
I was loaned some rainbow etts made by Calvin Climb in Natimuk.

Dippers chalkbags are also made in Natimuk.

Do Ferno/Vertical make anything in Australia still?
Wollemi
18-May-2015
1:25:58 PM
Whippet, who was the subject of so much verbal spray in the last week or so, made commercially-available chalk-bags.

PFH bolt hangers are made in Forster, NSW
https://www.facebook.com/pfhptyltd/timeline?ref=page_internal
patto
18-May-2015
1:27:06 PM
SRT used to be an Australia supplier single rope technique equipment. Certainly some people seemed to used their stuff for climbing.

There was that small climbing clothing manufacturer... I forget their name.

ajfclark
18-May-2015
1:37:59 PM
You can still buy SRT stuff...

http://www.mainpeak.com.au/srt-a1-811-ascender-medium/
http://www.mainpeak.com.au/srt-ascender-a1-exp/

The chest ascender is very cheap: http://www.mainpeak.com.au/srt-ascender-chest-a4-small/
Dr Nick
18-May-2015
2:58:01 PM
Wild Stuff/DB Stuff used to be somewhere near Hornsby. I've still got one of their harnesses in my old-stuff crate.

A fair few chalkbag manufacturers over the years, as well as a couple hold manufacturers.


Eduardo Slabofvic
18-May-2015
3:01:48 PM
I used to make my own tube chocks for use at Frog (they really sucked)

Carrot bolts?

RP hangers?

Calvin Climb re-slung my cams back then

Rocksinmyhead
18-May-2015
3:50:06 PM
I started climbing with purple Scorpion climbing boots, an orange Spelean sit harness, and a pink Summit Gear chalk bag, all made in Oz I believe. You can blame Mikl for the Scorpions. The harness was a Troll knock off and inspired a "the leader must not fall" mentality.

The chalk bag is faded but otherwise still bomber. Well done Summit Gear!

And I love my Whippet bouldering mat.
BA
18-May-2015
4:03:44 PM
Back in the day, Ferret (aka Ian Anger) made harnesses and protective bags for Walkmans (wonderfully called Padded Cells). He also repaired packs etc.

Roland made aluminium bongs in sizes larger than Chouinards chrome-moly ones, as well as bolt plates and the world famous RP nuts. He also made 'crackers' from hexagonal aluminium stock as well, although not as large as range as Ewbank had made.

The Gledhills also made their own gear, bongs, bolt plates, aid bolts etc.

I also made my own bolt plates and nuts from hexagonal brass stock.

Rick White made (or had made for him) climbing shoes; Beau Brummels, for the height of climbing fashion.

There was a boot factory down in Collingwood/Abbotsford that also made climbing shoes.

Claw is infamous for his funky protection devices and didn't Mark Moorhead famously use an automotive seat belt for protection at Hanging Rock?

I am sure there were other Australian makers of harnesses, bolt plates/hangers, etc.
kieranl
18-May-2015
5:03:25 PM
On 18/05/2015 BA wrote:
>Back in the day, Ferret (aka Ian Anger) made harnesses and protective bags
>for Walkmans (wonderfully called Padded Cells). He also repaired packs
>etc.
Still got my Ferret Wear Padded Cell (the Walkman Sport still works too)
BA
19-May-2015
11:31:49 AM
Ferret also made 'Butt Bags', a belay seat with 3 attachment points. There was (is?) a gear shop in Sydney (Crows Nest?) that also made belay seats with a more traditional 2 attachment points.

And yes Kieran, I've still got my Padded Cell but who listens to cassettes now? I've still got my Discman, but who listens to CDs now? A smart phone with a 32Gig microSD and you have as many movies and as much music as you will need on a trip. Plus you can dump guides into it, it has a camera (of sorts), GPS and I believe you can make telephone calls as well. And it's perfect for measuring 90 degree angles as well ;-)

E. Wells
19-May-2015
5:56:03 PM
Was it not an aussie who pioneered the belay cap?
dave1962
19-May-2015
10:30:26 PM
found an advertisement in Rock 35 1998 for Bunyip Boots, an Australian owned company that made some climbing shoes
BA
20-May-2015
11:31:39 AM
On 19/05/2015 dave1962 wrote:
>found an advertisement in Rock 35 1998 for Bunyip Boots, an Australian
>owned company that made some climbing shoes

That might have been the mob I mentioned above.

If, by belay caps, a 'flat' cap is meant, then Henry Barber is resposible for popularising them in Oz. Why they weren't picked up earlier I dunno, most of the photos of the British climbers in the '60s showed them wearing flat caps. Henry also induced lots of people into wearing white 'painters' pants. When the 'New Wave' came along they were splattered with house paint to give them added Wow, they then moved onto stripey pants, then Claw came along and Lycra was the go :-O
Peterw
24-May-2015
2:56:52 PM
BA forgot to mention the crackers made by John Ewbank. (There are photos elsewhere here on the forums.)

Back in the day, there were few of us who didn't experiment with making our own gear. There was a lot less available and it was usually expensive. I made a few aluminum bolt plates and nuts and sewn hero loops, and I still have (and use for seconding) a sewn gear sling I made!
BA
24-May-2015
3:16:18 PM
On 24/05/2015 Peterw wrote:
>BA forgot to mention the crackers made by John Ewbank. (There are photos
>elsewhere here on the forums.)

As mentioned above /\

"Roland made aluminium bongs in sizes larger than Chouinards chrome-moly ones, as well as bolt plates and the world famous RP nuts. He also made 'crackers' from hexagonal aluminium stock as well, although not as large as range as Ewbank had made."

mallion
26-May-2015
3:02:30 PM
I think Mont equipment in Canberra used to make harness' in the 80's when everything was still made in Canberra

IdratherbeclimbingM9
10-Nov-2015
6:37:46 PM
On 18/05/2015 TimP wrote:
>What gear is or has been made in Australia? All I can think of are RP's
>and Malcolm Mathersons cams. There must have been harnesses at some stage;
>does anyone know / recall Australian manufacturing of climbing gear?

I hear that LittleHammer is a great aussie invention...
:-)

There are 19 messages in this topic.

 

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