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Chockstone Forum - Gear Lust / Lost & Found

Rave About Your Rack Please do not post retail SPAM.

 Page 1 of 5. Messages 1 to 20 | 21 to 40 | 41 to 60 | 61 to 80 | 81 to 94
Author
Climbing Gear Ideas that Flopped
dalai
6-Sep-2004
12:15:50 PM
Over the years, companies have released products thinking they are the next big advancement in climbing. But they don't gain acceptance and quickly fade into obscurity...

The Whillans Harness. Advancement from the old swami tie in, but with the most painful design! Fortunately designs improved from this...

Or a more recent product - Boreal's grey shoe rubber, specifically designed to avoid marking indoor climbing walls. The rubber wasn't as sticky and most climbers didn't care if they mark the walls.

Any others??


oweng
6-Sep-2004
12:30:40 PM
Those removable bolts that worked like a camming device that you could insert into a drilled hole to use as protection. I saw them somewhere once, but have never heard of them being used. Maybee they are for aid climbing?
gfdonc
6-Sep-2004
1:37:28 PM
Hangonaminutt .. the Whillans harness "quickly faded" into obscurity? How long does a product have to be on the market to be considered successful?
dalai
6-Sep-2004
1:45:34 PM
Okay, the Whillans didn't fade fast enough!! But I am sure the makers thought they were on a winner with that design. Don't see it now other than a few old guys who should have retired their trusty harness 20 plus years ago...

IdratherbeclimbingM9
6-Sep-2004
1:55:02 PM
I still have an original Whillans Harness, and occasionally loan it to newbie 2nds for easy toprope climbs. Don't know that I would want to lead on it anymore though.

On 6/09/2004 gfdonc wrote:
>Hangonaminutt .. the Whillans harness "quickly faded" into obscurity?
>How long does a product have to be on the market to be considered successful?
>
Depends on the age of the commentator !
If your youngish something might seem to fade in quicker time. For example 'coco-nuts' ie the ones that have ribs across their backs so that they can be interlocked with others to form wider placements ...

If you are older then Dalai is right with his example of;
>Advancement from the old swami tie in ...

Corse when I were a lad, we usta hafta use me kid brothers string ball that he played with his kitten with, as a rope; ... thru wind and snow etc!

Dalai might need an icon in the form of methusela (sp?)
:)
dalai
6-Sep-2004
2:14:04 PM
Had to look Methuselah up. Sometimes I do feel like I am close to 969 years old A5...

I nearly bought a cheap copy of the Whillans (Zero was the brand from memory) but after wearing a Whillans just once, went straight back to the swami webbing as it was less painful to hang in!

IdratherbeclimbingM9
6-Sep-2004
2:36:17 PM
On 6/09/2004 dalai wrote:
> but after wearing a Whillans just once, went straight back to the
>swami webbing as it was less painful to hang in!
Fair enough.
One of the earliest gear placement lessons the budding leader (if they were male & wearing a Whillans) had, was how to strategically place nuts ...

Pre the swami ... While relying on the waist tie-in, remember the innovation of carrying a sling so that you could place it between the rope and your chest and put one leg through it (as loops) on either side of the rope while inverted; then pull yourself upright so that the weight was taken on the sling, which allowed you to breath again; ... (assumes no broken ribs after falling) ...

This sling did not have a special name, but the idea arose when slings 1st became regular bits of climbing paraphenalia.
Whats that ? say the newbies !, Oh you mean quickdraws !!

"No", says me (imitating Methuselah), this was back when slings were slings; ... hand tied in regular and 'double length' sizes.

Still the mainstay of my rack these days !!

IdratherbeclimbingM9
6-Sep-2004
3:04:56 PM
On 6/09/2004 dalai wrote:
>Over the years, companies have released products thinking they are the
>next big advancement in climbing. But they don't gain acceptance and quickly
>fade into obscurity...
>
>The Whillans Harness. Advancement from the old swami tie in, but with
>the most painful design! Fortunately designs improved from this...
>
>Or a more recent product - Boreal's grey shoe rubber, specifically designed
>to avoid marking indoor climbing walls. The rubber wasn't as sticky and
>most climbers didn't care if they mark the walls.
>
>Any others??
>
>

TA,TA,TA,RA,TA,TAA,TA,TAAAH
DING, DING, DING, DING, DING.

BY MY RECKONING (JUST CHECKED THE TIMINGS OF LAST 12 POSTS COUNTING BACK FROM 20,012);

DALAI POSTED THE 20,000TH POST WHEN HE OPENED THIS THREAD AT 12.15.50 HRS 06/09/04 (TODAY).

CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP, THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE ROLLS ON ....

WELL DONE DALAI
WELL DONE CHOCKSTONE
WELL DONE MIKE
WELL DONE TO THE OTHER 19,999 ...


phil box
6-Sep-2004
3:11:08 PM
Heh, "I had a chat to a couple of Checkoslavakian climbers in the carpark at Frog on the weekend and they pulled out their rack that they had carted around the world from their homeland. They showed me their slings that they had made out of short lengths of various sizes of rope. They used these slings to tie knots to use as pro. They had the usual Check republic gear.

I was bummed to hear that they can buy very high quality climbing shoes for $30 Australian over there. Their Rock Empire Cams were $30 and their nuts were $2 each.

They gave me a wired Tricam, very funky piece of gear that we tested and nearly got stuck at the bottom of Electronic Flag.
BA
6-Sep-2004
4:15:51 PM
Then there were Titons, "T" shaped passive cams with the webbing slotted through the bottom of the 'T'. I bought one for use in the horizontal "slots" on the Watchtower faces (especially Gecko, if I remember correctly). I think it is still in the shed with my Ewbank Crackers, RP bong bongs, wired baby MOAC and other stuff that has accumulated over the years and I just can't bring myself to throw out.

IdratherbeclimbingM9
6-Sep-2004
4:31:29 PM
On 6/09/2004 BA wrote:
>Titons (snip) think it is still in the shed with my Ewbank Crackers, RP bong bongs, wired
>baby MOAC and other stuff that has accumulated over the years and I just
>can't bring myself to throw out.

I have a Qld mate who still swears by titons. I am not allowed to climb with him unless I yell at the top of my voice "Placed the titon", every time I use one, even though I have to borrow them off his rack to do so!

If a suitable museum venue arises, it sounds like many a contributer/s to this Forum could populate it with priceless relics of climbing history.

Think of all the 'original' bolts etc that Safer Cliffs Vic, has in its possession!

A recent article said some of the original Harding bolts off the topout of The Nose route of El Cap fetched hundreds of dollars each, from avid history buffs.

IdratherbeclimbingM9
6-Sep-2004
4:37:04 PM
Another item;

Salewa Tubechocks.
... Remove pin, expand inner tube, line up holes, replace pin, ... place said protection ...

Climbau marvelled at mine when he spied it on the rack recently ....

Who knows?, one day I might invest in a newfangled big-bro or two !

JamesMc
6-Sep-2004
4:56:27 PM
How about coloured chalk? Nobody who cares about how chalk looks uses chalk anyway, and some colours turned out to be toxic.

As for a Willans harness, they're good for alpine climbing & ski mountaineering as you can put them on while wearing crampons or skis.

James

mousey
6-Sep-2004
5:03:46 PM
>Nobody who cares about how chalk looks uses chalk anyway, and some colours turned out to be toxic.
thats a pretty bold statement? maybe im the only one...

Nick Kaz
6-Sep-2004
8:55:44 PM
On 6/09/2004 dalai wrote:
>Over the years, companies have released products thinking they are the
>next big advancement in climbing. But they don't gain acceptance and quickly
>fade into obscurity...

Wooden wedges, Outdated by bongs. Im not shure these were any of the above (except maby obscure?)



A5 maybe you could add these to your current rack of kittens yarn, Whillans Harness, chest slings, titons and salewa tube chocks? Unless of course you already have some...

IdratherbeclimbingM9
6-Sep-2004
9:39:03 PM
On 6/09/2004 Nick Kaz wrote:
>Wooden wedges,
>A5 maybe you could add these to your current rack of kittens yarn, Whillans
>Harness, chest slings, titons and salewa tube chocks? Unless of course
>you already have some...
Ahh, love it !
I do actually have a few I have made myself. Much larger than the classy ones you presented in the piccie, and drilled all over to take some weight off. They only rarely get used, when I have to block out extra range on my large cams in gnarly offwidths.

(Sidenote: The Buffalo guide actually has a reference to using them in the final pitch of Lord Gumtree ...)

New shiny stuff like your picture needs to be used !!

Nick Kaz
6-Sep-2004
9:48:43 PM
On 6/09/2004 A5iswhereitsat wrote:
>New shiny stuff like your picture needs to be used !!

Oh but they have:
"I received an update recently concerning that old photo of Dave Rearick's wood nuts, used by him and George Hurley for the first all-wood ascent of Twister in 1973"

from: http://www.rockclimbing.com/forums/viewtopic.php?topic=67612&forum=20
WM
6-Sep-2004
10:48:30 PM
On 6/09/2004 oweng wrote:
>Those removable bolts that worked like a camming device that you could
>insert into a drilled hole to use as protection. I saw them somewhere once,
>but have never heard of them being used. Maybee they are for aid climbing?

I think there's one on Chicane or one of those climbs on the far right of Taipan (Bossanova? (sp?)). Ugly thing sticking straight out of the rock.

Nick Kaz
7-Sep-2004
10:20:19 AM
On 6/09/2004 oweng wrote:
>Those removable bolts that worked like a camming device that you could
>insert into a drilled hole to use as protection. I saw them somewhere once,
>but have never heard of them being used. Maybee they are for aid climbing?

funny how once something is mentioned it seems to come up again and again, I go looking for new cams and find these:

http://www.mgear.com/pages/product/product.asp/level1_id/16/level2_id/24/level3_id/36/item/920600/level2_title/Hardware/level3_title/Active+Protection
WM
7-Sep-2004
11:42:41 AM
Then there's the ENP which doesn't seem to have gone anywhere...a whopping 18/22mm hole diameter might be why

http://www.compasswest.co.uk/spanishclimbing/ENP/How_it_works/how_it_works.html

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There are 94 messages in this topic.

 

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