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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Topic Author's Original Post - May 16, 2008 - 02:15am PT
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I was recently given some 1960s era climbing equipment, by a friend's family. Some of it may be of interest to the proposed Yosemite Climbing Museum. Here are some photos:
3/8" Goldline rope, two hanks - probably about 50 metres total. (Ken mentioned he was looking for some.)
Aluminum bongs - they range in width from 5.7" to 5.3" to 3.5". The two larger ones are LONGWARE (LONG spelled in larger letters than WARE), the smaller one with rounded corners a Chouinard.
These are the biggest (climbing) bongs I've ever seen, and would be awfully handy if needed. They wouldn't quite fit the monster offwidth, though. :-(
Perhaps, like lepers in the middle ages, SuperTopo miscreants could be made to wear (metaphorical) bongs around their necks, clanging and clinking to warn others that they're approaching. :-)
Steel bongs - they range in width from 3.5" to 3" to 2.5". The wide and narrow ones are marked LONGWARE, the medium one has no apparent markings. Oddly, the wider one isn't riveted.
A wooden wedge, about 20 cm long, 7 cm (at thickest) and 3.5 cm (at thinnest). (I suppose it may also be useable as a plug.)
Hammer, with logo indistinctly stamped on the head - I have to clean it with a wire brush, then look at it with a magnifying glass. I suspect its provenance is European.
The friends were happy to hear that these things might end up in a climbing museum in Yosemite - the owner had climbed there. There are some other odds and ends, but that's enough photos for now.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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May 16, 2008 - 02:32am PT
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that's cool. thx for sharing.
those AL bongs are the biggest I've ever seen! HUGE!!
(not that I've seen a lot)
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L
climber
Ocean of dreams....
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May 16, 2008 - 12:24pm PT
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I'll give ya a bump, MH.
You guys actually carried stuff like that while you climbed? Kind of like hauling a refrigerator up a cliff, huh?
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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May 16, 2008 - 12:47pm PT
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Hey now...in the sixties those bongs were DA KINE.
Latest stuff for notching down the terror of OW. They never tightened in nice tho, like a chromoly angle. Always still moved in the hit-em-up-and-down tightness test. Disconcerting. Nobody fell and was held by one, that I recall, so we just kept on uneasily putting them in.
Other drawback was they're so hard to climb around. Right out on the surface of the wide crack, instead of pushed to the inside like a cam. Big contortions and getting even more insecure to climb out of the crack and around them, always afraid you'd touch it on the way by and get a little accidental help.
And then, wide as they were, the crack would grow wider still. Sigh, tighten up, and lead onward.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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May 16, 2008 - 01:16pm PT
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The Goldline is in remarkably good shape.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Topic Author's Reply - May 16, 2008 - 01:23pm PT
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All the gear has been indoors since 1976. The bongs, wedge, and hammer are probably from the early 1960s, the rope from somewhat later. No way to date the rope now, but there's not much wear on it.
L, it's not my gear - all well before my time. Although there were goldline ropes around when I started climbing - perlon hadn't completely taken over. I remember hearing about fabled things like 6" bongs and such, but never seeing them except in pictures. The biggest commercial ones then were 4", made by SMC and Chouinard, and they were full of holes.
I wonder what treasures sit in other climber's attics, basements and garages, or (worse still) have ended up in the dump?
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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May 16, 2008 - 01:40pm PT
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Hi Anders
That goldline picture reminds me of the one climb I actually used goldline on. Might have been with your brother, I'm not sure. Being way too poor to afford two real (i.e. kernmantel) ropes, I bought some goldline to use as a second rope the first time I tried Uncle Ben's on the Chief. I dont remember all the details, but we spent most of the day fixing the first three pitches and then came down, leaving the good rope on p3, and planninge to rap from top of p2 to the starting ledge on the single goldline.
Ever tried a full-length overhanging rappel on goldline? You wind up spinning around so much you wish you'd brought a full rack of barf bags.
On second thought, since we spent a whole day getting up three pitches, it couldn't have been Peder. Must have been me and another gumby, because Peder actually knew what he was doing. (I did get on it once with him, but we got caught in a big rainstorm and bailed.)
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Topic Author's Reply - May 16, 2008 - 03:23pm PT
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My brother started climbing in 1976, by which time goldline ropes were pretty uncommon.
Does anyone know when Chouinard (SMC? Longware?) started to drill holes in bongs, to lighten them?
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Slakkey
Trad climber
From a Quiet Place by the Lake
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May 16, 2008 - 03:30pm PT
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Cool Stuff M.H. The 12 pack in the rope pic looks good too. Its only 91 Deg at the moment.
Wow a thread worth responding to.
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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May 16, 2008 - 03:32pm PT
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hammer looks like it made Viking steel
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scuffy b
climber
watching the flytrap
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May 16, 2008 - 05:00pm PT
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I haven't seen LONGware bongs with lightening holes, Anders.
Long made some sizes that Chouinard did not market.
I found some 5" LONGware bongs when I was a novice, and a more
experienced friend made me go back to that shop and buy all they
had.
I had always thought that the only 6" option was using something
like a 4" bong endwise.
The missing rivet? Maybe just a quality control oversight.
I also had never seen any LONGware aluminum bongs.
I think you just might be able to convince Ken to do something
with this trove.
Thanks, as always, for the esoterica.
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Chicken Skinner
Trad climber
Yosemite
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May 16, 2008 - 09:03pm PT
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Very cool Anders. Thank you, it will be a nice addition to the collection.
Ken
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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May 16, 2008 - 09:21pm PT
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By the time I got to nailing, the big Longware bongs were long gone, but wide cracks
were still wide. What we did was use a file to taper the front end of our Chouinard aluminum bongs,
so that if necessary they could be hammered lightly in endwise to fit a 6" crack. There would
be a loop of 1/2" or 9/16" webbing tied through the middle lightening holes too, as a
permanent tie-off that worked with the endwise placements.
I had several CMI bongs also, without lightening holes, that I chopped down from 6" to 5"
for those in-between sized cracks. Actually used them that way a fair number of times.
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L
climber
Ocean of dreams....
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May 16, 2008 - 09:34pm PT
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Yep, sure looks like haulin' kitchen appliances up the mountain face to me...:-)
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Topic Author's Reply - May 16, 2008 - 09:40pm PT
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L, All the better pirates have bongs, and of course wouldn't go anywhere without a fine bit of rope. :-)
Ken, will things donated for the museum be marked, so that there's a record of who donated them, and then when they're exhibited, people can see where they came from?
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Chicken Skinner
Trad climber
Yosemite
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May 16, 2008 - 09:51pm PT
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Anders, We have cataloging software and enter everything we receive. I like to acknowledge people whenever possible.
Ken
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Topic Author's Reply - May 17, 2008 - 02:55am PT
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I'd have thought for sure that those bongs would've elicited some comment from Russ, Ed H, Jaybro and all the other wide fetishists. Or are we to infer that their silence = stunned amazement?
Edit: Shameless self-bump. Surely Todd has a picture of a bong he can post, at least? He's been posting lots of others.
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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May 17, 2008 - 05:35am PT
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Jeeez DR, I always associated bongs and da kine more with santa cruz than yosemite.
When Kamps and I did the first ascent of the Left Side of the Hourglass in the early 60s, he used a masterful combination of Long bongs, placed back-to-back,edgewise, with a sling in center both for aid and protection on that wild first pitch. I can't begin to imagine how Haan led the roof and undercling free, years later.
Long was usually running his business out of his garage wherever he was living at the time. It was a small enterprise and sporadic since he was in medical school.
I remember one day when i was working at the Ski Hut in the warehouse. Steck, my boss at that time, brought Lional Terray out back to introduce him to the "boys". I can still visualize him standing there in his blue farmer-john coveralls, no shirt,with a bong in his hands and this wonderful french accent," So, cese are ce famous bong bongs? No?" Still makes me laugh.
cheers
guido
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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May 17, 2008 - 10:26am PT
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Okay, Anders! I swear I've seen 'em, somewhere, Wuz just letting the temporal sponge take it all in, before posting a comment. Still cogitating, frankly...
Doz some righteous bongs!
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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May 17, 2008 - 11:33am PT
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I don't have pictures, but the lucky day I got to climb
with Dave Rearick back in the seventies, he had some of
his chocks made from the wood of osage orange trees.
Fortunately he was leading, so I didn't have to worry
about falling on them--but if he was on the hot end,
I figure they must've been pretty good. Of course, he
was always in such control, I wonder if he ever fell?
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