rollingstone
Trad climber
Seattle
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Nov 10, 2011 - 05:53pm PT
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Great memories, Fritz. I remember buying my first pair of Galibier Makalu boots from Bruce Franks, probably my sophomore year at WSU...fall of 1972 or so. I don't think you had purchased NWMSports yet. It was also around that time that some of us got the idea to have RR come to Pullman to give a slide show. I remember nervously dialing his number in Modesto, and being almost unable to speak when RR answered the phone. I was so young and naive back then, but I sure did not think of Royal as any ordinary human. Man, this was RR I was speaking with!! I stammered something about him doing a slide show in Pullman, and he graciously replied that he would certainly come to WSU to give slide show about various Yosemite/Alps first ascents. When I asked how much he charged, I was shocked to hear that his normal fee was $200.00, plus expenses, if memory serves me right. Younger readers should know this was 2/3 the amount of a semester's tuition; I just could not see where we would ever get that much money, so I mumbled something about having our club vote on it, and politely hung up. I never had the nerve to call back. I can laugh about it now. I do remember the great slide show that John Cleare gave, and the fine photo he took of Mike Nelson bouldering at Granite Point that graced the cover of our club climbing magazine. I still have those issues buried somewhere in the basement. Thanks for the great memories.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 10, 2011 - 06:16pm PT
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Crunch,
HaHaHa! Man, those things were nigh unto worthless! I only threw my last
one away a few years ago. I was thinking some museum of bad design might
want one. They did look really good in the display case though.
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Spider Savage
Mountain climber
The shaggy fringe of Los Angeles
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Nov 10, 2011 - 08:47pm PT
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RollingStone, I was at that RR slide show in Moscow, along with my brother & a friend. I was 14 and just getting into the sport. Fritz had just started NWMS. It was still on N. Main St. behind the A&W drive-in.
Thanks for making that call.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jan 29, 2012 - 05:37pm PT
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More worms for 2012...
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T Hocking
Trad climber
Redding, Ca
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Dec 21, 2012 - 07:37am PT
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Historic gear bump for Fritz and the rest of us geezers.
Wish I would have kept my Robbins boots and shoes.
Still have my early 70's Salewa crampons, Chouinard piolet and alpine hammer, 1st generation Hexes and Stoppers.
Tad
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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
Panorama City, California & living in Seattle
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Dec 21, 2012 - 04:49pm PT
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Peck Plastic Nuts/chocks - anyone have any or seen them? When I worked at Mountain Life in Los Gatos about 1971 we recieved a shipment of black plastic chocks from Robbins. I immediately blasted and shattered them all with a hammer and sent them back, to Royal's consternation. Then one day in Yosemite at the base of El Cap at the base of the Salathe there was Royal wanting to borrow some jumars. I don't think he actually knew who I was, since we'd never met face to face, but I told him he could borrow my jumars if he took those black plastic chocks off the market! I really had it in for those things and never even used them. It just seemed obvious they were way too brittle the way people pounded on stuff. They were not soft like the blue Forrest chock.
Anyway, I was a bit brash the way I approached the whole thing considering how much I admired Royal's writing and climbing, but I was a young punk - what can I say!
By the way, I was a Blue Boot lover too. They were so awesome after all the other boots we used back then - it took me a while to move on. My latest blue shoes are Evolvs!
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Fritz
Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 21, 2012 - 08:33pm PT
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T Hocking & McHales Navy! Thanks for posting.
I don’t have memories of the Robbins black-plastic Peck Nuts.
I do have a grudge about the blue-plastic Forest Nuts, from a 1973 fall on a new route on the South-side of Harrison Peak in Idaho's Selkirk Range.
Just off a ledge, I didn't feel comfortable with trying a harder move free, so I slotted a big blue-plastic Forest stopper in the hand-crack, clipped in a sling, stepped-up, and started fishing for a good jam above it.
Suddenly! The Forest nut popped, and I flew down and out for a 10’-15' fall into space. The elastic rope bounced me back onto the ledge I had barely missed landing on “back-first”, with no damage to me.
I remember exclaiming: “ WOW! Glad I missed hitting this ledge.” (We are so clueless in our 20’s.)
Of course I led the crack again, then freed it on a later trip. Never wrote the route up, due to Idaho ethics.
The plastic chock had a "gouge-mark" from top to bottom, where my body weight had ripped a big feldspar crystal through it.
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T Hocking
Trad climber
Redding, Ca
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Dec 21, 2012 - 08:44pm PT
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Never had any plastic nuts, sounds too sketchy to me.
Bet they didn't last long on the market, what were they thinking?
Did they ever do tests on them?
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Dec 21, 2012 - 08:46pm PT
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Damn....i wish i still had my Micky Mantle rookie card.
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Todd Eastman
climber
Bellingham, WA
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Dec 21, 2012 - 09:01pm PT
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Remember when a hammer always made a nut placement a little better?
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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
Panorama City, California & living in Seattle
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Dec 21, 2012 - 09:11pm PT
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Of course I led the crack again, then freed it on a later trip. Never wrote the route up, due to Idaho ethics.
Fritz, tell us about the no reporting thing? That must have come from what Robinson started that I have asked about in other threads. I lived in Boise at that time and don't recall anyone saying anything like that. They did not want Californians Californicating Idaho though. Idahoans did not want anyone messing with their 3rd world status. There was some kind of no chaulk ethic getting started at the local quarry - I straightened them out pretty fast - Californian that I was!
Did they ever do tests on them?
I seriously doubt it. I'll bet me taking a hammer to those stupid things was the first and last test.
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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
Panorama City, California & living in Seattle
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Dec 21, 2012 - 09:32pm PT
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Fritz, you don't have memories of Peck plastic chocks cause I single handedly stopped them in their tracks before I moved to Idaho.
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Fritz
Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 21, 2012 - 09:39pm PT
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McHale: Happy Solstice!
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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
Panorama City, California & living in Seattle
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Dec 21, 2012 - 09:41pm PT
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Same to you! I like that big fire!
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Dec 21, 2012 - 11:29pm PT
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I bet my old bamboo Coonyard piolet is still seeing good usage by some appreciative Rooskie.
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TMJesse
Mountain climber
Olympia, WA
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Dec 22, 2012 - 12:21pm PT
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A Galibier bump from the 1976 Ski Hut catalog.
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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Dec 22, 2012 - 01:54pm PT
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Brings back 70's alpine climbing memories seeing a Wonder light ad. The wonder always was "I wonder if it has turned on inside my pack again and drained the batteries?"
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