Discussion Topic |
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| Messages 1 - 52 of total 52 in this topic |
Acer
Big Wall climber
AZ
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Topic Author's Original Post - Dec 28, 2010 - 03:43am PT
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Looking for info on the Wild Country 1/2 Friends
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
climber
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Dec 28, 2010 - 04:44am PT
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The one on the left looks a bit sketch.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Dec 28, 2010 - 08:11am PT
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Never saw one before. Was that a prototype that never made it out of england,commercially?
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Gunkie
Trad climber
East Coast US
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Dec 28, 2010 - 09:51am PT
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1/2 Friend protects certain Gunks routes quite nicely. I know that it works great on Disney Point in the Near Trapps. The 1/2 Friend I have is some Russian copy which would probably fail under a stiff breeze anyway. Fortunately, I've never fallen on it.
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Rokrover
Trad climber
SB, CA
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Dec 28, 2010 - 10:05am PT
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Had one like the the lefty above. Titanium stem as I recall.
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FRUMY
Trad climber
SHERMAN OAKS,CA
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Dec 28, 2010 - 11:00am PT
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california special made in the early 80's
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groundup
Trad climber
hard sayin' not knowin'
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Dec 28, 2010 - 01:18pm PT
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DMT- classic! easy come easy go indeed.
I seem to recall cams like the one above would pivot on the stem right where it got bigger. You had to place it so shallow that the stem would likely break if you fell on it.
There's one of them fixed on a climb at Seneca Rocks, somewhere over by "climb and punishment"
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Seamstress
Trad climber
Yacolt, WA
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Dec 28, 2010 - 01:21pm PT
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My husband removed one after 45 minutes of work and promptly threw it into the woods. Stuckkkkkk and love to get stuck.
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Happy Idiot
Trad climber
Santa Fe
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Dec 28, 2010 - 09:31pm PT
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Huh. I have two of them, just like in the OP's pix. (Not on purpose; they came with bulk-purchases of other peoples' used racks).
Never placed them; they look obviously sketch to begin with. They sit on the "Shelf of Misfit Gear."
I had always assumed the stems were Al. Now that I compare them to the stems on my other Friends of similar vintage, the metal's color and patina is indeed different, so maybe they are Ti?....
Please tell me they're rare and valuable??
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FRUMY
Trad climber
SHERMAN OAKS,CA
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Dec 28, 2010 - 09:38pm PT
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I used that home made cam for over ten years never stuck it, never walked out of anything. like all things if you use them when they should be & not when they should not be used.
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ontheedgeandscaredtodeath
Trad climber
San Francisco, Ca
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Dec 28, 2010 - 09:40pm PT
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A long term partner has a rigid one that size, though it is not WC- it's stamped "Made in Mexico." Seriously. We always joked about it but used it all the time!
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groundup
Trad climber
hard sayin' not knowin'
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Dec 28, 2010 - 09:44pm PT
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Frumy-
That thing was homemade? nice! Some company made similar looking stems for their units. Anyone know who? I had 3 of them, all smaller sizes, and they were notorious among my regular climbing partners. Hard to get use to I guess.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Dec 29, 2010 - 12:01am PT
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The Wild Country 1/2 Friend had a titanium shaft and came out in 1986.
There were thin and thick shaft versions.
See Stephane's post on the last page of this thread:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/809995/Two-Walt-Shipley-made-cams-on-ebay
which also describes other similar small devices made by Rob Oravetz and HB.
[Edit to add:] Marty, the 1986 date and thin/thick is quoting from Stephane's post - I don't have an independent source on that.
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martygarrison
Trad climber
Washington DC
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Dec 29, 2010 - 12:31am PT
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Clint you sure about the 86 date? I thought I got one in the uk in 79 or 80? May be wrong but seems I had one well before 86.
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illusiondweller
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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Dec 29, 2010 - 12:35am PT
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Remember "Korean Friends"?
I owned a couple.
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mucci
Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
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Dec 29, 2010 - 12:45am PT
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Of Note:
The original prototypes made by Ray and given to friends all had a small diameter trigger bar.
That and most were enscribed with initials and or a name of the owner.
The OP's pic shows the small trigger bar on the left cam.
Was that a coincidence? Did WC copy the original design?
Mucci
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martygarrison
Trad climber
Washington DC
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Dec 29, 2010 - 01:03am PT
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I had the titanium stem one
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Dec 29, 2010 - 01:52pm PT
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The thin retractor bars were in production for at least a couple of years under WC and were abandoned about the time that the larger half sizes showed up.
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nutstory
climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France.
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Dec 30, 2010 - 08:49am PT
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Clint: here is what I believe to be the first advertisement for the Wild Country ½ Friend. The first of the two that were marketed in 1986 is the one with the thick titanium stem. The one with the thin stem came later. In 1987, Wild Country marketed the Technical Friends in size #0, #½, #1 and #1½
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Dec 30, 2010 - 12:29pm PT
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So, these half size rigid stem Friends were in production for 2-3 years only before the Tech Friends replaced them?
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nutstory
climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France.
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Dec 30, 2010 - 01:11pm PT
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No Steve, these half size rigid stem Friends were in production for just one year, from 1986 to... 1986.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Dec 30, 2010 - 01:37pm PT
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Stephane,
Nice work on finding the ad.
The upper one in your photo is inscribed SIMOND.
Simond made very close versions of regular sized Friends also.
Maybe they licensed the patents from Wild Country, but modified the stem size for the 1/2 size?
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Dec 30, 2010 - 01:53pm PT
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I am surprised that they went to that kind of trouble and expense for what seems to be only two distinct runs. I wonder if they had breakage problems with the titanium stems?
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nutstory
climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France.
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Dec 31, 2010 - 03:14am PT
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Clint: I guessed that, when I posted the photograph of the ½ Friends, someone would ask about Simond. No Clint, Simond did never produce Friends. In fact, Simond is one of the most famous French manufacturers of climbing equipment, based in Chamonix, and they were the French distributor for Wild Country. That is the reasons why all the Friends bought in France were stamped “SIMOND” on one side of the stem.
Here is a page extracted from an old Simond catalog. You may notice that the Friends shown here are original ones, with circlips at the axle ends. It is not that easy to find such a photograph as this version was just marketed for a few weeks.
Steve: When I met Hugh Banner in 1996, if I remember well, he told me that the first generation ½ Friend was very costly to produce, so Wild Country marketed a second generation that, unfortunately, had a more “fragile” stem.
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nutstory
climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France.
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Dec 31, 2010 - 05:22am PT
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Here they are:
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froodish
Social climber
Portland, Oregon
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Dec 31, 2010 - 10:48am PT
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I believe that the first half size friends were made by Malcolm Matheson from Oz. Mid 80's? Some where ti and some were alloy.
Yep, I brought one of HB's 1/2 size Ti "Friends" back from a trip to Arapiles in I think '85.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Dec 31, 2010 - 02:33pm PT
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Stephane- Do you actually mean "circlips" on the original Patent Pending Friends or the flat nuts?
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nutstory
climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France.
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Watusi
Social climber
Newport, OR
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Yes, bought my first 1/2 sized friends, (pre wired bliss,) from both Rob Oravetz and "Horshum Bruce," Malcolm Matheson, in the Valley 84-85 to take back to Josh with me. Used 'em on my first lead of Equinox... :)
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Thanks Stephane!
Any idea how many were produced with the circlips?
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nutstory
climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France.
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No Steve, I don't know but they were recalled that it the reason why they are so rare.
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Hey, is this one?
Its still getting used!
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nutstory
climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France.
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None of the early rigid “friends”, 1/2” and 3/4”, in my collection has an aluminium alloy shaft with the upper part nicely machined with such a reduced thickness. It would be a great privilege to enhance the Nuts Museum with samples of these magnificent little cams made by Dave Altman, Rob Oravetz and Eben Stromquist. Would there be anybody out there on supertopo that would be willing to part with such a gem…?
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FTOR
Sport climber
CA
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I know I keep promising to dig through some long ago stashed boxes and get a set of these for your collection. These were probably the first quality 3/4 and 1/2 made for resale. Other 'homemades' were out there but none matched ours. And yes I knew HB from Aus back then. We talked shop on our processes, he was hand filing his cams... a true garage shop approach, not the most accurate means of holding the shape that is critical for them to hold properly. I was working in eben's shop and was cutting everything from patterns using the same alloys or better than true friends. But it was more a labor of love than a real money making enterprise, it supported a couple of seasons of being a climbing bum. I was also making and climbing with the first large friends that i know of, 5-7. Those would be truly rare now, in fact other than a couple i still have somewhere i wouldn't know where any of these wound up.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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FTOR---Dig brother, dig! Sounds like you have some rarities for show and tell!
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rurprider
Trad climber
Mt. Rubidoux
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Acer- Rokover & Cosmiccragsman are right on. The cam on the left has a titanium stem. They came out a few years after the originals. I have two hanging in my closet.
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nutstory
climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France.
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FTOR: thank you very much for keeping my request in mind. Your high-tech little cams truly would find a good home here in Corsica.
One of your #6 enjoys a happy retirement in its special niche at the Nuts Museum...
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Clint, you always have the answer! Cool to know, thank you.
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nutstory
climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France
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Ken
Trad climber
Arroyo Grande
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Bachar was selling 3/4" and 1/2" in the early '80s, and I thought he was making them too by grinding down WC 1". They were like double the price (maybe $75 instead of $45).
Only thing available but a little sketchy, then the Wired Bliss TCU's showed up.
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vininja
Social climber
NJ
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Dec 27, 2012 - 05:09pm PT
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Glad I looked up the cool threads on ST.
I found a 1/2 friend. Looks like it is the thicker stem version.
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Roots
Mountain climber
Tustin, CA
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Jun 29, 2015 - 11:28am PT
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Anyone know when the Friend size of 2 1/2 size was made that had flat machine nuts AND included the patent stamp?
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Roots
Mountain climber
Tustin, CA
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Jul 22, 2015 - 03:41pm PT
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^need to know bump!
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jonnyrig
climber
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Jul 22, 2015 - 03:56pm PT
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Hope you find your answer. Interesting bump though, as I have two 1/2 size friends hanging on a sling at home. Knot selling those; but now I've gotta go compare them to this thread to see exactly what they are. Selling a mess of other rigid stem friends on Ebay though, of various production type. Flat nuts, round nuts. People think I'm nuts for climbing on them. Oh well.
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Roots
Mountain climber
Tustin, CA
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Jul 23, 2015 - 10:34am PT
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Thanks johnny.
Nuts to climb on these oldies? Plenty of people still doing it, but hopefully yours have been reslung by now : )
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Roots
Mountain climber
Tustin, CA
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Jul 24, 2015 - 08:00am PT
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The Wild Country half size Friends came onto the market in 1981. The 1½ and
> the 2½ hit the American market in May/June 1981.
-Stephane
Not the dates I was hoping for but at least it cleared something up. Thank you!
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jonnyrig
climber
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Jul 28, 2015 - 08:45am PT
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Relatively early version? Titanium stem?
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chelsey870
Trad climber
Philadelphia
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I know that I am coming into this post waaaayyyy late, even years late. But I picked up a Micro 1/2 rigid like the one being discussed earlier. Who is Walt in comparison to Rob? Did they work together?
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