Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
| Messages 1 - 63 of total 63 in this topic |
nvrws
climber
|
|
|
Topic Author's Original Post - Aug 4, 2006 - 05:36pm PT
|
I was hoping maybe Mr. Bachar could give us lowdown on the wheres and whens of these fine shoes. Seems to me I was in the valley in the early 80's when I saw him with a single pair of shoes and several of the SAR guys were trying them out on Columbia boulder. I've always wonder if that was the first time they were used in the valley.
|
|
Blitzo
Social climber
Earth
|
|
John Bachar testing the first pair of Fires on The Bead, Lower Cathedral Rock. 1982.
|
|
bachar
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
|
|
The Fire was cool, but these are like ice...
|
|
Lurking Fear
Trad climber
Bishop, California
|
|
John,
Do you think there will ever be as big an improvement as when we went from EBs to Fires? I know those spectres are way more comfortable, but I don't ever remember needing to buy a pair of shoes as much as when Fires came out. I still remember when my friend pulled his pair out of his pack. You could tell they were good by the way he was holding them. I had to have them.
Andrew
|
|
bachar
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
|
|
No. But maybe...Does it matter?
Today...before the storm. Yow! ,jb
|
|
Mimi
Trad climber
Seattle
|
|
Double wow!
|
|
Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
|
|
Yah,
then there were those "sticky rand" Fire models that the likes of Moffat and Lechlinski had...
|
|
bachar
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
|
|
nvrws - I got my first pair in the Fall of 1982 in Camp 4 from Miguel Angel Gallego. It wasn't 'till spring of '83 that me and Mike Graham started selling them in Yosemite Mountain Shop. I remember their first order was for 265 pairs and there was a line 75 yds. long in front of the Mountain Shop before it opened that day. They sold every last pair in about two hours!
|
|
maldaly
Trad climber
Boulder, CO
|
|
Those things were so popular and climbers were so in love with them. I'll never forget this story: Lisa Schassberger and I were climbing Hung Like a Horse in Veedauwoo in the early 80s, when a guy on the climb next to us decked from 50' up. We got our climb sorted out and ran over to help the guy. He was in bad shape--bleeding out of his mouth, eye sockets and ears. Something was FUBAR with one of his feet and he was in and out of conciousness. By the time the EMT's got there he couldn't even remember or say his name and things weren't looking good. The EMT's worked on his head and strapped him to a backboard then started looking at his foot. They cut of his pants with some bandage scissors and when they started to un-lace his Fires he yelled, "DON"T CUT MY FIREs!" It was the only lucid tung he had said in 90 minutes.
We loaded him into the litter, rigged the lowering system and about thirty minutes later began to ease him off the ledge to where the ambulance was waiting. The whole time he was in and out of conciousness, couldn't remember his name or where he was. As we began to lower him he again regained some composure, strained up with all his strength and shouted, "DON"T FORGET TO BRING MY FIREs".
Mike and John, good job on branding those things!
Mal
|
|
Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
|
|
LOL Malcom.
Gargoyle Dick Cilley and I were in San Diego on a road trip with Walling when Russ's generator started smoking.
We pulled over and the 'Gar's first order of biz was to extract himself from the smokin' van,
with nothing else in hand but his Fires.
|
|
aldude
climber
Monument Manor
|
|
Yo John, Maybe you could resize that outrageous Cottage Dome photo...make it BIG!!
|
|
nvrws
climber
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Aug 7, 2006 - 01:15pm PT
|
John,
Thanks for the info. I know I had to have a pair straight away. Something like 70-80 bucks at the time. Alot of money for me, just a few yrs past highschool etc. Sure made a difference in the fun factor though. I think I still have my orignals, metal grommets and no laces to the toes. Ahhh the memories. thanks.
|
|
Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
|
|
Similar story. A friend was climbing in the Gallatin Towers some time after Fires were available in Bozeman. He was leading on doubles, pulled a chunk of roof loose, and it knocked him off and sent him to the deck, cutting both ropes. Broke his back and ankle. The EMT's were getting ready to cut off his Fire shoe, and, he argued with them to not, but, they wouldn't listen so he leaned up with a broken back, unlaced it and took it off his busted foot himself.
Wish I still had my first pair...(sold at a gear swap many moon ago). Lead my first hard friction route in them, and, really seemed to bump me up a grade or two, at least in confidence.
-Brian in SLC
|
|
George Bell
Trad climber
Colorado
|
|
I remember buying my first pair and immediately driving to Indian Rock in Berkeley to try a boulder problem. I still couldn't do it! But a year later I could do it in sneakers. Moral of the story: the barrier exists only in your mind.
|
|
k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
|
|
When I was in England I bought 5 pairs of EBs, they were cheap there. A few months later Contacts came out, so I had my best fitting EBs resoled with the Contact rubber. Custom! My first day out with them we were over at the base of El Cap, monkeyin' around...
Next morning I realized I left my prized shoes up at El Cap...I ran up there, but they were gone. So me an' my buddy swapped the one pair of shoes we had, his new Fires. We went up on Shakey Flakes, sending the shoes down the trail line. I got the crux lead (then rated .11c) and floated it.
I never could wear any of those darned EBs again...
|
|
Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
|
|
I appreciate Malcom's statement to John Bachar and Mike Graham concerning the branding of the Fire.
But, those shoes really were a great advance.
I recall one day out on a bouldering circuit in Joshua Tree and just ticking off favorite boulder problems one by one, plus a bunch of new ones.
The coup de gras was approaching a short overhanging problem I'd never seen, which Todd Skinner and party had set up on top rope. I walked it (no rope).
It was the shoes.
No it was me.
Okay maybe it was the shoes.
|
|
Batrock
Trad climber
Burbank
|
|
I still have a few pair of the first generation Fires sitting on a shelf in the garage, just cant seem to throw them away.
Last month I bid on a pair of Fires on Ebay. They were still in the box and never used. I wanted them just for sentimental value. I think they sold for $30, I should have bought them, still kicking myself.
I replaced my oversized Chouinard Canyons that I had bought at Kelty in Glendale during there closing sale with a pair of Fires. I ran around Stoney like I owned the place. Still remember the smell of the rubber and leather as I pulled them out of the box.
|
|
healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
|
|
They're what I'm now climbing in while my blue Kauks are being resoled...
|
|
nvrws
climber
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Aug 7, 2006 - 07:25pm PT
|
Batrock. those Chouinard canyons were the most painful shoes I ever had on my feet. They were worse when ya had to wear em on opposite feet after the inside edge was worn. LOL
|
|
Batrock
Trad climber
Burbank
|
|
nvrws,
Tell me about it. Talk about narrow. I was probably 10 when I bought them. I had to talk my dad into driving me and my brother up to Williamson Rock to go climbing and try out my new shoes. I have a picture of myself in my Canyons at Williamson Rock holding my dads old Stubai rock hammer, still have the hammer.
|
|
F10 Climber F11 Drinker
Trad climber
e350
|
|
Fires were great,
However the Fire Cats were like Fires in a sports car with that lacing that went all the way to the toe
|
|
graham
Social climber
Ventura, California
|
|
JB, funny about the long line at the mountain shop. You probably remember this, the first several shipments were sold out before we even received them (We were bringing in a thousand at a time). News would get out we had some arriving and people would drive all the way to Ventura from all places and wait for us to open up. Sometimes there would be 10-20 guys there bright and early. Charles Cole was one of them several times. Tar, you came by with Leclinski a few times.
Isn’t there a new revolution in shoes going on at this moment?
|
|
E.C. Joe
climber
Lafayette
|
|
One of my climbing partners, Richard Leversee called one day and said, "You've GOT to buy a pair of these! They'll lower the grade of a route instantly." Not only was I skeptical I was short of $$, but I scraped it together. When I got them we were doing some new routes in Sequoia and I was still using my E.B.'s. So, I tried the new dogs on a repeat of one of the lines that we had just put up. After that I threw my E.B.'s away... (I had just bought them just before Lever called!).
|
|
Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
|
|
I'm still climbing in Fires, but they are getting old so I'll be buying some new sticky rubber shoes.
EDIT
E.C. Joe, yeah but when EBs came along they were a darn sight better than what there was (I started in RRs, great for aid, which was sort of the order of the day). I had my PAs resoled with EB rubber around 1975, thinking that they would be great for both smearing and edging, as PAs had a stiffer last. Sort of worked, but what would have worked better was if I was a better climber. ;-)
|
|
can't say
Social climber
Pasadena CA
|
|
It was pretty amazing the buzz that swept through the climbing community when John first started showing these things around the Valley. I was running a climbing/backpacking program at a rich kids camp over at Huntington lake with Mike Paul and Shawn Curtis and we would shoot over to the Valley whenever we could to climb, hang-out or what have you. So we were there when John cracked out the first public offering of them out of his rig. He warned us of a bit of strech so I bought mine a size smaller then I would normally do, something I would come to regret as they didn't strech all that much. But what was cool was that when we got back to Huntington Lake, the Watusi went wild with his artful eye and hand and we soon had some of the coolest lookin rigs in the climbing world, or so we thought. It was a great time to be a climber.
|
|
BASE104
climber
An Oil Field
|
|
Man,
When Fires came out it was a full blown revolution. On stuff that you had to edge on with EB's, you could smear with Fires.
I remember this one route that I couldn't sniff in EB's. Had one hard 5.11 dyno on it. There was this tiny dime edge that I could hike a foot up on, and I walked it in Fires and then soloed it. I couldn't use the little dime edge in EB's. There was this punji stick dead tree underneath it for extra viewing pleasure, so I secretly wired it first. I could nail it 3 out of 4 times or so in the Fires, and those were good enough odds for me, being young and stupid. Hence the solo. These were in the days when tube socks and painters pants were the mandatory uniform.
On stuff like that, they totally kicked ass.
edit: Sorry for the spray, but it is my example of how easy things got when Fires showed up. Just slip them on and you instantly became a better climber...sort of not really.
|
|
Jennie
Trad climber
Salt Lake
|
|
Not to go against the grain here, but I'm finding EB's are quite good on course granite. I picked up a hardly used pair for 8 dollars in a shop in Pocatello last week. I just tried them and I think they're pretty good. Maybe not as good as my Acopas or Mythos but still great. As they wear they leave a real coarse rubber that grips gritty granite superbly.
My dad left behind a footlocker full of unused rock shoes from the 1970's. When the sticky rubber came out he just stored the earlier shoes and climbed in the newer stickier models. But the old shoes (most of them unused) were way too big for me. But I was curious how the EB's worked so I bought these. They work great but might not be as hot on slicker rock (??) EB's have nice pointy toes. Those Fire's must have been awesome
|
|
Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
|
|
I measured the coefficient of static friction for a couple of different types of rock (sedimentary and igneous), four boots: RR's Chouinards, Fires and Kaukulators and a human hand (mine)... the results are interesting:
boot mu(sed), mu(ign)
RR, 0.76, 0.97
Chouinards, 0.80, 1.00
Fires, 0.86, 1.38
Kaukulators, 0.88, 1.22
hand, 0.60, 1.06
so the improvement in Fires over something like RR's is 13% for seditmentary type rock, but 42% for granite... does that correspond with reality?
The fact that the coefficient of static friction is larger than one may be worrisome, but actually reflects a more complex physical system then the simple friction model that the frictional forces are the normal force multiplied by the c-o-f... however, the results are interesting, and point to definite improvement in the boots.
|
|
Jennie
Trad climber
Salt Lake
|
|
That's very interesting Ed. I wonder where the EB would have fit in, there. I'm much less scientific but I set the EB's on both the slick and coarse side of masonite along with an new pair of PA's my dad left behind. Then I measured the incline at which they began to skid downward. The EB was noticably stickier on the coarse side but on the slick side they were fairly close (the EB won out slightly). But the test might not be that valid cause the PA's were new and may have presented a flatter surface with more friction.
My Mythos weren't any better than the EB in my little trial. But the Acopas did hold on at about ten degrees steeper than the EB's.
I sure like the pointed toe on the old EB's. However, I noticed a pair of EB's on Ebay that were tan colored that looked to have a much more rounded toe than the old blue and white model.
By the way, do you think old RR's or PA's in new condition would be worth anything on the collectors market? These are way to big for me. They've been stored in a footlocker since before I was born. He probably bought them in early 1970's.
|
|
Jennie
Trad climber
Salt Lake
|
|
Thanks Sewellymon. I think they're probably 11 1/2. possibly 12. My dad seems to have experimented with sizes from 10 1/2 to twelve. If Tarbuster is interested I'll dig them out of storage and look for the exact size. (I think the PA's are probably an 11 but I doubt if there's much demand for them nowdays if there's no collectors or museum demand). Thanks for the input.
|
|
Off White
climber
Tenino, WA
|
|
First generation, still in service on their 5th resole. Used them on Monday on a 7 pitch slab route in Darrington, they persist in being my most comfy all day shoes. I've used 'em on long routes in the mountains too, even strapped crampons to them. I originally traded Ray Olson some PNW wild fungus for these puppies down in JT when I forgot to pack my EB's on a road trip.
|
|
healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
|
|
Mine on Epinephrine in Nov. 2004...
|
|
graham
Social climber
Ventura, California
|
|
I would suspect EB’s are sporting some good rubber these days. Personally I liked the way they fit my foot.
Doug, I have stuff to trade…
|
|
k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
|
|
They've been stored in a footlocker since before I was born. He probably bought them in early 1970's.
Ugh, a blow below the belt...
|
|
Off White
climber
Tenino, WA
|
|
Joseph, that's a great pic of Epinephrine with the snow covered ledge!
Mike, will trade for prototypes, drop me a line. It rained here today, fall's a coming!
|
|
Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
|
|
|
Apr 10, 2007 - 02:28pm PT
|
I posted this on a thread I started but figure it is also appropriate here:
On Wednesday I broke down and finally bought a pair of Red Chili Spirits Impact for €67.50 (about $90 - the cheapest shoes Great Outdoors had) as my final pair of Fires are beginning to tire and I'd forgotten them at home and didn't want to make the side trip from the office to the home to the quarry. I'm not that impressed with them as I have been using them in Dalkey (very good granite there but the Red Chilis don't seem to smear all that well). They are suppose to be sticky rubber but I think my Fires smear better (and edge better).
These are my first pair of 'sticky rubber' shoes, as in 1983 I bought three pairs of Fires at a very good price at REI, (I think I recall it being REI), and I am finally wearing through the third pair (shows how much climbing I have done in the past 20 plus years).
Do these things need to be broken in before they are good for face, slab and smearing? Any suggestions on good shoes for the Meadows and Valley?
Weather has been good to gorgeous in the past 11 days here in Ireland and I have managed to get on the rock a good deal. I'll go after work this evening to Dalkey and see if these Red Chilis are any further to breaking in.
|
|
couchmaster
climber
|
|
|
Apr 10, 2007 - 02:42pm PT
|
Patrick, break them in AND resole with Evolve rubber at Yosemite Bum and they'll be the schizznitz.
I haven't tried the Acopas yet but want too.
__
Ditto what Off White says about the Epi pic.
|
|
G_Gnome
Boulder climber
Sick Midget Land
|
|
|
Apr 10, 2007 - 02:58pm PT
|
While I really loved Fires, I thought the Ninja was a bigger revolution in shoes. I remember my first pair of blue ones I got from John, they turned my feet blue every time I used them. After a while they came out in red which was a little less noticable color for feet. But they introduced the whole notion of slippers and revolutionized shoes for sport climbing.
The other shoe that really changed things was the La Sportiva Mariacher. I had to learn to edge all over again after wearing Fires for a few years. But I always thought Fires had a limit to how thin of edges you could stand on and the Mariachers changed all that.
|
|
Oli
Trad climber
Fruita, Colorado
|
|
|
Apr 10, 2007 - 06:09pm PT
|
I'll give you a little unimportant history. About two or slightly more years before Fire shoes came out, maybe 1980, or '79, I had the idea of designing a whole new shoe. I was bouldering pretty well, and my technique was good, but the shoes weren't that good. I had the idea for a new kind of rubber, and I knew it was out there somewhere and could be found and shaped and all, and it would be a thin sole, very thin, with hard but very frictionable rubber, so as to be able to exactly place the edge of the shoe on the tiniest of holds and yet be able to smear like glue if necessary. My grandmaster chess friend from Russia wanted to help me pull this off, but I had so many things going at once right then, some dire love affair, a million poems, songs, art things happening, I went dark and couldn't move for a time. I lost sight of that vision, but was about to ressurrect the idea when suddenly Fires were there, as though I had done my work on some psychic level, and others had run with it, and Fires had all of those frictional elements I had envisioned, although they didn't yet quite have the edging element I imagined could go with the friction... but close enough to be the best shoe to come along.
Pat
|
|
Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder
|
|
|
Apr 10, 2007 - 06:27pm PT
|
another totally awesome thread.
All I can add is from the perspective of being one of the first US retailers of the Fire rock shoe and what a fun time it was having those things in my inventory.
I recall being totally pleased and a little surprised that I got opened as a dealer, selling from my truck out at JTree.
I sold the bejesus out of 'em! ...laughing...
It was also obvious that - as a discounter - my days selling Fire's was probably limited. As the product caught on So Cal dealers started to beef about the guy at Joshua tree selling Fire's for less...laughing...
It was no surprise when the end came and of course I completely understood the reason. It was fun while it lasted. I recall the letter I got being really polite and (I'm pretty sure) we wrote back and said "no problem".
Ha, I remember shutting down Rick Piggot with 'em out at Deerhorn while he was still in EB's! He bought Fire's pretty quick after that.
Many thanks.
|
|
Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder
|
|
|
Apr 10, 2007 - 06:45pm PT
|
RE:
Off White
"I originally traded Ray Olson some PNW wild fungus for these puppies down in JT when I forgot to pack my EB's on a road trip."
Oh man you still have those dude! I lit up half of hidden valley campground with that fungus - funny man! Dimitri, The Kid, Watusi man we were ALL well fueled for a while. Oh my god.
|
|
Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder
|
|
|
Apr 10, 2007 - 06:55pm PT
|
so, one day I'm in Hidden Valley campground with one pair of Fire's left. I walk over by intersection rock and just sorta stand there a while. A small white car pulls up with four guys inside. I walk up, go "hey, anybody need some Fire's?"
Guy inside goes "what size?"
I say, "dude, eight and a half"
Whole car breaks out laughing...comments like "unreal" were heard.
These guys had driven out from somewhere back east man, and they'd tried every shop on the way to JTree looking for size eight and a half.
Guy gets out, I hand 'em the shoes, wham bam cash in hand I had money for another week.
That happened twice selling Fire's.
|
|
WBraun
climber
|
|
|
Apr 10, 2007 - 07:08pm PT
|
I can't wait to get some Fires. When are coming out? I hear two cats named Bachar and Grahmicii are going to be selling them.
|
|
G_Gnome
Trad climber
Knob Central
|
|
|
Apr 10, 2007 - 07:16pm PT
|
Is Werner having past life experiences again?
|
|
Chaz
Trad climber
So. Cal.
|
|
|
Apr 10, 2007 - 07:18pm PT
|
How many people have had hummingbirds buzz the red laces while hanging out on a belay?
|
|
scuffy b
climber
The town that Nature forgot to hate
|
|
|
Apr 10, 2007 - 07:31pm PT
|
Here’s a bit more of the “what if..” inspired by Oli (Hey, Welcome Back).
I was resoling in the 70s. Inspired by Bruce Cooke, I was trying a lot of different material. I’m sure Bruce
Was the first guy to use unusual soles on climbing shoes. He was using Nitrene, the green dot Neoprene,
Chemigum, a black work shoe Neoprene and others.
I really dug Nitrene and put that on a lot of shoes, also the green Neoprene. One of the cute things about
The work shoe soles is that they are loaded with slogans, e.g. non-marking, oil resistant, long wearing.
I put EB soles on Kronies, I even put All-Star soles on my Directissimas. I had seen a blown tire which
Seemed promising.
So, in 1977, I was touring the pits at the Long Beach Formula One race and looked at some mounted tires.
I poked my fingernail into a (very sticky) tire and saw that the mark didn’t just disappear (spring back).
I thought it would be just too OOZY and not hold its integrity. IDIOT, FOOL, IGNORAMUS!!!!!!!!
Yeah, I know that the Gallegos or whoever it was used airplane tires, not racing car tires, but the key
Is that they used high hysterisis (LOW BOUNCE) rubber. Much better interlock with the texture of the rock.
Why wasn’t I out there on Formula One sticky rubber five years ahead of everybody else?
I’ll be the first to say that I never would have been able to run with it and turn out a real product. But still…
|
|
Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
|
|
|
Apr 10, 2007 - 08:16pm PT
|
Tried my brand-new Fires out for the first time on Future Shock, Whitehorse Ledge. Yow, what a difference they made! If you picked one pitch as your demo for selling sticky shoes, that would be a fine one to choose.
|
|
Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder
|
|
|
Apr 10, 2007 - 08:28pm PT
|
Yeah Chiloe,
there was this glass smooth slab out at Deerhorn in SD, it had three bolts and I rated it 10A. In Fire's we all soloed it - like 5.6 apron smooth granite.
|
|
the museum
Trad climber
Rapid City, SD
|
|
|
Apr 10, 2007 - 09:50pm PT
|
I just figured out why Frank calls me the museum.
|
|
diablo
Trad climber
sd,ca
|
|
|
Apr 10, 2007 - 11:38pm PT
|
Nothing but positive praise to the Fire Engineers.
Thank God that I had a Bro like Raydog to give me the up on the shhheeet that was on the down for rubber.
I remember the orgasmic experience of first time smear edge combo , the toe into 1.5" crack and joy of "relaxing" at the belay( with shoes on)
Sweet, super sweet.....
|
|
ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
bouldering
|
|
|
Dec 25, 2012 - 03:17pm PT
|
(Blitzo)
John Bachar testing the first pair of Fires on The Bead, Lower Cathedral Rock. 1982.
|
|
slabbo
Trad climber
fort garland, colo
|
|
|
Dec 26, 2012 - 11:04am PT
|
Chiloe- Future Shack sure got a lot easier ? It was pretty smooth in EB's and kinda easy in the new rubber.. half grade easier ?
"Older" friends have told me that when EB's came out, they were pretty revolutionary as well.. SO much better than Pa' and such.
|
|
martygarrison
Trad climber
Washington DC
|
|
|
Dec 26, 2012 - 03:29pm PT
|
First weekend I got my hands on these things I went up and led Bircheff-Williams. Yowza, what a difference. More advancement than PA-EB's and even Fire's to Stealth I think.
|
|
JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
|
|
|
Dec 26, 2012 - 04:05pm PT
|
One of my climbing partners, Richard Leversee called one day and said, "You've GOT to buy a pair of these! They'll lower the grade of a route instantly."
It's funny, but I felt the same way about Fires, but also about PA's and, particularly, EB's. We used to call them EB Super Cheaters, because Apron climbing seemed so much more secure in them.
Like Scuffy, I was inspired by Bruce Cooke to experiment with different sole materials. I had one of my favorite pairs of PA's (I went through several) re-soled with a neoprene compound, and they could smear like crazy, and still hold a decent edge, although not as good as a "standard" PA. I thought I was onto something until I used them on Bircheff-Williams in 1973, and basically wore out the soles before I got to the "U-Shaped Bowl." I wish I could say that's why I didn't lead it free, but the real reason was fear and sloth.
Anyway, I still use my Fires for long climbs -- particularly with OW's -- but sold out to modern technology. I had them re-soled with C4.
John
|
|
rockermike
Trad climber
Berkeley
|
|
|
Dec 26, 2012 - 04:15pm PT
|
I was kind of out of the climbing scene when Fires showed up (though climbing in Spain in 1980 I saw some). But I remember when the first batch of EBs showed up in Portland in maybe 1972? (a friend of mine worked at the Alpine Hut, which wasn't much of a climbing store - but he fenangled the owner into special ordering a bunch.). Game changer completely. I think even more than Fires.
|
|
slabbo
Trad climber
fort garland, colo
|
|
|
Dec 26, 2012 - 04:46pm PT
|
The original Fires were via the Gallego brothers ?? Spain. At least as I remember.
Anybody remember galibier Contacts ???? Now there's a painful shoe
|
|
mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
|
|
|
Dec 26, 2012 - 09:03pm PT
|
The Galibier RR, the Robbins Boots, were granted the title "God Boots" by Larry Horton at TNF on Telegraph. He had graduated from kletters and gave me a pair. I liked them for free, of course, but preferred the Brown Shoe, the Rene Desmaison, as it had better friction qualities PLUS a stiff enough shank for using in slings.
THEN the EBs came and upped our talent. THEN the Fires came and did the same. I like the way Fires fit my feet, but they are misery in aid slings, they are just too narrow in the arch and shank, but they aren't designed for standing in slings, essentially, so I just suffer if that's called for.
|
|
scuffy b
climber
heading slowly NNW
|
|
|
Dec 27, 2012 - 11:46am PT
|
I see some surprising dates posted for when EBs "came out."
When I bought my first climbing shoes in August 1971, I had a choice
between PAs at $20, EBs at $25 or RRs (Robbins Boots, not the later EB-like
thing) at $30.
This was at Mountain Traders in Berkeley.
|
|
Alpamayo
Trad climber
Chapel Hill, NC
|
|
|
Dec 27, 2012 - 12:09pm PT
|
I was trying to figure out what was my first pair of climbing shoes...I got them sometime in the mid-80's on a trip to Eldorado. I don't think they were any model of Fire's but they had the double lacing system similar to the Merrel Flashdance, with the second pair of laces going up and around the ankle. They were black and yellow high tops (one black lace and one yellow lace too) and for the life of me I have never been able to figure out what they were...any ideas?
|
|
JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
|
|
|
Dec 27, 2012 - 02:42pm PT
|
The first mention I remember of EB's was in a Dolt ad in Summit in the late 1960's. Bill was selling them along with the "Golden Greenie" klettershoes.
In 1971 I got a pair of Bill Dolt Blue Boots, also from Mountain Traders in Berkeley. My roommate, Dan Smith, got a pair of EB's at the same time. The Blue Boots' sole seemed similar to those of EB's, but Chris Vandever thought they were the same as the Gollies sold in Britain by Ellis Brigham. I think Chuck Pratt had a pair of old PA's for sale a Mountain Traders around then (ca. 1971) that looked an awful lot like EB's because they were blue and grey, rather than the red and black of my many pairs of PA's.
John
|
|
TrundleBum
Trad climber
Las Vegas
|
|
|
Dec 27, 2012 - 03:40pm PT
|
I still have the pair that I bought from J.B while in Sunnyside during the early 80's ;)
|
|
bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
|
|
|
Dec 27, 2012 - 05:19pm PT
|
RE:
Off White
"I originally traded Ray Olson some PNW wild fungus for these puppies down in JT when I forgot to pack my EB's on a road trip."
Oh man you still have those dude! I lit up half of hidden valley campground with that fungus - funny man! Dimitri, The Kid, Watusi man we were ALL well fueled for a while. Oh my god.
Living in Olympia had it's benefits. One Thanksging the ex and I showed up in Josh with no rope, no gear, nothing. We did, however, have a 20 lb garbage bag of dried product harvested in one extraordinarily bountiful afternoon in Bellingham. We were kitted out for an El Cap route in less than 24 hours. Hidden Valley was an awfully warped place for the next couple of weeks. Go figure.
|
|
slabbo
Trad climber
fort garland, colo
|
|
|
Dec 27, 2012 - 06:38pm PT
|
Warb- i think you are off by a bit JB had Fires in Josh for the winter of 82/83
I got a pair the same time Todd Skinner got them.. maybe feb/83 ?? Moffat was aaround the same time
|
|
| Messages 1 - 63 of total 63 in this topic |
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!