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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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WOW Marty, I just viewed your final display! What an incredible effort, thanks for all the energy and time dedicated to this portrait of history.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Climbed on Glenwood Falls with those Charlet Moser screws back in '76. And hell, I was just following and still thought they were sketchy and scary as hell. The same year I took a thirty footer onto a #2 Crack 'N Up free climbing in Eldo and would rather take those dives all day than risk a single fall onto one of those Charlet Moser screws.
Marty, real nice exhibit work.
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Jeff Thomas
Trad climber
Milwaukie, Oregon
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Marty
Below are three Chouinard advertisements from 1970 issues of Summit Magazine that will help you narrow down the time when the 1970 Chouinard catalog was publically available. Note that the 1970 catalog is a foldout brochure and could be more accurately described as a supplement.
The Jan 1970 advertisement states "send for catalog." This ad could be referring to the earlier 1968/1969 catalog and is therefore not definitive.
The April 1970 Summit advertisement is more to the point in that it describes gear "new in '70" including the Chouinard ice axe, and also displays the photo that is on the front cover of the foldout brochure. This exact ad repeats in the June 1970 Summit on page 32.
The May 1970 Summit Advertisement specifically mentions a "new catalog supplement." This exact ad repeats in the July/August 1970 Summit on page 35.
Seems as if you could safely state in your history that the 1970 foldout brochure was available by May if not April.
JT
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Jeff Thomas
Trad climber
Milwaukie, Oregon
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Marty;
Like you I have been uncertain as to when the Chouinard catalog with the photo of the ice climber on the front cover was first published.
However yesterday John McCormick of Beaverton, Oregon pointed out the photo of Fitz Roy on page 29 of the catalog. (John hosted Yvon Chouinard in Portland in 1970 at the Mazama Annual Banquet when Yvon presented the Fitzroy film. John was therefore attuned to the date of the climb and the date of the photo.)
The photo caption is short “Cerro Torre from SW Ridge of Fitzroy” and the photo credit in back of the catalog is also short, simply stating “C. Jones.” However the same photo on page 29 of the catalog also appeared as “plate 2” in the 1969 American Alpine Club Journal immediately following the lead article on the third ascent of Fitz Roy by Doug Tompkins.
The caption in the Journal reads, “Within ten meters of the summit of Fitz Roy… Photo by Christopher A.G. Jones.” The AAJ account states that Yvon Chouinard, Rafael Tejada-Flores, Richard Dorworth, Christopher A.G. Jones and Douglas R. Tompkins reached the summit of Fitz Roy on Dec. 20, 1968 and were still carrying 100-pound packs out to their van on Christmas day.
Since the party was still packing out on December 25, the Chris Jones photo likely did not arrive back in California until 1969, and therefore the catalog could not have been published until 1969.
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karabin museum
Trad climber
phoenix, az
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 17, 2015 - 07:17am PT
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A few older Chouinard gems showed up recently on ebay. Not in the best condition but up for auction.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jan 17, 2015 - 03:26pm PT
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The knifeblade is definitely Longware by the orange paint and I informed the seller of that detail and it didn't make his listing. The darker background photo in the listing is much better.
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Mark Force
Trad climber
Cave Creek, AZ
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Jan 17, 2015 - 07:32pm PT
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A 1969 Chouinard Catalog just sold for $222.50 on eBay.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jan 17, 2015 - 08:18pm PT
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Same seller.
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Farley
Mountain climber
Portland, Oregon
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Jan 18, 2015 - 05:47pm PT
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Marty -
As promised by Jeff Thomas, here is a picture showing a number of hand-forged Chouinard "Lost Arrow" type pitons from the late 1950s. Acquired from a prominent Valley climb who will remain nameless; unquestionably 1958 or 1959. Note the diamond C stamping which seals the deal.
[photoid=394950]
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karabin museum
Trad climber
phoenix, az
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 19, 2015 - 07:23am PT
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Farley / .....Jeff,
Thanks for posting pictures of the first Chouinard pitons. So beautiful! This is proof that Yvon had a “C” stamp when he first started creating pitons. However attention to stamping everything took a few years practice to perfect. Very nice wide diamond shape stamp and large C.
The ebay Knife Blade looks pretty close to a Chouinard. My guess is that all ebay items from that seller was from 1961. The deeper cutout shape near the eye on the ebay KB looks like the cutout shape for the 1961 Bugaboos. All of the LONGware pitons I have are unpainted which shows that the paint could have been aded by the enduser.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jan 19, 2015 - 09:59am PT
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Dick Long used orange paint on his gear sometimes that matches that on the KB in question.
I agree that your photo is a match so this must have been a Chouinard KB possibly owned by Long but not made by him.
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Roots
Mountain climber
Tustin, CA
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Jan 19, 2015 - 11:03am PT
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Spoke with the seller and this stuff (assuming all of it) was owned by Steve Komito. He said Steve was not a big name climber but the super stars frequently lived at his house. So maybe it was owned by Long...
Expensive bids!!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jan 19, 2015 - 11:34am PT
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I just interviewed Komito last year and I uncharacteristically didn't ask him about his gear...Rats!
I am glad that his items fetched a handsome price, as they should.
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Scrubber
climber
Straight outta Squampton
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Jan 20, 2015 - 11:52am PT
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Found a near minty pair of Canyons today! They still have the little gold size sticker on the insole. Was there ever a definite determination if these were sold for longer than just 1980?
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Jeff Thomas
Trad climber
Milwaukie, Oregon
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Jan 20, 2015 - 05:14pm PT
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Marty
Photo shows a four inch 1960 Chouinard alloy sheet steel bong with the diamond C stamp but no USA. As you stated in your e-mail this morning this site now shows proof for a 2.5, 3, and 4 inch 1960 alloy sheet steel bong. Maybe someone out there has a 2 inch size?
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Fritz
Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Jan 20, 2015 - 07:22pm PT
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Jeff: Thank you for your posts on Marty's great thread. You are all doing good work in gear history!
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scuffy b
climber
heading slowly NNW
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Jan 20, 2015 - 07:58pm PT
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The blue Canyon was sold until 1982, at least.
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Jan 20, 2015 - 08:01pm PT
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Jeff Thomas, You can't go 50 feet at Smith without running into one of his routes. Here he is a few months ago getting ready to rumble.
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karabin museum
Trad climber
phoenix, az
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 25, 2015 - 09:29am PT
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Photos below are LONGware donations from Don Lauria.
The LONGware Knife blade is much different than the Chouinard.
2" Bong from 1959, Knife Blade from early 1960s.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jan 25, 2015 - 11:35am PT
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Dick pretty much copied the original Wilts Knifeblade design with respect to his shape and methods grinding the taper on the blade before tempering.
The orange paint that threw me off up thread is readily visible here.
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