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burp
Trad climber
Salt Lake City
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Topic Author's Original Post - May 31, 2007 - 04:55pm PT
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Jello,
Always wondered what made you and the other Lowes so inventive. Did any of you have an engineering background or other related schooling? Or, just good tinkerers?
Since you all are legends in Weber County (I live in Davis County), I'd heard about the various things that you all have invented when I was in college up at WSU.
The list includes ...
 the whole cam thing (in the other thread)
portaledges
internal framed packs
BBs (never seen one, but have heard about them)
modern ice climbing gear (ski boots with foot fangs bolted on?) and the whole Malins Peak waterfall deal.
V-threads
etc.
I know some of this gear was used in early ascents in the Ogden area (and elsewhere?). Was some of the invented gear (cams, BBs, etc) used for early FFA ascents in Little Cottonwood (Bong Eater, Mexican Crack, The Coffin, Dorsal Fin, The Green A, ...) or were pins still the order of the day back then?
Any comments welcome.
Enjoy!
burp
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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May 31, 2007 - 05:18pm PT
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Just had sushi with the Jell-man tuesday and we were having a discussion along these lines.
The real trick would be to get Greg to join us on the taco!
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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May 31, 2007 - 05:36pm PT
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It's always the Gregs that are the brains behind any outfit.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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May 31, 2007 - 05:48pm PT
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Must be why my family is so dumb.
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Anastasia
Trad climber
California
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May 31, 2007 - 06:04pm PT
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Is that like saying that it is always a couple of Johns in every generation that are descent climbers?
John Muir
John Salathe
John Gill
John Verm Sherman
John Harlin II
John Long
John Bachar
... etc?
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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May 31, 2007 - 06:25pm PT
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Did you just put your boyfriend in the same generation as Salathe?
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Anastasia
Trad climber
California
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May 31, 2007 - 07:30pm PT
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You don't see that there are a few generations on that list?
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Nefarius
Big Wall climber
Fresno, CA
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May 31, 2007 - 07:34pm PT
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Ana - "You don't see..."
Certain generations have trouble with eyesight, Ana... =)
Just razzin' ya, Ron!
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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May 31, 2007 - 07:38pm PT
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"It's always the Gregs that are the brains behind any outfit."
And here I thought it was the Grugs who did the thinking.
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steelmnkey
climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
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May 31, 2007 - 07:42pm PT
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"It's always the Gregs that are the brains behind any outfit."
You said it baybee...we rule!
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Anastasia
Trad climber
California
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May 31, 2007 - 07:46pm PT
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I think the brains goes along with the name "Lowe."
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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May 31, 2007 - 07:53pm PT
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(Someone needs to post a link to the thread that had the description of Zeppo and Harpo Lowe.)
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Anastasia
Trad climber
California
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May 31, 2007 - 07:54pm PT
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Ron,
You're just mad at me...
AF
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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May 31, 2007 - 07:59pm PT
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I kid you because I know you're a good sport.
Cheers A
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Anastasia
Trad climber
California
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May 31, 2007 - 08:11pm PT
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I am wagging my tail in greeting while barking...
Try to look afraid friend...
We need drama!
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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May 31, 2007 - 08:17pm PT
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Oy vey!
Still waiting for Jeff to show up.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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May 31, 2007 - 09:25pm PT
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Canary Pass, scary indeed!
Been 32 years and I STILL remember that one.
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Jello
Social climber
No Ut
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May 31, 2007 - 11:29pm PT
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As designers, the Lowe's are highly overrated. Especially that Jello guy. He couldn't design his way out of a paper bag. Unless he made it soggy first by his mere gooey presence in its' confines.
-TheAntiJello
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Jello
Social climber
No Ut
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May 31, 2007 - 11:32pm PT
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Ronbo- thanks for sushi din-din the other night. I made it home without being arrested.
-DriveCarefullyJello
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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May 31, 2007 - 11:34pm PT
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He could be in trouble then.
The last time I saw him he was half in the bag already!
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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May 31, 2007 - 11:35pm PT
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Ha!
You beat me to it.
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Jello
Social climber
No Ut
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May 31, 2007 - 11:36pm PT
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Hankster, Steve Byrne deserves most of the credit for the ball nuts. As usual, we just like to accept the kudos. I do remember Scary Canary, though. Went up there with the master of it all, Pat Adams deep in the last century. What pitch did your friend fall on?
-NuttyJello
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Jello
Social climber
No Ut
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Burp-
We've got some new ideas on the way:
-Single-point suspension porta-potties
-"Cram Nuts" - a method that expands a certain part of the male anatomy to fit cracks from hand to offwidth size. So far they're no good for running belays.
-"Fanny Cams" to help persuade those reluctant bivy partners to keep an open "mind" about things.
-The "Holographic Ice Flower(tm)" Give this cool corsage
to your climbing Betty to make a great impression on your next wall date. Just don't try to pollinate it with your holographic stamen, as frostbite is certain.
Too many compromising designs to name them all, really.
-FfejEwolJello'sMirrorImage
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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What happened with the "wall bidet"?
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Jello, I believe we might have [url="http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=282636&msg=283170#msg283170" target="new"]a thread around hereabouts[/url] where one of our illustrious John's not on Anastasia's list takes a bit of an exception to the idea that Steve Byrne is responsible for ball nuts...
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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RE: What happened with the "wall bidet"?
who cares
what's missing is a Wall Bong!
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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I still have a rack of bongs.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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And Joe get your women straight.
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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RE:
"an exception to the idea that Steve Byrne is responsible for ball nuts... "
there is an interesting kinda phenomena here, it happens w/ many new concepts; the originator, the chief developer, then the main stream popularization (sometimes relating to a credible individual) and retail selling...I think it happens a fair bit w/ a variety of products
the above is an over-simplification but a genuine attempt at trying to explain it...
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Ok, so you're still pretty quick for an old man.
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Jello
Social climber
No Ut
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Healyje-
Yeah, you're right, we should be thanking John Middendorf for the ball nut brilliance. Sorry about propagating the misconception, John. Steve presented the idea to Lowe Alpine as his own. MalDaly knows this history better than I.
Burp-
I should honor your OP with a real answer.
Most of the innovations that Greg< Mike or I came up with were a direct response to a climbing need. The original Lowe internal frame pack was invented because it was awkward to climb with an external frame pack carrying the big loads needed for winter ascents in the Tetons. The first Lowe packs were important gear on the 1968 winter ascent of the north face of the Grand. Supergaiters were also invented for that climb.
Crack jumars, and later cam nuts were invented by Greg as tools to facilitate a one-day ascent of the nose, and later to deal with parallel-sided sandstone cracks in Zion and the desert.
The LURP tent, the first single-point rigid-floor hanging tent was designed for extreme weather walls of Patagonia, etc and was used on the first winter ascent of the NW face of Half Dome in 1972.
Snarg ice pitons, Footfangs asnd Hummingbird tools were invented to answer the riddles of frozen waterfalls. Similarly, RATS screws, Tubers (the first tube-type belay devices), Latok soft-shell stretch clothing, etc were all responses to specific climbing needs.
Necessity really has been the mother of Lowe inventiveness.
Greg never graduated from college, nor did I, but Mike is a trained architect with an MBA.
BB's, or what we called beat-ons, were wraps of soft aluminum wire around a cable loop. Very malleable, these blobs could be pounded into tiny seams and rugosities. They would flow into every crevice and hug every grain and hold tight due to the miracle of work-hardenning. Much better than bashies or heads. Best for aid, Greg protected two free climbs in Ogden Canyon with them that were amazing for their day. Double Indemnity is a 100 foot 10a face climb, and the BB Route, while only 1/2 that long, is solid 5.11. Both routes were done in about 1966. Unfortunately, they are on private property and off-limits today.
Thanks for your kind comments.
-InventorOfAllThingsJello
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burp
Trad climber
Salt Lake City
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 1, 2007 - 04:40pm PT
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Jello,
Thanks for the reply. The earlier reply definately reflects the creativity side of it all. LOL.
That's where I heard of the BB, from those Ogden Canyon climbs that are inaccessible. Since those were free routes, I had just mistakenly assumed BBs were micronuts (pre-curser to RPs or something). Pretty cool they would possibly hold well enough to fall on (non-aid application). Either that or Greg just had his head real together. We used to debate amongst friends, 15 years ago, whether a clandestine peek at those routes was worth the risk of possible arrest at gunpoint. Too bad the rock itself was/is supposedly on public land. I heard of some folks climbing there after the house burned down.
All of these inventions are definately groundbreaking! The internal frame pack changed the entire outdoor industry (almost all packs are internal frame now) ... the idea of cams changed the way we climb in the desert and influenced what many/most noobs today exclusively fill their "trad" racks with ... the ice climbing gear gave birth to modern ice climbing (!) ... the Tuber created something like a sticht plate that you could also rappel with (almost all belay devices now are essentially copies of the Tuber) ... almost every wall climber has a portaledge ... etc.,etc.
In other words, the climbing world owes a big debt of gratitude to the Lowes!
Thank you.
burp
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scuffy b
climber
The town that Nature forgot to hate
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Great to hear the description of the BB. I came upon one in 1998
in City of Rocks, on the climb Battle of the Bulges.
Part of a big wad of stuff that we were supposed to pretend was
our belay anchor.
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