GPIW 1975 catalog

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Tarbuster

climber

right here, right now

Feb 11, 2008 - 01:48pm PT

This thread certainly has opened some interesting perspectives.

Not really an argument between Ray & Ed, more a productive dialectic and it really expands the notion of certain cultural phenomena; namely the confluence/divergence of art, technology, consumerism, & leadership.

When I digest Ray's statements, I am reminded of my time working in theater. Very often, the leaders in that milieu such as choreographers and dance company directors, out of necessity, carry very strong visions and can be quite uncompromising, almost tyrannical in their pursuit of excellence.

Although not by any means an absolute, but more often than not, being nice seems nearly incompatible with the striving, execution, expression and survival of their vision.

nature

climber

Santa Fe, NM

Feb 11, 2008 - 01:53pm PT

sweet post. I meant to do the same thing a while back. I have a copy of this catalog. It's pretty cool.

O.D.

Trad climber

LA LA Land

Feb 11, 2008 - 02:01pm PT

Thanks for the post, Ed. I've still got my '72 catalog but had forgotten about the '75 edition -- it brings back good memories. Those are nice clear scans, too.

Raydog

Trad climber

Boulder Colorado

Feb 11, 2008 - 03:42pm PT

RE:
"Although not by any means an absolute, but more often than not, being nice seems nearly incompatible with the striving, execution, expression and survival of their vision."

it was different, it was the dark ages at the diamond C, they were out of touch w/ the market, YC was high on himself and thought that meant he could forgo basic respect in open, company-wide communications. His mouth hurt a lot of people, his crazy little-kid scheduling tantrums created a hostile and unrealistic work environment that cost 3 people their jobs, that I saw.

YC had a side that needed, at that time, to be straightened out but he kept hiding, exhibiting his meanness only where protected - on his turf at work. I really wonder if he'd have the guts to say it now, or if he's even a bigger chickensh*t, than ever.

the lack of a question mark is not a punctuation error, either.

Ed Hartouni

Trad climber

Livermore, CA

Topic Author's Reply - Feb 11, 2008 - 10:01pm PT

I certainly don't see this thread as an argument... I posted the GPIW 1975 catalog scans because I thought they had value to the community. Certainly many of us who got to read them when they were first published benefited greatly from much of the writing. It is hard to imagine that that time had little written in English about climbing, and even if you could read French or German or Russian, not much translated to what was being done or attempted.

If you look at page 90 you see the sum total of the relevant climbing literature:
Big Wall Climbing by Doug Scott, Basic & Advanced Rock Craft Royal Robbins, and The Vertical World of Yosemite by Galen Rowell (which is not so much a exposition of climbing as of climbs). Only Robbins' books were costed within the budget of a guy like me at the time.

Of the 5 periodicals listed, only one, AAJ, has been in continuous publication since that time, and the other one still published, Mountain Gazette is under different editorship...

So when this catalog came in the mail, a response to a request and free for the asking, whole vistas of how the sport was changing, instructions on how to use the gear, and how we should, and why we shouldn't bang the crap out of everything (as I had just been taught in a Sierra Club Rock Climbing Section course... which instructed in the use of pitons, but no nuts!) were opened to us.

We could have gone to the Valley and learned at the knees of the masters, but many of us were too young. Instead we gleaned what we could from these books. Scuffy, upon seeing the page 7 illustration of a 'biner brake muttered, "it's a wonder we weren't all killed." But that is how we learned.

I would like to know more about Chouinard the man. My view is not unlike those I held of my parents... they seemed to always be old. Yet they were growing at the same time I was, and that makes a lot understandable. Chouinard is an image, a myth we hold. The reality is richer and more interesting, in my opinion.

Now people who only heard about them and had never had a chance to read them can. I'm hoping there is value there.

Tarbuster

climber

right here, right now

Feb 11, 2008 - 11:02pm PT

Yes Ed that's all well and good and historical and stuff.
And Chouinard did foment a movement within us to be sure (enter the tsunami logo perhaps?)
But did you see the winning bid on that matched set of 55cm bamboo Zeros???

Chiloe

Trad climber

Lee, NH

Feb 11, 2008 - 11:28pm PT

(enter the tsunami logo perhaps?)

My favorite t shirt, for a while.

Katsushika Hokusai, "Great Wave off of Kanagawa"

maldaly

Trad climber

Boulder, CO

Feb 11, 2008 - 11:28pm PT

I loved that catalog. It's where I learned everything I needed to know about stacked hexes! This technique was topped only by Jeff Lowe's stacked TriCams.

Now THOSE were the days...

72hw

Trad climber

Hollyweird, CA

Feb 12, 2008 - 12:15am PT

As someone who has been climbing for little over a year but who is acutely interested in the history, myth and legend associated with the rope, I cannot thank you enough for posting the catalog. Of course the conversation has been quite interesting too! Though I trust the recollections put forth in books like "Ways to the Sky" and "Camp 4" among others, the candid comments above pull no punches and carry the weight of first person experience that compliments the more edited, safer versions of history I have been exposed to thus far.

Again, many thanks!

rockermike

Mountain climber

Berkeley

Feb 12, 2008 - 01:09am PT

Although I had been climbing with my dad since mid 60's it was about '75 when I actually started dropping big bucks (so it felt to this $1.50 an hour dishwasher) for real gear. I swear, in addition to reading that catalog 50 times, I bought almost all the stuff in it. ha Chouinard rope, check, bamboo ax, check, hexes, stoppers, supergators, foamback cagole, ultimate thule pack, rigid crampons - all part of my kit and my memories and still my idea of what climbing is all about. (I did avoid the rugby shirt thing. ha, I was too hippie for that)

Raydog seems to have a bit of problem he needs to get over. Who hasn't had a bad boss? But that's part of what being a boss is all about - pushing people beyond their comfort zone. We're all human with personality defects yet Chouinard played a huge role in changing the game for the better. Anyway, its been 30 years. Get over it, sheesh.

Banjo

Social climber

Undeterminable

Jun 13, 2008 - 12:50pm PT

[who are the people on Page 2?
I know the Chouinards and the Frosts...]

“Those people” on page 2, as well as I can remember (because I’m in the pic at 20 years old and we’re talkin’ 34 years ago!) are (left to right, starting at the top row):
Malinda Chouinard, (pregnant with Fletcher), Yvon, unknown guy, Kris McDivitt (holding lab pup—Diesel’s sibling), Tex Bossier, 3 women from the sweat shop (sewing/seamstresses), Doreen Frost, Tom Frost.
2nd Row: Susan Earl, Clova Campbell, Nancy McNiel, unknown seamstress, Val Franco, unknown seamstress, Gary Kennedy, Jeff Chouinard.
3rd Row: Hong Kyu Kwak, unknown iron worker, Frank Roderick, lab Diesel (Roger's puppy), Roger McDivitt, Victor Sanchez.
Bottom Row: Vincent Stanley, Julio Varela, Tom Dixon, Chinook (sp?!), a Lowe perhaps?

This photo shows everyone who worked at GPIW at that time (except for the retail store employees)… before the company split into Chouinard Equipment and Patagonia.

Wow. We were so much younger then… What an era!

MZiebell

Social climber

Prescott, AZ

Jun 13, 2008 - 01:16pm PT

Thanks, Ed, for the scanning work which is first class. Looking forward to the rest of it...

CAMNOTCLIMB

Trad climber

novato ca

Jun 13, 2008 - 01:44pm PT

Damm... I have a lot of stuff that is in that catalog.. time to upgrade

Brian

purplesage

Trad climber

Bend, OR

Jun 13, 2008 - 03:28pm PT

Feeling lucky to have both those catalogs and even more lucky to also have that same pair of ice tools. The catalogs along with Basic and Advanced by Robbins were holy books during my formative climbing years.

klk

Trad climber

cali

Jun 13, 2008 - 07:55pm PT

rockermike--

Raydog's comments don't strike me at all like a typical rant about the boss. He had some pretty specific and relevant criticisms (i.e., the boss's tendency to sabotoge his own deadlines and then blame victims) that ring true to things I've seen elsewhere. Certainly, a guru self-image would be the dark flip side of that entire Whole-Earth-catalog paradigm that GPIW took as a model. Nor did Raydog make any extravagant claims about GPIW or Chouinard Equipment or Patagonia design.

Boy those axes are beautiful. I'm not surprised at the winning bid. Stuff usually sells for more in an auction than on a dealer's shelf. Nice, hand-crafted stuff is hard to find. And they weren't all that cheap new, once you run the inflation calculator.

klk

Trad climber

cali

Jun 13, 2008 - 08:24pm PT

btw, Thanks for posting this up, Ed. I have part of this catalog xeroxed-- it was one of my early climbing textbooks, alongside the Robbins and FOTH.

Wish I had some of that old Italian corduroy-- the new stuff isn't nearly as durable.

Can anyone identify the woman climber on p.56?

HighGravity

Trad climber

Southern California

Jun 13, 2008 - 09:37pm PT

One of the best posts ever! It was neat to price the old hexes, nuts, an rope passed down to me by my father. I learned on all that equipment that we had before I was born.