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BooDawg
Social climber
Butterfly Town
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Nov 29, 2011 - 11:44pm PT
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My dad bought a white nylon 3-strand lay rope for our climb of Mt. Lyell in 1961. This is basically what I started climbing with. But soon I was climbing with Russ McLean who had a stiff-as-steel goldline and Dennis Hennek who had a very soft (really, too soft) white nylon similar to the one Dad bought. The goldline was very stretchy and also extremely stiff and hard to handle, so when given a choice, we usually chose NOT to climb on the goldline. It also seemed to pick up more of Stoney Point's sand-glass than the other two ropes which added to its unpleasantness.
Speaking of spinning on a free-rappel on goldline, I remember the 140' rappel to the bottom of Winding Stair Cave, the last half of which is free: Except for the light from my carbide lamp shining on the cave's walls, it was pitch dark inside the cave, and the cave's walls keep racing horizontally by my line of vision as I spun, none too slowly, while lowering myself, none too quickly, to the floor of the cave. I was somewhat dizzy when I reached the bottom, and it took some effort to get out of the rappel because the goldline stretched so much under one's body weight.
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Nov 29, 2011 - 11:58pm PT
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Goldline was my first rope. Stiff stuff. Swamis, diapers which doubled as long slings, six biner rappels and hip belays. Good times.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Nov 30, 2011 - 01:17am PT
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I've posted these photos elsewhere on ST but they seem appropriate here too.
Rapelling with the whole shebang, 1963 - goldline, 6 biner breakbar, klettershues
Climbing on goldline. A very stiff rope, especially if the ever impatient Layton Kor was at the other end. My most commonly used saying when climbing with him - "give me some slack - Please!"
Frank Sacherer still climbing on goldline 1968, Bastille Crack, Eldroado. He had perlon ropes but didn't want to wear them out on an easy climb like this. Not that a fall here would put any stress on the rope!
The same rope still in use on the Mer de Glace above Chamonix, 1971. Frank definitely believed in getting his money's worth out of things. He figured if the belayers were paying attention and dug in their ice axes quickly, they would stop the fall before anyone put too much strain on the rope.
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telemon01
Trad climber
Montana
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Nov 30, 2011 - 01:25am PT
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Thanks for those photos Jan, excellent stuff!!
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jopay
climber
so.il
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Nov 30, 2011 - 07:36am PT
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Yes, technically my first rope, finally made a Bacharladder out of it. Why were they so stiff?
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Truthdweller
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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Nov 30, 2011 - 09:58am PT
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Thirty years here too Pete...the only experience I had with Goldline was in a ropes course I took out in Jacumba, CA back in 1980-81, put on by a couple members of the Sierra Club. They had a couple of raps set up on top of a boulder, one with a Goldline, where which I got the opportunity to get on rappel for the first time. I recall it being a frightening experience out over an acute, overhanging lip. It was also here that I met my mentor Roger Barnes.
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TWP
Trad climber
Mancos, CO
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Nov 30, 2011 - 10:56am PT
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First climb was on Goldline = Colorado Outward Bound course 1967. John Evans was my "patrol leader."
First "real mountain" was on Goldline = Exum guided ascent of Grand Teton, 1969. Butterfly knot mid-rope tie-ins.
First owned rope and leads on Goldline = 1972. Bowline-on-a-coil tie-in. A swami? What's that?
Do I merit a passing grade on the Donini "trust" test? See his post, arriba a few.
Photo a few posts above of Jan "on the Maiden, 1963" = or > "the face that launched a thousand ships, Helen of Troy." Jan combines divine beauty, enlightened mind, vast knowledge; I worship you from afar.
Earlier post mentions another rope dinosaur. MSR gold kernmetal ropes, available in mid 1970's. This was about the second or third rope I purchased, in 1974. I still have a shank of it, now in use as a llama lead rope.
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telemon01
Trad climber
Montana
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Nov 30, 2011 - 01:24pm PT
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bump for Jan Sacherer....awesome photos!!
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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Nov 30, 2011 - 09:08pm PT
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Nice, Jan. Looks like you are having fun.
Goldline was too modern for me. I started in the early 1950s with manilla hemp rope - what a joy to pull those nasty little fibers out of the skin!
Then I progressed to white nylon laid rope that was army surplus. Boy, those were the days!
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Social climber
Retired to Appalachia
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Nov 30, 2011 - 09:16pm PT
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I was climbing with yellow polypropylene rope that I got at the hardware store, but finally got a job and bought some Goldline.
I did my first climbing trips out west (Tetons, North Cascades) with Goldline in the early 1970s.
Breakin' the Law!
Breakin' the Law!!
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Fritz
Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Nov 30, 2011 - 09:37pm PT
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Jan: Great photos! You've hardly changed in all those years;)
Thank you for posting them!
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den, Mr. D.
Mountain climber
Martinez Ca
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Jul 31, 2012 - 10:14pm PT
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Bought my coil of Goldline at the MSR store south of Seattle in about 77. Mine was only about 104 feet because they gave me a great deal on the end of the spool, but you know Goldline: you could always get a few more feet without much pulling. Ben Gauthier, Gene Sementi, and me used it to rap through the empty middle of the big BPA power transmission towers near town. That would really get you spinning if you didn't just "Hollywood" on down in a hurry. It sure wasn't the rope of choice for glacier travel; it would pick up sooo much ice. Ever tie a bowline on a coil with cold fingers and a frozen Goldline? I got a lot of use out of it top roping on the sandstone on Mt. Daiblo +/- 1990 because none of us wanted to scrape up our Sunday-go-to-meeting ropes. It also saw use as our longest sling with Frank Martinez on "the Elf's Cap". Then I traded it to Jordan Leaver and it went off to Ecuador and finally Bolivia where it resides today. Hell, this is Goldline we're talking about. It's immortal. Jordan's son Ian will probably give it to HIS son when HE does Illimani.
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Ron Paitich
Mountain climber
CA
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Oct 13, 2013 - 01:58pm PT
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I just came across this topic when I got curious to see if Goldline is still made. I bought my 120ft x 7/16 from REI around 1961. I was in college and my good buddy JIm got me into rock climbing. In those days the REI catalog consisted of a dozen pages with hand-drawn black and white sketches of the product. I still have my Goldline, hanging in my garage, along with my Vibram Pivetta hiking shoes and piton hammer. (The VIbrams are still comfortable).
I never became a serious climber; the most "ambitious" climb that Jim and I did was a modest climb (by today's standards) up the face of Cathedral Peak, out of Tuolomne Meadows in Yosemite.
We used to climb practice rocks in Joshua Tree in Southern Calif. Here's a cute anecdote about Royal Robbins, from about 1960: We'd climbed a pretty good sized rock, and found a mayonnaise jar at the top, to register your climb. Jim read one account that went something like, "climbed NW face; placed four pitons and three bolts". The next entry was, "removed four superfluous pitons and two bolts and climbed NW face" - signed Royal Robbins. This was WAY before Robbins became a legend, but was memorable because of his unique name, and the entry that had a touch of hubris.
Thanks for helping me dredge up these memories.
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Oct 13, 2013 - 02:38pm PT
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I recall buying the very first Edelrid Perlon rope that Gerry Mountain Sports had in their shop in...1961(?). In those days Holubar sold Columbian white ropes and Gerry's sold only Goldline. I wanted the Perlon because it was a 9mm x 135 feet instead of the de rigeur 120 foot rope normally used in the "Good" old days. Dale Johnson convinced me it was waaaay better than Goldline, (and waaay more expensive!).
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stunewberry
Trad climber
Spokane, WA
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Oct 13, 2013 - 03:16pm PT
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Still have mine! Makes great dog toys and I use it to pull trees over.
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