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Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
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May 12, 2009 - 02:58pm PT
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The Green Arch photo was obviously a West Ridge ad. Since I did all those ads (with Larry Reynolds doing the photography) I should know who was in it, but I can't remember. The top man looks like Bud Couch, maybe. Tom Limp and I used to climb that route regularly and it's possible that we are in the picture - I just don't recall.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 8, 2009 - 10:38pm PT
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Thanks for responding ,Don. Did You guys ever carry any Leeper angles?
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 21, 2009 - 08:07pm PT
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Don- Do you recall the very first ad that West Ridge ever ran in the mags?
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 7, 2010 - 01:35am PT
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Was a West Ridge add ever turned down by the climbing magazines?
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Wonder
climber
WA
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Three for three
I forget who taught us how to yodel "mes co leeee to"
Tried on the lederhosers once, they suck.
Boto bags, damn, I wish I still had one.
any more ?
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 22, 2010 - 11:11pm PT
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Bump for Boots!
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BooDawg
Social climber
Polynesian Paralysis
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Sep 22, 2010 - 11:16pm PT
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I haven't seen this whole thread, but I KNOW IT'S Russ McLean! TRUST ME ON THIS ONE! Larry Reynolds was the photographer! I was there!
Edit: Ok, so I should have read the whole thread since Hennek & Lauria told most of the story of Russ McLean's shoes. Jgill got the brand right; they were Zillertal's one of the early klettershue in this country and were largely replaced once Kronhofer's were available. Kronhofer's were made in Innsbruck, Austria, and I remember Don/West Ridge had some difficulties setting up the account for importing them. I think they didn't have a real distributer in the USA.
I visited the Kronhofer "factory" in 1968. It was very difficult to find on a back street of Innsbruck, even tho my German was passable at the time. It was very much a hand-made operation; I have vivid retinal images of it, but probably no photographic ones, tho I'll look later.
Russ McLean and I met Larry Reynolds shortly after we made the first ascent of the N. E. face of Mt. Brewer (see elsewhere on S.T.). We'd approached Brewer over Kearsarge Pass, encountered Hennek at Bullfrog Lake and continued onward. After the climb, we hiked out westward to Cedar Grove (walking in our too-tight-for hiking Kronhofers. Going along at a good pace, mostly downhill, we caught up with two backpackers, Larry Reynolds and Dick Grantham. After a pleasant rest stop with them, Russ and I continued on at a faster pace. After dark we'd covered the 20+ miles to the trailhead and, since it was after Labor Day there was little traffic at the Cedar Grove trailhead. While waiting there for a random ride to get to the campground, some miles away, Larry and Dick arrived, and we shared some food and speculated about the possibilities of a ride. No cars had yet come by.
Finally, one car came by, and the guy rolled down the window of the car and asked us, "Where is the tree that you can drive through?" In my politest and most desperate tone, I informed him that that tree was in the Grant (or Sherman) grove in another part of the park and could he please give us a ride a few miles to the Cedar Grove campground??? Without a word, he rolled up his window and drove off into the darkness, leaving us stranded there. At that point, we started walking on the paved road, and eventually reached the campground. But Russ and I, whenever there was a STUPID F*#KING TOURIST that had to be dealt with, would ask, "Where is the tree that you can drive through?!!" It became our little inside joke.
The next morning, I don't remember too well, but we exchanged contact information with Larry, and he began to join us for our weekend climbing sessions at Stoney Point. He was welcomed into our group and he was generous and humble and was truly included, even tho he wasn't really a climber on a par with the rest of us.
He did his photography with a Hassleblad 2 1/4" format and had EXCELLENT UNDERWATER work that we REALLY APPRECIATED at our slideshows which were mostly held at Lauria's house in Canoga Park where Dennis, Russ, and I had grown up and had attended high school. The "Shoes" picture, I'm sure, was shot with the Hassleblad which is why it could be blown up to 16" X 20" which is the size of the prints that Lauria and Hennek have to this day.
Edit #2: Don had 3 kids, and one of the MAJOR reasons that he opened West Ridge was because he couldn't find kids' sizes of hiking shoes and clothing at the other stores in L.A. I also remember that when they were trying to decide on a location, in the L.A. area, for the store, they plotted the locations of the residences of all of the Sierra Club trip leaders on a map, and the answer, (duh!) came up, W. L.A.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 23, 2010 - 12:10am PT
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It didn't take long on the front side either!
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mark miller
Social climber
Reno
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Sep 23, 2010 - 01:43am PT
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Wow Steve thanks for that post, now I don't have to turn on private broser and check out Literotica....
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 25, 2010 - 05:35pm PT
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Story behind the OP please, Boodawg!?!
You were West Ridge Sports first employee. How did you get that job and was that about the same time as the OP photo?
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BooDawg
Social climber
Polynesian Paralysis
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Sep 25, 2010 - 09:22pm PT
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Dennis Hennek & I had been buddies from 8th grade when, in 11th grade (1961 or ’62), we met Russ McLean who was walking randomly down the hall at our high school and overheard us talking about some mountain (perhaps it was Bloody Mountain that Dennis had climbed while attending a boy scout camp) while we were purusing the Blue, 1954 Edition of Hervey Voge’s “Climber’s Guide to the High Sierra.” Dennis and I didn’t immediately click with Russ, and he felt a bit rejected at that first meeting, though once Dennis and I started climbing regularly at Stoney Point, we began to see Russ on a regular basis, and our friendship was born there. Then we began hanging out during lunch at school.
Russ had been rock-climbing for perhaps a year before we met him and already was climbing in klettershue, probably the pair in the picture. Soon Dennis got his own pair of Zillertalls, but I continued to rock-climb in my clunky mountain boots for maybe a whole other year! I sure got a lot of razzing over my footwear during that time! I think Holubar was the original source of Kronhofers for us, and certainly by early ’63, we were all using them tho Russ may have been the last one of us to get his which partly explains the condition of the shoes in the picture. Part of the explanation is also that Russ LOVED those shoes, his first pair, so he kept on climbing in them (tho I don’t think he ever had them re-soled), patching them, and giving them ever more character.
Since, as I said earlier, Russ and I met Larry Reynolds in Sept. of ’63, my best guess is that the picture was taken during the winter of ’63-’64 when Larry was most active in our climbing circle, but it may have been a year or two later.
Getting the job at West Ridge was a no-brainer for all concerned. Don wanted West Ridge to be THE PLACE for potential customers to come for advice and information about climbing, hiking and camping as well as the gear that was sold there. After they opened in 1966, I was attending UCLA just a few miles away, and they were only open during the late afternoons & evenings on weekdays, so I could easily walk there after classes and catch a ride back to Westwood, once the store closed. Dennis was hired about the same time; his employee # was 002. With Don, Dennis and I coming up to the cutting edge of climbing in those years, and with one of Don’s partners, Tom Limp, leading Freelance Alpine Research Team (FART) trips to S. America, Sierra Clubbers and independent climbers and backpackers, alike, learned that they could get the best gear as well as reliable information if they’d come to West Ridge. Plus, it was a fun social scene where we’d sometimes have wine, etc. and a VERY relaxed, homey atmosphere. The West Ridge ads spoke to that audience. Another marketing situation that led to West Ridge’s early success was the social scene at Stoney Point where if anyone wanted to know where to get certain gear or books, the answer was always, “West Ridge.” And it also helped that we had a wider circle of climbers that we bouldered with that included Kamps, Higgins, Couch, Powell and whoever else happened to come out to climb on any given weekend.
We certainly had a lot of good times before, during, and after hours during those years when West Ridge was on Pico Bl. There are some stories that would best be told around a REAL CAMPFIRE, at least for now. After the move to Olympic Bl., the intimacy of the old store was gone, tho the gear and information remained the best for quite a while. As Don says in his 1/29/09 posting above, the original name of the store was West Ridge Mountaineering. After the move to Olympic Bl., it became West Ridge Sports.
OK! One story: Don’s other original partner in West Ridge Mountaineering was Don Nagy, a Sierra Club backpacker, somewhat older and less active than Limp & Lauria. There were some basic personality and philosophical differences between Tom & Don, on one hand, and Nagy on the other. As time went on, the rift between the factions grew wider. While Lauria & Limp kept a lid on their displeasure with Nagy, Dennis was a trouble-maker: There was an ashtray in the store to accommodate smokers during the era when second-hand smoke wasn’t an issue. Nagy would always empty it and wanted to keep the store clean. One day, Dennis glued an old, mostly-smoked stogie and a couple of cigarette butts into the ashtray, so that when Nagy would try to empty it, the stinky refuse would cling to the ashtray. Nagy eventually just threw the ashtray out in the rubbish, but Dennis’ mission was to retrieve it and replace it on the sales desk where Nagy would find it again, try to empty it, throw it out, and the cycle repeated itself for weeks & weeks. It was the basic rift between Limp & Laura and Nagy that eventually was solved by a new partner buying out Nagy, and the store then moved to Olympic Bl. That was the beginning of a new era and new problems, but I’ll leave those stories to others.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 25, 2010 - 10:03pm PT
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Thanks for the background!
That ashtray story is too funny!
Do you recall any celebrities coming in?
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 21, 2011 - 10:51pm PT
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A little bump on the West Ridge...
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - May 1, 2011 - 01:40pm PT
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What was Tony's story?!?
I just saw one of the old Class 5 posters with him in it at a used gear store yesterday.
Glad to see images leaking out of your slidebox, Dennis!
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BooDawg
Social climber
Butterfly Town
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Hey Dennis! Did you get your scanner going? It'd be GREAT to begin to see your VAST collection of slides and to hear associated stories!
We should scan and post the pictures of our day, "Running Naked in the Sagebrush" Day that was in Descent's recap of the careers of those who'd done F.A.s on Sentinel's N. Face! I don't seem to have my copy of that issue of Descent. Anyone out there have that issue or article? Otis, the black lab owned by Tony, who appears in the Chouinard's Yard photos was with us that day. What a great retriever! My scanner and slides are now in CA while I'm in Hawaii today and for this month making my transition to CA and preparing Briana for college after she graduates in a few weeks...
One Tony Jessen story: He was one of the dirtbags who lived in and around Chouinard's Yard after Chouinard's move from Burbank to Ventura. One day he was driving his truck (van?) onto the Freeway near Ventura, and there was a young woman at the on-ramp hitch-hiking. Tony pulled over and offered her a ride. She got in and immediately lifted up her loose-fitting blouse and said, "I'll go anywhere and do anything with you." Tony didn't come "home" to Chouinard's Yard for 3 days! Such was life in the free-love days of the 60's...
Tony also had a sailboat and was enchanted by a woman whose love was not returned. Those are stories that Dennis is more qualified to tell than I.
Steve, perhaps the most "famous" international celebrity to pass thru West Ridge was Doug Scott whom Dennis had met on his first trip to Baffin Island and who had a slide-show scheduled at Long Beach State Univ. I've forgotten why I was delegated to take Scott to the show, tho I didn't know the way. After a fine meal of Mexican food from a restaurant about 2 doors east of West Ridge on Pico Bl. which Doug REALLY ENJOYED, we got lost and were very late for the show, but no one had left and Scott showed his excellent slides to a full house and to much appreciation.
Probably equally famous to come through the West Ridge Scene was Ken Wilson, "Mountain" magazine Editor, whom I'd met in England in 1968 when he was directing the transition from "Mountain Craft" to "Mountain." Ken stayed with me at my apartment when he was in L.A., but I've forgotten what year that was, probably after West Ridge moved from Pico Bl. to Olympic Bl.
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can't say
Social climber
Pasadena CA
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Guido:
"How many of you Super Topians have worn Leiderhosen? Come on, be proud.
Ok how many have sucked vino out of a Bota Bag?"
Yes to both of these, though the bota bag was a common drinking tool back then. When I was working in Garmisch Germany for the army as a climbing instructor/guide, most of the guys I worked with wore lederhosen. They were ideal for whenever a dulfersitz rappel was needed, never wearing thru from sitting on the very rough limestone in the Wetterstein range we worked in and of course you didn't have to wash them. I think I still have mine in my relics bin.
As for the plastic nuts, I remember seeing the red ones in a Stuttgart sports store in 1973 or 74. I had thought they were made by Edelrid but now that I think about it, they could well have been made in France.
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Old photo from Pattagucci:
Remember, "you can pet your pussy but you can't pat your gonia", I said that.
Good to see Hennek posting without any threats from his mates.
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Dennis Hennek
climber
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Hey Boo,
Michael Cohen and "Miyamoto Musashi".
Evening at camp 4 on the Intergal.
No scanner as yet, but still looking.
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