A Brief History of Cams

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Messages 21 - 36 of total 36 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
slabbo

Trad climber
fort garland, colo
Jul 17, 2010 - 09:31pm PT
Steve- at least these have the nut, not the circlip model ! AND trigger bars, as some way old models had no trigger bar.

I had a few conversations with george hurley about early friends, interesting stuff.
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Jul 17, 2010 - 10:34pm PT
Ask George if he would be willing to join in. If you have a camera shoot some of his gear. I bet that he has some interesting hardware!

I would love to hear about his recollections from doing the Spring Route on Baboquivari Peak near Tucson. He and Bill Forrest had to evict a cougar from the aptly named Lion's Ledge after climbing several grotty pitches directly from the base of the East Face. I am very curious about how those guys chose that objective. Pretty obscure spot...
slabbo

Trad climber
fort garland, colo
Jul 18, 2010 - 10:48am PT
Might be tough, George HATES the internet ! I'll see.

Friends in AZ are telling me that so many cougars have been killed by JAGUARS in the area, that they ae now very scarce.
justthemaid

climber
Jim Henson's Basement
Jul 18, 2010 - 12:27pm PT
Wow- I just read RDB's first link to the Jardine thread cover to cover.

Definitely gets the Oscar for best thread ever. All star cast. Fascinating historical facts and some of the most brilliant writing I've seen on this site. A must read.
slabbo

Trad climber
fort garland, colo
Jul 18, 2010 - 10:24pm PT
Steve- i don
t have a scanner but Mountain #69 interview with jardine and good photos. Same issue, f/a hall of Mirrors, FFA Grand Illusion, west face El cap, Half Dome !!!!!!!!!
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Jul 20, 2010 - 10:42am PT
Slabbo- Everything you ever wanted to know about Ray...

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=385308&tn=20
Toker Villain

Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
Jul 30, 2010 - 10:48pm PT
Last sunday Greg Lowe, with whom I experimented with his prototype tri-cams in '75, confirmed Jeff's quote by RDB.


I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that the originator of the climbing cam IS Greg Lowe.

While Jardine quite possibly used creativity in producing Friends, he most likely used less noble talents as well.
donini

Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
Jul 30, 2010 - 10:57pm PT
I'll second that Ron.
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Dec 29, 2010 - 02:18pm PT
Interesting thread on half size Friends.

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=1359850&tn=20#msg1360992
CaptainVo

Trad climber
Spokane
Nov 10, 2015 - 02:27pm PT
What year were those pre patent friends produced Steve?
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Nov 10, 2015 - 03:51pm PT
By the Wild Country website they started selling Friends at the end of 1977 but the actual Patent date isn't so easy to pin down.

Maestro Pennequin has those dates in order so perhaps you can get the nutstory directly from him as I don't have the gear or information right in front of me.

The needlesports link upthread isn't working for some reason.
nutstory

climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France
Nov 11, 2015 - 11:10am PT
http://www.needlesports.com/needlesports/nutsmuseum/camsstory.htm
Steve, I'm in Paris at the moment, so I haven't my archives with me... I hope the link to the cams' story is working now.
crunch

Social climber
CO
Nov 11, 2015 - 12:22pm PT
By the Wild Country website they started selling Friends at the end of 1977

Their website page here:

http://www.wildcountry.com/en/timeline

states that production began in 1978.

For my desert book (camming units made such a huge difference to climbing in the desert), I was hoping to be able to state which year Wild Country Friends first appeared either in the UK or in the US, but could never pinpoint whether it was late 1977 or early 1978.

I'd be interested if anyone can pinpoint more precise dates.

Maybe the exact timeline is lost to history. They first appeared in the UK. Given the lack of parallel-sided cracks, their appearance during drinking-season (rainy midwinter), and the cost, they were first thought of as specialized gimmicks, much as with skyhooks or Crack 'n' Ups or copperheads. No lavish write-ups by anyone in the Chouinard or any other catalog. It took a while for minds to understand how game-changing they were.
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Nov 11, 2015 - 04:44pm PT
The Wild Country website is strangely vague about production dates so you have to keep digging around to piece that together as Stephane has done.

There may be some legal issue involved but it certainly should be moot by now.
nutstory

climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France
Nov 21, 2017 - 09:40am PT
Enjoy...;-)
https://license.citruslime.com/cs/blogs/need/WCFriendsHistory_0C9904B0.jpg
All my thanks to Steve Foster for his help!
karabin museum

Trad climber
phoenix, az
Nov 22, 2017 - 11:26am PT


Stephane, Very cool work you did on this Cams layout. I hope that Wild Country offers posters of this!!!


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