A postcard from Warren Harding to Dolt!

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Messages 1 - 18 of total 18 in this topic
Ihateplastic

Trad climber
Lake Oswego, Oregon
Topic Author's Original Post - May 26, 2009 - 05:38pm PT
Now this is cool... I go to the mailbox and a nice package of ORIGINAL Dolt materials is in it from the folks who own his rights. Too much to scan and post but it sure will help with the book I am working on.

Here is a card from Warren Harding to Dolt:

How about his original patent filing for his holster!

A clipping from the West LA Independent newspaper...

And a cool letter from McNutt to Don Lauria, et.al. regarding Dolt's security clearance. Seems a Mr. Powell was involved in the verification!

There are even the ORIGINAL NEGATIVES from the FA of the Nose!

Don't worry Ken, it is all coming your way once I have digested it.


healyje

Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
May 26, 2009 - 07:52pm PT
Makes sense, yet another damn Chicagoan in a long, peculiar history of them...

Scared Silly

Trad climber
UT
May 26, 2009 - 07:58pm PT
Classic - I have a Dolt holster which is stamped on the back with the patent design number as noted above.

Lynne Leichtfuss

Social climber
valley center, ca
May 26, 2009 - 08:01pm PT
How bout a "tease" and a time frame about the book ? :)
guido

Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
May 26, 2009 - 08:53pm PT
Sorry, the only lines I see on the Dolt Hanger are of salivary origin and you are talking about the Vino Era, pre rolling paper and way before mirrors were vogue in Camp 4.
Chicken Skinner

Trad climber
Yosemite
May 26, 2009 - 08:58pm PT
Simon, I got some goodies today too. His mailbox was sitting on my doorstep when I got home and I received another binder full of stuff in the mail today. Eric, I have heard that he used a rock tumbler to polish his equipment. His Cobra hooks are very shiny too.

Ken
Roger Breedlove

climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
May 26, 2009 - 10:31pm PT
To second Scared Silly, the best holster design by far was Dolt's. It seems so obvious nowadays, but a plastic hoslter that held its shape and didn't break was, in my mind, a big step up from the anything else available. YOu could remove and replace you hammer instantly with a quick glance.

Every piece of Dolt stuff I had felt special in an unassuming way. It was all beautifully made and had art in its designs, but mostly it just worked really well.

I gave all of it to Ken. Hard to pass it along.
Scared Silly

Trad climber
UT
May 26, 2009 - 11:51pm PT
Roger, I posted up a picture of my holster. Mine is made from a stiff leather.
Chicken Skinner

Trad climber
Yosemite
May 27, 2009 - 12:03am PT
The leather ones sucked when in a chimney the hammer would fall out. The Dolt one sucked when in a chimney because the hammer wouldn't fall out and the hammer with the hard plastic holster would be a hindrance.

Ken
Eric Beck

Sport climber
Bishop, California
May 27, 2009 - 01:16am PT
Is this correct? Dolt got his name from taking a 20 footer stepping into an etrier clipped to his waist.
Chicken Skinner

Trad climber
Yosemite
May 27, 2009 - 08:01am PT
Eric,

The story I always heard was that he got flustered after weighting an aider that was clipped to himself while rappelling and switching to an anchor during the first attempt on the Nose. Powell and Harding were a little worried about him.

Ken
Roger Breedlove

climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
May 27, 2009 - 08:17am PT
I remember a leather holster from Chouinard but not from Dolt. Maybe it was the same thing. In any case, I remember Yvon touting leather because it was soft and, if I remember correctly less of a 'bump' to get in the way (like on a bivouac, maybe). I thought getting a hammer in and out when you wanted it and not falling out when you turned sideways were the most important design elements. In my mind the plastic was perfect.

This is my plastic Dolt holster and my red-white-and blue waist sling. I could spin in around to keep it out of the way in chimneys or under a heavy rack. The long pin was also by Dolt--an early attempt to create a nut tool. Great for cleaning cracks. Adding a notch on the end would have been an improvement.


This is my bolt kit which includes some Dolt hangers along with SMC. Plus some oddities.


Dolt was a great designer. But it sounds as if he was not so good in business.
noshoesnoshirt

climber
dangling off a wind turbine in a town near you
May 27, 2009 - 09:47am PT
bump for some cool old stuff.

By way of contrast, here's my bolt kit:

matty

Trad climber
los arbor
Dec 14, 2010 - 12:45am PT
missed this earlier, neat stuff.
mongrel

Trad climber
Truckee, CA
Dec 14, 2010 - 01:52am PT
It would be great if someone would post up a photo of one of those Dolt Cobra hooks. They were extremely elegantly shaped and beautifully finished. I'd love to have one to use. Somewhere I've got an original Dolt rurp, also very pretty but not in the same class as the hooks.
BooDawg

Social climber
Polynesian Paradise
Dec 14, 2010 - 06:23am PT
Hennek brought this one to our reunion last summer; I think it is the one that he and Lauria took on the 2nd ascent of the N.A. and it appeared in Rowell's "Vertical World..."

elcap-pics

Big Wall climber
Crestline CA
Dec 14, 2010 - 11:55am PT
While the dolt hooks were a thing of beauty, and I had two of them myself, they were not very stable on the rock and rotated constantly as you moved around. With those mothers you learned to be very still!
Johnny K.

Mountain climber
Southern,California
Dec 14, 2010 - 01:05pm PT
Amazing stuff!Please post more scans!

Also interested in this book you are putting together?Thanks!
Messages 1 - 18 of total 18 in this topic
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