History of Crashpads

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Ben-Hardy

Boulder climber

Vienna, Austria

Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 18, 2009 - 11:35am PT

Hi, i´m a student and i´m writing my bachelor thesis about Crashpads.
One Point is the History of crashpads.
As far as I know the first crashpads were sold in the US.
Does anybody have more information about this topic? Producer, year, maybe some pictures?
I would be very happy if you could help me!

Thanks in advance

Benny

may the friction be with you

tom woods

Gym climber

Bishop, CA

Sep 18, 2009 - 11:47am PT

Fish Pads were pretty early.

I seem to remember Kauk using a mattress to work Dominator.

The sketch pad, Metoloius all seemed early.

My history is hazy at best, but you have remember that pads spelled doom for the previous technology- the piece of carpet.

Sherman had an article about carpet way back.

adam d

climber

closer to waves than rock

Sep 18, 2009 - 11:47am PT

Sounds like some rather "padded" course work.

treeman

climber

mule city

Sep 18, 2009 - 11:49am PT

As far as I can recall, BD put out the Spot in the early 90's. Clark Shelk started making what eventually became the Cordless pad soon thereafter in his brother's garage in Bend . Contact BD for more specifics, and try to conger up Clark somehow, he'll have more info.

tom woods

Gym climber

Bishop, CA

Sep 18, 2009 - 11:50am PT

What was that other pad- kinnaloa?

klk

Trad climber

cali

Sep 18, 2009 - 12:07pm PT

Pierre Allain and his crew began using strawmats-- like thick doormats --at 'Bleau in the late 1930s. Probably other folks occasionally used whatever was at hand. By the 1970s, carpet squares had become common for difficult problems in major US bouldering areas to help keep shoes clean, but didn't provide much padding.

So far as I know, Neal Kaptain was the first person to actually make a dedicated pad for bouldering. Neal was a top boulderer in the Front Range and founder of Rock and Ice magazine. Frequent partner of Holloway. He built pads by sewing layers of ensolite and carpet foam between carpet. The pads were briefcase sized, with a middle hinge, and nylon carrying handles. I have one in my basement.

Neal was also buds with John Sherman, and when Sherman started hanging out seriously in Bishop, I gather that he was the one who pushed Bruce Pottenger (of Kinnaloa, a garage co. that did T-shirts and chalk bags), to make a commercial version, called a "sketchpad."

Metolius quickly picked up the idea. But it wasn't until Hueco Tanks State Park banned bolting that bouldering-- and pads--really took off in the US.

Now send me a check for $50.00

Roman

Trad climber

Boston

Sep 18, 2009 - 12:09pm PT

'padded' course work is right....

Is it too late to change it to the history of cams? There's a much richer history there and at least its more than a piece of foam....
WTF?

On the carpet being replaced... I carry a carpet patch as well as a pad to clean grit/dirt off of my shoes. To expect it to do more would seem silly.

You old timers must be remembering patches of that thick ass shag carpeting! ;)

BrianH

Trad climber

santa fe

Sep 18, 2009 - 01:00pm PT

The first recorded use of crash pads was an early attempt by the Duc D'Abruzzi on the Cannolli Wall due north of Aviano, Italy. He had his most stalwart men track his progress from the base of this long and wandering route while carrying mattresses filled with straw and horse hair. It caused quite a stink with the CAI (Club Alpino d'Italia) who accused him of gross ethical violations that foreshadowed today's modern ethical debates.

Watusi

Social climber

Newport, OR

Sep 18, 2009 - 01:03pm PT

I remember the old mattress we used that was parked under Bachar Cracker for so long in the '70's...I also remember cruising the campground in Joshua Tree with JB, trying to borrow everyone's ensolite pads to put under a new Highball that he wanted to do that became, "Are we having fun yet?" He stacked them all at the base and proceeded to fire the thing (lucky he never had to check out their cushioning properties as the crux of the thing was like doing the crux face move on Stem Gem about 25' up...)

WBraun

climber

Sep 18, 2009 - 01:14pm PT

NO no

Crraaassssh pad was born from the spotter getting tired of being used as a crash pad.

After being flattened a few times someone started thinking .....

Ben-Hardy

Boulder climber

Vienna, Austria

Topic Author's Reply - Sep 18, 2009 - 01:22pm PT

Thanks guys for your information.
@ Rokjox: The history-part is only a small part of the thesis! The main part is about foams, damping, chemical background...
I´m really keen on bouldering and therefore I´m very happy to be able to link my hobby with my studies.
Besides Carpets are still used by some of the old "Bleausards" in Fontainbleau! And they are still able to give lessons to the young and strong boys with their tripple pads ;-)
@ klk: thanks for your detailed information! Whenever I´ll get rich with it i´ll remember and reward you :-)

Jaybro

Social climber

Wolf City, Wyoming

Sep 18, 2009 - 01:22pm PT

What Watusi said about Bachar Cracker.

also research 'blotter is my spotter'

FeelioBabar

climber

Sneaking up behind you...

Sep 18, 2009 - 01:24pm PT

The Pusher Spot was the first "fold into a pack" pad....wasn't it?

Wheatus

Social climber

Sep 18, 2009 - 04:19pm PT

About twenty years ago Jeff Johnson showed up at Stoney Point with a small (approximately 2'x 1.5') homemade crash pad made by a non-climber friend. Most people at Stoney would bring a small piece of old carpet to wipe their soles off before bouldering. This was a major improvement over the carpet scrap and resulted in many new homemade variations on Jeff's design. Gone are the days when Stoney looked like a haggard carpet remnant store.

Jeff's crash pad was amazingly similar to modern crash pads. It was made of ripstop nylon on the bottom and sides. It had a sewn in carpet on top to wipe the soles of your shoes. The padding was layers of carpet padding. It had a zipper on the side. The crash pad was about 4 inches thick. The small footprint required careful placement or jumping to it.

Mungeclimber

Trad climber

sorry, just posting out loud.

Sep 18, 2009 - 05:06pm PT

a more important question is 'why did it take so long for crash pads to gain such wide spread acceptance?'

Could Evilution have been sent over 30 years ago had we started using more and more deliberate cushioning?

Was it the rise of gym climbing and leading any crag that has bolts on it that gave rise to a culture of leading rather than top roping, that bent bouldering to a higher and more difficult is better approach that required padding rather than top ropes?

What if low impact practices had overshadowed the 80s and 90s bolting fests and ultra long top ropes had become the norm?

Watch Moving Over Stone 1, they are working that stuff on top rope.