Form Follows Function

shorpyfan:

Just your corner Icehouse (circa 1937)

(via timetravelteam)

mudwerks:

We Stormed Kilimanjaro (by paul.malon)

Philip Ronfor

No longer can we assume the earth’s resources are limitless; that there are ranges of unclimbed peaks extending endlessly beyond the horizon. Mountains are finite, and despite their massive appearance, they are fragile…

We believe the only way to ensure the climbing experience for ourselves and future generations is to preserve (1) the vertical wilderness, and (2) the adventure inherent in the experience. Really, the only insurance to guarantee this adventure and the safest insurance to maintain it is exercise of moral restraint and individual responsibility.

Thus, it is the style of the climb, not attainment of the summit, which is the measure of personal success. Traditionally stated, each of us must consider whether the end is more important than the means. Given the vital importance of style we suggest that the keynote is simplicity. The fewer gadgets between the climber and the climb, the greater is the chance to attain the desired communication with oneself—and nature.

There is a word for it, and the word is clean. Climbing with only nuts and runners for protection is clean climbing. Clean because the rock is left unaltered by the passing climber. Clean because nothing is hammered into the rock and then hammered back out, leaving the rock scarred and next climber’s experience less natural. Clean is climbing the rock without changing it; a step closer to organic climbing for the natural man.

Doug Robinson

Chouinard Equipment Catalog 1972.

Fun hogs (from left to right) Doug Tompkins, Yvon, Dick Dorworth and Lito Tejada-Flores in the yard in front of the Tin Shed, 1968. The four friends were soon to drive that Econoline van down the Pan-American Highway to Patagonia, Argentina, for six months of climbing, surfing and skiing. The film that came out of the trip, called Mountain of Storms, is a cult classic. Tompkins, wearing love beads here, founded The North Face and, later, Esprit. He now lives in Patagonia with his wife, Kris McDivitt (former CEO of Patagonia, Inc.) where they run their foundation.

Photo: Patagonia Historical Archives

Famed Sierra climber Doug Robinson wrote an essay for the 1972 Chouinard catalog called “The Whole Natural Art of Protection,” which revolutionized climbing with a call to switch from rock-scarring pitons to removable, less environmentally harmful chocks. Sales of pitons, then the mainstay of the business, plummeted. But Chouinard and Frost were ready. The catalog included a full line of innovative chocks called Hexentrics (for their asymmetrical shape) and Stoppers.

Photo: Patagonia Historical Archives

bobdalefraser:

husbandsandlovers:

Ice

My grandfather hauled ice in San Fransisco in the 40s.

Rope check

(via bummerbro)

Chouinard