
 The 1972 Chouinard Catalog that changed a business – and climbing – forever - wglb
http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2776-on-writing-the-1972-chouinard-catalog-that-changed-a-business-and-climbing-forever
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InclinedPlane
This was a hugely significant change in the climbing community at the time.
There was real risk involved in climbing "clean" without pitons. A piton
hammered into a granite crack is very solid protection, it's pretty
straightforward to find where to place one and to place one in a manner such
that it will hold a fall. In contrast, it takes a lot more skill and
experience (neither of which existed anywhere initially) to place a hex or a
nut correctly. And if you place them incorrectly, or even if you sling them
incorrectly, there's a very real risk they can pull out or not hold a fall.
Moreover, passive protection of this sort only works in certain kinds of rock,
some of the more popular routes at the time were cracks which were very hard
to protect.

This meant that a lot of very popular routes became a lot more dangerous to
climb cleanly. To their credit, the climbing community just accepted that and
moved on.

It wasn't until the late 70s that cams (SLCDs) were invented and clean
protection devices attained sufficient breadth to protect very nearly any
climb that could have been protected with pitons.

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fitzhume
For those that are interested in what a pin-scarred crack looks like:

[http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2555/3916660721_88390fb2f0_z....](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2555/3916660721_88390fb2f0_z.jpg)

Each one of those wider flaring sections are places where people pounded or
repounded in pitons.

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pge
If you find this interesting, Chouinard's story of the history of patagonia,
"Let my people go surfing," is a quick and interesting read on how he built
patagonia, while trying to stick to his beliefs about the environment.

~~~
neilk
Came here to say this. Every entrepreneur should read this book as it's a
great manifesto about what a business can be. How you work can (and should) be
as revolutionary as what you produce.

Here's an Amazon link -- no kickback, I just want more people to read it.

[http://www.amazon.com/Let-People-Surfing-Education-
Businessm...](http://www.amazon.com/Let-People-Surfing-Education-
Businessman/dp/0143037838/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1298248810&sr=8-1)

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6ren
What a great solution to a moral quandary: take the high road, and _sell_ it.
Of course, it needs to be a dilemma that affects the whole community, no just
you.

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neilk
Imagine, however, if Chouinard had sold his piton business to some generic
manufacturing concern. They would not have had the creativity to imagine
"clean climbing" methods, nor would they ever have been personally inspired to
keep the mountains in a pristine state.

You could tell a similar horror story about what would have happened if anyone
had bought Google in say 2001 or 2002. The ethic of "clean search results"
would probably never have become the industry standard.

~~~
InclinedPlane
Chouinard was neither the inventor nor the sole proponent of clean climbing,
merely one of the most influential. Before it swept the US climbing community
clean climbing already had a substantial history in Europe, especially in the
UK. A UK climber, Royal Robbins, for example, manufactured artificial chocks
several years before Chouinard and also pioneered clean climbing techniques in
the US.

That being said, he did have a huge impact, and it's probably for the better
that he retained personal control of the company for as long as he did.

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projectileboy
Yvon Chouinard is legendary, and not just for his gear. If you can find a copy
of "The Vertical World of Yosemite", read the piece about the first ascent of
the south face of Mount Watkins. Really, really great story.

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bdlocks
highly recommed the movie '180 degrees south' if you want more insight into
Chouinard's perspective and journey - <http://www.180south.com/trailer.html>

~~~
tastybites
My takeaway from watching is that he's incredibly self-absorbed and a total
douchebag. I had to stop watching it halfway through because the people in it
are just so absurd.

