• Get to know your friends…

    4 Comments »Posted in Random by Feb 26, 2011

    I frantically tried to round up some gear before heading out to Chattanooga knowing my rack would surely bag me at the T-Wall.  I sent an email and made sure to call and remind Grimmy to bring me some extra gear.  I arrived at T-wall with a handful of C4′s, nuts and some make-shift slings that had been assembled from two racks of quickdraws.  Another truck pulled in and Mike n Mike showed up to save the day.  As I gathered my gear Slimbo handed me a set of Wild Country Friends to use for the day.  At the base of the first climb I was finally racked up.  I had a skirt of shiny colored aluminum cams, so many you could barely see my harness.  I felt like I weighed about 50 lbs more than usual as I took my first step onto the bullet hard sandstone.  Ok, ok, I’m getting a little carried away.

    Anyways, by the end of the day I found myself plugging in the “Friends” before my C4′s.  They just felt so bomber I couldn’t help myself.  By the end of the weekend I had to say goodbye to my “Friends”.  Such a lonely feeling…

    When I got back I started doing some research on Cams.  Eventually I found my way to Wild Country’s website and it was there I found the free, online version of the Cam Book.  I remember flipping through the pages at Mike’s house but I was too busy stuffing my face and slamming Budweiser’s to give it a good read.  With my heightened curiosity I started to read.  This article is extremely well written and full of killer photos.  I really appreciate Wild Country writing this for all to read, for free.  The “Friend” was Ray Jardine’s baby, which turned into a revolutionary piece of gear that drastically changed climbing.  I highly recommend this read to any rock climber who gets off on the history of the sport, or would like to know the science behind the remarkable Cam.

    Matt de Camara

    Matt is 27 years old and currently lives in Boone, NC. He works as a real estate agent for Boone Real Estate, a company his dad started 12 years ago. He grew up in Boone, NC where he found his true passion in life, rock climbing. This includes bouldering, sport and trad. He started climbing about 4 or 5 years ago and plans to continue until he can’t slap another sloper. During this time he’s also developed a passion for photography/videography and started Far From Home Productions.

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Discussion 4 Responses

  1. Zachary Lesch-Huie
    February 28, 2011 at 5:47 am

    Some new friends are coming that look pretty cool: http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/news.php?id=3461 .

    There’s a profile of “The Cam” in Alpinist #33 that details a side of the story I’d never heard before: Jardine may have pulled a slight Zuckerburg with “his” idea for Friends. Greg Lowe had an idea for a cam-like device, which Jardine learned about from Lowe at a friendly gathering. At the time Lowe got Jardine to sign a “non-disclosure/non-compete agreement,” recognizing Jardine’s engineering expertise. Jardine went on to produce his camming devices. Later, after Lowe felt like Jardine violated their agreement, a lawsuit was settled out of court (this all according to Alpinist mag). Interesting, eh?

    Reply
  2. Matt Paden
    February 28, 2011 at 11:44 am

    The dark back story emerges. That is pretty interesting. Wonder how much Lowe got paid out of court? Hope it was a lot, cuz his other inventions didn’t have quite the same effect on the climbing world. Remember Lowe Balls? : http://www.camp-usa.com/products/climbing-protection/ball-nut-3.asp

    Reply
  3. Brian Payst
    February 28, 2011 at 12:56 pm

    I still have a few rigid stem friends on my rack. Some are even tied off for horizontals (the “Gunks tie-off”). Despite my new found love for Master Cams, there are places where rigid stem friends just work best. Everybody should own a 2 1/2 friend.

    Reply
  4. Matt de Camara
    March 1, 2011 at 12:21 pm

    Interesting note about Lowe and Jardine.   I tried looking up that article but couldn’t find it..

    Cool stuff Zach.

    Reply

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