As an 80's kid there's just something ridiculously awesome about watching old late-70's/early-80's ultra-corny instructional videos 😂❤ Regards/respect from Downunder!!
I started climbing in 1975 and I took lessons from the AMC and they charged me a dollar a day. To practice catching a leader fall they had this steel I beam they called Charlie. They would make you catch Charlie simulating a 10 to 14 foot leader fall without using any belay device. Your waste would get rope burned. From there is was the two Royal Robbins books, basic and advanced climbing. This training took me to on so many awesome adventures. I wish we had climbing gyms back then, I am sure it would have helped with my fitness. This video is awesome. Thanks
I first learned to climb about 9 years before the release of this video. It was a game changer and the only instructional video at the time. I watched it over and over and took it to heart. Safety was stressed and later on when I became a guide some parts of this were instrumental in teach in my classes in the late 80s and early 90s.
Haha, Quack climbing techniques! John Long is a bad-ass. Stones masters for sure! Thanks John Long, for everything you did for this sport that we all love. Without people like you it wouldn’t be what it is today.
"No, no, no! You need a pair of needle-nose pliers to grab that!" If I had a dollar for every time I heard that from a woman... This is great; thanks, almost a decade later, for posting it!
It was the 80s - people were yet to develop what we now know as 'embarrassing shorts shame'. This video tells their story...Some viewers may find certain scenes distressing.
Can you give specific examples of mentalities and equipment that you consider dangerous? I mean; this guy is one of the original Stonemasters, he should know his stuff...
Seat belt belay devices didn't exist at the time of the filming. In a pinch all these outdated techniques work just fine. Although catching a fall on ones hip belay won't feel good, it still works.
Not to be a jerk, but I'm not sure this is true. Fashion is fashion, who cares? What are the great technological changes? I've been out of the loop for a while, maybe you can bring me up to speed.
Biggest advancements now vs. then is in belay devices. But climbing shoes have changed a lot as well. They have become much more aggressively shaped. More difficult routes with very small foot chips require shoes with a sharper edge and often a more down-turned shape. The hi-top style shoe has also been fazed out for shoes below the ankle which allow much more flexibility of the ankle. Many shoes now have rubber on top of the toe-box for better toe hooks and a rigid, round, rubber heel for better heel hooks.
Adding to the comments below, "a wall no man can climb in a day" has now been done free solo, in under 4 hours by Alex Honnold. Previously, he broke records with protection. Always recommended, as are helmets.
It's funny how little has actually changed. Equipment has gotten shinier, but really no major new inventions since this was made. Funny enough, bouldering pads and good shoes are probably the biggest improvements.
SLCD (spring loaded camming devices) have gotten thinner, shoes more specified, and gri*gri’s (which originally was for solo climbing I believe) style belay devices, etc.... you’re right. More refined but on the same foundation. This was n 1987, and sticky rubber had only been out for 3-4 years...... and that arguably was the biggest game changer of all
David, you probably already know, Long was in on the first one-day ascent 41 years ago, just 17 years after the first ascent in 1958 which took 45 days over 18 months. The segment at 23 minutes is supposed to be comedy.
Boreal Fires were my first climbing shoes back in the early nineties. comfy for long routes. shoes have changed a lot since then. love my bent like a banana Scarpa furias. very sticky.
