wrote in message
ps.com...

I did a lot of rock climbing and some mountaineering in the late 70s
and early 80s but soon it got to be fashionable and people started to
get really flashy gear. My old goldline wasn't cool. I took up caving
because it could never become fashionable (and due the obsession with
discovery). Cavers are always covered with mud and grunge so there is
no way to get good ad photos of cavers so gear couldnt get cool. We
used old seatbelt webbing to make our own harnessess, made our own
prusiks and most other climbing gear. My only concession to store
bought gear was a rack from Bob and Bob. Used old carbide lamps. For
boots we bought surplus jungle boots cuz in our grungy caves they would
last about a year only. The best packs were (and still are) surplus
army gas mask bags modified with fastek closures. We'd pool our money
to buy rope. Once bought 1500' of rope to do Golundrinas, had to wash
it to get the waxy stuff offa it (it'd be "too fast" otherwise) and you
shoulda seen the looks at the laundramat.
I'd re-use my "cave clothes" but would have to spread it all out in the
parking lot and hose it down with a huge red stain of mud running down
the street, people would just go by and stare and wonder. My friend
Frank would get his cave clothes by raiding dumpsters behind frat
houses and would show up at the cave in loose disco outfits. After a
trip he'd dump them in a moldering pile outside that was 3' high.


I know what you mean. When climbing went into the pink tights phase my
friends and I went retro. Wool knicker, cutting steps, WWI googles etc, etc.
My friend still does it and he gets stares. I go for the lighter stuff and
carry as little as possible. I still get a reaction whenever I use an old
cycling helmet for climbing. One time we were downclimbing the Grand Teton
in the dark. I was much faster than my partner at down climbing so I reached
the lower saddle nearly an hour before he did. I was standing with a bunch
of other climbers chatting. Up on the Grand you could hear my friend
stumbling and rocks crashing. A number of people in our little chat group
had headlamps and they were on. One of them asked, "Why isn't your friend
using a headlamp?" So I yelled up to him, "Why don't you use your headlamp?"
The reply bellowed from the mountain: " Headlamps are for pussies!"
Immediately, everyone in the group turned off their headlamps. I'm sure that
from that incident alone mountaineering was kept in its glorious golden
years for at least a few more months.