[pct-l] REI and MSR in the past

[campydog at earthlink.net (campy)]

Talk of the early REI launched pleasant memories. I used to have a
contract with Boeing so I'd fly up to Seattle and in those days, with a
climbing pack checked as baggage, I preferred to carry my ice axe aboard
the plane, which was ok then. This item once pleasantly drew the
attention of a stewardess to the empty seat next to me for questions and
discussion. After five such trips, each with the hope of climbing Mt
Rainier, my visits to REI had to come to an end with the completion of
Boeing's contract, and I never did climb Rainer since I had always timed
my visits to occur during a storm.

Reminding you all that it wasn't only the big old REI store on that
street. Diagonally across from the REI entrance for quite awhile there
was Larry Penberthy, who teasingly rented the old street level office
building there to compete with REI. He founded Mountain Safety Research,
designed his sometimes strange climbing gear (his "Ice Beak"!?!), and of
course he was responsible for the revolutionary MSR white gas stoves. I
finally came into a post-Svea 123 period with his model X-GK, which I
still use. Yes, Larry was an opiniated man. He used to stand at the base
of Mt Rainer to hand out Rolaids to hikers and take data on whether
these reduced the occurrence of Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS). He issued
newsletters to subscribers and when he wrote about his "medical"
experiment, he had doctor-climbers land on his theories like a duck on a
June bug. And I saved those newsletters and, by golly, I think I'll read
them again! To, for example, refresh on his little "war" with Magnussen,
specifically, and REI in general for things like the weakness of the
wooden shafts of the ice axes of the period. At this time in REI's
existence, REI sold unproven climbing gear - they didn't test ice axes
or crampons for strength at all until Larry Penberthy came along. Larry
created test standards for shaft strength, and proved that he could make
stronger ice axes using extruded oval aluminum for the shafts. In fact
he revolutionized the industry; before him, no manufacturer (almost all
European then) would resort to a "crude" welded ice axe head rather than
a beautiful forged one, or an aluminum shaft, or even a mild steel spike
rather than a high carbon one (Because mild steel doesn't slide away as
easily on a rock). Larry was a serious engineer and derived his primary
income from aerospace manufacturing. He pioneered the manufacturing
processs which produced fluidized bed weldments. He conducted his
climbing gear manufacturing, testing, and initially also sales at his
Penberthy Engineering plant in South Seattle; his MSR was really only an
interesting diversion for him. I also monitored a contract with
Penberthy for the Navy at that time.

As you probably know, REI eventually bought out MSR, and that name
carries on.

Campy
REI Member No. 58143
--
Campy
Central California Trail Coordinator
"Home of the High Sierra Trail Gorillas"
Pacific Crest Trail Association
Bishop CA Tel.: 760-872-2338
Email: campy@trailprojects.com
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