UKH

Seeing in a thread with 'troll' in the title made me wonder what other climbing brands no longer exist...

I came up with:

S7

Pusher

HB

Jrat

there must be many more

CCH

Snowdon Mouldings

Mountain Technology

McInnes Peck

Chouinard?

Chouinard ??? Are you sure ?

No, hence the ?

There  was a Troll connected product called Parba.

Chouinard doesn't exist and hasn't since about 1991. Do you not know the story? Yvon Chouinard wound up the company after a lawsuit in order to protect Patagonia. The climbing equipment manufacturing assets were bought out by staff and management and became black diamond.

Kamet rock shoes. Cairngorm Ropes, Marlow Ropes (at least as a maker of climbing ropes). Phoenix. Ultimate. Litchfield. Karrimor - sort of.

Clog

MOAC

Interalp

Point Five duvets

Ultimate Equipment

Peck?

Ralling Axes?

Wintergear

Faces

Berghaus (IMO)

Think Pink

Lawries Boots (before my time)

Slioch

Think Pink's slogan always bugged me:

"Think Pink was born in Yosemite National Park to relax your mind and understand nature"

Think Pink was born to (...) understand nature? How can a brand name do that? 

Franklin climbing

Robert Lawrie boots.

My parents gave me a Point Five Zero sleeping bag in 1977 and it has given me many many years of good use. Still going strong despite having been washed once.

What became of Galibier? Any ideas?

Javlin 

North Cape

TOG 24

Wild Country. #salewagate

I was about to say Mad Rock but I think I have things the wrong way round, Mad Rock still exists yes? And was founded by people who had worked at some brand that became defunct but what was THAT brand? Probably a big one already mentioned upthread

You can still buy Superguides - see eg https://www.auvieuxcampeur.fr/super-guide-19.html

Not sure if its the same company making them but they look the same & are just as heavy as I remember

Does Viamont count or were they only a reseller which occasionally rebranded?

Crikey, thanks Doug. How times change -1290g per boot!

TOG 24 still going, though more a fashion brand now.

A5 (bought by TNF I believe)

Easton Mountain Products

Saunders (not a climbing brand per se but then nor was Phoenix)

Faces ☹

Also still using my lightline point five bag, it's in great condition not bad for 50 years of service.

GoLite, the company that made bin liners stitched to cheese wires disguised as backpacks. I understand somebody has bought the logo and turned it into an outdoor fashion brand.

POD comes to mind

Hawkins thank god

Little Pink Claire

Yes, Black Diamond used to put the Chouinard symbol (a C inside a diamond) on their kit, I suppose as a homage to their former company. They stopped putting this mark on quite a while back, maybe 15-20 years ago?

Lucky

Line 7 boots, taken over by Aigle.

I thought they stopped using the C when it actually became BD? But come to think of it,  my second harness was an Alpine Bod that I found in on sale in New Zealand in 1992 and I think it had the C but also a BD label, so yeah maybe it crossed over for a bit! Perhaps they were just using up pre-bought labels!

It was marked on the metal (I have an original BD ATC that has it, and have seen it on ice screws) alongside 'Black Diamond' or 'BD USA' so it was an intentional decision to use it. I don't know about it being on soft goods/labels. I think I read somewhere the reason for it no longer being used, I'm sure some Googling would unearth the reason. 

Fires?

Fires were a style not a brand. They were made by Boreal.

Oooooo controversial 

I had a pair of their early ones (I think) and they were rubbish. Kinky and wore out in no time.

Stone Monkey* and Fat Sloper Action.

*I think this counts, it was owned by DMM but sold on its own name. I believe production stopped due to claims of ownership of the name by a very talented but not very tall climber who featured in a film of the same name.

Zero G

New Alp

Extremities

Outdoor Designs

Wired Bliss

This was a load of marketing tosh, Think Pink was in fact started and is still owned by the Italian people who own Tecnica, Dolomite and Lowa. 

Cordless 

Millarmit gloves

Fairy Down

Anyone remember Rock Designs?

Also, various magazine titles could easily be classed as climbing brands: Mountain, On the Edge, High, Rock Action, The Thing (getting really esoteric now!)

RP

(RIP)

The 'c' is still there, just stylized. See the below images, the cut through the main diamond is homage to the 'c'. 

ogo&client=ms-android-sonymobile-rev1&prmd=sivn&hl=en-GB&ved=2ahUKEwiksriw0cLmAhUB-4UKHSl7CDIQ4lYoAXoECAEQCw&biw=360&bih=592" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" id="guid-5dfbe9556c00c" class="counterlink">https://www.google.com/search?q=black+diamond+climbing&tbm=isch&hl=...

Thank God you mentioned MOAC early in the thread... rack of the Gods... 

Rd's were made by Richard Pontvert who now trade under the name of Paraboot.  They also made some fine alpine rock boots sold as Terray Saussois.  As I remember they started to opt out of the mountaineering market when the plastic Koflach ultras became popular

Troll still exist! Based in North Yorkshire. Still sell onmis etc. Great little company. 

Nothing wrong with Hawkins - I did Main Wall on Cyrn las and walked the Pennine Way in the same pair while at school (though I dont miss the blisters!)

Got a few copies of that somewhere!

Outdoor designs and extremities still in business making gloves / socks etc.....

Hiatt krabs and possibly other hardware.

Viking ropes

Davek made an early (first?) and pre-Whillans sit harness

Forrest Mountaineering (Titons/Copperheads)

Viking ropes seem to still be around (as paracord , not the full weight rope I first spent my pocket money on)

My mistake - thought they had both been swallowed up by their owner brands...

Thats entirely possible - most of the brands we see in the shops now are just imported stuff - i dont work in the industry these days so have lost track a bit; there is a possibility that some of the brands are like karrimor in that they the same in name only. I only know about extremities because i bought a pair of gloves a couple of months ago!

Just looking at Outdoor designs - the only website I can find seems to suggest it's now based in the US? Maybe Equip Outdoor sold them on? I guess having Rab as well it probably didn't make sense for them anymore... all the gear is named with american sounding names...

Pierre Allain.

I should also have asked: were any of them any good? I liked pusher holds, and HB offsets

That would make sense - I didnt read much of the website yesterday; it does seem to have a very limited range, and be american,; it just had the same logo and name.

At the back of a wardrobe I think I could find a pair of "Wintergear" tracksuit bottoms, like Ronhills but heavier duty fabric, I still wear them in winter on my bike. Also from the same company I bought a glove "system", waterproof outer mitten, fibre pile inner mitt and a thin but probably not silk glove inside that, now sadly lost but at the time a godsend for someone like me who suffers from cold hands. I more than likely bought them from a "Field & Trek" mail order catalogue. Didn't Wintergear evolve in something bigger like Rohan?

We have some Marlow ropes at work for height safety. 

I also used to have a pair of the mitts - fantastic product. Their tents were very impressive too.

With regard to the company Wintergear were bought out by Wild Country in the mid 80s.

I have still got a Wintergear Kennel tent. Single skin Goretex with a three hoop at the front. Bought sometime in the early 1980's.

Edit: http://www.outdoorinov8.com/compassbrands.html

lots of old brands.

 I only used full weight hawser laid ropes for a short time (apart from polyprop top roping at Harrison’s). I have one of the Viking booklets, by Tarbuck, on using them and they did hold runnerless leader falls (ie our factor 2) with waist belay…in fact it recommended everyone practising their use in this way with a weighted sack and showed frames from of a film of such a fall. These days I think DAV and CAI say a plate/tube device is unlikely to hold a severe F2 and one wonders if it was the “bumpy”surface of the rope vs smooth and possibly  thinner kernmantel, the stiffness, or even  the belay method that was superior in arresting a fall. Is this trolling on my part (apparently troll still exists)?  

I remember eyeing those up, along with the Sapphire. Does it still see any use?

By the time I'd saved my pennies Wild Country were in control and I ended up with a Quasar.

I also still have a Wintergear fibre pile jacket - gave Marion a bit of a surprise at a recent NLMC meet...

I still have an excellent 3-person Wintergear tent (like a big Quasar), a chalkbag, and an outrageous pair of  multicolour stripey Lycra tights that get worn to celebrate parkrun milestones and fancy-dress runs. Used to run into Ben and Marion regularly on the crags but it was only a nodding acquaintance.

I have a black diamond rucksack which is Chouinard marked from the mid 90s. Amazing and unkillable- entirely made from Cordura.

James

I suspect the effectiveness of waste belays has diminished as people generally wear light synthetic clothing now.

Is that in that belay is a total waste of time.

Been mentioned already but I seem to remember that I had a Wintergear Goretex jacket with a pile inner OR was that some other make?

Point Five had another name didn't they? I can't remember it...

Though I do still have a Point Five  Freney duvet jacket in ripstop Goretex from 1981. Used to have a .5 Roaring Forties sleeping bag too ( in fetching aubergine and lemon)

Bantons of Nottingham 

i remember it being rumored that Tony Jones used to run a belaying course at Ogwen Cottage where people were subjected to the experience of braking such a fall with a waist belay and a tractor tyre as load. I always wondered if they meant front or rear tyre.

Bantons- thanks. Are they still on the go?

The fabric products were marked as well, then - interesting. Is this with the C-in-a-diamond, along with Black Diamond or BD USA?

In reply to MJAngry: thanks for pointing that out, I had seen BD's earlier design which is similar but slightly less-stylised than the current one but hadn't noticed the reference to the older Chouinard mark - it's very subtle. I'm assuming that neither this (nor the previous symbol) appear on any metalwork, unlike the older mark which directly referenced Chouinard. Not a big deal, either way.

Must admit, I don't know what marks went on what, but I do like the fact they have kept the nod to Chouinard. 

A large tractor tyre is apparently at least 28 stone, so I assume front tyre unless course run by sadists. 

No idea, just saw it in a 1969 edition of Mountain magazine.

Charlet Moser.

Bought out by Petzl. Axes and crampons were branded Petzl/Charlet for a while but now all branded Petzl.

<sniff> Reminds me of my first rack, a set of MOAC nuts and three big hexes <dabs nostalgic tear from eye>

The name is still alive but it's used by Planet X for bike packing gear. Quite why you would buy a brand then move it to a totally different product market is beyond me. 

I didn't know about the Patagonia / Black diamond history, reading on their websites though gives two different views on the split. 

Yep, I went into planet x near meadowhall a few years ago and they had a box of all the old pod gear. I bought about 20 Chalkbags and about 20 guidebook covers, and now have a lifetimes supply  

Winfield plimsols (made by Woolworths) for HVS+ climbs

Croft?

epigas

daimor

mardale

mountain range (had some nice overtousers by them)

So did mine a little before that. Took me along to buy it in a climbing shop in The (old?) Brompton Road. (The name escapes me?).

They asked me repeated if I needed a bag that good as it was over £10 which was a lot to lavish on someone's 18 birthday present. It's worked out at about 1p per good night's sleep.

That sort of thing was certainly popular at the time. I know for certain that Klaus Swartz used to 'educate' his climbing course students about the 'challenges' of holding a big fall on a waste belay with a similar arrangement on the fire escape at the Loch Eil centre.

Klaus was an early exponent (and seller) of the Sticht Plate. Once most people had experienced holding a high Fall Factor drop (even with a heavy canvas anorak and welder's gloves) they were only too pleased to hand over the cash for a belay plate.

Joe Brown surely, the helmet and balaclava used to be ubiquitous. 

Also Compton as in helmet with chin piece. 

Compton and AGV still produce motorcycle helmets and other gear I think.

Forged by Gods (or Dragons) in Wales... very useful on Grit... (funny that!)... Devine intervention? Or, for size 2 on cord... ‘Though she be small, she be fierce...’ 

Yep - shame on 'em.

Back to the OP - the best climbing brand name ever: 'Dolt'

Murray Hamilton rucksacks. Am sure that there are still a few out there going strong. 

I haven't used it for more than 20 years. However, I got it out and pitched it the other day and it seems OK. Maybe try it for a bivvy walk.

mega grip  bouldering mats ?

Bear Essentials -  I have one of their bum bags still.  It was the precursor to Aiguille Alpine Equipment which is happily marching on.

Were these made by Scottish Mountain Gear (branded as MH) and then SMG continued to make them under their own name? I had an SMG Cuillin and it was very similar to a friend's MH rucksack.

I see that SMG still make Cuillin rucksacks and am surprised that they don't seem to get mentioned much as they seem to be the classic, robust, clean-lined design that works well and that many seem to like (still available in a 1990s' purple option, I see) - good to see a UK- manufactured bag alongside Aguille Alpine who seem to be mentioned often on here.

What about Caravan rucsacs. To go with my Troll baselayer fleece trousers and small hex on wire.

Andy comes down the Works fairly regularly, so yes I do remember Rock Designs.

Wow, yes. I used to have a Caravan "Thor" sleeping bag. Badged Joe Brown if I remember correctly.

not sure if anyone has mentioned it yet (haven’t read the entire thread) but I still have a very useable Snowdon  Mouldings ‘curver’ ice axe. The ferrule has been ground down to a very short one but that’s the only flaw.

Quite possibly. They worked great with the donkey jacket I used to wear. Pre-descendeur abseils were also comfortable.

Scott Karabiners?

Cassin pegs? (2/9d each for the blades, as I remember)

Slightly off-subject, I see Stubai are still making gear but you hardly ever see or hear of it  it in this country, even though it is sold. A massively important brand in its time. The big steel screw gates that we once used to clip onto our waist belts were either Hiatt or Stubai.

This is a bit obscure... Can anyone remember the name of Bob Drury’s clothing company circa 1988 or so? I bought a lurid pink fleece from him in Llanberis. I recall visiting his ‘factory’ and buying the fleece direct from him rather than from a shop.

My uncle had a Point zero sleeping bag in his climbing gear. That is one of a kind i used it once but cant find the same brand again.

Didn’t S7 just morph in to Moon, or is it more complicated than that?

Something like that. But that is the case with a lot the brands mentioned here. 

Was the company called "Serac"? I had a simple wind/shower proof from them about then

It may we’ll have been. I can’t remember the name or any logo but I can remember buying the fleece like it’s yesterday. 

Got a bunch of think pink bits at a vintage kilo sale in Bristol recently! So funky. 

Check out the Patagonia book ‘let my people go surfing’ excellent inspiring read and it’s explained in there (the books nothing to do with surfing) 

A chain store of outdoor clothing called ‘Khatmandu’ 

Their Merinho wool socks were my favourite and lasted years. The company Closed down around 5 years ago. 

Salewa's got nothing to do with Wild Country?!

They do. As in Salewa owns WC

As HeMa said...

https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/press/wild_country_bought_by_salewa-4420

All part of the Oberalp group now, who also own Evolv, and Dynofit.

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2019/06/25/1873864/0/en/OBERALP-...

Not only do they own Wild Country, but they shut down the Tideswell base less than 2 years after taking over the company and fired everyone that didn't want to move to Italy (as I understand it). 

As a result the company that invented the cam basically doesn't exist anymore except as a face for the products they already made (again, as I understand it). 

No they dont, Oberalp own Wild Country.

Yep, Dynafit btw.

But all 5 brands they own and the host they distribute around Europe doesnt mean that Salewa and WC are the same thing.

They didn't fire anybody actually. Redundancy was offered. They moved the company to Italy as Oberalp felt this was the best move for the company.

The company has a new distributor in the UK and with the new products hitting the market in 2020, u including the new Zero Friends, the company is most certainly not dead.

To be honest I think regardless of the correct employment law terminology (fired/made redundant) in layman's terms the point MischaHY is making still stands; that people who were working for a UK based company were unable to continue their employment after the new owners moved operations overseas.

I'm really keen to see what 2020 brings, my micro cams are the old zeros, which I really rate. However there is a theme with the brands mentioned above, those that still exist, but not in their original form are seen as less valuable than when they were stand alone brands run by climbers for climbers.

The challenge for the brand WC and the umbrella company is to convince consumers that this is still the case for them.... a brand for climbers, not a brand to make money from climbers. This marketing is really subtle and some really get it (DMM for example). The change of ownership and the upset it has caused (perceived or real) gives the brand a bit of a knock.

Allan Austin? I have an ancient set of gaiters made by them, early 90s, which I still SE occasionally. Whilst his shop is, I think, still exant, not so his own brand stuff.

I can only assume it made sense to Oberalp to do so. I dont know the reasons behind them closing down Tideswell.

As a company Oberalp has a very strong brand portfolio with a strong reputation of climbers and mountaineers. They just want to make great kit and get people using it!

As far as I'm concerned they failed in that when they stopped re-slinging their cams (regardless of how new and shiny they might otherwise be).  Wherever they outsource the bulk of the manufacturing to, a gear company is not a proper gear company if they can't at least do a basic repair themselves on their own premises.

I recollect having a couple of crabs stamped with ‘WD’ back in the early days...

May be if they had kept up with the modern cam design brought out by BD, they would have lasted longer. Obviously there are patents to work around but at the end of the day BD got the modern design out first. WC rested on their laurels and got overtaken. Then when they did bring out a modern design, it still wasn’t very good!

My  old harness was a Joe brown one.  Interesting to abseil on.

Stood for 'weighed down'.

We've been here before you and I. Salewa and Wild Country have shared resources ever since WC were bought by Oberalp. They operated from the same building in Bolzano, had the same R&D director Egon Resch, worked under the same conditions in terms of operational practice as Salewa and internally things were very much run by Salewa personnel. First distribution was moved to Italy because Oberalp is effectively a distribution company so it made sense. Then Martin Atkinson left - it was a "redundancy". Then Jason Myers, then Ritchie Patterson and somewhere closer to the end Steve Foster and Neil Preston. Then they decided to move it lock stock and barrel - last I heard theR&D was being operated out of Montebelluna being run in the same premises and by the same people as Salewa Footwear R&D, James the sole remaining UK engineer was offered a transfer but decided not to move his life out to Italy. The sole UK personnel who was moved now no longer works for them. So, you can flap your arms all you want, WC in the form it was a few years ago IS dead. No UK Personnel or base, I know you are pleased to work for the UK Distributor and I hope it goes well for you, but from the perspective of an ex-contractor of theirs, from the moment I got in the place what I saw was gross mismanagement by the Oberalp/Salewa paymasters.

In my opinion what they (Oberalp) want above all else is to make money and hardware is notoriously difficult to make money out of. That's why everything was moved - so they didn't have to pay for extra personnel, premises etc.. And if you want to talk about continued mismanagement, all you have to do is walk into any Oberalp owned shop. The selection and presentation of WC kit when I last walked into the Bolzano flagship store was utterly dismal - I found a better selection in my local climbing shop down the road in Cenchenigue which is tiny and only 2 hours drive from Bolzano. The same goes for Salewa shops which stock plenty of Dynafit kit and Pomoca. Go into Sportler, owned and run by another part of the Oberrauch family and you'll find hardly any gear - again in Bolzano I found 3 pieces of Wildcountry hardware on the shelves, both massively out of date, old stock. If you can't even manage to persuade your own family to stock your brand, what is the point? I am personally gutted that this is the case, the brand is absolutely iconic and aspirational but I wish they would let it go and let someone with genuine interest run the brand.

It's a shame you feel that way and I would have thought if you genuinely loved Wild Country the brand then you would be supportive of it whoever owned or distributed it.

The last few years of Wild Countrys life have been mis-managed, It's been floundering long before Oberalp came into the picture.

Egon isn't actually the brains behind any of the new THW due out SS20 as he's just focusing on Salewa. There is an entire new team of WC in Bolzano. Ye its a shame a British brand sold out and moved abroad but at least there is finally, new product on it's way which will only help build it back up. 

I'll admit that recently it's been short of supply even it's own stores but stock levels have been weak the last year as manufacturing has been moving around. I've been assured that stock levels will be higher and consistent going forwards. 

Of course Oberalp want to make money, that's how a business works. But knowing the guys that work there they are very much focused on kit, and using it in the mountains.

Is it such a bad thing that it's no longer in the UK? Yes and no. As I've said there is a whole new team in Bolzano just for WC. Brand Manager, tech hardware guy marketing etc etc. We can only give them a chance.

And yes, bar the patronising tone, I'm very pleased, and proud, to work for the UK distributor because I believe that WC hardware is worth the money and is good, solid product.

CLOG  (I think)

I WAS supportive of Wild Country for a very very long time. Massively so. I worked immensely hard to help them bring good new product to market. But I also watched as the guys at the brand were systematically picked off one by one, including myself. I think I've made it no secret that I supported what Wild Country did for a very long time, despite what I know was going on behind the scenes. I sincerely hope that the way Oberalp runs the company is running the brand has changed, but my observations are from this summer. Sure, any business can run into supply issues, but really? A company as large as Oberalp? How did they manage it? You might feel I'm being patronising, I'm not, I've just seen what has happened under their control and you might like to lay the blame at the previous managements door, but that doesn't negate the simple fact that they had 5 years to turn the business round, and that it went from an asset value of 800K in the black to 2.5M in the red before accounts were moved overseas. In amongst the members who have now left are massively talented individuals with decades of experience in manufacturing, design, quality control, product development etc.. It's a great shame that those people are gone, along with a loss of technical knowledge about those products which could have continued the strong heritage.

If you mean this place - https://www.kathmandu.co.uk - then they are still definitely trading.

Generally fairly crappy stuff - the Oz/NZ equivalent of the UK's 'Mountain Warehouse'.

Oh, and like Allied Carpets, they are always having a sale ...