1972 Chouinard Catalog, signed by Yvon Chouinard, vintage climbing, VERY RARE

Description

This is one of the most significant publications in climbing history. It quite literally changed the direction of rock climbing in North America. Prior to 1972, a few chocks were trickling across the pond from the UK but acceptance was low. When the "Watercolor" catalog introduced Hexcentrics and Stoppers, it changed everything practically overnight.
Doug Robinson’s “The Whole Natural Art of Protection,” the seminal essay that lays out case for switching from pounding pitons to placing chocks--and explains how, opens with this:
"There is a word for it and the word is clean. Climbing with only nuts and runners for protection is clean climbing. Clean because the rock is left unaltered by the passing climber. Clean because nothing is hammered into the rock and then hammered back out, leaving the rock scarred and the next climber’s experience less natural. Clean because the climber’s protection leaves little track of his ascension. Clean is climbing the rock without changing it; a step closer to organic climbing for the natural man."
This particular 1972 catalog is in superb condition. By the single-column price list page with the price increase
stamp, this was produced between March and June, which makes this one of the very earliest catalogs available. [The 73's and 74's had a double-column list with dates and the boots changed from Klocker to other brands.]
On the back cover, there is a stamp showing it was handed out by Holubar Mountaineering in Boulder, CO. Somebody inked out the "One Dollar" price on the inside cover. The only flaw I can detect is at the top right corner, it looks like a number was written and then colored over with a close match to the paper. Everything else is flawless and museum worthy.
As shown in the photo, it was signed by Yvon at the 2000 Banff Summit Festival after his slide show. The authentic signature is
just below the photo, the lower ones are printed in the catalog.
This sale includes a Certificate of Authenticity that will have the buyer's (or giftee's)
name
.
Some background on the how important this was to the climbing world:
Mountaineer and photographer Galen Rowell reviewed the catalog in the 1973 American Alpine Journal, writing:
"What is a commercial catalog doing in the book review section? It contains more information on the ethics and style of modern climbing than any other publication in our language."
According to climber-purist Steve Grossman:
"Another thing that really affected me ethically early on was the 1972 Chouinard climbing catalog. It made a strong push for clean climbing in terms of free protection and people relying less on hammered protection. It had a lot of affect on everybody pretty much in climbing at the time in a way that’s really unparalleled.
It laid out the ethics of British rock climbing. You have a small island with a fairly finite amount of rock and a lot of heavy use. They really, in contrast to what was happening in the rest of Europe, developed a low impact ethic. It allowed their routes to see heavy traffic and minimal damage. The big push was toward that same kind of ethic.
Fortunately, at the same time, Chouinard Equipment came out with hexes and stoppers, equipment that made all that kind of low-impact climbing possible. Prior to those innovations, the kind of nuts that were available out there were just not really all that effective. The synergy of that catalog pushing that ethic and equipment that was being produced revolutionized climbing as we know it. Thinking about it now, had that not happened, and had people continued to pound pins and bust flakes off and scar and damage rock, things would be much uglier out there. It’s really pretty horrifying what would have gone on if that revolution hadn’t happened.”
David Breashears, the legendary climber/mountaineer and IMAX photographer, writes:
"Another serious influence on my developing style came via the Chouinard climbing equipment catalogue of 1972, a slender publication with a Chinese landscape painting on the cover. Its author, the revered rock and ice climber Yvon Chouinard, called for "clean" climbing, proposing that climbers disavow pitons and bolts that scarred or otherwise altered rock. Instead, he advocated the use of metal nuts of various shapes and sizes which slotted into cracks without damage to the rock and could be recovered by the second climber on a rope. He reminded readers of the edict of John Muir, the late-nineteenth-century poet-environmentalist: 'Leave no mark except your shadow.'
This ethic of purism and self-control made a profound impact on the climbing community - and on me as well."