....... KARABIN CLIMBING MUSEUM .......
--- Click photos to link to pages ---
The best way I can describe the Karabin Climbing Museum is that its not that I found the climbing world, its more like the climbing world found me. The gear somehow multiplies by itself as I sit still and witness one amazing coincidence after another as the historical gear finds preserving rest in my hands. Huge THANKS to everybody who donated and believes in my museum quest!!! This website is presently and forever under construction.
Climbing Gear
Museum Displays |
Museum at the Phoenix Rock Gym
Links to other museums |
The greatest enjoyment of collecting climbing gear is the research on when the piece of gear was actually created. Just because a piece of gear is shown in a manufacturers catalog does not prove when the gear was first manufactured. Also some pieces of gear shown in catalogs differ than the final pieces that were eventually offered to the public.
Question: Do you list the gear date as when it was first created? When the gear was first shown? Or when the gear was first offered to the public for sale? Many pieces of gear were created then tested for years before being offered to the public. The Omega Pacific Link Cam and the Metolius BRD device were shown in their catalogs three years before they became available to the public. I have been to many outdoor product trade shows where new climbing gear was shown and available eight months before the gear was first shown in the following year manufacturers catalogs.
On the other end of placing a date on gear, LONGware products were shown for sale in the later 1960s Ski Hut catalogs even though LONGware ended their company in 1963. The Ski Hut catalogs were simply selling off left over surplus items. Final thoughts is that museums do the best they can to dial in the correct year dates on the climbing gear creations.
Question: Do you list the gear date as when it was first created? When the gear was first shown? Or when the gear was first offered to the public for sale? Many pieces of gear were created then tested for years before being offered to the public. The Omega Pacific Link Cam and the Metolius BRD device were shown in their catalogs three years before they became available to the public. I have been to many outdoor product trade shows where new climbing gear was shown and available eight months before the gear was first shown in the following year manufacturers catalogs.
On the other end of placing a date on gear, LONGware products were shown for sale in the later 1960s Ski Hut catalogs even though LONGware ended their company in 1963. The Ski Hut catalogs were simply selling off left over surplus items. Final thoughts is that museums do the best they can to dial in the correct year dates on the climbing gear creations.