[grimer]

Wow, nice to read all that Tom.

[Wood FT]

RIP, lovely words.

[SamT]

 

RIP Mark,

Agree, Nice words Tom.


My Dad knew Mark very well, from his days before Wild Country when he worked for the Peak Park.  They very much stayed in touch when Mark left to embark on the journey that was to become Wild Country. I remember being taken up to the factory in Tideswell as a nipper and being shown around.  Mark gave my dad a Friend 2, which was probably a second or a prototype, which I got stuck in a crack in a wall in Edale. My dad and his mate spent ages desperately fiddling it out, not really knowing then, the intricacies of removing an over cammed friend. 
I knew him from my days at Outside and subsequently.

My condolences to Jody and Jan.

[SA Chris]

RIP, sad for you guys' loss. I'm just halfway through reading his bio too.

[andy popp]

Thanks all, Tom and Sam in particular, for their words and memories about Mark. I went to the factory once to interview him - I found him very warm and welcoming. And to state the obvious, Wild Country had a revolutionary impact on climbing.

[Johnny Brown]

Wow Tom, never knew any of that despite you, Eve and Jodie being among the first ten climbers I met in Sheffield. There can be few climbers who've had a bigger impact than Mark. He could always add some much-needed context to area meet discussions, and was a voice people listened to. RIP.

[cowboyhat]

Not many people will be discussed on these boards who you can say made a difference to, touched all of our lives.

Appropriately one of the first names I learned of in climbing as an eleven or twelve year old was not that of Johnny, Ben, Jerry or Ron. But that of Mark Valance. He invented the Friend.


Nice words Tom. RIP.

[andy popp]

Ray Jardine invented Friends. But Mark Vallance and Wild Country played a vital role in successfully bringing them to the market, a key part of any innovation.

[andy popp]

Somewhere I have an old Mountain magazine with a great interview with Jardine, in part about his climbing (he was of course one of the top climbers of his day, doing the FA of The Phoenix etc.) as well as about inventing friends (he was an engineer in his professional life). He used to climb with the homemade prototypes on a bandolier under his shirt so that others couldn't see them. I have a vague memory of him taking the idea to American gear manufacturers and being rejected, before taking the idea to Wild Country. I have no idea if that's my memory playing tricks though.

[cowboyhat]

Ray Jardine invented Friends. But Mark Vallance and Wild Country played a vital role in successfully bringing them to the market, a key part of any innovation.

Sure, but thats what I was told / understood as a twelve year old.

[andy popp]

Sorry, I didn't mean to look like I was correcting you. I think Mark did invent Rocks though, which in their own way also had a huge impact.

[Falling Down]

Lovely words and memories Tom and Sam - RIP

[SA Chris]

Somewhere I have an old Mountain magazine with a great interview with Jardine, in part about his climbing (he was of course one of the top climbers of his day, doing the FA of The Phoenix etc.) as well as about inventing friends (he was an engineer in his professional life). He used to climb with the homemade prototypes on a bandolier under his shirt so that others couldn't see them. I have a vague memory of him taking the idea to American gear manufacturers and being rejected, before taking the idea to Wild Country. I have no idea if that's my memory playing tricks though.

https://www.v-publishing.co.uk/books/categories/biographies/wild-country.html  Well worth a read Andy, surprised if you've missed it.

[andy popp]

Thanks Chris; no, I wasn't aware of the book.

[duncan]

Tom, belated thanks for writing that.

My only contact with Mark was going to visit the old factory in Eyam in about 1980. I was rewarded with a prototype Pat Littlejohn harness, to date my only climbing sponsorship, which accompanied me on many great adventures over the next couple of years. I'm not sure what motivated him to do this and it clearly said far more about Mark than it did about me.

[remus]

There's a nice little video up from wild country, with Mark talking about the early days of the company

[Andy F]

Vinnie Paul, drummer with Pantera. 

[mrjonathanr]

Shoa director Claude Lanzmann https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jul/05/shoah-director-claude-lanzmann-dies-aged-92-holocaust

If you haven’t seen any of the film, it’s worth dipping into. I accidentally switched on when it was on TV many years ago and couldn’t switch off, it felt like the Holocaust came alive in front of my eyes. Terrible and fascinating at the same time.

[mrjonathanr]

Part 1. Have a look.

[mrjonathanr]

Shoa part 2

[duncan]

Charles Cole, reported on this super topo thread by Dean Bullwinkle Fiedelman

A considerable influence on modern climbing through 5.10 shoes and a handy climber in his day in Joshua Tree and Yosemite.  My Charles Cole story. He can’t have been much older than me 😳

[winhill]

Barry Chuckle

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear

to me, to you
to me, to who?

[cheque]

Aretha Franklin

[lagerstarfish]

never mind RIP

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

 

[shark]

My favourite: