The American in Sisteron - France

The American had been living in France for 20 years and ran a climbing shop in Sisteron called “The Blue Light”. We were recommended the shop from our friend Dennis for cheap and quality gear. There is no way we would have come across it without his recommendation and without having found a particularly detailed map and also asked directions. It is in the back lanes of Sisteron, a medieval fortified village in Provence where there are houses on top of houses, and the lanes all look the same.

Our conversation with the American began in French. Nic with his Britton accent, the American with his American accent, and me with my Australian accent and very few words... until I mentioned that it woud be nice and easier perhaps if we could all speak in English. We had come there particularly because Nics Anasazi 5 10 climbing shoes had been falling apart. They had holes in the rubber on the bottom of the shoe and on the toe; velcro that was too worn and didn’t do up properly and stiching that was ripping apart. He kinda needed new ones. He explained this to the American who was only too ready to share with us his opinion on how shit 5 10s were and how shit in fact most climbing shoes were. Typical American I thought; opinionated... lacking in substance....and Nic though the same... *sepo.

5 10s (a US shoe) are Korean crap he said. They used to be made in the US, but now they are mostly made in Korea, only the finishing touches are done in the US, and even what they do is crap he said. How much do you pay for them in Australia ...what!? 100 euro! Its so stupid; they get sent all the way from Korea to the US and then back to Australia. Crazy! He said. When he went to the 5 10 factory in the US the quality manager didn’t even know where the production room was...so that is why, he said he no longer stocks 5 10s.

And La Sportiva (an Italian shoe) he said, reluctantly were good, but way too expensive for what they are and not worth stocking. And Bolderinis (a French made shoe) were good, very good in fact and he even had some in stock, but they were also not worth stocking. That was because Andrea (Bolderini ) lied to him. Andrea had said that there was a special synthetic on the sole of his shoes which is very pricey but useful in a climbing shoe as it doesn’t stretch as much as leather, but in fact he was really using leather. The American had discovered it when he was working on some resoling; and had approached Andrea who admitted the lie. So, he said, he was was no longer going to stock Bolderinis.

So that left the American with not much stock.... ; the Tenaya and Boreal (Spanish shoes). But he did promise us that anything in his store (there was hardly anything there) would be cheaper than anything anywhere in the world! It was hard not to be a bit standoffish. Who was this American to be telling us that 5 10s were crap? Plenty of top climbers used them, and they worked well for us too. And how could he get better prices than any other distributer; bullshit!

But after talking shoes we began checking out his belay devices, as mine is twisting the rope and making it very annoying when trying to feed it through. I took one curious look at this strange device and he caught my eye. Its a Diablo he said; its something I invented. What!? How much crap do we put up with, I thought?! But then, the American was all too willing to go through the way he had developed the device, and all the different ways it could be used. How it improved on the gri gri in that it was auto locking but would lock whether you pulled up or down, how it could be used to belay 2 people quite easily, how you could use it to rap down, how it was particularly efficient in its feeding method and so on and so on. After developing the Diablo, he had sold the design to Edelweiss and it was now in mass production, but demand is still very high. Nic and I became intrigued. After that I couldn’t help but ask if he had put his mind to improving other climbing equipment, or developing other new devices ... and didn’t he like to talk!

After the Diablo came the stick clip drawer, which is going to be released by Beal. Very simple, but it elliminates the need to look around for some sticks to shove in your drawer to make the first clip, or any other clip for that matter. It is the size of a normal drawer, but auto clips itself. Inside the sling is a tube of aluminum which can be bent any which way to give you adequate reach to the next clip. Oh, it is a dream come true for someone like me who hates doing hard moves metres above the last bolt; particularly in Ceuse. I think Nic thinks its a bit like cheating, but I dont mind.

After the stick clip drawer came the “stick it,” a replacement for chalk which he invented for Beal. It is an oil which you rub onto your fingers and, amazingly, stops your fingers from sweating. No reactions have been documented, it smells great, and your fingers feel as though they could grip things all day. Indeed when you first put it on, it feels like you could stick to anything; spiderman fingers. Unbelievable!

Then there is the 50 gram aid climbing device. .... oh, he loved to talk.... and I’m sure I could go on now too....

Anyway, we bought every invention in sight, and even though we now agreed that the 5 10s were crap, after realising that no other shoes really fit Nic that his foot is moulded to 5 10s, and that the American was not just an opinionated sepo but rather a genious inventor and shoe revitaliser, we gave him Nic’s old shoes for a resole with Bolderini rubber which he still swears by (even though Andrea lied to him). The shoes now have a new life, and I have lots of new inventions. Yay!

*Sepo – septic tank – American.