The Scottish Mountain Heritage Collection
1274.2015.1
Jim Bridwell's Boreal Ninja Rock Boots - signed
10/11/2015
Hermione Cooper
10/11/2015
Pair of Boreal rock climbing boots once owned by Jim Bridwell
rubber, suede, elastic
27(l) x8.5(w) cms
1 pair
On both boots handwritten "JIM BRIDWELL"
"NINJA"
"BOREAL" on elastic.
"On sole " BOREAL FUSION S-2"
green, black, white
Boreal
Spain
We suspect that few British climbers will ever have heard of Jim Bridwell whereas in the American climbing world he is a legend along the lines of Raeburn and Patey in Scotland and Bonnington and Brown in England though these names too will fade from the memory as time goes by.
Jim was pretty much 'top dog' on the US climbing scene back in the 1970's, with a string of daring first ascents in the Yosemite Valley, including the first one day ascent of The Nose on El Capitan on May 26th 1975, with John Long and Billy Westbay. He went on to explore further afield in Patagonia and Alaska, always pushing standards ever higher. Born in 1944 he is still going strong as we write this in 2015.
Founder member of our collection, Mick Tighe, has a pal out in California called Art McCarthy and they swap gear from time to time. Art sent us this pair of signed boots in 2015 with the following note:-
" Jim said he used the shoes in Spain. They were given to him when he arrived there as he didn't have shoes with him. He's not "a slipper guy" but they were available. He made the cuts in the elastic to relieve pressure - guess he's still an inventor/innovator."
Not sure when he was in Spain but suspect the 1990's. Also supect that he would have autographed the boots and sold them to Art to raise some cash. One way or another we've ended up with an unusual if somewhat esoteric addition to our collection - thanks to Jim and Art.
Donated by Art McCarthy
10/11/2015
10/11/2015
Spectrum : UK Museum documentation standard, V.3.1 2007
10/11/2015