Holubar mail order catalog, 1965-1966. Peter Lev cover shot was taken from 13,400′ during first ascent of Denali East Buttress. Click images to enlarge.
By 1965 I’d been on our fine planet for a few years, but “adult” climbing and ski mountaineering were not much more than an itch in my toes. Nonetheless I lusted after gear catalogs like I was a monastic pledge going after full membership. I wanted to be like the guys hanging from cliffs, or like the alpinist hardcores in Peter Lev’s cover shot, enjoying the view of Great Gorge of Ruth Glacier from 13,400′ on Denali during their first ascent of the East Buttress. Holubar was one of the books that stoked my fancy, I thought you guys might enjoy a few excerpts. Perhaps to jog memories, of if you’re younger, enjoy your roots.
Holubar was run by, yep, the Holubars. Back then and into the present, Boulder, Colorado was a college town with lots of outdoors people. Businesses such as Holubar were created to supply that population (though according to research the Holubar husband-wife team actually founded the business on mail order, and were thus reaching beyond Boulder from the start). Mail sales were consummated by phone, or you’d fill out an order form and mail it. I scratched out quite a few of those, turnaround was sometimes weeks, the anticipation would kill any normal teenager of today.
These were actually my first rock climbing shoes. I was so proud of them I wore them to visit family on the beach in Florida. The $15 year 1965 price is about $160 in today’s money. Expensive beach shoes.
Sorry to disappoint, but I never owned nor wore this. The double D-ring belt is actually a strong and simple way to tension a belt, though you have to thread it.
I also had a pair of the Kronhofer mountain boot, for which I’d saved many pennies from dish washing and bicycle mechanics. They really were beautiful, but during a long march they gave me such bad Achilles tendinitis I had to cut out the heel pocket with my pocket knife. My design was eventually copied by Birkenstock.
The original dedicated ski mountaineering backpack? Leather straps, steel buckles, canvas sack, what more could one want?
I’m not sure why everyone thought climbers were supposed to wear lederhosen. But you could get them at Holubar, along with “whipcord knickers” and of course an “alpine hat” complete with feather.
While one might assume Holubar was mostly an equipment importer, they were innovative in the down insulated sleeping bag space, making beautiful bags that at one time might have been the best you could get. For more about Holubar, Google is your friend, wiki here. From a business standpoint, it’s interesting the brand was bought by The North Face in 1981, perhaps indicative of the business chops that resulted in TNF becoming such a successful and long lasting outdoor brand? More, apparently some sort of effort is afoot to relaunch the brand. It’s a good, unique name, yet has little to no meaning for the current outdoor consumer demographic. But when creating a new brand you’ve got to start somewhere, and an old respected moniker can be a good foundation.
(Thanks Stan Badgett, author, climber and educator, for dropping the catalog by WildSnow HQ, it’s going into the archive.)
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
