Yvon Chouinard

Yvon Chouinard (born 1938 in Maine) is a rock climber, environmentalist and outdoor industry businessman, noted for his contributions to climbing, climbing equipment and the outdoor gear business.

Chouinard is also a surfer, kayaker, falconer and fisherman. He is a writer, first on climbing issues and ethics, and more lately on mixing environmentalism and sound business practice in the concept of a slow company.

Early life

Chouinard's father was a French-Canadian blacksmith, a vocation Yvon would eventually take up himself. In 1946, he and his family moved from Maine to Southern California. His early climbing partners included Royal Robbins and Tom Frost. [http://outside.away.com/outside/features/200510/yvon-chouinard-2.html Yvon Chouinard, | Outside Online ] ] . A Sierra Club member, in his youth he founded the Southern California Falconry Club, and it was his investigations of falcon aeries that led him to rock climbing.To save money, he decided to make his own climbing tools using his blacksmithing background, and eventually started a business. [http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?ISBN=1594200726&z=y Publishers note ]

In 1971, Chouinard met and married his wife, Malinda Pennoyer, who was an art and home economics student at California State University, Fresno.

Yosemite rock climber to leading alpinist

Chouinard was one of the leading climbers of the Golden Age of Yosemite Climbing. He participated in the second ascent of The Nose on El Capitan in 1960, and then the ascent of the North American Wall in 1964 (with Royal Robbins, Tom Frost and Chuck Pratt), using no fixed ropes. The next year, his and T. M. Herbert's ascent of the Muir Wall improved the style of previous first ascents. Chouinard became the most articulate advocate of the importance of style, the basis of modern rock climbing.

In 1961, he visited the Canadian Rockies with Fred Beckey, and made several important first ascents including the North Face of Mount Edith Cavell, the Beckey-Chouinard Route on South Howser Tower in the Bugaboos, and the North Face of Mount Sir Donald. These climbs opened his eyes to the idea of applying Yosemite big-wall climbing techniques to mountain climbing, and his advocacy was important to modern, high-grade alpinism. Also in 1961, he visited the Gunks for the first time, freeclimbing the first pitch of Matinee (the hardest free climb done in the Gunks at the time); and introducing chromoly steel pitons to the area, which revolutionized climbing protection. In 1968, he climbed Cerro Fitzroy in Patagonia by a new route (The Californian Route, 3rd overall ascent of the mountain) with Dick Dorworth, Chris Jones, Lito Tejada-Flores and Douglas Tompkins. [ cite book | last = Jones | first = Chris | title = Climbing in North America | publisher = University of California Press | date = 1976 | location = Berkeley and Los Angeles, California, USA | id = ISBN 0-520-02976-3 ]

Chouinard Equipment, Ltd.

In 1957, he bought a coal-fired forge second-hand, and started making hard-steel pitons for use in Yosemite Valley. Between time spent surfing and climbing, he sold pitons out of the back of his car to support himself. The improved pitons were a big factor in the birth of big-wall climbing in 1957-1960 in Yosemite. The success of his pitons caused him to found Chouinard Equipment for Alpinists (CEA), Inc.

In the late 60's, Chouinard and business partner Tom Frost began studying ice climbing equipment, and re-invented the basic tools (crampons and ice axes) to perform on steeper ice. These new tools and his book 'Climbing Ice' (1978) started the modern sport of ice climbing.

Around 1970, he became aware that the use of hard-steel pitons made by his company were causing significant damage to the cracks of Yosemite. These pitons comprised 70 percent of his income.http://www.fashion-planet.com/sept98/features/earth_watchers/patagonia.html] In 1971 and 1972, he introduced new aluminum chockstones, call Hexentrics and Stoppers along with less successful steel Crack-n-Ups, for climbing, and committed his company to the advocacy of the new tools and a new style of climbing called "clean climbing". This concept revolutionized rock climbing and led to further success of his company, despite destroying the sales of pitons, formerly his most important product.

In 1989, the Chouinard Equipment Ltd. filed bankruptcy protection in order to protect it from liability lawsuits. The hard assets of Chouinard Equipment Ltd. were acquired by its employees through the Chapter 11 process, and the company was reborn as Black Diamond Equipment, Ltd.

Patagonia and environmentalism

Chouinard is most noted for the clothing and gear company, Patagonia. In 1970 on a trip to Scotland, he picked up some rugby shirts and sold them as a great success.cite web |url= http://pro.patagonia.com/web/uspro/contribution/patagonia.go?assetid=3351 |title=Patagonia's History - a company created by climber Yvon Chouinard |accessdate=2006-12-01 |author=Patagonia, Inc. |authorlink=Patagonia (clothing) |year=2006 |work=Patagonia web site] From this small start, the Patagonia company developed a wide selection of rugged technical clothing.

With success came responsibility. Recognizing that the financial success of the company provided the opportunity to also achieve personal goals, Chouinard committed the company to being an outstanding place to work, and to be an important resource for environmental activism. In 1984, Patagonia opened an on-site cafeteria offering "healthy, mostly vegetarian food," and started providing on-site child care. [cite web |url= http://pro.patagonia.com/web/uspro/contribution/patagonia.go?assetid=3351 |title=Patagonia's History - a company created by climber Yvon Chouinard |accessdate=2007-06-20 |author=Patagonia, Inc. |authorlink=Patagonia (clothing) |year=2006 |work=Patagonia web site] In 1986, Chouinard committed the company to "tithing" for environmental activism, committing one percent of sales or ten percent of profits, whichever is the greater. The commitment included paying employees working on local environmental projects so they could commit their efforts full-time.

The 1972 Chouinard catalog was extraordinarily influential in ushering-in the "clean climbing" movement in North America, which persists to this day. It was more a collection of essays than a catalog per se. Piton damage all but ceased, as the catalog served as a bible for a generation of young climbers who would never purchase or drive a pin.

In the early 1990s, an environmental audit of Patagonia revealed the surprising result that cotton was the worst product for the environment. In 1994, Chouinard committed the company to using all pesticide free (i.e., organically-grown) cotton, and this demand created the organic cotton industry in California.

Publications

*cite book
last = Chouinard
first = Yvon
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Climbing Ice
publisher = Random House
date = 1982
location = New York, USA
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 0-87156-207-3
*cite book
last = Chouinard
first = Yvon
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Let My People Go Surfing
publisher = The Penguin Press
date = 2005
location = New York, USA
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 1-59420-072-6

References

cite book
last = Ottman
first = Jacquelyn A.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = GREEN MARKETING: OPPORTUNITY FOR INNOVATION
publisher = BookSurge Publishing; 2nd edition
date = 2004
location = Charleston, SC, USA
url = http://www.greenmarketing.com/Green_Marketing_Book/Green_Marketing_Book.html
doi =
id = ISBN 0-8442-3239-4

External links

* [http://www.jeethang.com/who/2006_01_22_archive.html Zen and the Education of a Reluctant Businessman (San Francisco Zen Center lecture by Yvon Chouinard)]
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4965519 Outdoor Business Pioneer Yvon Chouinard (NPR interview with Yvon Chouinard)]