Please Note: All Material below, and in all my "History
of Gear" webpages, is copyrighted, and no usage of my material
is permitted unless explicit permission is granted by me, Bruce
B. Johnson, owner of OregonPhotos.com. Some of the material below
is derived from a brief email or two with company founder Justus
B; the majority is derived from interviews with collaterals such
as Hap Klopp, George Marks, and others such as Bob Woodward. ...
Editors: Please contact
me if
you have interest in publishing....Others: if you were involved with one of the
old-line, vintage gear companies and have a story to tell in these
pages, please contact
me soon.
In the climbing world, "Class Five" represents that exciting
point at which a humdrum "hike" becomes a "climb."
To me,
it's the point where suddenly fear and excitement merge as one
realizes that now a misstep might result in falling to ones death.
Class 5 gear was marketed with that edge; the products seemed
exciting, true "The Standard of the World" stuff.
Justus Bauschinger is the man behind all of Class 5...He is the son of a German rocket scientist who came to the U.S. with the famous Werner Von Braun.....Like many of the other famous founders of Bay Area companies like Sierra Designs and North Face, Bauschinger ("Mr. B") cut his teeth by working for George Rudolph, who had founded The Ski Hut in 1935.... Mr. B was known as a very creative gear designer for The Ski Hut's manufacturing operation, which was named Trailwise..... In about 1966 he bought into a small retail group named "The North Face," which had a few stores in the Bay Area. But money got tight and things became more complicated. May,1968 marked the acquisition of The North Face by Hap Klopp, another old Ski Hut/Trailwise employee. Klopp went on to run the hugely successful modern "The North Face" up until 1989. Mr. B. became Head Designer at the new North Face, but that did not last. Mr. B. made a creative break and went on to found Class 5....Below is the now-classic, first catalog of the Class 5 company, issued in 1971. The founder's sense of humor and considerable flair is present in glaring form on this cover, but first one needs to realize that the "climber" and his dog are actually stretching out on a street in downtown Berkeley! The picture is a big spoof on the hardcore rock climbing scene!
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Class 5 produced brillant and very well-made gear up until 1983, when the company was closed down. It has now been decades since the ending of Class 5. My Class 5 down parka has lasted very well for over 30 years.
Justus is still in the business of fun, intriguing catalogs that offer unusual things for sale! For the past decade or so he's been running a company which imports goods from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. That company is named "Lilliput Motor Company" and its web address is lilmoco.com., phone 1-800-Tin-Toys.... He's had a second company since about 2003; it is named Deutsche Optik. As an amateur astronomer, I've been particularly intrigued by the various optics he's been importing, the most spectacular of which have been the giant 25x100 "Border Patrol" binoculars. Below is a picture of Justus at work, taken from his latest Deutsche Optik catalog.
First in the series was a volume about Frostline Kits, completed with considerable help with the company founder, Mr. Dale Johnson. Next came "GERRY, To Live in the Mountains," 78 pages, 10x8 inches, full-color, released May 20, 2008; this book also benefited from considerable help from the company founder, Mr. Gerry Cunningham.
The third book in the series will cover the story of Holubar Mountaineering LTD. .The Holubar book should be released in late Winter 2009, and will have a similar format to the previous two, including a Forward by its past President, Mr. Jim Kack.. Contact the Author.
