Bill Forrest – Inventor Extraordinaire

Greetings, all! Through the research of this article a few years back, Bill and Rosa became my friends - and solid community members in the wonderful world of Salida. We have had an epic snowshoe adventure together - complete with me getting my Subaru stuck in snowdrifts, not once but twice. Both Bill and Rosa were kind enough to dig me (and my German Shepherd "Ponyboy") out, with patience and the grace not to mention my "rookieness" in the world of winter transportation. Together they make a fantastic team, and are devout and talented individuals who bring much to the world around them.

Ask Bill Forrest – inventor of world-renowned climbing gear and current designer and field tester of Mountain Safety Research (MSR) (a.k.a. Cascade Designs) snowshoes what his take on good gear is and he’ll insist it’s all about performance. “As a user,” Forrest says, “I hate for gear to fall apart on me, especially in the back country. I want my gear to function. Who wants to skitter off a traverse in a snowshoe? I can do better.”

Note the emphasis on “I”. Forrest’s statement is not just ego-serving – he has done better. He’s created some of the best gear on the market – uses it – and gets paid well for his designs. He designed MSR’s “Lightning Ascent” snowshoe with the patented “Televator” (wire heel lifter designed to ease the strain on your calf muscles on ascents), which is currently a hot model on the snowshoe circuit. The preferred Women’s model is popular as well. It’s designed to meet the particular needs of women, as it’s tuned to a woman’s gait and anatomy.

“Customers love gadgets, whether they work or not,” says Forrest. “That’s why getting it right is so important, especially if you’re manufacturing equipment for people to hang their lives on.”

Your life may not be hanging by the traction blade of a snowshoe – yet -- but Forrest has adapted and improved numerous equipment designs, so that if you were left hanging on any of his gear, you’d be in a good position.

This genius gear head doesn’t want to just change the world – he’s determined to make it better. The kick ass climbing gear he created was only the beginning. Forrest’s six snowshoe model designs in the last decade certainly improved the overall snowshoe situation on the trails and in the backcountry. (MSR’s breakthrough Denali design was one of his brainchildren, which American climbing legend Jim Bridwell endorses as “the one that outperforms all others”.) Forrest is also pretty hip on the marketing end of the outdoor industry, which he says affects what recreationists buy and wear. “The marketing pitch has to be successful – it doesn’t matter how good your gear is. Without good marketing to the right audience, it won’t sell.”

Forrest was the founder, owner and director of Forrest Mountaineering, a company that specialized in designing high end equipment for technical mountain climbers that was in business for 20 years. He reveled in his own hands-on learning environment and manufacturing process plant. He literally absorbs materials information – and if he can dream it up – it can usually be made with the materials and connections he envisioned. In 1968, he started his company in the basement of a huge old rambling house in Denver that he ran as boardinghouse/think tank for climbers – all the better to run field trials with. Climbers needed the gear – and he needed the feedback. “I knew I wasn’t the only one having these gear issues,” he explained.

Forrest maintains a low profile for someone who’s been developing new inventions in the world of gear for nearly 40 years. His climbing equipment designs won international design awards, with some of the gear now on display in the Smithsonian Institute. He’s a legendary climber with numerous first ascents on several continents; ULI BIAHO in the Himalayas – regarded as “the hardest sustained rock climb in the world”, the East Face of Baboquivari Peak in Arizona, where he hacked his approach with a machete and confronted a mountain lion on a tiny ledge; and in Colorado -- the intimidating Painted Wall and Wild Bill’s Wall in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, as well as the first solo ascent of the Diamond – the East Face of Long’s Peak –- all of which give you a glimpse of this man’s imposing climbing credentials.

“I want the gear to work better. If I take a fall, I don’t want to get hurt,” Forrest explains his motivation for designing gear in pursuit of his climbing passion. As a former English teacher and writer turned inventor, Forrest doesn’t exactly fit the archetypical gear designer/engineer type – but his linear thinking process does. First he identifies the problem – such as why early snowshoe designs didn’t have a real grip on the snow situation – then his creative problem solving mode kicks into high gear and he starts designing a solution – a better product that actually works the way it should.

“I tinker with it until I get close to what I want. Then I make a prototype and build it to suit my specs,” Forrest says. This is a man who knows materials – how to make stuff – and how to test it for safety –so you can trust his expertise.

Those who get to play in the outdoors as professionals -- and the rest of us – appreciate Forrest hanging his rear on the line for our safety. Forrest Mountaineering gear that he invented, designed and produced 30 years ago is still in use – and in demand – today. Jim Bridwell’s endorsement continues with: “That without a doubt, Forrest Mountaineering equipment is unexcelled in both functional design and durability. It’s a great relief to not have to worry about my equipment breaking in a life or death situation.”

As Gerry Roach, who summited Mount Everest in 1983, succinctly stated, “When I’m going for the summit, I want Forrest gear; it’s already been there.”

Just so you know who to thank when you’re stepping into that comfortable climbing harness while you plan your route up the rock – Bill Forrest is the man. He came up with the swami belt with adjustable leg loops made of nylon webbing after he began climbing in Germany with the standard safety harness of the time – 17 ft. of 1 inch tubing wrapped around his waist. A few good eye-opening “whippers” later, and the climbing community started seeing a newly designed harness showing up on the rock.

“The answers always come if I know what the problem is,” Forrest explains. He lives by the quote; “To believe in your heart that what is true for you is true for all mankind – that is genius. “ Roughly attributing the source to Ralph Waldo Emerson, Forrest pauses. “Mankind may not recognize the gear for what it is initially, but they come around.”

“Necessity is the mother of invention” -- Forrest followed that quaint adage as he invented the Pin Bin – the first piton and nut gear “rack” (with a coat hanger and a sling design) - because his gear was tangling up on climbs. He also spent one hellacious night in a hanging belay seat on a big wall climb and came back to his shop and designed a hammock that worked for actual dozing during overnight bivouacs. Having had a wall hammer break mid-climb, he replaced original wooden hammer handles with a fiberglass design that was lighter and wouldn’t get trashed. Forrest’s Daisy Chain design came to him when he was struggling with haul bags on a big wall climb. He needed an “infinitely adjustable” nylon wedding chain that enabled him to anchor quickly and haul efficiently. He’s a man who can see the need and fill it.

Safety and comfort were his big motivators in improving the climbing experience. Never wanting to have an adventurer get hurt in his gear, Forrest subjected his inventions to rigorous testing by hardcore climbers, including himself. He’s quick to credit his climbing partners, along with the engineers and designers he’s worked with, for his success as a product designer.

Ray Jardine, world class adventurer, inventor of the “Friends” and early climbing partner and housemate of Forrest, describes him as “a landmark in the history of Colorado climbing … on the walls he was virtually unstoppable. He is among the era's greatest manufacturing minds, [having] developed many new and original products.”

Jardine worked for a short while in Forrest’s basement making the first few batches of Foxheads and Copperheads for commercial sale. He credits Forrest for teaching him “to think outside the box -- to think of possibilities beyond the norm.” He added, “This mindset set the stage for my own inventions, including the Friends, which Bill very kindly allowed me to prototype in his shop.”

Field tests – a source of excitement of the unknown – could be epic, as when Forrest tested the first harness design on a multi-day climb in Zion and discovered that the buckle on his leg loops wouldn’t stay cinched. Upon his return home, he designed his own buckle that exceeded the Union of International Alpinists Association (UIAA) standards and is the only one fully rated for safety with a single pass.

In 1969, Forrest’s creation of the Copperhead, a single cable climbing nut with a malleable copper or aluminum head, changed big wall aid climbing forever. He wanted to control the head of the nut with a stiffer wire, since the supple slings were too limp for his liking. This “bashie” was originally designed as protection in thin cracks for free climbing, but became internationally recognized when climbers – mainly the infamous Yosemite wall rats - began smashing the heads into shallow cracks (“Copperheading”) for aid climbing.

In 1985, Forrest Mountaineering came out with the Triton – one piece of gear that functions as a combination nut, belay plate and rappel device – which evolved from Forrest’s desire to minimize the amount of gear he carried.

Go to the rockclimbing.com web site and you’ll find climbers waxing poetic about their Forrest gear or looking for a Mjollner hammer or the Lifetime ice ax with interchangeable picks – both released in the 1970’s and early 80’s.

“Bill Forrest was way ahead of his time,” writes Gambler – Lead Climber - in the rockclimbing.com web forum. “His harnesses, hammers, hammocks and copperheads were definitely state of the art.”

Having sold his company to Olsen Industries in 1985, and ready to embark on a new adventure, Forrest started up ForrestSmith with a partner and developed a new snowshoe design that got some immediate notice. Two weeks after introducing the snowshoe at a trade show, the president and Research and Development manager of MSR contacted him with an offer to buy the design rights and hire him full time to focus on snowshoes in their R& D department.

The desire to “build a better snowshoe” spurred him to leave Denver after 30 years and find a place with better access to the mountains. “I hated being in the heavy traffic on the Front Range – it was hard to get out and back in the same day for field trials. Now I can be up at a trailhead in twenty minutes. You can’t beat Salida – good clean air and easy access.”

With the Gear Muse hovering nearby and his belief in a higher power that has carried him through hundreds of close calls, Forrest is ready to sketch ideas with pen and paper by the bed at night and has a steadfast conviction in their success. He’s positive that with enough thought process and a strong belief system, he will solve the problem. “I’ve got certain design ideas constantly cooking in my head,’ he confides with a smile. “Part of my religion is being in the mountains with wide open spaces and fresh air – that helps a lot.”

Long, lean and lanky at age 69, Forrest has been married to petite Rosa, his hiking and snowshoeing partner, for 17 years. His work in Research & Development still intrigues him – and with over 100 product designs on the market and 17 patents with one pending, it’s no wonder that Cascade Designs tried to hang on to its R&D guru. His recent retirement from MSR means more time to play in the mountains.

With his vitality and activity level – he recently hiked all the fifty-four 14ers and the 500 mile Colorado Trail – while living in and telecommuting from his “Happy Trails Hacienda” in Salida, Colorado, Forrest isn’t anywhere near grizzled old age. He knows he’s living the good life – complete with a true vegan diet. Forrest always has his eye out for the possibility of climbing new routes – why mess around with the old ones, he asks – and sees retirement as an adventure he can share with his friends and the artistic Rosa. He’ll be repeating the “Salida Slam” – climbing the 22peaks visible from his home, and plans on authoring a book and more climbing articles.

Pending Publication - January 2010