1986
A5 Adventures founded, in Flagstaff, Arizona, by Stanford-trained mechanical engineer and big wall climber, John Middendorf
company established using some inheritance money
The name is taken from the highest rating in Aid climbing of the day
First product was a big wall climbing hammer, of which 550 were sold
1988
emphasis switches more to sewn goods and somewhat away from hardware like hammers
A5 portaledges were considered the first portaledges able to withstand severe weather conditions found in the Greater Ranges
The A5 Portaledge featured in Abitare, an Italian design magazine.
1991
manages about $75,000 USD in sales.
1992
$100,000 USD worth of sales.
John, with Xaver Bongard, makes first ascent/descent of East Summit, Great Trango Tower, Pakistan, "the hardest big-wall climb in the world"
1993
A5 Adventures has $150,000 USD in sales, with eight full-time employees.
1994
John Middendorf co-authors (with John Long) the book How to Climb: Big Walls through Falcon Guides
1995
A5 has 10 employees
Sales climb to $315,000 USD
one of the first climbing manufacturers to have a website
1996
Sales reach $500,000 USD
still a fully Flagstaff, Arizona based business
1997
A5 Adventures acquired by The North Face, who are themselves owned by VF Outdoor, Inc., a division of Vanity Fair
John Middendorf continues to direct the A5 product line under the A5 TNF umbrella for two more years
2000
John work as a Design Consultant for Black Diamond Equipment until 2001
John then moves on to design and construction of tension fabric structures before establishing a business in GIS mapping
2002
Conrad Anker creates Anker Climbing Equipment (ACE) on acquiring the A5 portaledge design from The North Face
2005
Black Diamond Equipment acquires the big wall climbing assets of Anker Climbing Equipment (ACE)
Conrad Anker is retained as a Black Diamond consultant/technical advisor through to 2008
2006
Black Diamond release their version of the A5 - TNF - ACE heritage portaledge
2016
John Middendorf operates D4 BigWallGear business out of Tasmania, Australia, mostly from a product design focus
also sells over 100 portaledges of new design variations
2017
creates Kickstarter campaign for new D4 portaledge design.
2018
supplies portaledges to The Tree Projects, promoting Big Tree education & conservation (a change from Big Walls!)
2019
scores Climbing Magazine Editors Choice Award for D4 Full Portaledge
shares design of D4 ledges with others who've made 200+ under their own brands (Durango Sewing Solutions & Runout Customs).
2021
winds down the small scale Australian production of portaledges
provides open source knowledge gained in decades of portaledge design and production, via website https://bigwalls.net