Compass: Charting the Evolution of Outdoor Gear

A5 History

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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