BLACK DIAMOND PRESENTS: THE FOUNDER
A film about the life of Peter Metcalf, and the creation of BD.
You can’t tell the history of climbing without telling the history of Black Diamond. And you can’t tell the history of Black Diamond, without discussing the life of Peter Metcalf. As the co-founder of BD, Metcalf had a vision. This is his story.
Words by climbing lifer and BD legend Russ Clune.
I first met Peter at an American Alpine Club meeting in Denver, Colorado, in December 1986. He was the General Manager of Chouinard Equipment, and his righthand person, marketing manager Maria Cranor, had suggested he should hire me to come work for the company. After a visit to the Ventura, California, headquarters and feeling a New York kinship with Peter, I agreed to check it out, despite his absurdly lowball salary offer.
I quickly saw Metcalf’s dogged determination to get shit done. Business hours started at 8am and ended at 5pm. Metcalf was always at the office at least 2 hours early and rarely left before California sunlight gave way to pitch black. Weekends for Peter were fungible assets; instead of getting outdoors, Saturday was for catching up on work that didn’t get done during the week; sometimes Sunday, too. Even with his personal commitment to the business, he never begrudged the rest of us from getting as much climbing done as possible and taking off for extended vacations. It was the lifeblood of our tiny company, and if Peter couldn’t get out as much as he wanted, he needed the rest of us to supply the stoke. He knew what made the secret sauce. We were our own customers as well as the inventors of the gear we trusted and used; and he had lived the climber dirtbag life during his many alpine accomplishments. Metcalf’s dirtbag mentality never really died; his ability to live on almost nothing as a climber was a needed frugality he brought to the business as well.
When Chouinard Equipment went belly-up and into Chapter 11, Metcalf led the charge out of the mire, quickly realizing the only solution was for us, the employees, to make a new start, despite the odds against us. His work hours went from 60 per week to 90-plus, and without his steel will, pit-bull attitude, back-alley grit and occasional Pollyanna-esque optimism, Black Diamond Equipment never, ever, would have had a chance to happen. And Metcalf didn’t just talk the rest of us into risking our savings for this venture; he personally went in, all in, all chips on the table, betting his house against THE House. That’s leadership.
Black Diamond did beat the odds, and became successful, and as one of the folks who watched and participated in the process, I can say much of the credit for that goes to Peter. He had an outstanding cast of people working beside him and his open-door management style allowed ideas to flow and for employees to feel heard. It was another quality Metcalf brought to the front office: he knew what he knew, and more importantly, knew what he didn’t know and wanted to learn from others. The company flourished and became a true family for those of us working there.
Black Diamond continues its voyage into climbing’s future, now without Peter at the helm, but still with a cadre of wonderful, dedicated and passionate people making great gear and their own dreams. Metcalf is finally taking a break, and catching up on the many hundreds of lost weekends and vacations spent at his desk, now spent in the mountains he so loves. It’s about time, and I’m happy to get to share some pitches with my old boss.
