Big Bros Auctioned off to benefit Giulia “Jumar” Luebben

Craig Luebben is near and dear to all of us and his loss dealt to a body blow to the entire climbing and guiding community. Craig, who invented the Big Bros while he was an engineering student at CSU, has been receiving a nice royalty stream from our Big Bros sales since we licensed the design from him in 2001. After he passed we diverted those royalties into a 529 college fund for his beloved daughter, Giulia. In addition, the artist Jeremy Collins has drawn a caricature of Giulia head and face which will be engraved on every Big Bro.

At the AMGA Guide’s meeting last week in Moab, I auctioned off the very first set of the Giulia-engraved Big Bros to the guides and, impressively, astonishingly, the set of five went for $4,000! Perhaps more amazing was that there were three guides who were enthusiastically bidding for them after the bid price was over $2,500. The entire amount, not just the royalties from them, will go to “seed” her college fund.

Craig, you brought great joy, enthusiasm and safety into our lives and we are all better off because of that. Thank you for all you have done.

maldaly