Jake had asked as a joke I suspect but here goes



Guess I never realised I was always a "collector". Laid up in bed for a few weeks after a grounder I took to reminiscing. A lap top, a Pay Pal account and here I am some 50 tools richer.

It started by saving some of my old tools...from the begining of the ice age....early '70s Chouinard curved gear. Then Twight gave me his tools from the CZD. A truely prized pair. Either had to sell them all or get more and make a "real" collection.

Best part is the personal history to every piece. I may not have used one myself but knew the guys who did.



More about the history of "technical mixed" in this one picture than in all the Chouinard catalogs.



And of course you need the rest of the pieces to the puzzle. Boots and crampons.

Right to left, Galiber Hivernal, Supoer Guide, Makalu and the first plastic, a Kolfach Ultra pictured here.

Hey Dane...i wasn't joking! that is an impressive collection!

i know there are a few people on the board here that also collect them.

it would be cool to seem them laid out chronologically.

Here is the "first" from my gear. Mid '60s, McInnes metal shafted axe, (the first metal axe btw) Salewa adjustables, Galiber Havernal dbl boots. This is the stuff that the likes of Harlin, Robbins, Haston, Desmaison and others used in the Alps, Alaska, Canada and the Himalaya to make a lasting impression.




Chronologically there was a point in the late '70s and early '80 that new ice gear was coming out every season. Some have made a big difference over time, Salewa hinged, Terrodactyls, Curvers, Ice Six, the Chacal, Forrest Life Times for example. Others while good were just a flash in the pan design wise, Chouinard Zeros, while beautiful, fall into that catagory as would Chouinard rigid crampons, Foot fangs and the Hummingbird. But it took all of those designs to get us where we are today. Rigid crampons...Chouinard or Lowe is what it took to get a modern rigid soled boot for example.

And I am sure there are those who would take exception to that statement and argue their own points well.

Pretty impressive collection, I really enjoyed the photos and reading your descriptions. Sometime if you find the time, you should take up Jake's suggestion and write up a nice chronological story about the development of the technology, your interest in it, and its place in climbing overall. I know I'd love to read it. Hopefully it won't take another groundfall to make it happen

How did you end up with Twight's tools again?

Always good to see others who are sicker than I! Nice stuff Dane!! Thanks for sharing.

Hey Bill, my pleasure Fun thing to do is pick a climb from the past that you think is important and figure out what gear they used.

For example, Haston and Scott on McKinley in '76. Chouinard rigids, Galibier Makalu dbl boot, neopreme over boots and a pair of Chouinard bamboo axes for the leader.

As I recall that kit was just left over from their little trip up Everest the year before, "Colder than Everest", Scott said.

1976...not like there were many options

1981 Stumps and Aubrey N. Butt of Hunter. Stumps used a short Curver axe, a Roosterhead hammer, white Kolfach Ultras, SMC rigids and a Wild Things Andinista.

Similar gear on the East face of Moose Tooth with Bridwell. But Bridwell used a pair of Forrest Serac Saber tools. Sort of like over grown Terros. And a key piece of gear for that climb by Bridwell's account. The first written account of ice tools being used to climb rock that I have seen.

Serac Saber, SMC rigid with Lauchlan the winter before on Slipstream.

F_ _ _ YOU, Pal! I still use that stuff.

That tells me four things Mr. Potty Mouth Pope...you don't climb very hard, you don't climb very much, you are old and obviously frugal

Compulsive collecting/hoarding starts off innocently, and then...

Dane, How true !

you need to clean off the rust and make a nice rack and hang them all in cronological order.

FWIW I started climbing in high school...late '60s.
Not every tool I have owned is represented and the late '70s early '80s went crazy with more than one new tools introduced every season.

So here is what I rememebr which may or may not be totally accurate.

Chouinard alpine hammers...top to bottom...'71 '75 and the last hickory version from 'early '80s.



Ice tools?

Chouinard piolet was available in bamboo by the winter of '70 '71. Ash and Hickory before that for the previous year maybe. We had Terros by '75, Forrest Veglass by '77 Life Time by '79. Chacal in Europe in '79 and here by '80.
'80 to '85 was pretty crazy for tools. Chouinard Zeros, Simond Barracuda, others came out as well. Grivel was in there some where but didn't use it myself. Carbon fiber shafts are missing here as well as other designs. BIG gap in tools during the mid '80s through the '90s that are not pictured here. Also missing are all the great Charlet Moser tools, Ice Six, Pulsar, Quasars ect and most of the BD tools. Finally the Quark and Nomic are the last shown. And the obvious as to what is coming next from everyone. I tried to lay them out chronologically top to bottom and only one tool if there were hammer and adze unless one model proceeded the other like the Tero and the Simond.









Crampons? Doesn't take much to see the lineage here. Chronologically from left to right top to bottom.

nice collection.

Dane, there's a glaring Lowe hole in your collection. Nothing in the Hummingbird/Footfang department?

Off, I used both (all three?) but unlike others (many of them my partners) was never very impressed. MY collection is just stuff I actually used, (not the original tools though) except for one obvious set of tools. So nothing from Grivel, Stubia, Lowe or much of the early Charlet gear. Just my own history. I decided I needed to stop some where

Hard to pony up $100 or more for a tool that cost $60 the first time around and you hated it then! The only real value of these tools today is the climbing memories behind them and the lost art of hand forging the heads and the careful fitting of the wooded shafts.



Before anyone else gets their panties in a twist helps to realise the Chouinard wooden shafted Piolet was first available in '70 and ceased production by the spring of '78. That includes all the models, ash through bamboo and Rexilon. The reason? UIAA new rules about the strength of the shaft on all ice axes. A few hand forged heads were attached to California made carbon fiber shafts. But by that time the curved pick was already a dead animal for hard climbing. No doubt the wooden shafted axes kept being used though.

Although Chacals and Forrest Lifetime tools were available in limited numbers in the US and Canada this is the gear used on the 2nd and first one day ascent of Slipstream winter of 1980/81. All of it out dated by then.



For an idea just how fast things were changing..I used a Curver and a Zero hammer a few days before on Polar Circus...my partner used Lifetimes.

Ahh, I missed the line in your earlier post (which you graciously quoted for me) and now I understand the omission. I'm pretty much all those things you called Pope, and my charmingly antiquated ice gear reflects it. I'm afraid the last generation hummingbird (angled pick, never liked the tubular ones) and footfangs were the last tools I bought, and I don't think I've used either in well over a decade. I think I pretty much dropped the ice thing, which I was never very good at anyway, when I took up snowboarding, which makes me laugh as much as anything I do.

I must confess though that your tales of an old guy with new toys does make me twitch just a little bit.

Don't take my comments to Pope as a condemnation, it wasn't short of the potty mouth Almost everyone went through a Chouinard axe pretty quickly if you climbed technical ground with them. Broken picks and shafts were common. I did both on my original one and rewelded the tip several times before relagating it to guiding Mt. Rainier. Many guys went through several (Chouinard/Chalet/Grivel) wooden shafted axes in just one season. It got expensive @ $35 to $60 an axe depending on year. Even the later curved gear you didn't break...the Curver was pretty tough. You would quickly file through the first tooth after banging rocks. Replaceable picks were a big advantage.

This is one you won't often see, an early Grivel (mid '70s) with a laminated Rexilon handle. Zero like...eh?



Now it is obvious you can grind through several teeth and still make a tool usable. But dropped picks make that easier than curved picks.

The numerious adventures of old guys with new tools should prove just how much easier and safer ice climbing is these days Hard to really appreciate till you get the chance to try it again. I could tell you stories

Here is the direct linage of the state of the art in 40 years ice tool development, 1970 to 2009. If you don't see everything that came inbetween it all seems simple doesn't it?

Dane, my mistake....I don't have a Zero, it's a Zero-X carbon fiber jobber and I have the Northwall-X as well. These were out just before the X-15. Although the handles are slippery, I still think these are great tools. I suspect it is difficult to find picks for them now. They have a key-lock interface which was apparently difficult to machine. When they stopped making the tools, I bought a few extra picks for reserve.

Regarding your four observations.....well.....I know you used to climb the Eiger, but aren't you the guy who fell off The Fault on Castle? I think we're both getting old. That's probably why you're collecting all that crap.

Thanks for sharing! I've used some of those!
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As for the Lowe comment....
Footfangs were almost as good as anything today for pure ice and were the top dogs for at least 12 years in my humble opinion.

Geeze Pope I fall out of bed. 5.6 is way beyond me these days. You guys are hilarious....

Seriously, no disrespect intended. I admire you for some of the wild routes you've climbed, and your collection is superb.

Pope, it's all in good fun. If us old guys can't get along around here who can