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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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But I feel so manly when I break them with me bare hands!!!
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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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Well now-----we (Mr. Grossman & me at least) are still hoping that Lauria or -----------someone-----will tell us about Eiger----the company?
Then we will move brightly on to the "Royal Robbins climbing gear thread."
My favorite Robbins quote from a mid 70's newletter: "This importing stuff is really a can of annelids."
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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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Nov 13, 2009 - 03:30pm PT
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Took a while to find out more about Eiger USA history. Bruce Franks from Asolo & Lowe finally supplied to me the fact that Eiger USA was owned by Mike Sturm.
As soon as I did the Goggle search on that-----of course I ended up right back at SuperTopo where Ed Bannister had answered the question all the way back in Sept 2009.
From Ed Bannister on this thread;
http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/948137/Gear_History_what_did_EB_stand_for
Mike Sturm, who originated the Eiger brand in the US
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 2, 2009 - 01:25pm PT
Mike Sturm was quite a guy, he had Stanley and later his son Peter Brozek in Pasadena make the Eiger and later the Liberty carabiner, what a piece of junk. When I went to work for Liberty as Technical product manager, I had KC Putnam deal with Brozek, I did not want to be associated in any way with that carabiner, and yes, if you still have any, take them off your rack.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Mar 22, 2010 - 01:09pm PT
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I didn't notice that anybody had posted one of
these rarities:
I guess I got my two bucks' worth out of this 'un!
Probably more like $1.25
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Apr 12, 2010 - 03:00pm PT
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Here's an ancient biner not too many of you have: a blue-anodized CMI, ca. 1970.
It had the oval shape of an Eiger, but a unique hooded gate to improve the minor-axis
strength (a well-known weakness of Eigers and other designs). Also it was a pretty
blue color, among the first such anodized biners.
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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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Apr 13, 2010 - 12:17am PT
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I found my missing "highly collectable" Eiger biner. Thought it was on my "river rescue-old biner rack."
Turns out it was hanging with my pitons.
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Apr 13, 2010 - 01:39am PT
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The locking Eiger carabiners were the bomb! Anyone have any they want to sell? I'll buy them for good money, however much that is I don't know.
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TomCochrane
Trad climber
Boulder Creek CA
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Apr 13, 2010 - 02:11am PT
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Five Decades
Eigers, Bedayns, Chouinards, SMC, etc; but lost my army steels, Gerry, and Holubar. How about a Bedayn stamped YC that Yvon dropped on me.
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Barto
climber
Minneapolis, MN
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Apr 13, 2010 - 10:09am PT
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A. The Liberty/Eigers seem to have had edges machined to the sharpness of a katana.
B. In 1980s Hobo Dan tried to outsmart me by trading me 10 Libery biners for three of my Chouinard "death biner" screwgates, the kind with the tin sheath that "locked" down over the hinge. I resisted. I am a genius, or what?
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Apr 13, 2010 - 01:09pm PT
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Hey Fritz,
That Forrest gear sling is in pristine condition. How old is it?
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Apr 16, 2010 - 10:11am PT
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The "goldline" thread reminded me of something. See that faded-blue CMI biner that
I posted previous page? That picture was taken a few weeks ago. But if you look closely
at the photo below you can find the exact same carabiner (4th from top center, with
yellow tape), laid out with others of its kind at Gibralter Rock in 1969.
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Apr 16, 2010 - 11:58am PT
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I had three original Chouinard biners from my rack in the early 70s. Does anyone have a handle on the relative timing given these markings?
Chouinard 1700 kG USA
Chouinard USA 2100 Kg
Chouinard Alcoa 7075
This is the mix of my working rack in the mid-70s in addition to the three Chouinards (I sent all of them to Ken Yager)
REI D 2
Everst oval 1
Rei oval 1
SMC D 1
SMC ovals 15
Eiger ovals 7
Eiger locking 2
Bonati small D 3
Bonati large D 3
Army ovals 3
Clog D 1
Black Diamond ovals 2
Gerry oval 1
Robbins 3000 lbs 1
California oval 1
Bedayn 2
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Apr 16, 2010 - 12:08pm PT
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I am not sure that I have ever seen that diverse a collection of carabiners on one persons working rack! A regular grade school drama production...everybody gets a part! LOL
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Apr 16, 2010 - 12:30pm PT
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You have the grade school right. I couldn't afford Chouinard or Robbins and couldn't afford not to use any found gear.
I picked up some biners somewhere that had two hatch marks on them. So I added a third hatch and called them mine. Later Bridwell and I were climbing together, and he asked if I had added a third hatch to some of his missing biners.
When I was going through my gear last year, I found a well used biner with a red marking tape on it. I peeled it off and found a neatly stamped "reject" under the tape.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Apr 16, 2010 - 12:38pm PT
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Why some dutiful employee would even bother to stamp "reject" rather than recycle the pup is beyond me!
Biners were marginal enough back in those days! LOL
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Apr 16, 2010 - 12:48pm PT
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Someone suggested that "reject" might have been a good way to mark one's biners. In this case, I was the third owner; the second surreptitious owner.
I really liked Royal's biners when they came out: light, wide gates, ovals. Dick Erb, Chris Vandiver and I were playing with them one evening at a RockCraft session. I held the gate open with my fingers and pushed it sideways with my thumbs, past the catch. The brand new biner now had the gate sticking out into space. I showed it to Royal as a joke. He was usually poker faced but he freaked out. To make amends I pushed it back until it snapped into its original shape.
So does anyone know about the early Chouinard biners?
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Apr 16, 2010 - 01:02pm PT
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The Royal Robbins variable closure carabiner! The horror, the horror! LOL
I bet RR was seriously bent!
A good friend of mine, John Fowler, worked at BD back in the eighties when they were developing the Black Prophet ice tools. He was uncommonly hard on his equipment while mixed climbing and when the techweenies asked him why he wasn't swinging company tools, he calmly walked over a horizontal slot in the building (much like the standard pocket low on Staiway To Heaven) and blithely snapped the head right off of their pride!
He extracted the wrecked tool and with a sigh and a Magnus sneer stated that "they break" and returned to his business as the hive erupted!
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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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Apr 16, 2010 - 08:04pm PT
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Roger: I have been suffering through a biz road trip this week and I am away from my collection of Chouinard catalogs and gear. However I do have some relative dates for earlier Chouinard biners.
Chouinard made his own Carabiners from 1957 to 1968. I am sure there were different runs of these. I own some that only say Chouinard, but one sold on EBAY that said Chouinard on one side and 820 Alcoa 7075 on the other.
Steve Grossman: started a thread that grew and grew and has much Chouinard binner info on it. http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=382806 Classic Ice climbing Chouinard catalog 1968
Here is a Steve quote from that thread:
Prior to the flat sided Chouinard modified D (1974) that was made in great numbers, I have seen at least 4- 5 earlier versions. One clear indicator of age is the growing size of the stamps over time on biners and angles. They start very small at first and get larger with each generational design modification.
In my own history notes I have this:
1968-1972 they went to a new style "D" that Salewa made in Germany. It says Chouinard/Salewa on one-side and 2200 KP on the other. Initially these were not tested for strength, but later ones were tested and stamped tested on the gate.
1974 carabiner production went back to US and I think----stayed here. These carabiners had Chouinard USA in raised letters. I think the reverse side says 4000 lbs.
By the late 70’s there were several models of Chouinard carabiner on the market.
Sorry! I don't have more notes on the subject at present.
Also re the Forest Gear sling photo with Eiger carabiner: all I remember is having it for sale in my outdoor shop in the mid-1970's and never selling it. I finally took it home as a 2nd sling.
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okie
Trad climber
San Leandro, Ca
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Apr 16, 2010 - 08:31pm PT
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When I was a lad in the '70's those Liberty biners were the cheapest I could get my hands on. Still have 'em, and some Eigers, and other assorted ovals that still get used occaisionally- I never weight my gear anyway- too chickenshit for that...
Several years ago I bought some used ovals from the Wilderness Exchange in Berkeley. They came with a disclaimer sticker on them in the form of a skull and crossbones with the warning: "used gear, not for climbing." Those biners are identical to many old Chouinards and SMC's that I had on my rack already and I get a perverse kick out of using those "death" biners with those skull and crossbone stickers.
Funny how any truly cool biners I ever had on my rack, such as original Chouinards and the like, have had a way of disappearing over the years...but I never put anything under a glass case...with a pressure sensitive alarm...
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