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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Aug 15, 2016 - 07:38pm PT
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I think some of the pitons fashioned for the FA of the Nose are certainly bigger than that one.
I agree with the Gnomes assessment below that you are looking at gate hardware and likely not a piton at all.
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Aug 15, 2016 - 09:03pm PT
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I hate the location of the learn more tab.....!
A Hinge part?
I think it looks like a 'female' (shackle style, primitive gate/Barn door) Stockade hinge part, The two holes used to bolt it to the frame of a structure. Oriented horizontally, to provide a capture point for a 'male' peg.
Or a eastern block bolt the Eye of the thing to hold a cable holding a religious icon in place, like on the European summits.
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karabin museum
Trad climber
phoenix, az
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Aug 15, 2016 - 10:24pm PT
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Gnome you beat me to the answer. I was going to say a homemade barn door hinge, but many of them are not angled like a piton. I do however have a few beefy pitons that were made/used to tie logs together when running them down the river in the old logging days.
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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Aug 16, 2016 - 09:37am PT
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Thanks to Russ, Clint and Fritz.
From your comments and photos, I think there is reason to conclude as I have done below:
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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Aug 16, 2016 - 10:40am PT
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That hollow Robbins biner should have a visible seam at both ends of the gate, where the aluminum tubing was smashed flat.
Forming aluminum tubing into a biner, without buckling and collapsing it near the tight bends, was probably a difficult magic trick.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Aug 16, 2016 - 12:37pm PT
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Incidentally, climbing equipment has now made the big time. I was watching "How It's Made" on the Science Channel several months ago, and one of the episodes showed the manufacture of 'biners and cams.
John
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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Still a mystery to me - CCB gear - Who made the gear? Where was it made?
Here's some old CCB Eckenstein crampons
CCB also made ice axes and pitons.
These crampons were sold by Christen, Bern.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Splendid question Marlow!
I have been wondering the same about CCB and haven't been able to find much.
As Switzerland made it through WW II without a lot of disruption it would seem that information would be available since they were producing pitons at least well into the 1960s. That they were producing "Eckenstein" stamped crampons puts their production at least as far back as the 1930s. It seems that the Eckenstein designation disappeared from crampons as soon as Grivel began to produce theirs from better steel and made available a much lighter crampon and one with front points.
You are very good at finding information so I am surprised that you are running into the same problems that I have experienced.
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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Steve.
I have been searching for CCB information without finding much, and what I find is constructively confusing. One website mentions "CCB Freres Sports" (sounds French or Swiss). The name CCB Freres was used connected to an ice axe carrying the name "Marke Mischabel" on one side and "CCB" on the other (and not the word Freres - "freres" = "brothers"). I have seen the same ice axe model sold three or four times on the web, so it is quite common. Marke Mischabel was normally produced by "Gebr. Andenmatten" (Swiss). The "CCB Marke Mischabel" ice axe was believed to have been produced 1945-1950. Which makes me think that the CCB Eckenstein crampons could also have been produced as late as 1945-1950.
One eBay seller sold CCB as being produced in Britain.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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I am pretty sure the CCB name is based in Switzerland which certainly works with Mischabel.
CCB was imported by Abercrombie and Fitch as best I can determine without any catalogs as their pitons were available on the east coast of the US before WW II based on anecdotal evidence with Sporthaus Schuster being the main competitor. If you were able to find CCB hardware being sold by Sporthaus Schuster alongside their own hardware that would cast some doubt on the Abercrombie and Fitch connection. I haven't seen CCB in the many early catalogs that you have so wonderfully posted.
Have you found any evidence of CCB away from climbing equipment as many of these blacksmith shops and foundrys seem to produce gear as a small part of their commercial offerings?
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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Steve
I have seen many old Sporthaus Fritsch pitons being sold by American sellers. When were these pitons imported to America? And who imported them?
Were they imported in competition with Sporthaus Schuster and CCB?
I have not seen any other CCB items than CCB climbing gear, but that is also what I have been looking for. I will keep my eyes and mind open.
CCB could be a pure seller and not a producer or a combined producer and seller.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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CCB pitons are distinct from the others and seem to have been made independently of the other producers. I have been trying to trace the importers of this early European hardware as best I can and that requires catalogs to be definitve.
CCB was imported by Sports Chalet in the 1960s. During the 1940s I think that Sportshaus Schuster hardware was ordered fromEeurope.
Early accounts of ascents like the Higher Cathedral Spire mention waiting for hardware orders to arrive which makes me think that many climbers were still ordering from overseas before WW II.
The earliest issues of Summit magazine have lists of equipment suppliers/importers and very few existed in the US. Abercrombie and Fitch was one of them but again I have no catalogs to verify what they were bringing in.
I collect a lot of this early hardware in hopes of making a sensible timeline for the availability of it in the US with hopes of being able to coordinate with European suppliers.
After WW II lots of the classic military surplus hardware became readily available but climbers needed more than these four sizes and designs and importing began in earnest as the number of retailers began to expand to fill the demand. The Swiss companies and Sporthaus Schuster were the main suppliers since they weren't thrown backwards as much during the war.
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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KINGTUT<
. . . . . . .(?sic)
You realize you are old...when you recognize 80% of the old crap in this thread, have used it extensively, clipped a fixed one, or threw it out as junk lol. And youts today look at it like a Model T on display at the Smithsonian.
Jesus, my old trusties are museum pieces :(. yup mine too!
you would not believe the attitude, some climbers have to my Gear as I pass the bolted top roping stations by protecting the cracks, at the same places, with cams older than they are.
that and the looks!
Ive Passed around my #1 Original (pre US distribution) Wild Country Friends, Like it was Show and tell.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Perhaps
CCB = C. Christen, Bern (town in Switzerland)
Where the person's first name started with C and Christen was their last name.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Marlow- What do you know about Hupfauf gear? I believe I have the spelling correct.
I had a nice selection of pitons that I thought were CCB as they resembled their offerings closely and were from Switzerland. I laid them out at the first Oakdale Climbers Festival as such only to find out later that they came from Hupfauf by comparing stamp lettering.
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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Steve.
Hupfauf, Einsiedeln
Hupfauf were blacksmiths who started a factory in Einsiedeln, Switzerland. The first generation was Anton Hupfauf (1871-1916). The second generation was son Anton Hupfauf (1908-1993)
Anton the first was born in Fulpmes in the Tyrol region of Austria. After being trained as a blacksmith, he moved to Einsiedeln in Switzerland in 1898, and started as a blacksmith.
Initially the production was mainly farming tools and knives, but he gradually started to make ice axes and crampons. The products were exported to other countries. He won the gold medal in the Turin World's Fair, Italy in 1911. Founder Anton Hupfauf passed away because of an accident in 1916.
Until the second generation was old enough to manage the factory, a man named Melchior Ochsner, one of the employees, took over the management. In 1924 they possibly opened a shop and started to sell metal products and household goods there in addition to the factory.
Second generation Anton Hupfauf learned metal processing in Fulpmes Technical College in his father's hometown Fulpmes (Fulpmes Technical College). He graduated from there in 1926, and took over his father's factory in 1930.
Ice axes and crampons continued to be exported to foreign countries. During the Second World War they also delivered equipment to the army.
At most the factory had 15 employees. I think Hupfauf must have been very successful at their time. I have seen a catalogue from the 1920s where they had several ice axe lengths to choose among – 1, 2, 2,5, 3, 3,5, 4, 4,5, 5, 5,5, 6 and 7 and you could get the ice axe in every shaft length you wanted. They sold several models – Prima, Lion mark, and Marke Tödi. At least Prima and Lion mark had sub-catogories of axes – Grindelwald model, Walliser model, Swiss model. The ice axes are among the most common old axes that you find on the web today. The Hupfauf factory was closed after the war in 1948.
Einsiedeln Town is located at the northern foot of the Swiss alps, 30 km southeast of Zurich and 30 km from Luzern. The meaning of the name Einsiedeln is said to be “to live as a hermit”. There is an old Benedictiner monastry in the town. It is a famous pilgrimage site.
Main source: Thanks to nirayama.com and Mr. Suwabe.
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SuperTopo on the Web
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There may be a connection between the name "Christen, Bern" and the name CCB
Let us know!