CMI Crack Tacks
CMI Crack Tacks were postage stamp size pitons available from the mid to late 1960s through the late 1970s. Their basic design was similar to the bigger knife blade style pins from Chouinard but, due to their smaller size, the perpendicular eye could limit placement in some situations. Crack Tacks really worked best in horizontal placements where the perpendicular arm could provide a bit of support and prevent the piece from levering out. These pitons were usually slung with half inch tie-off webbing or thin cord. Placements were almost always for direct aid and were “body weight” only.
Vertical Archaeology currently has these two, size 21 and 22, but there was also a size 20 in the same design.
Several photos with an early 1970s RURP and a Clog Micro are included.
Curator,
Just found this website! Very excited to see that someone is trying to document the history of climbing gear. I was employed at the CMI factory from 1973-1977, during the time it had been sold and relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio. I have a collection of almost 300 pieces of CMI gear, some pieces are factory seconds, some new unused pieces, some unique product development pieces.
Let me know if you care to discuss further.
Hi Ken!
Wow! 300 pieces is a lot of history. I’m intrigued to see some of your collection and hear some of your stories.
Message me if we can be of any assistance with anything.
I worked at Holubar, and then the original Neptune Mountaineering from circa 1975-1980, on and off. Gary was trying to fill in his equipment offerings, as Culp and other shop owners in Boulder sort of leveraged against big brands, especially Chouinard, from selling to him. About that time, an eccentric fellow named Ethan Becker came along, having just bought the CMI brand, relocating it to Ohio, and his ascenders were a vast improvement over the ubiquitous Jumars. His hex nuts and Beam chocks were well-made alternatives to Hexes, less so to Tube chocks which came soon after, all long before cams were developed.
Ethan I believe sold CMI at some point, because his time was being devoted to putting out the subsequent edition of his mother’s legacy, the “Joy of Cooking” book franchise. He also turned to knife making, and his Becker Knife and Tool brand has been successful since 1980. I believe his son took on the Cookbook inheritance, but I don’t recognize who the current CMI owners are – apparently a former employee, but from which era? Their website would imply a family business lineage, but wording isn’t outright deceptive in saying that CMI has been a continuous family business, while stepping around the fact that this has been three different families. Becker raised a brand name back from the dead, grew it from a garage / basement enterprise, and created industrially sophisticated, well engineered, and quality controlled ascenders of high reliability. Nothing wrong with someone else continuing in that vein.
I just can’t remember who the original CMI folks were – I have a couple Crack Tacs that I used, but still appear mint condition, as well as an original metal handle piton hammer, with the initials in the first generation script font.