Descending Carabiner with Brake Bar
A very nice early 1960s rappel set up. This design is simple, elegant, and easy to use. The brake bar works with most of the thin stock oval carabiners of the time like the...
Author: Curator
Piton Keeper Rings
Piton or “Peg” keeper rings would work really well when a climber needed to carry large arsenals of iron. There are three types in our archives: Troll keeper rings, ASMU keeper rings, and a...
1971 Chouinard Piton Hammer
Vertical Archaeology has been fortunate in acquiring this fine example of an early Chouinard hammer and Dolt holster. The items were purchased through eBay and usually that can be a pretty anonymous way to buy gear. But...
Dolt Holster
Tim Beamans early 1970s Dolt Holster.
Jardine Enterprises 1st Generation Friends
#1 and #3 early versions of the iconic ridged stem Friends. Ray Jardine worked to refine this design and changed they way we all protect ourselves on the rock. Initially, three sizes were offered....
C.M.I. Catalog (1988)
C.M.I. published this catalog in 1988 showcasing their product line. New for that season were the RoKJoX “cammable nut” as its called in the catalog copy. RoKJoX were an interesting idea and worked well...
Stubai Hammer (1972)
Vertical Archaeology acquired this Stubai hammer from a collector in Germany. He sent a photo and I remembered seeing the exact model in a recently archived 1972 Ellis Bingham catalog so we made a deal and transferred...
The Eiger Sanction
“The Eiger Sanction” is one of my favorite climbing movies. Released on May 21, 1975 in the United States and through out the summer in other countries, the movie didn’t do great business and was considered...
Glacier Cream Sun Screen
I found an advertisement for Glacier Sunscreen Cream in the 1965 Blacks catalog and we are very happy to have this new tube and decent original box in the Vertical Archaeology archives. Too often the...
British Army Pitons (1952 issue)
Two pitons issued to British military mountain warfare troops in 1952. The long narrow “lost arrow” type pitons are heavy and thick with a large head and eye. Their weak point is where the head...