Top row: six inch and five inch bong pitons
Second row: two inch angle
Third row: three quarter inch ring angle
Bottom row: LONGware spoon style horizontal piton
Detail of the stamped logo mid way down the body of the piton. The LONG of LONGware was capitalized and stood for Dick Long the designer and manufacturer of these pitons.
A three quarters inch ring angle piton
Detail showing the ring. Notice the weld and the marks left on the ring by a vise or the tool used to form the ring.
The tip of the LONGware ring angle is squared off and blunt.
This LONGware Bong Piton starts at five inches and flares to six inches. I acquired this piton from Harvey T. Carter in 1994. He had used it on several of his first ascents in the Fisher Towers but remarked that, “it was too god damned big to use anywhere else…” Harvey claimed to have once nailed this into a wide crack and then stood on it like a belay ledge on “Scheherazade” on the Titan.
Harvey’s famous gold paint is still inside.
This thing is big! It makes a great “cowbell” like noise when hanging on your rack.
Detail of the rivet holding everything together. Just above the rivet you can see marks left by a hammer when removing this piton from a placement.
The tail of the six inch bong showing the rivet, the clip in hole, and the true size of this monster piton.
Another view inside this monster aluminum sandwich!
This LONGware bong piton starts out at about four and a quarter inches and flares to five inches.
The width of the LONGware five inch bong piton.
Detail of the rivet and eye of the LONGware five inch bong piton
The tail of the five inch LONGware bong piton. To my knowledge, this smaller bong was only placed two or three times. Harvey T. Carter, the original owner, found he could use three inch Chouinard bongs turned width-wise instead of this piton. They were lighter and more versatile as they could be stacked, nailed, and placed several different ways. Harvey thought this bong was too fat and shallow.
Inside the LONGware five inch bong piton showing the gold paint Harvey T. Carter used to mark his pitons.
Detail of the LONGware stamp
Detail of the LONGware stamp
Detail of the eye of the LONGware two inch angle. It looks like the piton was pressed and welded at the same time, similar to techniques used to weld automobile body panels.
The striking surface is narrow but seems strong
Detail of the LONGware stamp. The hangers must have been stamped prior to bending them because the stamps tend to lay across the bend.
A LONGware quarter inch bolt hanger with a quarter inch by one inch Rawl threaded rivet attached. This rivet pulled on me while climbing on the River Tower in the Fisher Towers of Utah. I zippered two pieces of gear below this placement and fell about twenty five feet down a chimney. Ouch!
