From the Pages of History: Pitons from the 1960 Gerry Equipment Catalog
Second in our series of early catalog recreations, these are the items offered by Gerry in 1960.
Notice the interesting shape of the top two pitons. Both the vertical style and the horizontal have a distinctive “hump” (on the top for the vertical piton and on the edge opposite the eye of the horizontal piton).
The “Stubby angle piton”, as it is called in the catalog, is interesting due to its semi-circular design. The way it is shaped seems to offer less spring or flex than a similar Chouinard style angle piton. This might be a problem during general use but I do remember seeing many of these used as fixed drilled placements in soft sandstone in The Garden of the Gods (Colorado) and in the Fisher Towers (Utah).
Ashby, The horizontal piton you are showing as a Gerry is actually a CMI. The Gerry Vertical and Horizontal is the same piton, one just has the eye bent at 90 degrees.
Merry Holidays!
You are probably right about that. Coincidentally, I was looking at that post while on the plane last week and wondering about that particular pins origin.
I have two of these pitons marked “Gerry” instead of the usual “CMI”. Both are stamped on the inside close to the eye. The markings are simple stamps in block letters not script. I was thinking Gerry had a few made by CMI and marked as there own. Hmm…
I recognise that the piton in the photos is thicker stock and the bend of the eye is different than the line drawing in he catalog. I would love to see an example of the vertical Gerry piton with the eye bent to create the horizontal style. I can’t produce any supporting photos of the Gerry stamp at this time, my entire archive is on a ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.