Climbing-Irons.— Crampons, or climbing-irons, have long been popular with German and Austrian climbers. The Horeschowski, Eckenstein, Bilgeri, and Simond models all have ten points, but climbers with small feet can wear eight-point crampons if they wish. The shape of the Bilgeri model difers from the others and is the lightest. Hemp straps are the usual form of attachment and must not be buckled too tight, as hemp shrinks when it is wet. Horeschowski has designed a particularly convenient form of strap. Crampons should be fitted to the boots very accurately; Mr. Eckenstein states that they should be very carefully forged and points out that in the manufacture of them neither welding, brazing, soldering, nor riveting should be allowed.
Although crampons are cumbersome, and at times even painful travelling companions, whenever they are worn they give a great sense of security. This can be appreciated if the climber will take the trouble to make the experiment of discarding his crampons while descending a steep slope of hard snow. He will be surprised to find how embarrassed his movements will at once become. It has even happened to a climber to become so hopelessly addicted to crampons that he will miss the opportunity of a good standing glissade owing to having shirked the trouble of removing them.
Pitons.—Iron pitons with rings and clasps may be bought from many of the foreign outfitters, such as Fritsch of Zurich. English mountaineers, so far, have preferred to use these implements merely for the purpose of safeguarding with a rope the descent of rocks or, similarly, for descending ice, in order to avoid step-cutting. In the Eastern Alps, however, young climbers in search of sensation sometimes use them for engineering their way up what would otherwise be unclimbable rock or ice. In the case of ice, such obstacles have to be sought for and are not easily found.
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| Laurent Croux and Oscar Eckenstein demonstrate crampons in 1912 Image by courtesy of Grivel USA |
Although crampons are cumbersome, and at times even painful travelling companions, whenever they are worn they give a great sense of security. This can be appreciated if the climber will take the trouble to make the experiment of discarding his crampons while descending a steep slope of hard snow. He will be surprised to find how embarrassed his movements will at once become. It has even happened to a climber to become so hopelessly addicted to crampons that he will miss the opportunity of a good standing glissade owing to having shirked the trouble of removing them.
Pitons.—Iron pitons with rings and clasps may be bought from many of the foreign outfitters, such as Fritsch of Zurich. English mountaineers, so far, have preferred to use these implements merely for the purpose of safeguarding with a rope the descent of rocks or, similarly, for descending ice, in order to avoid step-cutting. In the Eastern Alps, however, young climbers in search of sensation sometimes use them for engineering their way up what would otherwise be unclimbable rock or ice. In the case of ice, such obstacles have to be sought for and are not easily found.
References
Chapter Three “Equipment” by C F Meade in The Lonsdale Library of Sports, Games and Pastimes, Volume XVIII, Mountaineering, London: Seeley Service & Co, 1934
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