1950s USA Gear notes

Mechanical Advantage series by John Middendorf

Buy the books here:

Volume 1: (mostly) European Tools and Techniques to the 1930s

Volume 2: (mostly) North American Climbing Tools and Techniques to the 1950s

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This page will be updated (draft, jumping ahead a bit in my timeline…)

Key concept: Starting in the late 1920s, American piton production began a steady evolution, piggybacking on new developments in the USA steel industry, leading to the high alloy steel pitons of the 1950s which in turn led to opening the doors of Yosemite’s big walls, and to visionary big wall climbing elsewhere on the planet.

The well-known as the “Golden Age” of Yosemite climbing, noted by historian climber Steve Roper as the quarter-century between 1947-1971, when many huge technical big wall routes in Yosemite were first climbed, was an accumulation of many new tools and techniques merging at the time. There are many great online collections of mostly post-WWII pitons and other mainstream equipment of this period, but the exact chronology of hardware is sometimes unclear. In the age prior to the widespread use of clean climbing protection, piton craft was an essential art for hard rock climbs; this post is an attempt to add further detail in the chronology between the 1940s and 1960s (still working on the 1920s-1930s history for the origins of USA-made piton design—as I mentioned in the last post covering the major European climbing gear in 1964, it helps to know where we are going to understand the initial steps in that direction).

The 1950s

In Europe in the 1950s, climbing had become a mainstream sport, and heroes appeared regularly on the covers of national magazines. The legends of climbers needing to forge their own pitons prior to a first ascent had long passed, and there were a number of manufacturers competing for market share by offering wider availability of relatively inexpensive, mild steel pitons of varied design. Pitons were mostly the “vertical” and “horizontal” designs developed in the 1910s, now with dozens of design variants and thicknesses, though the largest pitons on offer were suitable for only about the size of a fingertip—anything bigger was thought climbable without protection, though wood wedges (“coins de bois”) were sometimes used for larger cracks if aid was required. And of course, bolts were becoming more common (bolting technology will be covered in a separate post).

Though most European mountaineering equipment in the 1950s was mass-produced as mature products, in the 1950s USA, a blacksmith-driven period of innovation was about to begin.

With the wide availability of commercially available pitons in Europe, very few climbers needed to forge their own pitons by the 1950s (and probably not many in the 1930s either). Screenshots from the German film the North Face about the 1936 attempt of the Eiger north wall.

ASMü was a major global supplier at pitons from the 1920s well into the 1950s and were available from catalogs and international mail order.

In the 1950s in North America, most pitons used for climbing were made in Europe, where the fullest range of size and price options were available. There are a number of references of climbers buying equipment from Sporthaus Schuster in Munich, including the ASMü pitons (produced by August Schuster) used by the Stettners on Longs Peak in 1927 (story next post). Some of the highest quality pitons came from Switzerland, though these were only available in the USA from specialty retailers such as Abercrombie & Fitch, who were selling pitons made by Hupfauf. Fritsch and CCB also produced quality pitons in Switzerland. The Swiss pitons appear to be made from higher grade steel than the typical mass-produced mild steel pitons from the major post-WW2 brands: Cassin, Simond, and Charlet Moser, and Stubai, but further metallurgical analysis would be needed to confirm this. Throughout Europe, there were still a number of smaller manufacturers creating custom pitons for climbers, all using various grades of mild steel, but store-bought pitons were plentiful and relatively cheap, so they became the mainstay of a climber’s ‘rack’ of gear.

Quick Review of Steel

Most pitons made in Europe, well into the 1960s, were made from mild steels. Engineers and climbers have all sorts of confusing names for steels with various amounts of carbon, such as low-carbon/low tensile steel, 10/10 steel, ST37 (Europe), ‘sweet homogeneous iron’ (Bonatti), etc. (“soft iron” is a long-standing misnomer, as the pitons are steel, not iron). Mild steels (SAE 1000 series) are relatively soft and malleable with a maximum hardness of around Brinell 120, so not suitable for super-thin pitons (as they will buckle) or for angle pitons (as will tend to flatten out when getting hammered into a crack). But for the mainstream mass-produced “horizontal” and “vertical” piton designs optimized for the limestone cracks of the Alps, mild steel is strong and robust enough for a few placements, and was suitable for a low-cost piton.

High-strength steels used for pitons also have a number of names, Chromium-Vanadium (CrV), Chromium-Molybendum (ChroMo, Chromoly, etc.), as well as many other alloyed steels. Alloys steels like these can be hardened to Brinell 300 and still be tough (RC41/42 makes for a nice knifeblade piton hardness).

For the purposes of steel climbing pitons, perhaps it is easiest just to refer to the original steels used for climbing pitons as “Mild Steel”, and higher strength piton steels as “Alloy Steel”, with alloys such as chromium, vanadium, molybdenum, etc. in just the right trace amounts enable the steel to be stronger and harder by optimising grain structure with heat treatments, which fine-tune the hardness and toughness—the measure of bend before breaking/ductility—of the steel, which are inversely related for a given type of steel. More on 20th century global steel evolution here.

There might be other types of steel used in the evolution of pitons, perhaps we can call them “Medium-Strength Alloy Steels” to differentiate from the more common high-strength alloy steels available today—steels with a higher degree of hardenability than mild steels with good toughness properties and with some alloying elements, a developing science in the 1930s-1940s. I believe most climbers of this time could intuitively differentiate when pounding different types of steel pitons on their racks from various sources, though knowledge of the types of steel was often not shared between manufacturers and nations. USA steel producers became the world’s largest in 1901, and for the next five decades were global leaders in high-strength steel research, driven by the automobile and aircraft industry. (See also Simcoe). It appears that some of the early USA pitons were made from higher quality steel than was commonly used for pitons in Europe at the time. It is not unthinkable that a blacksmith’s simplest source for high-grade alloy steels was from abandoned industrial parts like the crankshaft of an old Ford (it is still a point of pride among backyard blacksmiths to repurpose metal parts and tools). After WW2 in USA, many new alloy steels with a wide range of properties became more common and were used for small batches of pitons and other parts by the occasional crafty blacksmith among the climbing community.

Rough Material Chronology

So with that in mind, here is the rough idea of steel piton material evolution:

• 1900-1960s Europe—mostly mild steel pitons. Some of the early Swiss pitons (1930s+) might have been made from higher quality European steel than commonly used mild steel for most pitons at the time.

• 1920s-1940 USA made pitons: mostly mild steel, though some pitons made in smaller quantities might have been made from medium-strength alloy steels (Dwight Lavender and Bill House pitons TK).

• 1943: US Army mild steel ring angle (probably 1020), vertical and horizontal pitons. Tens of thousands of these were made for anticipated mountain warfare, and unused stock flooded the market in 1946.

  

  1943 US Army pitons made from mild steel. Not many of the Army horizontals seem to survive. Note also the reference to “soft iron.” Image courtesy Karabin Climbing Museum

• ~1946: John Salathe uses high-strength Chromium-Vanadium (CrV) alloy steel to make pitons for his climbs in Yosemite. CrV can be hardened precisely with heat treatment, quench, and tempering to get the optimal balance of toughness, hardness, and strength.

  

  Salathe Pitons in Gary Neptune collection.

  

  Early Ford ad. John Salathe hand-forged pitons from high-strength steels in the 1940s, probably out of surplus CrV “Vanadium” steel.

• 1946-1954: in the USA, Bob Owens (Kachinas), Bob Bruning (Holubar), and Norton Smithe possibly also made pitons with a medium- or high-strength alloy steel in this period.

• 1954: Chuck Wilts shares information on his 4130 Chromoly thin pitons in the Sierra Club Bulletin (and in “Belaying the Leader, an Omnibus on Climbing Safety”, 1956) and soon a number of makers begin making Chromoly pitons, which then becomes the standard for all high strength steel pitons, craftsfolk include Richard Long, Jerry Gallwas, George Rea, Bill Feuerer, and Yvon Chouinard.

Chuck Wilts's invention of the thin micro-piton opened up new realms of thin crack big wall climbing. By connecting the thinnest of thin seams, new big wall routes became visible.

1950s USA-an age of piton innovation.

Typical climber’s“Rack”: In the early 1950s, most American piton climbers would have had a few army Gov’t surplus pitons, a selection of “soft-iron” (mild steel) pitons brought over or shipped from Europe, and perhaps a few high-quality hand-made steel pitons from a USA designer and maker. Carabiners would have been a mix of steel and some aluminum. Racks of gear were heavy, and limited in the range of sizes (~3mm to 10mm widths). The time was ripe for another gear evolution.

Designing new gear for the new big wall challenges on the granite and sandstone mountains of the North America led to a productive period of equipment innovation in the USA, with arguably four ‘centers’: California, Colorado, Washington, and the East Coast. This story will be told in two parts, 1920-1940, and 1940-1960s. This page as reference material below, and will be updated with further research and as others contribute. Many thanks to Marty Karabin (MK) and Ashby Robertson (AR), whose images are noted below. Other sources TK.

1950s suppliers of climbing equipment. Gerry and Holubar made pitons since the 1940s. REI began as an importer of European ice axes, and by this time had expanded to offer many of the latest tools from Europe. Robert Lawrie based in London was a major supplier for Himalayan expeditions at the time.(Summit Magazine 1956).

Chronology 1940s-1950s (draft)

TO BE UPDATED WITH MORE EXAMPLES AND DESIGNS: Bob Owens, George Rea, Jerry Gallwas, Bea Vogel, others…

Gerry Catalog 1947 (AR), An interesting early USA horizontal piton design, which appears to be made from an angle-iron type mild steel.

Holubar, 1950 (AR),

Holubar, 1954-5 (AR), With strengths like these, the USA-made Holubar “Lost Arrow” style horizontal forged pitons were likely from a medium to high strength steel alloy.

Vertical and Horizontal Holubar pitons in the American Alpine Museum. Courtesy Katie Sauter.

Norton Smithe 1950 pitons, possibly the first “ringless” angle pitons, image courtesy Steve Grossman and Marty Karabin.

Chuck Wilts shared his knowledge of high-strength steel via the Sierra Club, 1954 and 1956, kicking off a period of piton innovation with 4130 Chromoly steel.

Chuck Wilt Knifeblades mid-1950s (MK)

Longware collection, 1950s+, Gary Neptune.

1957 Richard Long of Longware tells his piton story from Marty Karabin’s site. Richard Long was one the first to make use of the new higher-strength steel materials to make a wide range of pitons starting in the 1950s.

Marty Karabin Collection of Longware, 1950s+. (MK)

Jerry Gallwas photo.

1957 Jerry Gallwas pitons in the Yosemite Climbing Association museum.

Dolt Angle Pitons, 1958. (MK)

Late 1950s Chouinard hand-forged pitons (1960 Dolt Catalog)(MK) Chouinard forged high-strength steel pitons and also introduced a high-strength production forged aluminum carabiner in 1958. By the mid-1960s, Chouinard became the major supplier of all sizes of Chromoly pitons.

Chouinard RURP in 1960 DOLT catalog (left) and 1965 catalog (right) (MK)

Holubar Knifeblades, 1959 (Summit Magazine)

Bea Vogel, 1952

MORE 50s and 60s To Come: 4130 Chrome-moly steel consolidates as the standard piton material for all USA-made pitons.

Addendum with more information from Richard Long and Jerry Gallwas here.

1961 SUMMIT ads

Left: (AR) 1960 Gerry catalog pitons (mostly European imports). One of the USA-made Gerry “stubby angle” pitons was involved in a fatal accident, possibly from overly hard heat treatment (details TK). Right: pitons offered by Gerry in 1961(Summit).

Leeper Z-pitons, 1962

By the mid-1960s, the Chouinard/Frost team were unstoppable (1964/5 Summit)

1965

The Chouinard Yosemite hammer heads were drop forged 4130 Chromoly steel, hardened to ~RC 45 by Ajax Forge in Los Angeles and were by far the most preferred big wall hammer of the era.

Piton cautions, and actually not all firsts…

Probably one of the finest crafted piton designs of the 1960s by Bill Feuerer (DOLT, 1965).

Dolt pitons were without a doubt the finest crafted, but few could afford a full rack of Dolt pitons.

CMI, Forrest, and SMC also begin making quality hardware in the 1960s (TK).

More 1950 ads (Summit magazine)

in the mid-1960s you could buy a complete rack for $100 and climb with the pros.

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Slings in 1956: 1” military spec woven nylon webbing

Rock Shoes 1957

Best Big Wall Carabiner 1940s(?)-1958:

Bedayns were the best for a while, but without a notched gate, they were only good to about 2200lbf (carabiner story TK)

Best Big Wall Carabiners 1958-1961+

Strong forged aluminum alloy carabiners, 1958.

In 1958, Chouinard’s aluminum carabiners that could withstand over 4000lbf were a breakthrough. Alcoa forging process.

Studies/Tests

John Armitage studied and published articles on the science of pitons in the 1960s (Summit).

MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

American Alpine Club, Golden, Colorado:

Possibly some early 1930s USA-Steel pitons in this photo.

The famous Salathe Hook in the AAC museum.

Gary Neptune, Boulder, Colorado:

Gary’s displays are not only fascinating glimpses of the pioneering spirit of Colorado climbing but also provide clear “provenance” for equipment.

Gary Neptune Collection. if those pitons could only talk…

Gary Neptune Collection. By the mid-1960s, most pitons were once again mostly mass-produced using an industrial steel drop forge method.

Marty Karabin, Phoenix, Arizona:

Possibly another 1930s Bill House piton in Marty’s collection (complete story to come)

One of many great Marty Karabin Collection displays.

John Middendorf Collection, Hobart Tasmania:

..only kidding, just a bunch of junk collected from my years of climbing. I have been giving most of my good stuff to collectors who show their collections online, though I would like to make a display case like Marty’s of my favourite gear.

Teasers/notes:

The Great White Throne was one of the earliest big walls climbed in the United States (TK)

1957 piton route on Longs, (shortly before the main East Face was first climbed)

lots of ‘ethical’ discussions in this era

In 1958, without large angles for the large cracks, the team retreated…

1962 piton routes far from the road…

Royal Robbins articles in Summit (1966).

European aerial artists captured the world’s imagination and were often featured in mainstream media publications.

In one of the first nationwide media exposures to American climbing (1958), Jim McCarthy demonstrating aid techniques in the Gunks. Jim was one of the best all-rounders of the era: top free climber, great aid climber, and expedition big waller.

A5 Blueprint part design provided to forging company for production drop- forging. Ajax forge built a single drop forge die set with four cavities that progressively shapes the part.

More on A5 hammer development as a study in chromoly production drop forging…