The Scottish Mountain Heritage Collection
1624.2021.1
Swiss ice Axe
24/08/2021
Hermione Cooper
24/08/2021
Long shafted ice axe with serrated pick and pointed ferrule.Sliding wrist leash.
wood, metal
93.5(L) x 28(length of head) cms
1
"G JOST THUN"
silver, brown
G Jost
Thun, Switzerland
They called it the Golden Age of Mountaineering ; 1860 to 1880 were the rough parameters, a time when most of the major alpine peaks were first climbed, many of them by British mountaineers though often with local mountain guides.
Both guide and client needed ice-axes so the local blacksmiths turned their skills of making agricultural tools to that of ice-axes.
The blacksmiths of the Stubai area of Austria amalgamated to become Stubai, the ice- axe makers, Grivel of Italy, Simond and Charlet of France were all to become household (mountaineering households anyway) names.
They did it a little differently in Switzerland, operating on a smaller, more local basis, creating a wealth of different brands from a variety of Swiss valleys, in this case Thun in the Canton of Bern close to the mountains of the Bernese Oberland.
G. Jost-Thun is stamped on the head and we are assuming that’s the maker and the town of origin though it is possible that it refers to the owner and his/her place of residence.
A fabulous axe whatever which we think dates from 1900/1910.
24/08/2021
24/08/2021
Spectrum : UK Museum documentation standard, V.3.1 2007
24/08/2021