We found this little fella lurking in the ice-screw graveyard and were very happy to exhume him (we think ice pitons are hims rather than hers as they are rough around the edges). Even better, though suffering a little from the patina of age it doesn’t look like he’s ever been used, so a little bit of cleaning and things look like they did when first made around 80 years ago.

Ice pitons were the first form of protection/anchors to become available for mountaineers, fairly cumbersome affairs that needed hammering in and, with much more difficulty, chopping back out again with an ice axe. Ring pitons, both ice and rock, were developed before karabiners so a rope could be threaded through the ring, it was common, particularly in Alpine regions, for them to be left in place, particularly for abseiling.

ASMU is short for August Schuster of MUnich, a company formed in 1914 to become one of Europe’s largest equipment retailers, it’s now known as Sporthaus Schuster.