Trying to identify the various types of climbing harnesses from the 1970’s and 1980’s can be a bit of a nightmare though the ‘Cassin’ on the label of this one gives us a clue! Riccardo Cassin was a highly celebrated and decorated mountaineer from Italy. He had a long list of first ascents in the Alps; the most famous being the Walker Spur on the Grandes Jurasses. The ‘decorations’ came from his war time operations with the Partisans who fought a bitter campaign against the Germans. Cassin started making climbing equipment way back in 1947 and produced a prototype climbing harness in 1958 which went into production two years later. The harness we have here in the collection is from a little later circa 1985 and once belonged to Mick Tighe’s Mountain Guiding Company, Nevis Guides. It was probably given to Mick by Nevisport as for many years they were the UK importers of Cassin gear and Mick helped them advertise the Cassin brand. Riccardo Cassin died at the grand old age of 100, in 2009; his company trademark having been sold to CAMP in 1997.