A guy called Oscar Eckenstein is widely credited with creating the first crampons specifically for mountaineering around 1908 when he took some drawings along to Italian blacksmith, Henry Grivel, and asked him to make a pair – he did. A century or so later, crampons have gone through a multitude of changes, one of which was with the pair we have here in the collection. Charlet Moser were based in Chamonix, France; well known for manufacturing ice axes and other mountain hardware. In this instance (circa 1960) they put hooks on their crampons rather than eyelets which were difficult to thread straps through in cold weather. This was a time when the crampon straps were often made of leather or sometimes a length of thin rope, not only difficult to put on but also difficult to take off when frozen. Strangely perhaps, what seemed to be a good idea didn’t catch on. Rings/ eyelets prevailed for a decade or two until the plastic harness system took over.