The Charlet family were blacksmiths based in the little French town of Chamonix in the shadows of Mont Blanc. Initially crafting tools for agricultural use from metal and wood they transferred their skills to the art of ice axe making in the 1860s when the Golden Age of mountaineering came along. For decades to come they made one of the most sought after axes for Alpinists, rivalling the Austrian Stubai and Italian Grivel.

We think it was around 1960 that Charlet joined another company to become Charlet-Moser, it would seem that the two ice pitons we have here in the collection came along soon after. Ice climbers were still hammering in ice pitons in the 1960s and, rather tediously, chopping them back out again, ice screws arrived on the scene later an the 1960s and ice pitons became things of the past – they weren’t missed very much!