Saas Almagel is a little Alpine village in the Valais area of Switzerland, just a mountain pass away from its rather more illustrious neighbour, Zermatt. It was here, around 1918, that the Geb Andenmatten ( the Andenmatten brothers ) began making ice axes which were sold to the local mountain guides, visiting tourists and the Swiss Army. The rather battered version we have here in the collection belonged to Donnie MacKenzie, who for many years was a leading light in the Scottish Ski Club. He was also well travelled and may well have bought this axe on one of his many trips to Switzerland. The shaft has been broken at some point and rather crudely repaired which all adds to the patina! These Andenmatten axes are pretty rare since we suspect that there were not huge amounts made. In 2017, similar ones, if you could find one, could be bought for £80/£100. We suspect this is an early 1920’s version since later ones had date stamps and were branded ‘Marke Mischabel’. Some also had Swiss Army markings. Donnie passed away in 2017 and his family kindly donated his axe to the collection. Thanks folks.