The Grivel family were Italian blacksmiths based in the little town of Courmayeur in the shadow of Mont Blanc, or Monte Bianco, as the Italians would call it. Having begun life back in 1818 making agricultural tools they soon turned to the manufacture of ice axes and crampons during the ‘golden age’ in the late 1800’s. Along with Oscar Eckenstein, Henry Grivel developed the first crampons for climbing in 1908, allegedly forged from recycled railwaylines.

The pair of crampons we have here in the collection probably came from a more conventional source and a later era – we reckon 1940/50s.

Brevetto means patent in Italian so this particular style must have been patented though Stubai of Austria were producing similar ones at the time.

The problem with all these early crampons was that they were not adjustable without the major task of heating and bending, a job more suited to a blacksmith than a climber. They certainly did the job for a decade or two until better, more adjustable versions came along in the 1960/70’s.