The Grivel family were blacksmiths based in the little town of Courmayeur on the Italian side of Mont Blanc. It seems they were making agricultural implements initially but saw a market for ice axes during the ‘Golden Era’ of Alpine mountaineering in the 1860s.

One of the family, Henry, teamed up with Oscar Eckenstein in 1908 to produce the first proper crampons for mountaineering – we have a couple of fine pairs in the collection.

The axe we have here dates from the 1950s and there’s an excellent video on the Grivel website showing similar ones being made.

Unfortunately we are not sure where this particular one came from though it is a fine addition to our wee Grivel family.