The late 1800’s have become known as ‘The Golden Age’ in mountaineering, a time of exploration and travel, largely brought about by another ‘ golden age’ that of the Industrial Revolution. Mountaineers flocked to the great Alpine resorts of which Chamonix in France was one of the most popular. Crystal hunters hacked away at the rocks of Mont Blanc above the town since gemstones could be acquired for free and sold for profit to the mountaineering hordes. Unfortunately, many of them became snowblind when crossing glaciers in search of their quarry – they needed eye protection. Jules Baud was the man for the job. Based in the valley of Morez, he created probably the world’s first glacier glasses and as they were specifically for the crystal hunters he called them “ Christalliers” The company later became Julbo and went on to become one of the best known names in sunglasses/ goggles in the world of mountaineering. The ’Julbos’ we have here in the collection date from the 1970’s and were kindly donated by Sam Crymble, mountain man and guide.