Wastl Mariner was an Austrian Alpiniste with many early Alpine climbs to his name, though he is better known for his work in mountain rescue techniques, sometimes being referred to as the Father of Alpine Rescue.

He rose to stardom in the 1950s with an array of innovative ideas and inventions. The Mariner mountain rescue stretcher became almost universal in Alpine countries in the 1950s/60s complimented by cable ways, winches and pulleys to go with it. You will find excellent examples in our mountain rescue section.

It seems that Wastl also invented/created the karabiners we have here in the collection in the 1950s, a time when karabiners were embryonic and folk were looking for the best design…the idea with these ones is they can be opened, even when loaded.

We are taking a guess that MARWA is a word play on WASTLMARINER, though we do know for sure that Stubai of Austria made the karabiners for Wastl. Some of them made their way across the channel in the 1950s/60s but were soon overtaken by better designed and stronger versions.