ASMU - Sporthaus Schuster
- Made in Munich Germany
Two ASMU ice pitons in the Ashby Robertson collection
Long pointed tip, then 4 teeth equal on both sides.
Sporthaus Jungborn 1930 catalog
Sporthaus Schuster 1932 catalog
Sporthaus Schuster 1939 catalog,
from Matthias Hofle.
​- This catalog shows two different ASMU ice piton versions.
Item NR.2762 has a pointed tip, and has barbs the full length of the piton blade.
Sporthaus Schuster 1939 catalog
Hello Martin,
 
I was able to buy a bundle of old "Bergsteiger" magazines and found an interesting article about ice pitons in a 1939 issue.  The article is written in old German script and is difficult to read.
 
Here is a short summary:
Ice pitons were invented by Fritz Rigele in 1924 and tested for the first time with Willi Welzenbach on the north-west face of the Großes Wiesbachhorn.
The Rigele/Welzenbach ice piton is an iron pin up to 32cm long with a ring, barbed at the tip.
The first disadvantage is, on the one hand, that the ring eye is often crushed when hammered in and the the ring is no longer movable.
Secondly, the piton often loosens out of the ice when exposed to heat or stress, and because the teeth are only on the conical tip, the piton no longer has a hold.
In 1938, the engineer H. Jungel from Liezen (Styria / Austria ) invented a new ice piton.
The new ice piton is slimmer, shorter and the barbs are distributed over the whole length of the pin. The ring is in a lateral eye so that the hammer beat no longer squeezes the eye.
 
Matthias
History of ice pitons c.1939
1939 product.
- Illus #3 in History of Ice Pitons - Four teeth equal on both sides at the tip of the ice piton.
ASMU 1939 ice piton with ring
- Mfg mark "ASMU" "Sporthaus Schuster Munchen"
- Note: In the ASMU 1954/55 catalog it shows in the illustrations that some of the pitons have the word "ASMU" marked on the items. The items don't have the round ASMU logo, but do have the letters ASMU. This ice piton may be actually from the mid 1950s, however this ice piton also has a "Sporthaus Schuster Munchen" mark which is uncommon.
Sporthaus Schuster 1954/1955 catalog.

Item # 5611 two versions

Item # 5612 twisted ice piton, 2 sizes

Item # 5613 has a flat tip, and has barbs the full length of the piton blade. 2 sizes
ASMU - Ring ice piton
- Mfg mark ASMU round logo
- c.early 1950s
Piton eye size comparison
ASMU - Ice piton
- c.late 1950s
- Shown in the ASMU 1961 catalog
ASMU ice piton with a twist
- James Armstrong collection

ASMU 1961 catalog shows a ice piton with ring as item #U 8618. This ice screw piton is listed as a ASMU product. Only one size offered.

- No mfg marks on the ice screw piton
ASMU 1961 catalog
What is strange is that in the REI 1961 catalog it shows the ASMU ice screw piton with a ring and without. And the ring version has two sizes. But the catalog lists the items as "Swiss" ice screw pitons, where ASMU is German. I thought that this could be a mistake in the catalog, but in the 1963 Sporthaus Schuster catalog, the ASMU ice screw piton is removed. So what I am saying here is, I don't think Sporthaus Schuster for the year 1962 created a second size ice screw piton and a ringless version as well, just to discontinue it in 1963. So where actually did these super cool ice screw pitons come from? And since ASMU doesn't show that they made the ringless version, it places the ringless version in the Unknown file listed as UNKNOWN # 19 ice screw piton.
REI 1961 catalog
UNKNOWN # 19 - ice screw piton - Eye Screw
- Possibly ASMU, or from Switzerland
- c.1960