Photo from Todd Swain's guidebook: A Ice Climbers Guide to New England and Eastern New York. In the photo the Ice tube tips are beveled.
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Unknown Ice Tube Piton in the Chouinard collection. Possibly a later 1960s version since some of the holes on the tube are triangular in shape. Tube tip is not beveled.
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REI 1961 catalog. In the upper right hand corner the ice piton is shown. Named: Austrian Ice Pipe. The ice tube end is shown as beveled in the illustration.
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From Todd: Re: the Dave Bernays tubular ice pitons: 1) They only had circular holes in the shaft, whereas the Chouinard one you shared had circular and triangular holes. The Bernays holes seemed to be randomly placed. 2) The end that went into the ice on the Bernays was beveled; can't tell if that's the same on your red Chouinard one. 3) Bernays' ice pitons are specifically mentioned in K2 The Savage Mountain by Bob Bates and Charles Houston (the book about the American K2 attempt) |
From: Todd Swain 9/21/2022 I hit the jackpot yesterday - interviewing a 91-year old in Randolph, NH and asked if he had ever heard of Dave Bernays. His reply: "Oh yes, I climbed with him several times and have one of his ice pitons." We go to the garage, rummage thru boxes and there's an ice piton with tape on it "1955." As you can see, it's similar to the red one we have corresponded about, but different. Relatedly, I tracked down Dave Bernay's widow and am hoping to interview her this weekend. Hope all's well with you! |
Photo: Todd Swain
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