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Eiger biners

Original Post
Chris from Yorkshire · · Leeds, West Yorkshire · Joined Apr 2007 · Points: 35

Does anyone know who produced/manufactured Eiger 'biners and when they first became available?

C

Peter Brozek · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Mar 2011 · Points: 0

To answer the question who made the Eiger’s carabineers I can certainly answer the question because we did. In the early 60’s Mike Sturm who started Eiger in Montrose Calif. Came to my father Stanley Brozek with a Bedyn Carabineer and asked my father who owned a machine shop if he could make it. Well my Dad made 50 samples and never thought anything about it. The next year Mike came back and asked for 100 carabineers and requested that the carabineers be stamped with the Eiger name thus was born the Eiger Carabineers. Now my Father knew nothing about climbing because he was just running a machine shop in Pasadena,Ca. building whatever anyone brought him and I was still a kid. It wasn’t until 1979 that I took an interest in the product that was in desperate need of updating after all we were still using the tooling that had been built in the 60’s to produce the Carabineer. (Note Mike Sturm no longer had his company and was at Liberty Mountain a whole story in itself.) Well to simplify the story I started to climb so I would know what the product was used for. I also purchased all the competitors carabineers and evaluated their strengths and weaknesses and hit the road talking to retailers who by the way didn’t have anything good to say about the existing products. None the less I started to design several prototypes and have them tested until I created a much stronger Oval, D Carabineer and D locking model. I also changed the look of the D models even though Mike Sturm wanted the style to be the same long Bonati Carabineers of the time. As luck would have it however we contacted Helmut Lenes at Climb High in Burlington and because “Helle” took the Product line Mike accepted the designs as well. I then went to work and made brand new tooling to manufacture the products and again ran production samples and tested the products to make sure they met the standards we laid out for them. Needless to say the Carabineers were very well accepted and for the next 12 years we were making about 6 to 7,000 Carabineers a month under the Liberty and Climb High labels. It was a very good time for us and although we had people that disliked us or the brand I can honestly say I was proud of the Carabineers I designed and manufactured with my brother after my dad retired. In the 1990’s we expanded our product lines not in Climbing but in the Rescue Market making the Bandit figure eights, The Phantom Prusik minding Pulleys, The Stealth, UFO and Bearpaw Rigging plates. I designed the first Figure eight bottle openers in 1982 sold through Climb high and liberty and the small white water rafting or utility pulleys the two company’s carried as well but the industry was taking its toll on me. In 2001 we closed shop for several reasons one being the competitive nature of the industry and the other being that I was just tired of working so hard. I later went on to complete my MBA in Finance work for a municipality in the power department and than leave to be a General Manager in a manufacturing firm. Go Figure. So that’s the story behind the Eiger Carabineers from someone who really knows….. Peter Brozek - Stanley Brozek Company Inc. or S.B.C.I

Brian in SLC · · Sandy, Utah · Joined Oct 2003 · Points: 21,711

Wow. Fantastic history.

Thanks!

Erik W · · Santa Cruz, CA · Joined Mar 2007 · Points: 280

Gotta love MP.

Aric Datesman · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Sep 2008 · Points: 145

+1 on that. Same goes for ST on occasion... Never know who's going to pop up with a bit of interesting history.

Tristan Higbee · · Pocatello, ID · Joined Mar 2008 · Points: 2,970

Dang. That's pretty cool.

Tim Stich · · Colorado Springs, Colorado · Joined Jan 2001 · Points: 1,520

That's awesome, Peter! I used to own an SBC rappel rack when I was doing a lot of caving. Nice to hear from the guy who made them.

Ed Wright · · Unknown Hometown · Joined May 2006 · Points: 285

That's very cool. What can you tell us about Bedyn and Royal Robbins carabiners? I have one of each in my collection. And of course I have some Eiger, Liberty and Climb High.

Clint Cummins · · Palo Alto, CA · Joined Jan 2007 · Points: 1,738

Here's some info on Bedayn biners:
supertopo.com/climbing/thre…

There are several types of Robbins biners, hollow and non-hollow.

PTR · · NEPA · Joined Aug 2009 · Points: 10

Peter:

Did you guys also make little wired hexes? I have two of those that I bought in the early 80s from an outdoors store that was going out of business. Not sure how long they had had them in stock, but they looked kinda vintage even then.

Eiger hexes

Peter Brozek · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Mar 2011 · Points: 0

In response to the post about whether we made the Eiger Wired Hexes yes we did. We even made Larger Hexentrics but those sizes were never wired only sizes 1 through 6 were wired. I can also tell you this was another project Mike Sturm came to my father to build. The sample he wanted duplicated came from choinard. Whats funny was right after we invested all the money in tooling and bought the extrusions from Alcoa Choinard changed the design of the hexes so that they would provide a certain amount of Camming action in the rock cracks. This of course left us with an outdated design almost right out of the box. Again at the time no one knew what the products were used for so we pretty depended on Mike Strum at the time. I hope this answers your question... Peter

Clint Cummins · · Palo Alto, CA · Joined Jan 2007 · Points: 1,738

More photos and discussion of Eiger hexes, including catalog pages here:
supertopo.com/climbing/thre…
(especially near end of thread)

PTR · · NEPA · Joined Aug 2009 · Points: 10

Peter and Clint: Thanks for the info. Really interesting stuff on the ST thread that I somehow missed. (Work has been busy, I guess.) Looks like my Eiger hexes are older than I thought.

NYClimber · · New York · Joined Jul 2011 · Points: 85

Peter,
Hello! Thanks for the wonderful history lesson on your carabiners.

I have begun to collect these older EIGER USA carabiners and wonder if there is any way to 'date' this carabiner as to if it was made in the 60's or 70's?

Also, I wonder if they are safe to still use - tho it appears sound and in fine condition.

Any info you can give me I'd appreciate it...

Thanks again!

Eiger USA carabiner

Woodchuck ATC · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2007 · Points: 3,280

Got some ancient Liberty, Eiger and SMC ovals somewhere with a bunch of pitons hanging on them I would suspect. Had 2 RR hollow biners and a few of the RR brand ovals too. Salewa biners were similar to one of these, but don't remember. Probably got my carabiners in the mid 70's from REI or EMS mail orders.

NYClimber · · New York · Joined Jul 2011 · Points: 85

Interesting...I am also seeking to find more of the Eiger 'biners for my collection. I keep checking on eBay, etc.

paintrain · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jan 2007 · Points: 75

I thought I remembered I had one of these.

I looked at my gaggle of collected bail biners and miscellaneous odd ball biners I have picked up at swaps along the way and sure enough, I have a pristine Eiger oval.

Cool to know the history. Thanks.

PT

NYClimber · · New York · Joined Jul 2011 · Points: 85

Pristine? Damn! I have yet to find one in THAT kind of shape still!

Gunkiemike · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2009 · Points: 3,492

I still carry my hooks on a pretty red-anodized Eiger oval that I found at the base of a route in 1976-7. I'll sell it to a collector for one...MILLION...dollars!

OK, maybe less than that.

Woodchuck ATC · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2007 · Points: 3,280

Anodized orange SMC's available here. Guess we're all headed to ebay soon with our prized gear.

NYClimber · · New York · Joined Jul 2011 · Points: 85

OH boy! I'd love some of either ones!

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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