The Scottish Mountain Heritage Collection
334.2008.1
Claudius Simond Crampons
12/11/2008
Hermione Cooper
12/11/2008
Simond Crampons. Ten points. Leather straps
metal
30(l) x 10.5(w) cms
1 pair
Inscription inside an ellipse reads "CLAUDIUS SIMOND CHAMONIX MODELL DEPOSE" Also the number "41"
Brevette, SGDG
silver
Claudius Simond
France
Mountain folk from the Alpine regions had been wearing spiky things on their feet for centuries before the Golden Age of mountaineering came along in the 1800’s. There is some evidence that Hannibal put some sort of metal spikes on his elephants feet when crossing the alps in 218BC.
The early Alpine mountaineers wore nailed boots and cut steps in steep ice to progress upwards and it wasn’t until around 1910 that Oscar Eckstenstein teamed up with Italian blacksmith, Henry Grivel, to produce the first crampons specifically for mountaineering.
The Simond brothers were based in Chamonix, France, on the other side of Mont Blanc from Henry Grivel who was based in Courmayeur, Italy. The Simonds had been making ice axes for decades and soon adapted their blacksmithing skills to the production of crampons, a fine example of which we have here in the collection.
Dating from the 1930’s or possible as late as the 50’s, this pair don’t seem to have been used much, if at all.
Early crampons were often sized and could only be adjusted by heating and bending.
Theirs is a barely discernable stamp which reads ‘Brevette, SGDG, which translates as Patent, Sans Garantie Du Gouvernement, which basically means don’t blame the French Government if you break your neck while wearing these crampons!
12/11/2008
28/04/2009
Spectrum : UK Museum documentation standard, V.3.1 2007
28/04/2009