Black Diamond

Black Diamond

Black Diamond, a company specialising in making some of the best rock climbing, mountaineering and backcountry skiing equipment in the world has its roots back in 1957. The year an eighteen-year-old named Yvon Chouinard bought a hammer and anvil and started pounding out hand-forged pitons and selling them from the back of his car in Yosemite. His intelligent designs were quickly recognized by climbers as the best available and Chouinard Equipment was born. In 1989 the former employees of Chouinard Equipment signed the papers to make the first employee-owned company in the climbing industry official. Black Diamond Equipment was established.

Today Black Diamond is still very aware of their heritage, its still about climbing and skiing, by climbers and skiers. They produce a full range of cutting edge climbing helmets such as the Half Dome, climbing harnesses like the Momentum for men and the Primrose for women, rock climbing hardware such as the innovative Camalot Range of camming devices and bouldering mats like the Impact Zone. Their equipment range caters for all branches of the sport from traditional rock climbing to sport climbing and alpine mountaineering to bouldering. Black Diamond is at the forefront of raising manufacturing and safety standards in the production of climbing and skiing equipment. If trads your thing then gear up with the Momentum or Iris Harness, Half Dome Helmet and a rack of Camalots. While the Alpine Bod is a stripped down lightweight full body harness for easy alpine climbs and glacier travel. The Iron Cruiser Via Ferrata kit employs a patent pending Energy Absorption System using a sewn webbing construction for safety, ease of use and compactness.

Black Diamond is not just content with producing a range of top quality skis and ski boots, they make no secret of the fact that backcountry and serious touring is what they are about. They make the skis, ski boots, ski poles and climbing skins to get you out there but have invested as much time, effort and money in making sure you can be safe when you are doing it. Their range of backcountry and ski touring safety equipment is second to none from snow shovels to avalanche probes or innovations like the Avalung to super lightweight touring ice axes and crampons. The company is constantly evolving in terms of product development and company policies. It’s the result of their employees being climbers and skiers themselves. They are a company of users and because of this they strive to develop and manufacture the best climbing and skiing equipment possible. They are the greatest dreamers about what could be, and the harshest of critics abo