Black Diamond has specialised in making some of the best rock climbing, mountaineering and backcountry skiing equipment since 1957. That year an eighteen-year-old 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 recognised by climbers as the best available and Chouinard Equipment was born.