Black Diamond

Everything for the mountain sportsman

At Black Diamond, everything is about mountain sports. Whether on rock, ice or snow. Black Diamond aims to provide the best possible equipment and clothing for enthusiasts worldwide.

Black Diamond emerged from Chouinard Equipment and was a natural extension of the passion and ethos that Yvon Chouinard, also the founder of Patagonia, and his friends started in 1965. Peter Metcalf and the Chouinard Equipment employees took over in 1989, changed the name to Black Diamond and moved to Salt Lake City, at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains.

Rock protection

Around the brand's early days, when it was still called Chouinard Equipment, climbing gear had shifted to fixed bolts and pitons. Rocks around the world were littered with fixed bolts and pitons, which permanently damaged and altered the rock. As the popularity of climbing increased, this method began to threaten the natural beauty and condition of climbing areas around the world.

Chouinard and Frost declared a new ethic: Clean Climbing. Any climbing protection should be removable and not damage the rock. At the time, pitons made up 70% of Chouinard's sales and yet they told the climbing world to stop using them. Throughout Black Diamond's history, this attitude has led to many innovative pieces of equipment, culminating in the Ultralight Camalots and the Z4 Camalots.

At Twinseasons, we not only sell mountaineering equipment from Black Diamond, but also clothing.