History

Stanley Brozek was a non-climber who ran Stanley Brozek Company Inc. (S.B.C.I.), a machine shop in Pasadena, California making whatever he could for customers. In the 1960s Mike Sturm came to him to have carabiners made for his company Eiger, and S.B.C.I. entered the climbing gear market. In 1979 Stanley's son Peter started climbing and began designing new carabkiner models. S.B.C.I. ultimately produced about 7000 per month for Liberty and Climb High. Peter designed the first figure eight bottle openers in 1982 and sold them through Climb High and Liberty. In the 1990's S.B.C.I. expanded their climbing line and entered the Rescue Market, making the Bandit figure eights, Phantom Prusik Minding Pulleys, the Stealth, UFO and Bear Paw Rigging plates, etc. S.B.C.I. closed shop in 2001.

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Climb High
(#1052)

Front	Rear

UNSAFE: Decorative use only!

Technical Details

I acquired my Climb High Bottle Opener 8 around 1980, but I don't have a record of from whom.

My Climb High Bottle Opener 8 is 68 mm. tall, 62 mm. wide, 2 mm. thick, and weighs (7.2 g).

One side is stamped with the Climb High logo.

Comments

This is the first bottle opener 8 that I acquired. It resided for many years, of course, on my key chain, right between the Kong key chain eight and the… never mind.

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CMI
(#1126)

Front	Rear

UNSAFE: Decorative use only!

Technical Details

I acquired my CMI Bottle Opener 8 from Inner Mountain Outfitters at the 2007 NSS Convention.

The CMI Bottle Opener 8 is 68 mm tall, 61 mm. wide, and 2 mm. thick. Mine weighs 7 g.

One side is stamped with "Cmi."

Comments

It seems that everyone makes one of these.

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S.B.C.I.
(#487)

Front	Rear

UNSAFE: Decorative use only!

Technical Details

I acquired my S.B.C.I. Bottle Opener 8 around 1995, again without recording where I acquired it.

This Bottle Opener 8 is 68 mm. tall, 63 mm. wide, and 3 mm. thick. Mine weighs 10 g.

There are no markings on this eight.

Comments

Does it open bottles? Yes. Can you rappel on it? It is not safe, it will only work on accessory cord, the eight will bend, and may cut the cord, which might break anyhow. Do not even consider using it yourself.

This one is unlabeled, but it appears to be an S.B.C.I. version. Peter Brozek at S.B.C.I. provided some history on the Bottle Opener Eight:

We developed the key chain bottle opener back in 1980 and we were the only ones manufacturing the accessory until 1996 when CMI copied it and started making it. Climb High has been selling the unit since that time. We have also manufactured the item without a name for Rock-and-Rescue, Liberty and a whole slew of other distributors. Please note it was never ever built to put a rope through. It is strictly as an accessory Key Chain that will open a beer bottle and has been given away at trade shows as a promo as well.