The first Anton Hupfauf was born in Fulpmes, Austria. After training as a blacksmith there, he moved to Einsiedeln, Switzerland, where he opened a blacksmith shop in 1898. He was soon making ice axes and other mountaineering tools. Hupfauf died in 1916 due to an accident. Melchior Ochsner, an employees, took over factory management until Anton's son, (the second Anton Hupfauf) took over in 1930. The factory closed in 1948 after the war, but the store that opened in 1924 remained open until 1979. I've seen Hupfauf ice axes dating from the early 1950s, suggesting that the store had old stock for sale for several years following the end of manufacturing.
Hupfauf axes have serial numbers where the first one or two digits are the year of manufacture. The last three digits are the sequential production number for that year.
Ice Axes
A. Hupfauf
↑ 247: A. Hupfauf
- Made in Switzerland [1921].
- Size: C2½ 1195x300 mm.
- Weight: 1440 g.
- Wood Shaft.
- Shaft: 34x28 mm.
- Fixed head.
- Straight adze with a straight edge and no arch.
- Adze: 85(l)x59(w)x0(arch) mm.
- Straight alpine pick with a pointed tip and with 11 ventral teeth.
- Pick: 150(l)x23(h)x13(t) mm.
- Square spike.
- Spike: 67(l)x12(w)x12(t) mm.
- This is a heavy ice axe whose length is consistent with the general practice of the first half of the 1900s.
- Serial Number 21759, the 759th axe of 1921.
- The owner's name "A.Huber" scratched on the shaft of this axe also appears on my Werkgenossenschaft Fulpmes axe #412. I have not been able to find any information about A. Huber.
Prima
Prima was a brand name of Hupfauf. Some axes made during the lifetime of the first Anton Hupfauf (1871-1916) are stamped with both A.HUPFAUF and PRIMA. This practice appears to have ended with the death of the first Anton Hupfauf.
↑ 234: Hupfauf Prima
- Made in Switzerland [1906].
- Size: C3 945x270 mm.
- Weight: 1055 g.
- Wood Shaft.
- Shaft: 34x27 mm.
- Fixed Head with carabiner hole.
- Curved adze with a curved edge and no arch.
- Adze: 90(l)x58(w)x0(arch) mm.
- Straight alpine pick with a pointed tip and with 8 ventral teeth.
- Pick: 155(l)x22(h)x118(t) mm.
- Square spike.
- Spike: 47(l)x12(w)x12(t) mm.
- This is a heavy axe with shaft, adze and pick having noticeably large cross sections.
- Serial Number 6282, the 282nd axe of 1906.
↑ 388: Hupfauf Prima Marke Tōdi
- Made in Switzerland [1928].
- Size: C5 870x245 mm.
- Weight: 995 g.
- Wood Shaft.
- Shaft: 32x26 mm.
- Fixed head.
- Straight adze with a straight edge and no arch.
- Adze: 70(l)x51(w)x0(arch) mm.
- Straight alpine pick with a pointed tip and with 5 ventral teeth.
- Pick: 115(l)x20(h)x12(t) mm.
- Square spike.
- Spike: 55(l)x12(w)x12(t) mm.
- This is a lighter axe with a small head but still featuring a long shaft more typical of older axes.
- Small but thick adze and pick.
- Serial Nuumber 28166, the 166th axe of 1928.
- Named after the Swiss mountain Tōsi.
↑ 387: Hupfauf L. Kost Prima
- Made in Switzerland [1937].
- Size: C5 1000x240 mm.
- Weight: 960 g.
- Wood Shaft.
- Shaft: 32x24 mm.
- Fixed head.
- Straight adze with a straight edge and no arch.
- Adze: 65(l)x51(w)x0(arch) mm.
- Straight alpine pick with a pointed tip and with 6 ventral teeth.
- Pick: 115(l)x19(h)x10(t) mm.
- Square spike.
- Spike: 65(l)x11(w)x11(t) mm.
- This is a lighter axe with a small head but still featuring a long shaft more typical of older axes.
- Small but thick adze and pick.
- Serial Number 37008, the 8th axe of 1937.
- Made for L. Kost & Co. of Basel, a clothing and sporting goods wholesaler founded in 1866 and still in operation.
Probable Hupfauf
There are no explicit Hupfauf or Prima logos on this axe axe, but I believe that it was made by Hupfauf. The spike's distinctive shape and one-piece construction resembles the spike on my Hupfauf and Prima axes. The head shape is also similar to those on my Hupfauf and Prima axes.
One side of the pick has a stamped Swiss cross and serial number. The serial number looks like those on my Hupfauf and Prima axes. The underside of pick does not have the model number and size characteristic of Hupfauf and Prima axes; instead it is stamped with "H✚E." I suggest that thee H and E stand for Hupfauf and Einsiedeln, respectively. The lack of normal Hupfauf markings might mean that this axe was made for the Swiss military.
↑ 413: Hupfauf
- Made in Switzerland [1928].
- 955x280 mm.
- Weight: 1015 g.
- Wood Shaft.
- Shaft: 35x26 mm.
- Fixed head.
- Curved adze with a straight edge and no arch.
- Adze: 85(l)x59(w)x0(arch) mm.
- Straight alpine pick with a pointed tip and with 10 ventral teeth.
- Pick: 140(l)x22(h)x12(t) mm.
- Square spike.
- Spike: 70(l)x12(w)x12(t) mm.
- This is a heavy axe with shaft, adze and pick having noticeably large cross sections.
- Serial Nuumber 28631, the 631st axe of 1928.
