I'd like to share my Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) climber collection, and maybe solve a mystery. MEC was an outdoor coop, similar to REI that ran for over 50 years. For well over a decade they offered the climber model in green with their logo inlaid.
I have two 91mm (different shades of green), a 40th anniversary (2011) in black as well as an 84mm climber in green. They did for sure produce 20th and 25th Anniversary knives (hoping to track them down!)
Here is where the mystery comes in. The first instance of these knives appearing in the catalogue was in 1990, and there is never another option listed for these scales except for the standard 91mm climber.
As you just read I habe an 84mm climber, and I have seen at least one more on the internet. I believe that the 84mm scissors models died in the mid 80s sometime ? So it is interesting to have a MEC model in this quite rare size.
Anyone have any insight into the 84mm climber and last production date?
I am wondering if they just weren't listed in the catalogue in the early days ? Any insight would be amazing.
Post pics if you have some too!
I have included a few catalogue clippings as I thought they might be of interest also!