The evolution of the karabiner is closely associated with the name of Otto Herzog - 'Rambo' to his friends. According to his life-long companion on the rope, Gustav Haber, this still remembered rock-climber from Munich 'once observed the fire brigade at practice and noticed that the men all had a pear-shaped 'karabiner' attached to their belts. He thereupon conceived the idea of adapting these articles for use in climbing. He proceeded with this idea and tried out this safety device on practice climbs.' Franzl Fischer, former guardian of the Obereintal Hut in the Wettersteingebirge, had a similar recollection, and reported : 'They used long rock pitons, you know them - the long curtain rods to which they attached rope slings and fire brigade karabiners. Rambo and Heini Schneider have often told us about this. But as to who made the karabiner which was used later on, I am unable to tell you, although I know.'
Heini Schneider, a very successful rock-climber in his youth, can no longer remember the origin of the karabiner, but he attributes its invention to Otto Herzog, among others. Franz Hofmann of Munich, Herzog's nephew, confirms that his uncle adapted the karabiner or climbing and told him about it himself. We get a different version from a letter written by Franz Nieberl, the 'Pope of the Wilder Kaiser' from Kufstein : 'I remember quite definitely that on my first meeting with Hans Dülfer, then a new star in the alpine firmament, after his climbs on the 'Dulfer-U' (Totenkirchl), he explained his method of belaying which included karabiners, two rather rudimentary examples of which he brought forth and extolled their virtues. This was in 1910, probably July. Moreover, Otto Herzog also told me of his experiments on the Fleischbank East Face, before Dulfer. Fiechtl, too, confided in me that on his new expeditions to the Zillertal Mountains he always carried a couple of karabiners with him, so as to be ready for anything. [1]