The Pieps ISP Pro.
Clarus Corporation, owner of Black Diamond and Pieps, announces the pending sale of Pieps amidst CPSC/Department of Justice litigation.
In 2012, Salt Lake-based Black Diamond Equipment purchased Pieps, an Austrian company known for avalanche transceivers. At the time, Black Diamond’s reputation for climbing and alpine hard goods was well established, with their touring lines carving out a hearty niche with skins, skis, poles, boots, shovels, and probes. Pieps, on the other hand, offered BD a jumpstart into airbags and transceivers. In the ensuing decade, BD and Pieps forged ahead, developing new Jetforce packs and releasing a series of transceivers, branded as either BD or Pieps pieces, to the marketplace.
(For background, Black Diamond was purchased by the Clarus Corporation in 2010 for $90 million. Clarus is a publicly traded company; its brand portfolio includes Black Diamond, MAXTRAX, Rhino-Racks, and Rocky Mounts.)
In their 2025 Q1 report, Clarus announced it had found a private buyer for Pieps. The filing states, “On May 8, 2025, BD European Holdings, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, entered into a Share Purchase and Transfer Agreement to sell Black Diamond Austria GmbH and its operating subsidiary, PIEPS GmbH, to a private investment firm for a total purchase price of €7,800 or approximately $8,400 including cash and debt.” The $8.4 million sale price is a hit. Pieps was purchased in 2012 for $10.4 million, amounting to a $2 million loss after 13 years of ownership. Clarus states the Pieps sale should close by the end of 2025’s third quarter.
Black Diamond and Pieps are legacy brands. BD’s story goes even further back to Chouinard Equipment—started by that Chouinard, forging pitons and carabiners. For brevity, the story goes like this: Chouinard Equipment was sued for a flawed harness design, and core employees, including Peter Metcalf, who took over as BD’s first CEO, purchased the company in 1989. BD has been in Salt Lake City since.
The BD-Pieps marriage was rocky and innovative all the way from the Micro to the IPS. Even the Recon DSP had better processing tech than many competitors, but was flawed by poor housing design. The idea of partnering a signal processing company in Pieps with a hard goods design company in BD made sense on paper, but didn’t pan out as mistakes plagued each generation of product.
A series of high-profile avalanche transceiver recalls stymied the promise of BD’s ability to expand its market share with the Pieps acquisition. In the U.S., the recalls began in earnest with a Consumer Product Safety Commission recall of PIEPS DSP Pro, DSP Pro Ice, and DSP Sport Avalanche Transceivers in 2021.
According to the recall, “The transceiver can switch modes unexpectedly when not locked or installed in the harness. When this occurs, it will prevent the transceiver from transmitting a signal and can make it difficult to locate a skier in an avalanche, which can result in severe bodily harm or death.” In short, a flawed slide lock mechanism could result in an inadvertent switch from “send” to “off.”
Black Diamond/Pieps took a public relations hit for what many felt was a too-late and inadequate response to a product flaw in a key piece of backcountry safety gear back in 2021.
All this was followed by a more thorough product recall in July 2022. Then, in April 2023, BD’s Recon LT Avalanche Transceiver was recalled, while Pieps recalled the new IPS Pro this past December.
Post-COVID, companies like Clarus and, by extension, Black Diamond, took financial losses. Certainly, the series of transceiver recalls compounded those losses. In August 2024, amidst a weakening outdoor business market, Clarus announced it was shopping Pieps.
Here we are, May 2025, and it appears Clarus’ sale of Pieps is imminent. This may be a relief for some, as Black Diamond can now return to its fundamentals: climbing hard goods and its now well-established clothing lines.
Legal Fallout and the CPSC
Clarus, however, may still have some legal fallout regarding the CPSC and transceivers. This past fall, The High Route read in a Clarus quarterly filing that the company could face large potential fines from the CPSC. Then, in February, Shop Eat Surf, an online publication covering outdoor-related business matters, ran this headline: “Black Diamond, Clarus Subpoenaed Over Avalanche Safety Equipment Response.” (Clarus’ official notification of the Department of Justice subpoena is here.)
Clarus’ self-reporting regarding the issue notes that the CSPC concluded, “BDEL failed to timely meet its statutory reporting obligations under the Consumer Product Safety Act…”
Clarus now faces civil monetary penalties from the CPSC of $16,135,000 and $9,000,000, respectively, for its handling of the 2022 and 2023 recalls. The same filing detailing these fines also disclosed an additional $5,000,000 fine directed at former Black Diamond president John C. Walbrecht.
The filing states clearly that Clarus and Black Diamond are fighting the allegations: “The Company and BDEL intend to strongly contest and vigorously defend against any claims which may be asserted against them by the Department of Justice or the CPSC.”
The High Route sought comment from Black Diamond in February through a representative. As this was/is an ongoing matter, Black Diamond could not comment.
