Objects Database

Marwa (Stubai) Ice Screws

Accession Number

144.2008.1

Object Name

Marwa (Stubai) Ice Screws

Created

14/10/2008

Creator

Hermione Cooper

Accession Date

14/10/2008

Brief Description

Marwa (Stubai) P shaped ice screws - corkscrew type.

Materials

metal

Dimensions

c-16(l) x 6(w) cms a&b - 21(l) x 6(w)cms

Number Of Objects

3

Inscription Description

On hanger of two of them reads "STUBAI MARWA AUSTRIA"

Colour

brown , red

Maker

Stubai

Object Production Place

Austria

Provenance

Apparently, a Swiss mountain rescue specialist, Erich Friedli, invented the first ice screw in 1960, attempting to create something more practical than the lumps of metal that were being used at the time - ice pitons - which were hammered in and hacked out; difficult and time consuming.
Freidli's screw was not a huge success and the following year (1961) Stubai - using their trade name Marwa - started production of the first mass produced ice screws, which were designed by Sebastian (Wastl) Mariner, who was also a mountain rescue expert but from Austria rather than Switzerland.
The screws worked ok and were a vast improvement on ice pitons. They also worked well as a corkscrew and were a must at the annual climbers' ball.
Salewa came along with their tubular ice screws around 1965/6 which brought the reign of Marwas to an end.

Acquisition Date

14/10/2008

Condition Check Date

28/04/2009

Rules

Spectrum : UK Museum documentation standard, V.3.1 2007

Modified

28/04/2009

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