The Scottish Mountain Heritage Collection
260.2008.1
Wooden Wedge. Coin du Bois
29/10/2008
Hermione Cooper
29/10/2008
Wooden wedge with kern mantle sling. Round hanger hole. Wedge shape with straight end.
wood, nylon
Wedge -22(l) x 4(w) x 4(d) cms
1
brown, blue sling
The 'old school' liked to use French terms for climbing gear back in the day and it came to pass that mountaineer and cameraman extraordinaire, John Cleare, sent me this lovely Coin du Bois (wedge of wood) which he had made for a televised ascent of The Old Man of Hoy in 1967. It had been lying in his loft for 48 years when he donated it in 2015.
Rusty Baillie, Chris Bonnington and Dr Tom Patey used wooden wedges on the first ascent of Hoy in 1966, so John Cleare took some along for the TV spectacular in 1967 - some were used, some were not.
Interestingly, founder of our Heritage Collection, Mick Tighe, recovered a wooden wedge from Hoy in 2015 which you'll find elsewhere in the collection.
29/10/2008
28/04/2009
Spectrum : UK Museum documentation standard, V.3.1 2007
28/04/2009