The Scottish Mountain Heritage Collection
537.2008.1
MOAC on wire
27/11/2008
Hermione Cooper
27/11/2008
'Moac' wedge on looped wire attached to yellow nylon tape. Blue plastic round top of wire.
aluminium alloy, nylon, plastic
wedge - 3.4(l) x 2.3 (w) x 3.8(h) cms
1
"CWD" handwritten on the yellow tape.
silver, blue
Moac
A second generation MOAC - this one on wire. We are not sure what - or who - the initials CWD stand for on the tape sling. We do know that a golden rule has been broken as the weight coming onto the wire in the event of a serious fall could 'nip' and cut the tape though the plastic shield is designed to alleviate this somewhat. A better idea was to get rid of the wire and use rope.
Created by Sheffield blacksmith, John Brailsford, the M.O.A.C. was one of the first ever purpose designed nuts for rock climbing,(the first being the Acorn - also invented by Brailsford.) Chockstones and machined nuts were the norm up to the point when MOAC's first appeared in 1962. The first batch were cast in Manchester and finished by Peter Gentil. At the time a guy called Ellis Brigham owned a chain of outdoor shops in the UK which had an import section called Mountain Activities and the first two letters of each word were used to create the name of this new nut - the MOAC - as Brigham had backed the first production run as a financial gamble which seemed to have paid off because millions must have been sold and fifty years later (2012)climbers are still using them. Early versions were more rounded at the four corners and there were smaller production versions later on. They could also be filed down to fit smaller cracks.
27/11/2008
28/04/2009
Bohuntin
Bohuntin
Spectrum : UK Museum documentation standard, V.3.1 2007
28/04/2009
'Baby' MOAC chocks
M.O.A.C. No.3 Chockstone
M.O.A.C. Original
MOAC - Chocs on rope
Moac on hollow tape