The Scottish Mountain Heritage Collection
552.2008.1
Stubai Aschenbrenner Ice Axe (modified)
27/11/2008
Hermione Cooper
27/11/2008
Modified Stubai Aschenbrenner ice axe with red fibreglass shaft. Serrated pick, adze and pointed spike on ferrule with four flat edges. White nylon plaited rope tied round the head.
fibreglass, nylon, metal
Shaft and ferrule 38(l) x 9.5(cir)cms. Head 25(l) cms. Adze 7(w)cms.
1
A mountain logo with "STUBAI" inside. Underneath
"MADE IN AUSTRIA" Beside that "ASCHENBRENNER FUHRERPICKEL GES.GESCH." On other side a mountain shape with a "T"
red, brown
Stubai
Austria
The 1950/60’s saw a period of great change in the Scottish mountains, particularly in winter. Climbers were turning from the established routes which had been pioneered decades before and starting to look at the steeper gullies and ice faces as a new challenge.
The traditional, long wooden handled axes with which they had been cutting steps for a century or so were not up to the task; something new was required.
Slater’s hammers, specialist tools crafted by the local blacksmith, miner’s axes and even a poker from the CIC hut on Ben Nevis were all part of the armoury deployed on the battlefield.
Inventions such as the Hamish MacInnes Terrordactyl and the Yvon Chouinard Zero with its curved pick were a decade or so away, so the ice tigers headed for their workshops to modify the tools they already had in the style they saw fit.
In the example we have here in the collection, Ian Sykes has removed the wooden shaft from his Stubai Aschenbrenner axe and replaced it with a glassfibre version. He has drooped the pick a little by heating and bending and a very pretty, plaited nylon line fashioned into a wrist loop completes the modification…a fine example of ice evolution…thanks Ian.
Donated by Ian Sykes of Nevisport
27/11/2008
28/04/2009
Spectrum : UK Museum documentation standard, V.3.1 2007
28/04/2009
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