Objects Database

Stubai Ice Axe (modified)

Accession Number

553.2008.1

Object Name

Stubai Ice Axe (modified)

Created

27/11/2008

Creator

Hermione Cooper

Accession Date

27/11/2008

Brief Description

Modified 'Stubai' ice axe with red fibreglass shaft. Serrated pick and adze. Hole in bottom of shaft. No spike. Plastic coating over head.

Materials

fibreglass, metal, plastic

Dimensions

Shaft 27(l) x 10(cir)cms. Head 24(l) cms. Adze 6(w)cms.

Number Of Objects

1

Inscription Description

"MADE IN AUSTRIA" and a diamond with "STUBAI" inside, inscribed on one side of head.

Colour

red, brown

Maker

Stubai

Object Production Place

Austria

Provenance

1960’s, and big changes were afoot in the mountains:
For a century or so mountaineers had been hacking footsteps out of steep ice with their long, wooden shafted ice axes but now they wanted to climb ever steeper ice and instead of cutting steps in the ice the axe was required to hook into it to maintain balance and make progress.
Hamish MacInnes’s Terrordactyls and Yvon Chouinard’s Zero’s, with their drooped and curved picks were a decade or so away, so the ice tigers disappeared into their workshops and started hacking their ice axes to pieces, only to rebuild them in a new shape and form.
In this excellent example of homemade technology, Ian Sykes has taken his old Stubai axe and removed the wooden shaft and replaced it with a much shorter version made from glassfibre. He has also drooped the pick a little and coated the whole lot with some kind of lacquer…..an excellent piece of evolutionary history which we are delighted to have in the collection.

Acquisition Method

Donated by Ian Sykes

Acquisition Date

27/11/2008

Reference

Ian Sykes is ex RAF and one of the original owners of Nevisport. He was also a member of Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team.

Condition Check Date

28/04/2009

Rules

Spectrum : UK Museum documentation standard, V.3.1 2007

Modified

28/04/2009

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