Objects Database

Ice pick

Accession Number

801.2009.1

Object Name

Ice pick

Created

29/01/2009

Creator

Hermione Cooper

Accession Date

29/01/2009

Brief Description

Ice pick with wooden shaft.

Materials

wood, metal

Dimensions

Shaft 32(l) x 10(cir)cms. Head 33(l) cms.

Number Of Objects

1

Colour

brown

Provenance

There are countless stories, from the good old days, of the early pioneers climbing vertical walls with miner's picks and slater's hammers, though we have never actually had proof - until now. Well maybe 'circumstantial evidence' as Mick Tighe found this miner's pick on the screes of Ben Nevis in 1982. It had obviously been carted up there by someone with intent, and one can't help wonder if it was dropped or thrown away in disgust.
Thought we'd better show that some of the pioneers did actually use this sort of thing with a piece from an article on WH(Bill)Murray, surely one of Scotland's greatest mountain pioneers:
"The idea of the shorter ice axe came from Bill Bennet, who had a slater & plumbing business in Glasgow. They took a 14-inch slater's hammer, cut off the side-claw(used for levering slates off roofs), and they had a heavy but short ice hammer for steep ice cutting. Doug Scott, who on occasions climbed with Murray, had a short axe made for himself by a blacksmith in 1936, making the 3rd winter ascent of Crowberry Gully with it. Mackenzie made the 2nd ascent the week before, but with a longer axe"

Acquisition Date

29/01/2009

Condition Check Date

28/04/2009

Normal Location

Bohuntin

Current Location

Bohuntin

Rules

Spectrum : UK Museum documentation standard, V.3.1 2007

Modified

28/04/2009

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