The Scottish Mountain Heritage Collection
1541.2020.1
RP's Roland Pauligk Brass Nuts/Wires
07/07/2020
Hermione Cooper
07/07/2020
Set of Roland Pauligk Brass Nuts/Wires on a karabiner
brass,wire
sizes 0-5
9
"RP "
gold, silver
Roland Pauligk
Australia
Roland Pauligk was born in East Germany in 1938 and moved to Australia in 1960 where he began his career as a climber and inventor of the -now famous- RP, named after his initials.
Pauligk began producing aluminium RP’s in his backyard shed in 1969 but soon started experimenting with smaller brass nuts. During this time he discovered the key to a solid micronut: placing the wire attachment inside the brass nut and silver soldering it in place. This narrowed the nut’s profile, allowing for smaller crack placements, and eliminated a weakness in other designs, which caused the wire to snap during a fall. The innovative RP allowed for bolder, harder trad climbing. Climbers could place and fall on RP’s where even the smallest stopper couldn’t fit. The micronuts were used widely. Pauligk used his initial profits from RP sales to fund a trip to Yosemite in the 1980’s, where he sold more of his micronuts to climbers at Camp 4. He would continue to hand-produce RP’s for more than 30 years.
We had a couple of RP’s already and these were complimented by our pals, Keith Bell and Chris Peisker in Australia - thanks guys.
Keith Bell, Chris Peisker
07/07/2020
07/07/2020
Spectrum : UK Museum documentation standard, V.3.1 2007
07/07/2020