Pulsars arrived on the ice climbing scene in 1984 amid the great debate between drooped picks and the banana variety. Pulsars were halfway between, which proved very popular. Good engineering and design meant the picks, hammers and adzes could be interchanged without becoming loose and ‘rattly’ and later versions, like the ones we have here, had the curved shaft to avoid knuckle bash.

Strange as it may seem, performance is not always the main criteria when folk buy gear, since fashion often plays a very big part, and the distinctive black and yellow of the Pulsars definitely helped sales.

In a similar vein, the Scottish outdoor shop, Graham Tiso, sprayed the heads of Mountain Technology Ice Axes a bright green back in the day to increase sales – it worked.

This particular pair of Pulsars have never been used, but had been left in a damp shed for 20 years to become very rusty. We cleaned them up and re-sprayed them for a very fashionable finish!