Chouinard Hexentrics first appeared in 1971 and seem to be a mixture of ideas by Chouinard himself, a Swede called Tomas Carlstrom and American climber, Tom Frost. Not quite sure who did what, but Chouinard patented the idea in 1974, hexentrics being a variation on earlier ‘nuts’ like the hexagonal, the hexagon and the simple nut – as in nuts and bolts. As they were quite heavy Chouinard decided to drill holes to lighten them and provided a paper template for folk who had bought the unlightened versions and wanted to drill holes themselves. Chouinard made most of his own gear in the early days and items from that era bear the distinctive diamond logo with a ‘C’ inside – see opposite. Later versions were made by Interalp in Italy. Chouinard filed for bankruptcy in 1989 to avoid a large legal claim and the company re emerged as Black Diamond. The lovely set we have here are early originals, unusually on sewn tape rather than on rope – an excellent addition to the collection.