American climber, inventor and equipment manufacturer, Yvon Chouinard, created the Stopper in 1972. It was an amalgamation of the various wedges that were in the market at the time such as Troll, Clog and the MOAC. Over the ensuing decades the Stopper went through various, chameleon like changes/improvements to the point where it’s very hard to allocate a particular Stopper to a particular year.

We have strung together a nice little set here in the collection which all date from the 1970s and early 80s, though not necessarily from exactly the same year. Stoppers were a huge success in America and the word Stopper was often used for a type of wedge even if it wasn’t actually a Stopper. As is often the way, lots of them made their way across the pond to the UK where they were equally popular. This set came from various sources and we’ve managed to find a nice old Chouinard karabiner to keep them in order.