A Frenchman called Pierre Allan created the first aluminium alloy karabiners back in 1939, at a time when, what few karabiners there were around in the U.K., were heavyweight metal versions invariably made for the military. The first aluminium versions to be manufactured in the U.K. came from the Clog factory in the late 1960’s. Denny Moorehouse and his partner, Shirley Smith, set up the Clog factory in an old cinema in Deiniolen in North Wales in 1966, creating one of the UK’s first factories to mass produce rock climbing gear. The advert opposite from a 1976 Ellis Brigham catalogue shows karabiners similar to the ones we have here in the collection, competing hard with a vast array of continental versions. At that time a Clog karabiner cost £1.16 + 6p p&p. The Bolton family kindly donated these Clog karabiners when their father, Allan, passed away in 2016.