We’re not too sure when headlamps were first used in the mountains. There’s a distinct lack of them in any photos that we’ve seen from the 1950s and 60s, and one time leader of Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team, Ian Sutherland, has a rather harrowing tale of finishing the North East Buttress of Ben Nevis with a torch firmly clenched in his teeth.

Early 1970s equipment catalogues started to show headlamps, so they probably arrived on the mountain scene in the late 1960s.

Ever Ready started life in America in 1899 with the British version following soon after in 1901; though it seems the two companies led separate lives pretty much from the outset. Batteries were their main concern and there were lots of radios and bicycle lamps that needed power. They started making their own lamps in the 1930s and we suspect the headlamp we have here in the collection dates from the 1970s. In mint condition, it’s an excellent example of technology at the time. Mick Tighe bought it for £8.00 in 2012.