Modern equipment and climbing techniques have pretty much rendered ‘artificial’ climbing a thing of the past, though there was a time not so long ago when climbers would use all means possible to get themselves up a rock face if hands and feet couldn’t do the trick. Banging a piton into a crack and clipping a rope ladder ( commonly known as an etrier) into it to stand in, is the most widely known version of artificial climbing though there are a variety of other devices, some of which we have here in the collection. An American climber, Bill Forrest, created Copperheads way back in 1969 (he also called them Jam nuts) Made from malleable copper and sometimes aluminium, they were designed to be hammered in fissures and cracks in the rock where they would conform to the shape of the crack to make an anchor which could be used to progress the climb. They came in different shapes and sizes and we have a fine set here in the collection.