It was the 1960’s and winter climbers were venturing out onto ever steeper ice; step cutting had been the way to progress for a century or so, but new techniques and equipment were required for vertical ice. Leading Scottish climber, John Cunningham, along with his pal, Bill March, were probably the first to perfect the art of ‘daggering’, using modified ice pitons and homemade daggers to climb the Chancer on Hell’s Lum in the Cairngorms in 1970. However, the dagger era was short lived as Hamish MacInnes came along with his Terrordactyls soon after and a raft of drooped pick designs followed. Stubai of Austria made daggers commercially and Parba had a UK version -we have both versions elsewhere in the collection. The one we have here is classic 1960’s being adapted from the handle of a downhill ski pole with a metal spike glued in. Unfortunately, we don’t know who made it. Quote from the Cairngorm Guidebook concerning the first ascent of The Chancer, a grade 5 ice climb:- “4 ice screws and a tension used but still the high point of ‘dagger’ technique developed by Cunningham as the forerunner of modern technique”