The first proper ice screws appeared in the 1960’s and were little more than corkscrews used for opening a bottle of wine. Indeed, the cool ice climber of the 1960/70’s would take one along to The Ice Climber’s Ball to show how tough he was! Getting screws in and out has always been a problem, especially when hanging on to your axe, with one hand, on steep ice. Jeff Lowe came up with a novel idea in the 1980’s by making the hanger of the screw into a spanner ratchet which could be used to screw in and out. He decided to call the system R.A.T.S….. Ratcheting Aluminium Tube Screw. A lot of these screws made their way over to the UK, imported by the company, Dark Peak, in Oldham. The two we have in our collection once belonged to our founder, Mick Tighe, and were used in his Mountain Guiding Company, Nevis Guides.