American climber, Doug Phillips, created this interesting little device back in the early 1980’s. Here’s what Stephane Pennequin has to say about it:- “ Doug Phillips tried many a combination of opposed wedging chocks before creating his Slider. The first prototypes systematically dropped out and he realised that both wedges did not generate the same coefficient of friction on either side of the crack. He compensated for this by pouring some solder, a softer material, on only one of the faces in contact with the rock. ( It seemed to work) Doug took out a patent on the Sliders in Oct. 1973 and set up a company called Metolius to market them. Composed of two innovative wedges made of brass, sliding one against the other, held by a dovetail, the Sliders performed well in granite cracks.” It seems there were 5 different sizes and ours is a No. 1. As with a lot of American climbing gear, very few Sliders seem to have made it over to the UK and we have to thank our pal, Art McCarthy, for sending this one over from California in 2015. Special thanks too, to Stephane Pennequin of the Nuts Museum. Check out his amazing website if you haven’t already.