Hugh McNicol began his little manufacturing business in Glasgow in the late 1970’s and called it Mountain Engineering. Unfortunately, one of his early productions, a Warthog drive in piton, was a disaster. Undaunted, Hugh moved to Glencoe and found greater success with his iconic range of ice-axes which, for a long time, were the only ice tools manufactured in Scotland which garnered a strong cult following. Always on the lookout for new engineering challenges, Hugh went on to produce his own brand of crampons and latterly these karabiners, very few of which were made,deeming them very much a collector’s item. Hugh subsequently emigrated to Australia with his ‘Aussie’ wife where he passed away in 2012. Scotland lost its very own ice axe and one of its greatest characters in quick succession.