Climbers carried pitons with them back in the good old days before modern forms of protection were created/invented. A good piton driven hard into a nice welcoming crack was dreamland on many an epic climb back in the 1950’s and 60’s. Obviously, as you’ll see from the article opposite, pioneer Scottish mountaineer, Bill Skidmore, was unhappy with the various piton carriers on the market in the 1960’s so decided to make his own. The article would seem to describe his first attempt at refining the carrying system whilst the two carriers we have here in the collection appear to be subsequent models/ideas. The first uses blanket pins and the second, small, keyring style karabiners. These two were actually made by Bill and kindly donated to the collection by his widow, Mary, when he passed away in 2015 – true inventor’s prototypes, the likes of which we’ll never see again – fabulous!