The 1960’s and 70’s were a period of great change in the mountaineering world, amongst other things the methods of descending a rope were changing from the somewhat painful system of wrapping it around the body or ‘hooking’ it over the shoulder, to the more mechanical systems such as Figure of 8’s and various other devices which were/are collectively known as descendeurs. This strange New Zealand device was one of the many which appeared on the market – often very briefly – around 1980. Quite where we got it from we are not sure, though it’s a fine example of innovation and change.