Hard to know how to categorize these wee fellas as they are half ice piton and half ice screw and because of the tubular construction they have been called ‘scrubes’. American climber Greg Lowe invented them back in the mid 1970’s and for some reason or other called them ‘snargs’. They are designed to be hammered into ice, for an anchor, and screwed back out again. The slot down the back is for removing the ice from the core of the piton/screw after use. Snargs enjoyed limited popularity in the 1980’s and 90’s but were overtaken by better ice screw technology. The Italian manufacturers ‘CAMP’ produced these ones around 1980 in collaboration with Greg Lowe. Mick Tighe used them briefly in his mountain guiding business, Nevis Guides, before donating them to the collection. P.S. Apparently,creator of the ‘Snarg’, Greg Lowe, took the name from the sword of Flash Gordon in the TV series.