Early climbers simply tied the rope around their waist when they went off climbing which was ok if they didn’t fall. If they did, the consequences could be very painful, or sometimes lethal, as a big fall could result in nasty constrictions around waist or chest; this led to the climber’s maxim, ‘ the leader never falls’ It seems that two British climbers came up with the idea of a waist harness at pretty much the same time. Tony Howard and Bryan(Tanky) Stokes were both rock climbers in the Peak District in the early 1960’s and almost simultaneously came up with a form of webbing waistbelt around 1964/5 (Tony Howard had one made of leather) Tony went on to a glittering career as founder of Troll Equipment which included brands such as Whillan’s Harness whereas Tanky seemed to have made bespoke harnesses for sale in his shop in Sheffield. His harness making era was very short so we are delighted to have an early version here in the collection which was made by Tanky for Mountain Guide, John Cheesmond in 1970. John kindly donated it to us in 2012.