Objects Database

Stubai Aschenbrenner Ice Axe (modified)

Accession Number

552.2008.1

Object Name

Stubai Aschenbrenner Ice Axe (modified)

Created

27/11/2008

Creator

Hermione Cooper

Accession Date

27/11/2008

Brief Description

Modified Stubai Aschenbrenner ice axe with red fibreglass shaft. Serrated pick, adze and pointed spike on ferrule with four flat edges. White nylon plaited rope tied round the head.

Materials

fibreglass, nylon, metal

Dimensions

Shaft and ferrule 38(l) x 9.5(cir)cms. Head 25(l) cms. Adze 7(w)cms.

Number Of Objects

1

Inscription Description

A mountain logo with "STUBAI" inside. Underneath
"MADE IN AUSTRIA" Beside that "ASCHENBRENNER FUHRERPICKEL GES.GESCH." On other side a mountain shape with a "T"

Colour

red, brown

Maker

Stubai

Object Production Place

Austria

Provenance

The 1950/60’s saw a period of great change in the Scottish mountains, particularly in winter. Climbers were turning from the established routes which had been pioneered decades before and starting to look at the steeper gullies and ice faces as a new challenge.
The traditional, long wooden handled axes with which they had been cutting steps for a century or so were not up to the task; something new was required.
Slater’s hammers, specialist tools crafted by the local blacksmith, miner’s axes and even a poker from the CIC hut on Ben Nevis were all part of the armoury deployed on the battlefield.
Inventions such as the Hamish MacInnes Terrordactyl and the Yvon Chouinard Zero with its curved pick were a decade or so away, so the ice tigers headed for their workshops to modify the tools they already had in the style they saw fit.
In the example we have here in the collection, Ian Sykes has removed the wooden shaft from his Stubai Aschenbrenner axe and replaced it with a glassfibre version. He has drooped the pick a little by heating and bending and a very pretty, plaited nylon line fashioned into a wrist loop completes the modification…a fine example of ice evolution…thanks Ian.

Acquisition Method

Donated by Ian Sykes of Nevisport

Acquisition Date

27/11/2008

Condition Check Date

28/04/2009

Rules

Spectrum : UK Museum documentation standard, V.3.1 2007

Modified

28/04/2009

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