Objects Database

Clog ice axe

Accession Number

976.2012.1

Object Name

Clog ice axe

Created

16/02/2012

Creator

Hermione Cooper

Accession Date

16/02/2012

Brief Description

Ice axe with adze, channel section pick and steel tube shaft moulded with fibre glass and covered with plastic sleeve.

Materials

steel,fibre-glass,plastic

Dimensions

Shaft & ferrule 54(l) x ..(cir)cms. Head 30(l) cms. Adze 6.5 (w)cms.

Number Of Objects

1

Inscription Description

"CLOG WALES" on shaft

Colour

Black with red paint under head

Maker

Clog

Object Production Place

Wales

Provenance

Bit of a rarity this. We don't know how many were made, but it's pretty much a prototype. The 1970's saw the passing of the wooden shafted ice axe era and there was a scramble to find the ideal metal equivalent - this was Clog's answer and seems to have paved the way for the later Clog Vulture ice axes and hammers(see related items).
This extract from the Alpine Journal,General notes and reports, Equipment and Technique 1971 by Derek Ellis, is of interest.
"The Clog axe has a unique head made from a single sheet-steel pressing, which gives a more or less conventional adze and a channel-section pick. This has caused controversy among the experts some of whom claim that it is too thick for use in hard ice, while others state that there will be a build up of ice in the channel. I have used the pick in a wide variety of conditions,and find it no better and no worse than conventional picks. The shaft is made up of a steel tube moulded with fibre-glass and covered by a plastic sleeve."

Mick Tighe bought this one for £10.50 on e-bay in 2012.

Acquisition Method

Donated by Mick Tighe

Acquisition Date

16/02/2012

Condition Check Date

16/02/2012

Rules

Spectrum : UK Museum documentation standard, V.3.1 2007

Modified

16/02/2012

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