The Scottish Mountain Heritage Collection
1282.2015.1
Mountain Technology Crampons
01/12/2015
Hermione Cooper
01/12/2015
Pair of 10 point Mountain Technology crampons with nylon straps and plastic toe and heel grips and cover
metal, plastic, nylon
28(L) x 8(W) x 4(H) cms
1 pair
silver, black
Mountain Technology
Glencoe, Scotland
Hugh McNicholl set up a wee workshop down in Glasgow around 1979 , the idea being to manufacture climbing equipment. Unfortunately, the early attempts were a bit of a disaster as his first batch of drive in ice screws broke when being hammered in, leaving Hugh with several hundred unusable screws. (see related items)
Undaunted, Hugh changed the name of his company from Mountain Engineering to Mountain Technology and moved to Glencoe in 1981, opening a little factory which primarily made ice-axes, the only ones made in Scotland at the time. The business went from strength to strength throughout the 1980's and 1990's but Hugh was of an engineering background rather than a businessman, and unfortunately, the money men got the better of him in 2004 and he reluctantly closed down the business. Having married Australian, Mary Rosengran in 1992, Hugh moved to Australia in 2007 where he died prematurely in 2012.
Always looking for new ideas, these crampons were pretty much the last product that Hugh designed before his business folded. They were designed to be a simple, general purpose crampon at a reasonable price. As was often the case with Hugh, he had a few problems along the way, but finally got the crampons on the market around 2001/2. Not many pairs were made so we were pleased when our old pal, Ben Law, donated this pair ... making our collection of the Mountain Technology range pretty much complete.
Donated by Ben Law
01/12/2015
01/12/2015
Spectrum : UK Museum documentation standard, V.3.1 2007
01/12/2015