The Scottish Mountain Heritage Collection
1611.2021.1
Troll Climber's Belt
25/06/2021
Hermione Cooper
25/06/2021
Troll Climber's belt with 10 metal loops and metal buckle
nylon,metal
26(L) x 9(W) cms
1
cream, orange, silver
Troll
England
Along with his pals, John Arnott and Bill Tweedale, Tony Howard succeeded in climbing the 5000 ft Troll Wall in Romsdal Valley, Norway in 1965. No surprise then, that when Tony subsequently set up a company to manufacture climbing gear shortly after, he called it Troll.
Troll was one of the first companies in the UK to take advantage of the newly developed nylon climbing tape and quickly went to work developing climbing harnesses which were a much better alternative to the simple method of tying the rope around one’s waist, something that had proven to be uncomfortable at best and fatal in the worst scenario.
The first examples were simple waist belts designed to spread the load around the waist in the event of a fall; leg loops in the form of a sit harness were to arrive a few years later, notably when Troll and Don Whillans teamed up to create the Whillan’s harness.
Taking all that in to account, we are very pleased to have a very early (circa 1970) Troll Climber's Belt in our collection. Tony Howard actually used a special leather harness for his ascent of the Troll Wall and we wonder if that was one like this.
There are lots of other Troll items in the collection…just put Troll or troll in the quick search box.
25/06/2021
25/06/2021
Spectrum : UK Museum documentation standard, V.3.1 2007
25/06/2021