The British attitude towards pitons in the 20s and 30s can be gauged by the response to the ascent of Munich Climb [VS / 5.7] in North Wales, pioneered by visiting Bavarians who used three (!) pins. At the time it was said "the hand which could insert a piton into British rock would be capable of drawing a trigger on a fox." (The only sporting way to kill a fox is to have your hounds tear it to pieces...).
Great article. He sounds like he had a fine time, with the familiar issues of weather and crowds. 7 hours travel time from London is identical to mine last weekend.
He says some of the climbing is 'artificial' in the sense that it seeks difficulty rather than avoiding it (with direct finishes, for example) and frequently stops short of the summit but that no fixed slings or pitons 'deface the rugged rocks of the Lake District'.
In a history of Lake District climbing written in 1936, UK climbers were clearly aware of what was happening in the eastern alps and suggested that using pitons more freely in the UK was under active consideration whilst recognising there would be resistance (sounds a lot like bolts in the 1980s): https://www.frcc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Vol24-2.pdf . (p32-33; also further discussion p40-44)
Maurice Linnel placed a piton on Overhanging Wall (Scafell) in 1934. Jim Birkett's May Day Climb (HVS 5b/5.9, 1939, 2 home-made pitons for aid and one for a belay) received some criticism but the pitons were left in. Birkett was working class and perhaps less constrained by the mores of the time. He was also a very talented climber and if he needed to use pitons, few would have fancied their chances of doing better.
Ah! I think a mention appears in an old German Austrian Alpine Journal with some wry comments about the pitons being removed. Do you know the name of the climb? What would you say would be the climb that accepted pitons in UK? I would think it would have been by someone who went to Chamonix, for an ascent of a Bonatti route, like Grand Capucin perhaps.
'Munich Climb' (Now given HVS 5a or about 5.8) was climbed in 1936 by Bavarians Heini Sedlmayr (brother of Max) and Hans Teufel with local J R Jenkins. They placed three pitons en route. These were removed by J Menlove Edwards (using a poker from the fireplace of the Climber’s Club hut in lieu of a peg hammer) and he made the second ascent without their assistance a couple of weeks later.
I don’t think there was a Damascene moment when pegs became accepted by UK climbers, it was more a gradual process. Perhaps Peter Harding’s (an engineer as well as one of the strongest climbers of the late 40s) ascent of Kaisergebirge Wall (HVS 5a, 1949, seven pitons) and other aid routes accelerated the process. Mostly people were more sparing: Joe Brown famously permitted himself no more than two per pitch (he didn’t always follow his dictum). A good example would be Cenotaph Corner (E1 5c, or about 5.10b, 1952, two pitons). Brown writes in The Hard Years about the immediate post war years: “pegs were either scarce or expensive to buy. They were made abroad and only a few types were imported because the demand from British climbers was small.” He goes on to describe pegs and aid climbing becoming more widely accepted by 1952, this is before his first trip to the alps (1953) though other Brits had visited before him.
apologies, I accidently sent out a draft of this chapter, with a bunch of arcane notes in the second half, so this Climbing Pitons Early Evolution, part 1 will be split into two parts, part 1a and 1b. oops! That is what happens when you try to make a quick edit on the iPad while playing a card game with your kids!
I really enjoyed this John.
The British attitude towards pitons in the 20s and 30s can be gauged by the response to the ascent of Munich Climb [VS / 5.7] in North Wales, pioneered by visiting Bavarians who used three (!) pins. At the time it was said "the hand which could insert a piton into British rock would be capable of drawing a trigger on a fox." (The only sporting way to kill a fox is to have your hounds tear it to pieces...).
Duncan, an interesting 1903 reference to a piton in the Lake District in the Italian Alpine Journal--any insight? https://tecadigitale.cai.it/periodici/PDF/Bollettino/Bollettino%20del%20Club%20Alpino%20Italiano_1903_69.pdf#page=248
Great article. He sounds like he had a fine time, with the familiar issues of weather and crowds. 7 hours travel time from London is identical to mine last weekend.
He says some of the climbing is 'artificial' in the sense that it seeks difficulty rather than avoiding it (with direct finishes, for example) and frequently stops short of the summit but that no fixed slings or pitons 'deface the rugged rocks of the Lake District'.
In a history of Lake District climbing written in 1936, UK climbers were clearly aware of what was happening in the eastern alps and suggested that using pitons more freely in the UK was under active consideration whilst recognising there would be resistance (sounds a lot like bolts in the 1980s): https://www.frcc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Vol24-2.pdf . (p32-33; also further discussion p40-44)
Maurice Linnel placed a piton on Overhanging Wall (Scafell) in 1934. Jim Birkett's May Day Climb (HVS 5b/5.9, 1939, 2 home-made pitons for aid and one for a belay) received some criticism but the pitons were left in. Birkett was working class and perhaps less constrained by the mores of the time. He was also a very talented climber and if he needed to use pitons, few would have fancied their chances of doing better.
Ah! I think a mention appears in an old German Austrian Alpine Journal with some wry comments about the pitons being removed. Do you know the name of the climb? What would you say would be the climb that accepted pitons in UK? I would think it would have been by someone who went to Chamonix, for an ascent of a Bonatti route, like Grand Capucin perhaps.
'Munich Climb' (Now given HVS 5a or about 5.8) was climbed in 1936 by Bavarians Heini Sedlmayr (brother of Max) and Hans Teufel with local J R Jenkins. They placed three pitons en route. These were removed by J Menlove Edwards (using a poker from the fireplace of the Climber’s Club hut in lieu of a peg hammer) and he made the second ascent without their assistance a couple of weeks later.
I don’t think there was a Damascene moment when pegs became accepted by UK climbers, it was more a gradual process. Perhaps Peter Harding’s (an engineer as well as one of the strongest climbers of the late 40s) ascent of Kaisergebirge Wall (HVS 5a, 1949, seven pitons) and other aid routes accelerated the process. Mostly people were more sparing: Joe Brown famously permitted himself no more than two per pitch (he didn’t always follow his dictum). A good example would be Cenotaph Corner (E1 5c, or about 5.10b, 1952, two pitons). Brown writes in The Hard Years about the immediate post war years: “pegs were either scarce or expensive to buy. They were made abroad and only a few types were imported because the demand from British climbers was small.” He goes on to describe pegs and aid climbing becoming more widely accepted by 1952, this is before his first trip to the alps (1953) though other Brits had visited before him.
Gold. Pure gold. Thank you so much for adding to this story.
apologies, I accidently sent out a draft of this chapter, with a bunch of arcane notes in the second half, so this Climbing Pitons Early Evolution, part 1 will be split into two parts, part 1a and 1b. oops! That is what happens when you try to make a quick edit on the iPad while playing a card game with your kids!