What , no curved axe?

Again, a wonderful and interesting set. Thank you.

A great reminder of how different the game was before the arrival of modern kit!

A very atmospheric photo, John.

I remember showing g the hut warden my MacInnes 'Terror' when we returned from a very fast ascent of the Petit Mont Colon north face. He said we would never get up it. They were all gobsmacked!

I know Mo gave me a prototype curved head long ice axe as a wedding present but it was not until later that I had one of his short ones and started changing my ice climbing technique. So Martin and I continued to use the old standard axes. The Dru was in fact the last of a fantastic fortnight's climbing together, Couturier and Gervasutti Couloirs, Route Major (I dropped my ice axe on that one), N Ridge of Dent Blanche and finally the Dru N. Face, so we were fairly confident of ourselves.

I still have a pair of his Curvers! Wonderful tools.

I've still got a Curver that I used for most of my alpine climbing in the '80s. I still use it as a walking axe.

A great photo of the gear of the time !