Ice axe 1786, Jacques Balmat and Michel-Gabriel Paccard made the first ascent of Mont Blanc. Balmat, a chamois hunter and crystal collector, had experience with high mountain travel, and Paccard had made previous attempts to climb the peak. Illustrations show Balmat carrying two separate tools that would later be merged into the ice axe – an alpenstock (or baton) and a small axe that could be used to chop steps on icy slopes. According to the earliest manufacturer of ice axes, Grivel, these two tools were merged to create the first true ice axe around 1840. Early ice axes had a vertical
The Climbers (band) The Climbers (band) The Climbers is a British band, formed by Nick Hemming and Christian Hardy of The Leisure Society with their childhood friend, Tim West. West introduced Hemming and Hardy to one another and for a period the three lived together in South London. Though formation of The Climbers predates The Leisure Society, their debut album "The Good Ship" was not released until May 2010. The album took over six years to make, and was recorded predominantly in hired cottages in Wales and Devon with additional sessions in South London, Brighton, Burton-On-Trent and Northumberland. It received mostly positive reviews,