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 Night Climbers of Oxford veiled version of the real-life Bullingdon Club. Christ Church Students Warned About Night Climbing, "The Cherwell", January 27 2018 Merton Street Shut After Corpus Boppers Take to the Roof, "The Cherwell", April 29 2017 Obituary, Hamish Nicol, "The Independent", 11 July 1997 'We're not heroes': An interview with the Night Climbers of Oxford, "The ISIS Magazine", June 07 2018 The Oxford Alpine Club 8 Things You Might Not Know about Oxford and Cambridge - Night Climbers The Night Climbers of Oxford The Night Climbers of Oxford is a secret society, dedicated to nocturnally scaling College and town Buildings in Oxford,