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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 8, 2010 - 02:13pm PT
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Nut Bump!
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S.Leeper
Sport climber
Austin, Texas
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Aug 11, 2010 - 01:10pm PT
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I never knew nuts used to be called "spuds"
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 29, 2010 - 11:15am PT
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Higgins Bump!
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Aug 29, 2010 - 11:36am PT
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Just a tiny side note, Jim Herrington is going to England to photograph Bonington and Doug Scott soon, Pilgrims. Can't wait to see the results!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 29, 2010 - 12:25pm PT
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Better not forget Joe Brown!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 28, 2010 - 11:51am PT
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Some commentary from Long Ago...?
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nutstory
climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France
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Jun 11, 2011 - 09:14am PT
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Steve asked me to post a photograph of the Spud on this thread. Here it is, with the real story of this nut:
"In the spring of 1963, John Earnshaw of the Phoenix Mountaineering Club was formulating in his own mind the need for, and the possibility of improving in some ways, the safety protection needed for some climbs. After numerous sketches and rejections, he decided on the style and the shape of the Spud, as it has always been known. The origin of John Earnshaw's choice of name for the device came about as follows. At the time of the invention, he had no access to machinery but one of his climbing protégés, Terrence Murphy, was an apprentice engineer and he volunteered to make a prototype. Everyone may of course already know that, in Ireland, potatoes are known as "murphys" and, in England, they are called "spuds". Because of Terrence's invaluable help, John Earnshaw named his invention Spud in his honour.
He had no means of testing the device scientifically but, with help, he did the testing by jamming the Spud in a crack near the top of a climb in Ravensdale. He hurled a kit bag full of stones over the cliff to check if the device held fast. After several successful proving experiments he decided that the Spud was indeed safe to use."
Another nut was marketed under the name Spud some time later. "Paul Seddon, master of his castle in his own small enterprise Parba, was asked in 1965 by Ellis Brigham to manufacture new nuts to be sold in his store in Manchester. Paul Seddon cut his prototypes in a 25mm by 20mm bar of aluminium alloy that he was going to use, by a coincidence, for a future piton... Angled at 14 degrees and drilled transversely with a simple 8 mm hole, these nuts were delivered, also under the name of Spud, to Ellis Brigham in October 1965. Later on, Spuds of different sizes were manufactured."
Stephane / Nuts Museum
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 11, 2011 - 11:33am PT
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Stephane- Thanks for the generous helping of Spuds!
Can anyone out there confirm the existence of Spud Murphy the Yorkshire climber that Joe Brown credits with inventing the modern metallic nut?
I wonder if Joe and the boys were yanking the Yank...
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shady
Trad climber
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Jun 11, 2011 - 03:28pm PT
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Hey Steve, thanks to you and those posting first hand accounts of the arrival of this ancient ;) technique.
My adult climbing career began in the early 70's. My rack was a mix of pins and nuts.
BITD the lore was that the czech's had invented artificial chock stones of metal in the ninteen thirties or forties, which were quickly abandoned for rope (wood and cork) for protecting climbs on the soft stone of places like Adrspach.
this sounds logical, but can any of our elder-stonesmen confirm or debunk this lore?
Thanks
Post, post, response post, response edit post: Thanks for the link Steve, great read.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jun 11, 2011 - 05:23pm PT
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So would they be called "French Spuds" in France, and "Freedom Spuds" in the US?
Noting that it appears that Thomas Jefferson imported the idea of the French fry into the US, and gave them their name.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 17, 2011 - 10:32am PT
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Bump for Nuts!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 17, 2012 - 11:02pm PT
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Bump for a spud right where you need it!
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Fritz
Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Feb 17, 2012 - 11:32pm PT
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Bump for Royal!
When's his birthday??
It is coming up!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 10, 2013 - 07:00pm PT
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A nice clean little bump...
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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
Panorama City, California & living in Seattle
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Mar 10, 2013 - 09:56pm PT
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When I worked at Mtn Life, in Cambell California in 1971 to 72, I made all kinds of chock type gear. I wanted to start a company call Apple Chocks but the hexentrics came out and I lost interest - partly because I got interested in cross-country ski racing also. This is a sample of what I was doing. The thin wafers of aluminum to the left where for nesting with nuts like stoppers to increase their range of use. They were also good for nesting with pitons to conserve pitons. They were very light and went a long ways. The wedge on the right could sure make a bomber clean anchor when nested with a hexentric in a parallel sided crack, as well as just extend the range of nuts. The conical tapered version made it possible to nest in a flared crack up to a point. The sawed off Hexentric I think may have been something a few people were doing at the time. You could buy one Hexentric and turn it into 3 or more, and the thinner they were, the better they worked in shallow features. Smashie, bashies and copperheads of all kinds were fun too. Thinking of ways to aid up blank walls is pretty fun of course. I also made the regular hex nuts and wedges like on the cover of Summit.
The first stabs at cams were just around the corner. I bought my first spring cam in Idaho sometime in the mid 70s ( never really used the because they seemed unstable), pictured with the arrow and stopper - that to show stoppers could be nested with any piton from blades to bongs, not to mention all of the ways slings and cables can be nested with pitons. I learned to nest pitons with aluminum and copper wafers as early as 1969 to preserve the bricks on my parents chimney. I don't think they ever knew I secretly pounded pitons into it - lightly of course!
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nutstory
climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France
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Mar 11, 2013 - 04:30am PT
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Thank you very much McHale's Navy for sharing such a fascinating story and great photographs with us!
I would love to add these two Apple Chocks and this modified Chouinard Hexentric to the Nuts Museum...
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