|
When writing this story, one cannot hush up the Scottie. George « Scottie » Dwyer was the first Welsh mountain guide; he was also the creator of an amazing device in... 1946! George Dwyer never used it on the crag since it would no doubt have been considered as unethical at that time. But, from the historical point of view, this complex device, grandfather of the American space age Slider, predated the main nut development by 15 years. In the United States, Royal Robbins, armed with a brand new set
of chocks bought in 1966 at the Joe Brown Shop in Llanberis, was
spreading the good word, trying to convert the less enthusiastic
by climbing, over and over, difficult routes using only nuts. With
his wife Liz, he made two first ascents in Yosemite in 1967, in
this fashion, « Boulderfield Gorge » and « Nutcracker
». « Nutcracker » really put nuts on the map,
showed what could be done with nut protection alone, and put moral
pressure on the climbing community to follow suit. |
