Laprade Nesting Chock
Stephane Pennequin of the Nuts Museum has written this about my interesting chock:
“This exotic nut is a Coinceur Gigogne (Nest of Nut in French). It was marketed in France in 1979, by Laprade, a company that marketed a small line of climbing hardware. Laprade sponsored the outstanding French climber, René Desmaison.
The Coinceur Gigogne was invented by Jacques Paul Fournier and patented on August 3rd, 1979, (Patent FR 2410487).”
Mountain Paraphernalia (Robbins) was the importer of climbing gear by Les Usines LaPrade in the 70’s and 80’s. Their primary business was the manufacture of car parts for various brands, and notably the entered the sports market with the first machined aluminum machined seatporst and rail mount for racing bicycles. The nesting nuts shown were sampled to us, but we were more interested in their metal-shaft ice axes and 12 point crampons at the time. The ice axxes were very successful in the US, adopted by rental programs and guides on Mr Rainier (RMI) and in the Tetons. Their 12 point crampon with the second pair of spikes angle forward allowed flexible, adjustable crampons to work well on vertical ice.