Piton

Original Vintage Peck Piton

Peck channel pitons were made in the mid to late 1960’s by Peck Climbing Company. Trevor Peck made a few different types of equipment but was better known for his “Cracker” chocks than his piton designs. He, along with Hamish MacInnes, also refined ice axe design to better serve climbers on modern ice climbing objectives.

The angles have a strong European influence. They have more in common with post-war channel type pitons than with the American style angle pitons being produced by Chouinard Equipment during the same period. They are listed in The 1964 Fisher & sons catalog as Peck Channel Pitons sizes: 1 1/4″, 2 1/2″, and 4″.
Peck Pitons had some features which made them interesting:
-They were made of high grade steel to resist corrosion when placed on sea cliffs or wet crags common to British climbers.
-They were very hard and very durable showing very little deformation of the striking surface even after aggressive hammering.
-They had a gently tapered beveled point at the nose of the piton to aid in digging into dirty placements.

I’ve driven different sizes of these pins into decent granite cracks and they drive and feel more like a Lost Arrow piton than an angle. The body of the piton is much thicker and the “U” shape is much deeper than an SMC shallow angle which they sort of resemble. The SMC shallow angles depend on their flex and spring for their holding power. The Peck angles simply power in and only slightly flex when placed. Their holding power in horizontal cracks seems adequate but the eye design and the narrow cross-section of the pin make them difficult to trust in a vertical placement where they can lever or rotate under load.

Condition: Used