Third pitch of The Nose, 1996

 

FROSTWORKS CLIMBING

Welcome to FROSTWORKS online.

In 1972, veteran Yosemite climbers Yvon Chouinard and Tom Frost helped create a revolution. The company they founded, The Great Pacific Iron Works, published a catalog that appealed to the climbing community to use clean protection rather than the hard alloy pitons that were then in common use: "Granite is delicate and soft - much softer than the alloy steel pitons being hammered into it. On popular routes in Yosemite and elsewhere the cracks are degenerating."

The 1972 Chouinard catalog offered as an alternative the climbing nuts that would become ubiquitous to our sport, Stoppers and Hexentrics. Armed with these beautiful and powerful new tools, the next generation of climbers could grow up without ever learning to hammer in a piton.

Tom Frost continues this tradition by offering Sentinel climbing nuts. Sentinels reestablish the traditional values of predictability, ease of placement, and a more precise trade-off between security and removability. Their availability in regular and long sling lengths suits them well for both free and aid climbing. Sentinels are classic tool designs for the modern world.

Climbing Hardware

• Sentinel Nuts
• Product Reviews

 

Climbing Style Commentaries

• "First Ascents" & "Ethics", Steve Grossman
• Clean Climbing, Steve Grossman
• Innsbruck 2002, Tom Frost
• Thirty Years Beyond, Tom Frost
• A Tribute to My Heroes, Royal Robbins
• The 1972 Chouinard Catalog

 

History and Contact

• About Tom Frost and FROSTWORKS
• FROSTWORKS Dealers
• Contact Us
• Warning

 

Last updated 5/17/10
Site revised and maintained by Erin Stillman  
Original Site design and programming by K.C.Graves