Talk:Chockstones
Need a picture
Context
Can someone confirm this refers to mountaneering? RJFJR 20:35, September 5, 2005 (UTC)
Can someone fix the wikilink that I put into cam? There is nothing in the disab\mbiguate page at cam that seems relevant; at a guess we need an article on the kind of cam this is relating to. RJFJR 20:35, September 5, 2005 (UTC)
Disambiguation Required
I suggest that disambiguation is required here.
While Chockstone is without question a mountaineering term, in the general sense it refers not to the item of climbing protection, but to any detached chunk of rock that happens to be stuck in a rock chimney, constriction, or crack.
In fact, the item of climbing protection was named after its passing resemblance to a Chockstone, even though it is constructed not of rock but of metal.
This term for the item of climbing protection is, however, not in common usage in North America. Here it is known much more commonly as a Nut or perhaps even a Stopper.
However, folks in the U.K. may still continue to refer to them primarily as Chocks, since I think that is where such usage originated.
Legend has it that U.K. climbers first began to use artificial chocks. These were in the form of large-size machine nuts gathered from the railway tracks and then slung with cord.