Ironmongery

"He came in. He had a gun. He was crazy. You can see he was crazy; look what he did to Ricky. He thought Ricky was me. He wanted to steal my adjustables. Look." Sonny smiled and tilted the steel case so Henry could look at the jumble of rusty ironmongery inside.

He also had a room strewn with the toys of the trade and what-have-you: ropes and ironmongery, buoyancy aid and bagpipes, fetid socks and half-eaten haggises, dumbbells and ski-instructor sweaters.

If, by using “ironmongery” – artificial climbing aids – you could overcome any challenge, where was the adventure?

Bolts, pitons (pegs), slings and other assorted ironmongery were used for directly aided climbing.