advent of camming units, nuts (chocks) which protect the same wide cracks more easily, and without causing damage to the rock. Beaks – hooking pitons with the ability to hook, which can be placed without hammer. Known often as Birdbeaks named for Jim Bridwell whose nickname was "The Bird". Materials and evolution Early pitons were made of malleable iron and soft steel and would deform to the shape of the crack when driven into the rock, which worked well in the irregular cracks found on European limestone. Soft pitons are difficult to remove without damaging the piton, so they were frequently left in place and became fixed anchor points on a climb. During climbing exploration of the hard granite in Yosemite Valley in the 1950s and 1960s, it was found that soft pitons did not work very well. The long routes developed in Yosemite made it impractical and costly to fix routes, and the soft pitons were not durable enough to be placed and removed more than a few times. Pitons needed to be removed and used again on subsequent pitches, sometimes many times. Leaving gear in place went against the ethics of many climbers. John Salathé pioneered designs using hardened steel which were much tougher than the European pitons. Salathé's pins, which he developed for a climb of the Lost Arrow, resisted deformation and were easier to remove and reuse, and were durable enough to be reused indefinitely. In popular culture Films In the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only (1981), James Bond (Roger Moore) makes use of pitons while climbing a sheer cliff face, as a means to infiltrate the villain Kristatos' (Julian Glover) hideout. Just before he gets to the top of the cliff, Bond is met by Apostis, one of Kristatos' assassins. Apostis tries to kill Bond by knocking his pitons out of the rock, which would cause Bond to fall to his death. Just before Apostis knocks out the last piton, Bond unclips another piton from his belt and uses it as a throwing knife, injuring Apostis and sending the assassin falling to his death. Bond is then able to infiltrate Kristatos' hideout. Piton guns, fictional, handheld devices that shoot pitons into walls, appear in the 2004 Alien vs. Predator as part of the equipment of Charles Bishop's exploration team as they investigate what is revealed to be a pyramid where Predators breed and