The carrot is a hex-headed machine bolt without a fixed hangar. It is filed down at one end to form a tapered point (hence the name) and is then hammered into an undersized drill hole. The bolt is pounded into the rock until a small portion of the shaft remains exposed. While ascending, the climber puts a bolt plate over the head of a carrot in order and then clips a quickdraw to it. Legend has it that the carrot was invented in the 1960s by the Australian climber Bryden Allen.