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Topic Date User

Ice Climbing 9-Jun-2010 At 7:42:59 PM sleake

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hmmmm 3rd tools are a pain - too heavy, too pointy, too dangly.

2 tools is the way forward - even if soloing - using leashes or tethers will be less annoying than having a 3rd tool hanging from your waist - but I dont think this is what you are asking.

If you are talking about taking a general axe for the approach to the ice, I would just say use a techy tool, sure, not perfect for arrest and moderate slopes, but still fine, if your getting on vertical ice then you should be comfortable on snow slopes anyway.....

As for the guides combo of one tech and one axe - sorry wollemi - but this is perhaps not the best option for a newish climber. If you are doing lots of easy snow slopes, say up to grade 3 NZ then yeah, this is perfect, but once you are on mildly hard ground 3+ and more , the axe will be MUCH less user friendly. Guides are not climbers, they are trying to stop non-climbers from killing everyone when they bugger up. A long axe is the perfect weapon for this - quick boot axe belays, chopping steps, quick anchor etc. There is LOTS of this on Mt Cook. However, the typical pick and straight shaft will make things harder for the average newbie. Knuckles will be bashed, picks will get stuck, leashes will be hard to get out of quickly and overall it will be annoying. Yes, amazing things were climbed with those axes, but good modern gear really is a substitue for skill. Guides dont climb with this combo when they are not guiding.

However, having said all of that, a really handy combo is a technical tool, paired with a hybrid tool, like the BD venom, or camp makes one too. This is the best of both worlds, long handle, but curved, and a reverse curved pick instead of the old school picks.