Ice Tools

An ice tool is a specialized elaboration of the modern ice ax. It is used in ice climbing for more difficult configurations. They are used two to a person for the duration of a pitch. They are also used in some circumstances such as top rope angered climbs. A pair may be shared among two or more people were only one of them at a time is climbing. In contrast a classical ice ax is used one to a person for the hours or days a party is traveling across the snow glacier. An ice tool can be an ice ax or a traveling ax or a walking ax or otherwise known as general mountaineering axes to distinguish them from tools.

Ice Axe Climbing Tradgirl

In climbing vertical ice, two tools are needed in order for the climber, supported by cramponed feet, to use each tool in turn for maintaining balance with the body's center of mass nearly straight above the toes, while repositioning the other tool to a higher level, before raising the body weight with the legs and setting the stage for repeating the process.

Traditional ice tools are historically the most common type that uses a specialized leash that snugly grips the climber’s wrist. The length of the lease is adjusted so that when the climber hangs on a leash there hand remains at the tools handle portion of the ax shaft. This allows the climber to rest on the ax placement by applying minimal grip to the ax shaft. The greatest disadvantage to a leased tool is the potential to become stuck on the tool and the rest position without the ability to reach the grip and control the tool.

Leashless ice tools have emerged. Most ice tools are curved in such a way that the shaft of the ice ax is a vertical when actively placed. Gripping a shaft slightly canted from vertical is usually much less tiring than gripping a vertical shaft. Leashless ice tools further adjust the cant and its position relative to the main shaft to maximize the comfort and control of the ax. These changes as well as the introduction of finger rest rendered it much easier to grip and hold the ax handle negating much of the rest value of leashes. The disadvantage of leashless tools is that the climbers inability to rest on their wrists and the potential for dropping a tool in route. Advantages of leashless tools while climbing include the ability to swap tools between hands plus a climber’s ability to move their hands to any part of the tool unrestricted by the leash. A safety advantage is that a climber cannot become stuck on their leash without the ability to reach the tool. The safety feature as well as an effort to make the routes more difficult motivated the UIAA to ban leases during competition. This band spurred the development of commercial manufactured leashless tools. They are now often used in conjunction with a Springer leash system. This gives some protection against dropping the tool but still gives the most flexibility of going leashless. Each tool is clipped to a bungee cord that terminates on the climbers waste clipping to their harness. Wrists are not supported and the freedom of movement is still maintained. The Springer leash though is not designed to arrest a fall should the ice ax remain in place.

Modified traditional tools
Many traditional tools are now sold with finger rests and are designed for the easy addition of finger rests. These tools can function with or without leashes. There are physical designs of ice tools that differ:

Modular - ice tools are extremely modular and most have the ability to change picks and hammer. They are designed to accommodate shaft modifications to change the position of a hand wall hanging. This is different from mountaineering ice axes, which are usually single ax, adze, and shaft component with limited variation and leashes.

Pick variations - most ice tool picks are flat with a shaft word drooping direction and serrated lower edge. Some are straight or concave on their upper edges, instead of convex as other ice axes are. With the same kind of design, picks may vary in degree, asked a number of teeth, depth of teeth and some are field replaceable to deal with point damage. There are also ice tools with round tubular nosed, instead of flat, picks.

Adze - end variations - as with non-ice tool adzes, those of ice tools vary in several aspects. Some ice tools have a hammerhead in place of the adze and are module or permitting switching styles of adze or hammer.

Shaft variations - shafts may be straight as with shafts of non-ice tool axes and have one or two bands or curved sections. Ice tools range from 40 to 60 cm in length. We can’t recommend any particular place to buy tools. They can be bought online or in store. If you are buying online, search for promo codes 2021 and you’ll find tje latest offers.

Spike variations - non-ice tool spikes are generally flat and symmetrical, was straighter convex edges meeting of the point. I still spikes very widely and include asymmetrical flat shapes with teeth on one side or two points of different links, conical oval tubular ends, slightly hooked ends. Many leashless design principle with dual position grip but have a rubber strap instead of a steel spike at the end of the shaft. This design allows them to be used on existing climbing walls without causing any damage.