Lightness is always an asset when climbing. I’ve always found that my time out in the hills is much more pleasurable if I’m not weighed down with heavy gear. That applies as much to a gentle walk through the woods as it does attempting a a new summit. The Camp Corsa Ice Axe If you [...]
Grivel Air Tech Racing Ice Axe
Multipurpose ice axes generally give you a choice. You can have an axe that is light or you can have an ice axe that is strong. Grivel’s Air Tech Racing Ice Axe changes that equation and give you one that is light and strong at the same time. Its head is forged, which basically means [...]
Black Diamond Raven and Raven Pro Ice Axes Reviewed
It is hard to imagine a piece of gear as mundane as an ice axe approaching something like celebrity status. But if anything has it must be the Black Diamond Raven ice axe family. They are, I guess, the VolksWagen of ice axes. You find them everywhere. They do the job without any fuss or [...]
Ice Axe Self-Arrest: How to save your life
The most important reason for carrying an ice axe up in the mountains is to be able to “self-arrest” or stop yourself from sliding down and off the mountain if you fall. It is not, as some people think, a glorified walking stick with a pointy end for showing off in the parking lot. To [...]
The Most Famous Ice Axe Belay Ever
Anyone who has been around mountaineering for any period of time will have come across the name of Peter Schoening, a real legend of American mountaineering. He spent a life on high mountains and was famously on Everest in 1996, an ill-fated year in which scores of mountaineers died on the mountain. But he is [...]
