Thread: ice axe and crampons reccomendation

Haha. No, but never had any issues with their gear. Neither have any of my friends who use it (as far as I know).
I guess everyone makes a lemon at some stage though.
It is good to hear peoples experience with equipment. Can make the difference between choosing it or not.

Get a black diamond axe. The Raven Pro model is reasonably cheap and one of the lightest axes easily available here.
Camp make crampons that would suit, reasonably light weight. I use a Raven Pro and Grivel crampons. The crampons are heavy but should last.

Originally Posted by Shearer

Haha. No, but never had any issues with their gear. Neither have any of my friends who use it (as far as I know).
I guess everyone makes a lemon at some stage though.
It is good to hear peoples experience with equipment. Can make the difference between choosing it or not.

Yup there's always gear that people just love. Good thing is that equipment does improve over time. Even the worst crampons these days Sir Edmund Hillary would have thought were the Bees Knees on Everest.

Know The Ropes: Snow Climbing - AAC Publications - Search The American Alpine Journal and Accidents In North American Mountaineering

This is also some really fantastic information for anyone using gear in the snow

The Black Diamond crampons I heard about the problems with were the early version of the 'sabretooth' model - there is a weak point at the back of the heel which can fatigue and break from long-term use on hard ice and rocks. I have a pair of that model (for about 10 years now) and they've been fine. They're not really optimised for steep hard ice climbing anyway, they'll do it ok but aimed more at general snow and mountain use - easiest way to tell is the relatively thin horizontal front points, technical ice climbing crampons have more solid vertical profile front points.

A mate had the Petzl 'Vasak' model which used a gammy lever on the side to lock them onto the boot, which would sometimes spontaneously release themselves - they did it once while soloing 50 degree ice, after that hairy moment he sold them and bought something different!

I also have a BD Raven Pro, only weighs about 380g which helps justify carrying it on those trips where you aren't sure if you'll need it or not. The light weight is a downside when you're swinging it into hard snow/ice though.

Got a free axe today. Thanks to a member on here for donating an old one.

Originally Posted by scottrods

Got a free axe today. Thanks to a member on here for donating an old one.

Good sorts on this forum!!