Buying an Ice Ax
As I emphasized in the mountaineering-boot sidebar in the boot chapter, mountaineering is a sport that demands respect, proper training and the right equipment. Among the items you'll need if you venture onto steep snowfields is an ice ax, a tool which actually bears little resemblance to its wood-chopping cousin. As you can see in the illustration, an ice ax has four parts: the shaft, normally made of extruded aluminum tubing; the pick, which the climber drives into the ice or hard snow with the force of his swing; the adze, used to chop out ledges to stand on while resting or belaying; and the spike, which helps the shaft penetrate hard snow and prevents the ax from slipping when it's used as a walking stick. If you will primarily be climbing snow, you want an ice ax that's long enough to reach comfortably from your hand to the ground so you can lean on it effectively. An ice ax designed for climbing frozen waterfalls, on the other hand, will have a shorter shaft and a differently shaped pick that is designed to hook into rotten or multi-layered ice. Ice-climbing tools are a poor bet for snow-climbing because the shaft isn't long enough to serve effectively as a cane.
On a gentle snowfield, a snow-climber's ice ax is used mostly as a walking stick. As the slope steepens, climbers plunge the shaft in as far as it will go and grasp the head of the ice ax to steady themselves while they kick steps. As the snow hardens and turns to ice, climbers grasp the shaft of the ax near the spike and drive the pick into the snow with a stout swing. If the climber slips, he grabs the head of the ax with one hand and the shaft with the other, then presses the pick into the snow to brake himself to a stop, a technique called self-arrest.
Mastering the use of an ice ax cannot be learned through reading. Seek competent instruction from experienced guides or very competent friends before attempting to climb steep snow.

Site Map  - 

Copyright © 2006 Beginner's Guide. All content rights reserved.
Trademarks and brands mentioned are property of their respective copyright owners.