How To Choose The Right Ice Axe: The Best Guide
Table of Content
How To Choose The Right Ice Axe: Quick Ice Axe Tips
Final Words
A right ice axe is one of the most valuable and necessary equipment’s that every skier or climber should have. When purchasing your first ice axe for your expedition, consider the kind and amount of skiing activity that your axe can sustain. Ice axes are employed in various activities for summiting snow-covered peaks and rocks, including traditional mountaineering, scrambling, hiking, ice climbing, and skiing. As a result, selecting the appropriate Ice Axe is critical if you want to get the most out of this equipment. This article will be the perfect step-by-step guide on how to choose the right ice axe.
Ice Axe
When snow and ice cover the trails in winter, it takes a lot of work to go hiking. You’ll need winter hiking gear, like crampons and an ice axe, to walk safely on icy and snowy trails. While crampons help you stay on your feet, an ice axe stops you from falling if you slip on frozen ground. Here, we chose the best ice axes for hiking, travelling on glaciers, and general mountaineering.
The right ice axes in this review can also be used to climb up pretty steep slopes, like climbing ice axes, by hooking the ice axe into the hill in front of you. However, their primary purpose is to stop a fall and cut steps in the snow. Since they have long, straight shafts, like trekking poles, they can also help keep your balance. This differs from most climbing ice axes, which have more curved shafts.
Every ice axe has a shaft and a head, made up of a pick and an adze facing backwards. When trekking on less steep terrain or strolling down the bottom of a hill, hold the ice axe at the head and use the shaft as a hiking pole. If you fall or slip while holding the ice axe this way, it is easy to lean toward it, and it will quickly hook into the ground and slow your fall.
How to Put an Ice Axe on your Backpack
Even though this may seem small to explain, it is essential to know. Just slide the shaft through the strap or loop at the bottom of the backpack with the spike facing down. Turn the axe 180 degrees when the head reaches the belt. The point of the spike should now be facing up. Then, use the strap at the top of the backpack to hold the shaft in place.
Do You Need One Or Two Ice Axes?
For mountaineering, one ice axe is enough, but if you want to climb very steep or vertical terrain, you should have two ice axes, one with a hammer and the other with an adze. Ice axes are usually sold in pairs, as shown in the image below.
