Registered: 09/22/15
Posts: 57
Loc: Central California Coast
Why are ice axe handles so much shorter today? The handle of a typical ice axe used by a Himalayan climber today is over a foot shorter than the one used by Ed Hillary.
Alpenstocks (forerunners to today's ice axes) had handles that were 2' or more longer that today's axes. Have climbing styles changes dramatically? Thanks.
When I took alpine travel the SOP was an axe that touched the ground/snow surface gripping the head and extending the arm downward. Now SOP seems inches shorter.
One theory is to accommodate carrying it on the uphill side when following a slope. Ascending a steep slope shorter better accommodates plunging it ahead, uphill. Do folks still cut steps with them? That would be easier and it may be that shorter is more effective/less dangerous for self-arrest.
But as a "walking stick" on the level it's worthless.
Hopefully somebody who actually understands will chime in.
I have (had, really, too old for ice now)) climbing axes for steep ice, and a glacier axe, a vintage, hickory handled Chouinard. The Glacier axe is made for walking and had a wide adze head for cutting steps. Longer lengths have become less popular, in part because of the weight, in part because the longer length is actually detrimental to using them in a self-arrest- something that is a very important part of having one. Saved my life once, when I was sidestepping up a steep bergshcrund called the Devil's Chute on the side of Carson Peak in the Sierra. I started sliding , but was able to plant the tip of the axe and jam it in as a brake, using my forearm as a lever. Longer axes can have the tip dig in when your doing this and flip away, or flip you over.
Registered: 09/22/15
Posts: 57
Loc: Central California Coast
Originally Posted By bluefish
I have (had, really, too old for ice now)) climbing axes for steep ice, and a glacier axe, a vintage, hickory handled Chouinard. The Glacier axe is made for walking and had a wide adze head for cutting steps. Longer lengths have become less popular, in part because of the weight, in part because the longer length is actually detrimental to using them in a self-arrest- something that is a very important part of having one. Saved my life once, when I was sidestepping up a steep bergshcrund called the Devil's Chute on the side of Carson Peak in the Sierra. I started sliding , but was able to plant the tip of the axe and jam it in as a brake, using my forearm as a lever. Longer axes can have the tip dig in when your doing this and flip away, or flip you over.
You weren't able to jam the axe's pick into the ice and then get your body weight over the head the axe?
Then you'd know you lock the handle under your forearm and pull up with the opposite hand, using it like a mechanical brake lever. Of course this puts the upper bodies weight on the pick digging in. Hence the spike tends to tilt towards the ice and a longer handle can jam the spike in. I'm sure there's other methods, but this is the method I learned. I've only had to self-arrest once and hopefully never again. I'm not a practiced mountaineer and hate to give half-azzed advice at something I haven't had to think about in years. You obviously know more than I about the subject, so I'll call this my last word on it. Happy climbing.
Registered: 09/22/15
Posts: 57
Loc: Central California Coast
Originally Posted By bluefish
Then you'd know you lock the handle under your forearm and pull up with the opposite hand, using it like a mechanical brake lever. Of course this puts the upper bodies weight on the pick digging in. Hence the spike tends to tilt towards the ice and a longer handle can jam the spike in. I'm sure there's other methods, but this is the method I learned. I've only had to self-arrest once and hopefully never again. I'm not a practiced mountaineer and hate to give half-azzed advice at something I haven't had to think about in years. You obviously know more than I about the subject, so I'll call this my last word on it. Happy climbing.
Hmmm... I've been formally trained (at the school in Yosemite) in the use of ice axes and your two descriptions sound quite foreign to me -- especially the part about "lock(ing)the handle under your forearm and pull up with the opposite hand, using it like a mechanical brake lever."
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