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Hammer-in ice screws?

Original Post
jnrose5 · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Feb 2006 · Points: 40

I just re-read Joe Simpson's Touching the Void (which is always a good read). Simpson regularly refers to the pro that he uses on route as ice screws, but he talks about the need to hammer them into the ice. He also seemed to use them on glacier ice and water ice.

Anybody ever used these things? When did they go out of style? I'm guessing they basically no longer exist because "new" twist-in screws are easier, stronger, and probably just more logical. As someone who's only been on ice for the past half decade or so, I'd love to try one just for the experience of it. Just curious about the history of these devices...

Auto-X Fil · · NEPA and Upper Jay, NY · Joined Aug 2010 · Points: 50

Snargs and Warthogs are the final evolution of pound-in ice protection. They still pop up on eBay, and I bet you can find some.

Google 'Snarg ice screw' or 'warthog ice screw' for a bunch of threads all over the web around 10 years ago, when people quit using them for good.

Elliott Crooks · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2006 · Points: 10

Original ice pro was long blade soft iron pitons, often with barbs along the edge. Pretty worthless, except better than nothing... The first ice pro that might actually catch a fall were the Salewa tube screws-about 2/3 the diameter of modern screws-usually needed body heat to clear the tube, except on warm glacier ice. The wart hogs (Salewa again, followed by a superior version from Chouinard), were pound-ins; the warts spiraled, so you had to offset the eye counter-clock, increasingly so with the hardness of the ice. Nice thing about warthogs was you could pound them into ice, cracks, frozen moss/mud, etc. Used them to anchor a tent on a frozen asphalt parking lot once.
Snargs were pound-in tubes from Lowe, the original design being a smooth tube-second generation added threads for ease of removal. Until screws with really SHARP teeth arrived, snargs were faster to place than screws (original Chouinard screws for example). DMM made a wider diameter titanium pound-in that worked rather well (still carry mine sometimes). One company made an ice tool that took a snarg in place of an adze: climb with the pick (titanium, ahead of its' time),
then when desired rotate the shaft 180 degrees, plant the snarg, reach up & release it, then pound it on in; all easy one hand. Pity the head balance was so poor...
BTW, I believe the Lowe tube picks were the best ever; minimal ice fracture, solid hold, and you could do side swing moves... but they needed better technique than slam in, yank out, so they're history.
I know this stuff 'cause I used it: started ice climbing in '72 and still do some.

Taylor-B. · · Valdez, AK · Joined Oct 2009 · Points: 3,186

Spectres are still around.

csproul · · Pittsboro...sort of, NC · Joined Dec 2009 · Points: 330

I used Snargs in the 90's. They were awesome for the leader when you were gripped as they went in pretty quick. Remember that ice screws from back then were harder to get in than are more modern ones. The second always cursed the leader when they heard a Snarg being pounded in. They were kind of a bitch to clean.

H BL · · Colorado · Joined Feb 2006 · Points: 95

I still have some old lowe pound ins. I haven't used them in a loooooong time. Pain to pound in, bigger pain to take out for the second.

Mark E Dixon · · Possunt, nec posse videntur · Joined Nov 2007 · Points: 974

If you really wanted to make your second suffer, you'd place a snarg in a corner where it was nearly impossible to twist out. Even worse if a shower of freezing water soaked the area. Not sure I miss those days!

Brian in SLC · · Sandy, Utah · Joined Oct 2003 · Points: 21,711

Another great spot to place a snarg was right below a bulge, where it was near impossible for the second to get a decent purchase to hang from without spalling off a bunch of ice.

They were a pain to get out, but, fast going in compared to the Chouinard screws with the welded threads (or the smaller diameter Salawa tubes).

Yeah, in a corner was super hard to get out. Too funny.

Still got a few snargs, older with no threads, skinny and fat with threads.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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