So Living in AZ I don't have much experience with ice but we are going to do a route this winter in which we may run into anywhere from no ice, to an 80' pitch of 5.4 climbing when dry that may be an icy/snowy gully, to perhaps several pitches of thin ice and frozen snow/slush. I have a couple ice screws (3x10cm, 1x16cm, 1x22cm previous gen BD screws, 1x16cm Russian Ti Screw, and 1x 16cm snarg) but don't have a Specter to compare my BD Peckers too.

My question is if BD Peckers would work similarly to a specter only smaller for use on thin ice/icy seams ect... If so which sizes would you expect to work, only the biggest one, or the medium and/or small as well?... Even if it is not ideal I am usually of the opinion that pro-wise something is almost always better than nothing, and the conditions may make more traditional forms of ice protection useless. I am also going to have a selections of pins and a trad rack with me so its not like I a going to be relying only on Peckers in ice, just wondering if it is possible...

Definitely possible, but not much protection. If I recall correctly, peckers are used predominately for aid, but very rarely for actually protection. That being said, I have only used my Specter Ice Piton a handful of times and even though it is designed for turf and cracks in ice as a protection piece, I would never want to fall on it. If you are going to need protection from a fall in thin conditions or on stone, pitons with the S marking are classified as safety
pitons and are designed for this purpose (they pass the EN 569 norm governing breaking strength and a minimum 90mm useful length.) They come just as tapered and sharp as a pecker and would do much better for the purpose. They are designed as safety pitons, not progression pitons (as used in aid) so they would be more likely to hold a fall. Similarly, many of these pitons are made from a softer metal and are able to conform to the crack better than a hardened steel pecker would be able to.

Hope this info helps. I would stay away from the peckers!! But like you said, some pro is better than no pro! Good luck.

a pecker pounded into ice will not hold body weight. However rock gear placed in rock next to the ice might. (surprisingly enough) ice and rock protection are not interchangeable!

Really?! Not purposely trying to be an ass, but REALLY!?

On that note, will cams will work between ice columns? If that raises any thought, be careful on said route.

no

Congrats on the dumbest idea that I've seen posted to these boards in 2011! I didn't think anyone could come up with such a winner at this late of an hour, but I was wrong! Just awesome!

Bring skills to climb it and brains to back off if you can't. Sometimes that stuff is just not protectable.

Though it was pounded into mud, not ice. Some dude took a 60 footer on one last year gunning for the third ascent of The Matriarch in Hyalite and it held... I think he finished the route after that. I do feel that if there was a KB crack choked with ice a large pecker wouldn't be a horrible idea.

Screamer the hell out of it...

it completely depends on how you use the pecker. I would never trust one hammered into ice. They toque out very easily and are not multi directional.
The only scenarios where you should use a pecker is if you find a thin crack filled with ice or if your aiding an icy crack. For example my knifeblade can be hammered into the crack as pro, but why use a knife blade when I have serrated pecker.
However, i'd rather just use a piton.

I too, good sir, toque out very easily...

what you want is the uber sized relative of the pecker , called a spectre. they are about the size of an ice tool pick, and work nice in frozen moss and dirt, sometime even ice too.