Third tool?

The OP here. Over 50, and I'll leave it at that. I still have the blue Chouinard tool that was my first ever technical tool.

C H wrote:

The OP here. Over 50, and I'll leave it at that. I still have the blue Choinard tool that was my first ever technical tool.

I had the hickory handled one.

I broke a pick on the first hard pitch of California Ice in Montana back in March.  Down soloing all of the WI2 approach steps with one tool was a lot of work...

Nick Goldsmith wrote:

 Nick, what brand pick? 

I have a 50 cm one of those. Recurve pick would bust knuckles and get real stuck. Great tool just the same.

Tim. I was wondering which pick Nick Sweeny broke.   As for the Blue Chiounard, When this ax was part of my water ice quiver I also had the recurve pick. Mine is 60cm and  I found it to be the most forgiving of all my straight shafted tools in the knuckle damage dept.  The worst was that really short Forest Mojlnar.   I find that the Chiounard actually climbs ice better with the traditional  pick than it did with the recurve. I still break it out occasionally :)

Double J wrote:

I want to know the average age of the fellas on this thread please.  ;) 

Mentally I’m 18, that pesky calendar says 63. But still leading WI5 and find it less stressful now than 25 years ago. Climbing pure ice (with the occasional dry tool placement) is an old person’s sport anyway: It’s mostly mental and all about the feet. I don’t train and I cannot remember the last time I got flamed on vert ice. Repeat after me, it’s all about the feet.

The pick was a Howey Tool. I hate to say it because I have had great experiences with their picks for 4 years.

Never heard of it?

Nick Goldsmith wrote:

Never heard of it?

https://howeytool.com/ice-tool-picks/..  I tried one, and felt it was less durable than the Petzl Pur Ice.  Others have had better luck, I guess.

Oh yea. i guess I have heard of them but i don't bother with 3rd party picks.  The cassin rigs work so well that i have not felt the need. 

Nick Goldsmith wrote:

Oh yea. i guess I have heard of them but i don't bother with 3rd party picks.  The cassin rigs work so well that i have not felt the need. 

In my experience the Cassin picks have been laughably soft. If I’m climbing thick ice then it’s no problem, but any thin ice or mixed climbing results in an instantly dull pick. 

Well yeah, you can't have it all. Picks that are good at penetrating ice aren't good at hitting rock. Blade Runner points are no different. 

they don't break. 

Nick Goldsmith wrote:

they don't break. 

I've seen multiple broken Cassin picks with my own eyes, along with Petzl and Black Diamond.

Only seen one  broken  petzl. One  hummingbird  and  lots of  BD . Never seen a broken grivel or cassin.  Have broken  grivel crampons as well as BD and foot fangs. 

Petzl and Camp are soft enough that they seem to bend, not break, I've bent a couple, sometimes without doing anything that seemed likely to damage a pick, they still climb fine, you may not even notice until a couple of days later when you notice one tool doesn't seem to be sticking as well... I've never broke a pick and can't can't think of a reason to take a third tool on anything these days but I'm the kid here at 38 and about a decade of climbing ice 60-90 days a year...I've broken the front points off of 2 crampons in that time, so a spare crampon would make more sense in my experience.

have broken Petzl/ CM crampon bails, Foot fang crampon bails, BD front point and grivel bails.