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Mono vs. dual point

Original Post
Luke Deurmier · · Rapid City, SD · Joined Jul 2012 · Points: 5

What's your view on mono or dual points when climbing some of dat iccee ice baby?

Ben Brotelho · · Albany, NY · Joined May 2011 · Points: 520

yes

Jason S. · · Durango, Co · Joined Apr 2010 · Points: 150

Usually ok, if the ice isn't to steep. Onec bulges come into play, the view gets worse, and sometimes you can't even see your poons any more. The view is about the same for monos and duals, but who cares what they look like!

divnamite · · New York, NY · Joined Aug 2007 · Points: 90

I don't know what kind of baby is iccee ice, but most babies like dual parenting... mono parenting works but it's hard.

Braden Downey · · Bishop, CA · Joined Feb 2007 · Points: 110

ok luke.. i guess i'll be hte first to offer a real perspective on this, based on my limited experience:

I've found that with mono's I can climb fragile features with more finesse.. they require less kicking to get good purchase. I've also found that i can sort of pivot around on my mono (whether it be in ice or rock); a riskier proposition with dual points. The drawback is that they have less support than dual points - if you're climbing up thousands of feet of lower angled alpien ice, you might feel a calf burn more with mono's than if you had duals. Also, if the ice is rotten at all, a mono doesn't have as much purchase as a dual (in which case I might even go with a horizontally oriented crampon like the Sabertooth).

To sum it up, for water ice cragging I'd rather have mono's. For alpine stuff with a lot of easier ice climbing, not much drytooling, and/or variable ice, I might go with duals.

that's my 2c

Braden Downey · · Bishop, CA · Joined Feb 2007 · Points: 110

.. and c'mon people.. i know he kind of asked for it .. baby.. but I thought this site was about helping people out.

Derek W · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jun 2008 · Points: 20
dirtbag wrote:.. and c'mon people.. i know he kind of asked for it .. baby.. but I thought this site was about helping people out.
LOL! I haven't seen THAT happen in a very long time on this site...
Jeff Johnston · · Bozeman, MT · Joined Sep 2010 · Points: 110

Lower angle ice, longer pitches, or late season where the ice is getting soft or thin ice. dule points are the way to go,

For steep sustained ice, hard ice, delicate ice. Monos point all the way.

From Will Gadd's Blog how ever I quote
"Dual point crampons are vastly superior to mono points for 90 percent of ice climbing. I can tell from about 200 yards away if anyone (with very rare exceptions like Raph and a few others) is wearing monos or dual frontpoints. The mono-wanna-be-master’s feet will be blowing a lot more. I wear monos for some mixed climbing, but if I could only have one pair of crampons it would be dual cyborgs"

Erik W · · Santa Cruz, CA · Joined Mar 2007 · Points: 280

My experience has been that unless we're talking a WI5 candlestick, for pure ice duals are far superior to monos. Aside from the physics of greater surface area and stability of two points, the added psychological benefit of that stability results in less over-gripping the tool and reduced pucker-factor overall... both of which affect ones ability to successfully make it through a tough section.

That said, 95% of my ice climbs are done on monos... simply because I do more mixed these days and for that I prefer the precision of monos, and I'm too stubborn to change the configuration in the field.

beccs · · Ontario Canada · Joined Mar 2012 · Points: 200

I have two sets of crampons, one left set up as dual (Cyborgs, but I'm looking to change these out soon) and one left as monos (Cassin C Comp).

I much prefer to lead ice on my dual points. At the grades I'm leading (comfortable on WI4) I'm not going to be encountering daggers and thin pillars where monos would be an advantage. But it is fairly likely I'll encounter chandeliered or other subpar ice.

But for mixed/drytool routes I want my monos.

Tim Stich · · Colorado Springs, Colorado · Joined Jan 2001 · Points: 1,520

beccs says it all. Dual for everything but mixed.

Trad Princess · · Not That Into Climbing · Joined Jan 2012 · Points: 1,175

Interesting. I think I'll entertain going back to dual now. After next weekend.

Gunkiemike · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2009 · Points: 3,492

It's a matter of personal preference and what you're used to. I am mono 95+% of the time. YMMV Duals only for semi-vertical slush (beginning and end of the season)

Just Solo · · Colorado Springs · Joined Nov 2003 · Points: 80

I've gone back and forth on this, overall for steep ice I prefer monos for no particular reason, and I don't blow out much at all, but then again I climb on hybrids (grivel G-14s) which I love. My other goto crampons are Sabertooths. Great crampon, sometimes I take them just because. Then I have my old M-10s. When I want heavy, tank like performance, I'm all in on those bad boys!

Leo Paik · · Westminster, Colorado · Joined Jan 2001 · Points: 22,800

FWIW, I think it depends on your monos. The T-shaped monos of Grivel Rambos (at least the older ones) really reduced shearing compared to some of the vertical only shaped monos like on the Grade 8 and Grade 10 by CM. One thing is I've definitely blast way less ice with monos, in fact it often feels more like rock climbing with monos than duals.

For snow, duals. For ice, T-shaped monos.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Ice Climbing
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