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Petzl dry picks on ice?

Original Post
John Collis · · Moab · Joined Jul 2010 · Points: 283

I'm thinking about getting a set of the dry/mixed-specific petzl picks for my nomics which are currently fitted with the petzl ice pick. I know the tapers are about the same, but it's mainly the tooth design that's changed between the 2. I was wondering what other people who use these picks think about their performance on pure ice routes. I was also thinking about modifying the front tooth a bit and cutting a bit of a concavity to improve contact when dry tooling, and was wondering if other people who have done this have noticed a loss in performance on ice. What do people think?

John Collis · · Moab · Joined Jul 2010 · Points: 283

Just so people know what I'm talking about, this is the kind of modification I was thinking about making:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrF4rTtfr1E

Dobson · · Butte, MT · Joined Oct 2011 · Points: 215

I know personally that is possible to get the old Astro picks to climb ice WAY better than the stock ice pick.

Astro regrind

Ice regrind

These picks climb ice great.

Bevel the teeth a little more, sharpen the top swedge, and get rid of the "love bump" in the front. The steinpull teeth on top can be annoying if you accidentally bury the head in a hole and they tear up your gloves in the Alpine, so I round them slightly. They still grip rock just fine.

Josh Hutch · · State of Jefferson · Joined Dec 2008 · Points: 90

The dry picks climb pure ice fine. Both my wife and I have Nomics, I have dry picks she has the ice picks. I really can't tell the difference between the two unless you sink the dry picks too far into the ice, they are harder to remove when you over drive them.

John Collis · · Moab · Joined Jul 2010 · Points: 283
Dobson wrote:These picks climb ice great. Bevel the teeth a little more, sharpen the top swedge, and get rid of the "love bump" in the front. The steinpull teeth on top can be annoying if you accidentally bury the head in a hole and they tear up your gloves in the Alpine, so I round them slightly. They still grip rock just fine.
Nice regrind! Are those ice picks done the same way as the astros? Do you find them easy to retrieve?
travisbirck · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2015 · Points: 0

I ground the first tooth off and made it concave like in your video. The picks are a bitch to clean with that setup. For dry its great but not ice

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Ice Climbing
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