Gear4Rocks Ice Axe Tool?

Garret Nuzzo-Jones wrote: The entire point of ice climbing is to outspend every other sport on the planet. You win when you have ice tools more valuable than your house.

You need to persuade yourself that you need a shiny new AT skiing setup in order to get to the ice climbs. That way you can quadruple whatever you've spent on ice tools.

Is it just me or does the handle look like its made from a folding lawn chair.

This has yielded some very amusing commentary. I feel a bit guilty now that I sent that link to the OP, and he had the compassion and balls to ask about it publicly :)

Wait. What the heck is this? Shock Absorber

Am I supposed to untie below my sketchy gear placement and thread this onto the rope?

Alex Whitman wrote:Wait. What the heck is this? Shock Absorber Am I supposed to untie below my sketchy gear placement and thread this onto the rope?

Looks like an old style belay plate.....bet it works just great on their new style yak hair ropes.

Alex Whitman wrote:Wait. What the heck is this? Shock Absorber Am I supposed to untie below my sketchy gear placement and thread this onto the rope?

No, it goes on a separate piece of pre-threaded rope. You clip the device and one end of the rope, and the other end is left free with a stopper knot.. Works kinda like a Kong KISA, and it may be easier to understand if you think of it as an extendible draw.

Garret Nuzzo-Jones wrote: The entire point of ice climbing is to outspend every other sport on the planet. You win when you have ice tools more valuable than your house.

Ever heard of sailing?

DannyUncanny wrote: Ever heard of sailing?

Hahaha... that's great - rock climbing has nothing on sailing as far as costs go.

there's a reason it's called a boat = Bust Out Another Thousand

CaptainMo wrote: Hahaha... that's great - rock climbing has nothing on sailing as far as costs go. there's a reason it's called a boat = Bust Out Another Thousand

"If there is money in the savings or checking account, the boat is not finished."

Aric Datesman wrote: No, it goes on a separate piece of pre-threaded rope. You clip the device and one end of the rope, and the other end is left free with a stopper knot.. Works kinda like a Kong KISA, and it may be easier to understand if you think of it as an extendible draw.

So wait this thing is supposed to replace a screamer?

The shock absorbtion comes from dynamic rope tightenting through the bends this thing creates? Wouldnt a figure 8 on a bight or Butterfly do about the same absorbing as that? What am I missing.

Signed: The truly ignorant.

Rick Blair wrote: So wait this thing is supposed to replace a screamer? The shock absorbtion comes from dynamic rope tightenting through the bends this thing creates? Wouldnt a figure 8 on a bight or Butterfly do about the same absorbing as that? What am I missing. Signed: The truly ignorant.

My limited understanding is that during a fall, a small amount of rope is pulled through the device to lessen the impact force on the system.

See (scroll about 1/2 way for images):
kong.it/doc408.htm

^^^ What Randy said. Above a set force (determined by rope diameter) the rope will feed through the device to lessen the impulse of the fall just like a screamer. (side note re: impulse- the whole "screamer absorbs energy" thing is bunk... It just broadens the amount of time the force is applied over, thereby reducing the peak. No energy is absorbed or disapated, aside from what little is converted to heat)

It looks like one of those via feratta self belay doohickeys.

Get you some plastic nuts. Yes please.

Randy Aristotle wrote:This has yielded some very amusing commentary. I feel a bit guilty now that I sent that link to the OP, and he had the compassion and balls to ask about it publicly :)

Dirty trick. But hilarious.

John Husky wrote:It looks like one of those via feratta self belay doohickeys.

I think that's exactly what it's for, probably why it is shown threaded with a piece of rope with two bights on the end, for clipping to the via ferrata cable.

The original ice axe thingy webpage says they are just 14" long, so I think they're supposed to be like grappling claws for ninjas, except of course you'd think ninjas would want them in black rather than painted orange. Although come to think of it, these must be for SNOW ninjas, so should be white.

I know you're saying you've never seen a snow ninja. That's exactly the way the snow ninjas like it!

could these possibly be axes for those wild speed ice climbing events? look sorta similar if you watch the youtube videos...look sketch as fawk though.

I know this is a bit off topic, but the Gear4rocks website has made me realized why bolted cracks are the norm in Europe, if that was the gear I was thinking about, I'd think trad climbing was super dangerous!

Woodchuck ATC wrote:I'm waiting for them to knit their own ropes out of yak hair.

LOL funny shit!

Ray Pinpillage wrote:In mother Russia, ice tools you!

I just spit up my drink.