New Black Diamond Vipers and new crampon model
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Looks like some cool new stuff from BD at the OR. Looks like the Vipers are carbon. "Adjustable Axe The FlickLock pommel on Black Diamonds Viper is essentially an adjustable grip that you can slide up and down the shaft of the tool. It allows two hands to match on the tool or a single-hand grip while swinging on ice." "Frontpointer The Black Diamond Snaggletooth crampons combine a monopoint frontpoint with a second, smaller horizontal frontpoint for switching between snow, mixed terrain, and technical ice on an alpine climb." |
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I wonder if the frontpoints on these crampons will just snap off? |
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Padraig wrote:I wonder if the frontpoints on these crampons will just snap off?LOL |
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I recently saw a photo of one of the BD athletes climbing with a crampon that had the same tooth profile (can't remember who though). I thought it was a DIY modification for a specific route because there's no way that any crampon manufacturer would be silly enough to make a horizontal monopoint. |
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Forget the carbon vipers, gimme that Stanley growler! |
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Heard that whit magro helped design the crampons for alpine routes with finger cracks. Guess you can cam the horizontal point? Kind of a specific piece of gear though. |
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Seth Kane wrote:are you sure they're carbon fiber? look aluminum to me.Yep, not carbon fiber. Adjustable grip thing and new pick angle are pretty cool. Crampons are funny looking. Interesting idear. Probably rule in stiff neve. |
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The vipers definitely look aluminum.. and they look pretty sweet if I might add. Looks like a well deserved upgrade from BD. |
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Handled the new Vipers at the OR show today. |
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gotta say, pretty lame offerings from BD. That tool looks an awful lot like a quark. And the crampons? wtf? I like BD, I own a lot of their stuff, but this is pretty lame. Step it up, BD. |
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A friend of mine purchased the quarks almost exclusively for the adjustable trigger. He was hoping to use them both as a technical ice tool and also in the spring on steep snow couloirs to climb in high dagger the whole time. I'm not suggesting that is a good use of that adjustable pommel, but that was what drove his purchasing decision ultimately. |
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If only those crampons were chromoly, I'd pick up a pair instantly... I bet they climb mixed extremely well. As is don't really have any faith in the stainless. |
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Looks pretty cool to me..but I have 2nd gen vipers and the same cyborgs and sabertooths for years. |
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Kai Larson wrote:I'm not particularly impressed with the adjustable upper grip thing. I don't ever find myself wishing I could move the upper grip to different positions. You are not going to be messing with this while actually climbing, and I can't figure out why you might need to move it up or down the shaft.Funny you mention that... I was checkin' 'em out myself and wondered if I could do it one handed and voila, I did. Not sure I could pull that off with gloves on, or, outside, but, I was surprised how easy they were to adjust. I guess if you wanted to change position from time-to-time...easy. |
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Brian in SLC wrote: Funny you mention that... I was checkin' 'em out myself and wondered if I could do it one handed and voila, I did. Not sure I could pull that off with gloves on, or, outside, but, I was surprised how easy they were to adjust. I guess if you wanted to change position from time-to-time...easy.After talking with one of the BD folks at the show, the adjustable upper pommel rest appears to be for long bouts of high dagger climbing on moderate terrain. Move it up for high dagger, move it back down for technical climbing. Wasn't feasible to make the bottom one adjustable and still keep the strength they wanted. Looks like a decent all-around tool. |
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The update on the vipers looks like a pretty reasonable update. Nothing really new or exciting, and obviously a response (or copy even) to Petzl's Quark update. Always good to have competition, even for virtually identical products. Perhaps it'll come in at a price point below the Quarks? |
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Those tools look bad ass. Of course, swinging them will tell the tale. I think the crampons are a great idea, but as others have stated, the applications where they'll really excel aren't incredibly abundant in your average alpine climber's life. |
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I installed the upper hand rests on my Quarks permanently. Wrapping the tools with insulation tape prevents them from adjusting anyway. However, if I was to ever move the rests (I wouldn't) I would prefer the flick lock over the crappy Petxl trigger gimmick. |
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Shoo - that pick is the Titan pick, which is what all BD tools came with (or some slight variation of) before they all started coming with lasers. So nothing new there - going back to what worked originally. Great all-around pick. I used to replace all my laser picks with titans until I settled on my fusions w/fusion ice picks. |
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Graham Johnson wrote:Shoo - that pick is the Titan pick, which is what all BD tools came with (or some slight variation of) before they all started coming with lasers. So nothing new there - going back to what worked originally. Great all-around pick. I used to replace all my laser picks with titans until I settled on my fusions w/fusion ice picks.Ah, you are right! Thanks for the correction. |
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Just want to point out that the New viper is still hydroformed... |