Beartooth Alpine picks

Just got these in the mail. Not much to say so far other than they look good, are super sharp, and fit the Nomics well. Slightly different profile than the Petzl purice picks. Seem to accept the petzl pick weights too, though I’m not sure they’re designed for them. Anyway I took the weights off to try them without at first. Gonna compare one Beartooth pick vs one Petzl pick and see what they feel like. Probably won’t be able to swing them into ice until December though :-(

Would you be able to post a close up comparison photo of the tip from below (so that we could see the thickness and sharpening angle). That would be super helpful, thanks!

drew A wrote:

Just got these in the mail. Not much to say so far other than they look good, are super sharp, and fit the Nomics well. Slightly different profile than the Petzl purice picks. Seem to accept the petzl pick weights too, though I’m not sure they’re designed for them. Anyway I took the weights off to try them without at first. Gonna compare one Beartooth pick vs one Petzl pick and see what they feel like. Probably won’t be able to swing them into ice until December though :-(

Forget about December, I’d be pretty astonished if the season starts before January! 

Ben B wrote:

Forget about December, I’d be pretty astonished if the season starts before January! 

Probably true… :-(

Jedrzej Jablonski wrote:

Would you be able to post a close up comparison photo of the tip from below (so that we could see the thickness and sharpening angle). That would be super helpful, thanks!

Hard to get good close-ups but I tried.

Thanks, this is very informative!

Seem great and some cool guys running the company but hard to justify the price for a disposable piece of gear when Petzl picks can be had for $36 if you get them off your friends pro deal. They truly need to last 2-3 times as long for it to be worth it imo. Or maybe the performance increase just can't be felt on M6/WI5 

Bug Boy wrote:

Seem great and some cool guys running the company but hard to justify the price for a disposable piece of gear when Petzl picks can be had for $36 if you get them off your friends pro deal. They truly need to last 2-3 times as long for it to be worth it imo. Or maybe the performance increase just can't be felt on M6/WI5 

My experience with the higher quality picks has been that they last at least twice as long and 3x isn’t too much of a stretch for me.

I have a pro deal on most brands but still choose to upgrade the picks on my tools. 

NateC wrote:

My experience with the higher quality picks has been that they last at least twice as long and 3x isn’t too much of a stretch for me.

I have a pro deal on most brands but still choose to upgrade the picks on my tools. 

I would agree that twice as long for 3x the price would be worth supporting a small business and likely performance increase 

One of the performance increases with more durable picks comes on longer climb when you don't have to bash the picks you blunted on P2 into P6's overhanging curtain 

> I would agree that twice as long for 3x the price would be worth supporting a small business

As others indicated - it's less about durability and more about what the pick can do. I have no experience with beartooth but krukonogi picks can do things petzl picks will never do (like give you a weight bearing placement after you scratch ice once or twice). If you resharpened petzl picks to do the same they would not last a single swing. Because of that I don't believe there is a fair way to compare durability.

Saw a request for shots from below of the beartooth picks next to the petzl ones. I got the master scratchers and did a couple shots next to my pur ice picks. The beartooth picks feel really nice and solid, definitely more substantial than the stock ones. I may end up getting the ice hawks as well if I decide I love the master scratchers but so far am impressed with them. The ice can’t come fast enough.

I got my picks last week but was out of town for work and didn't get to play with them until yesterday. REALLY happy with the quality and shape. I ordered the mix and ice picks for my hydras. Here are some photos to share. These are the stock hydra ice picks in comparison to the angles of the Beartooth mixed and ice picks. I can post photos of the taper as well but the representation is going to be off because my hydra picks are relatively worn. 

NateC wrote:

I got my picks last week but was out of town for work and didn't get to play with them until yesterday. REALLY happy with the quality and shape. I ordered the mix and ice picks for my hydras. Here are some photos to share. These are the stock hydra ice picks in comparison to the angles of the Beartooth mixed and ice picks. I can post photos of the taper as well but the representation is going to be off because my hydra picks are relatively worn. 

Wow, that stock pick angle on the hydra is really aggressive. Is that the ice pick or their mixed? 

Matt Gravier wrote:

Wow, that stock pick angle on the hydra is really aggressive. Is that the ice pick or their mixed? 

That's the stock ice pick from BD. 

Adding some X Dream pick pics, top to bottom:

Beartooth Master Scratcher

Camp Mixte

Camp Ice

Krukonogi PXS(A)

Krukonogi PXSOO

Kuznia

Howie

Master Scratcher vs PXSOO

Having not used the Beartooths yet, a few observations:

1) Beartooth's customer service is exceptional. I bcame accustomed to sending money off to Poland, or Russian surrogates and hoping picks would someday arrive, or unreturned emails from another North American pick maker; so it was really nice to deal with Charlie and the other friendly, super responsive Beartooth folks.

2) The Master Scratcher is as thin and actually less tall (or high?) than the best pure ice pick that I've ever used - the Krukonogi PXS00, so I assume it will climb ice really well. The down side of the PXSOO is it crumpled when hitting rock. It did come with a big "For Ice Only" warning. Time will tell how well the Master Scratcher holds up.

3) The Master Scratcher has an identical angle to the Camp Ice pick, but is longer:

4. The hammers on the Master Scratchers are the most flush to the head of the tool of any hammer that I have owned. There are pros and cons to this but I am stoked to have a non stock X Dream pick with a hammer.

5. The Beartooth picks are aesthetically beautiful and relatively lightweight. 

Almost go time...

I've used the mixed picks a couple times this season, I think they are definitely noticeably lower volume an penetrate sub 10cm ice remarkably well. They can really take a bashing, it took a minute to get use to the longer length so I was over driving them into thing ice quite a bit. Good swing weight on their own but I believe pick weights might help on really cold days. Though they are so thin I bet brittle ice will not be a huge issue. Time will tell.

I hit some ice with the Ice Hawks. I like them so far. 

Really interested in the Ice Hawks picks. But shipping to Switzerland is almost as much as a Petztl stock pick and I would have to pay extra customs duties. Any way to get them over to Switzerland or Germany cheaper? Maybe someone coming over for a climbing trip willing to pack some extra picks?

If anyone is curious to learn a bit more, from the source, we interviewed Paul and Charlie of Beartooth Alpine: about the company, what differentiates their picks from stock, and oh, you can also win a pair. 

Here's the episode page (and it's available on Apple, Spotify, etc.).

Jakob Melchior wrote:

Really interested in the Ice Hawks picks. But shipping to Switzerland is almost as much as a Petztl stock pick and I would have to pay extra customs duties. Any way to get them over to Switzerland or Germany cheaper? Maybe someone coming over for a climbing trip willing to pack some extra picks?

If you don't pick up any this season, I'm planning to come to Chamonix in late March. Perhaps I can bring a pair over with me and get them to you from there?