Petzl Gully

It also depends on the snow you’re using it in. Setup, late season snow, and steep snow will be harder to self arrest on because of the angle of the pick. You shouldn’t be falling on anything steeper than 45 degrees anyways, even with a traditional axe.

I’ve been using the gully as an as-needed axe for all my skiing for the past year and a half or so. It’s lightweight and easy for daggering. I would definitely recommend for snow exclusively.. I haven’t tried climbing any ice with it because of the low weight, but it seems like some people have had success as a backup tool for easy ice.

bearded sam wrote: Anyone want to buy an un-used Gully?

Is it with an hammer? and how much?

Thread revive, I know, but I was just wondering what other people with a bit more experience might think.

I am hoping to get into ice climbing this winter, if Covid and finances will allow travel. I have summer alpine experience and own a modern ice axe with curved shaft and a pure ski-touring axe, but nothing 'technical'.

I was wondering if a pair of Gully's (possibly with weights) would get me through my first few seasons on ice, as well as through the likes of some of the easier Scottish winter grades. I know they would have limits on steeper/harder ice routes, but as an introductory pair of tools, would they work? 

Or should I just eventually take the plunge and go for 'real' tools? 

Victor Machtel wrote:

Scottish winter grades. I know they would have limits on steeper/harder ice routes, but as an introductory pair of tools, would they work? 

Or should I just eventually take the plunge and go for 'real' tools? 

Absolutely not, get real tools this is Scottish mixed you're talking about not waterfall or ice pristine gullies. 

Victor I had similar thoughts a few years ago and bought a pair of sumtecs. It sucked, and I quickly sold one of them and bought some real ice tools. If you already knew how to ice climb then maybe, but for learning it was awful. Seb has a good point as well! If you actually want to climb ice/mixed get some tools. I think this is especially true since you already have a regular ax and ski touring ax (I had nothing when I bought the sumtecs and kept one, which I still use as my regular/ski ax). 

That said, I’ve never even picked up a gully, much less climbed with one. I just think my experience is similar enough to your situation to chime in. 

Alright guys, that is clear advice! Thanks!

I own a pair of Gullies and have the pick weights on them.  They are not the tool for mixed or real ice climbing.  I've swung them into summer glacier ice and have enjoyed it but they are a tool for adventurous ski mountaineering, not real ice or mixed climbing.

I've taken my gully hammer out a few times so far:

- Last November on a mountaineering trip in SW British Columbia, paired with a Petzl Summit. In our party of 3, each of us had a mountaineering axe, plus we took one gully and a single half rope for the group. The plan was to give the leader the second tool if we encountered steep snow or ice, then provide a belay for the followers. While we didn't employ the gully for that plan, we did use the hammer to test a piton we rapped on, and I carried it as a second tool for the down climb after blowing the dyneema cord on one of my crampons (Irvis Hybrids). The system worked great, although in hindsight I should have taken burlier crampons for the mixed snow and rock we encountered.

- Last January boot packing up to ski a couloir, paired with a ski pole and no crampons. The gully was fine for daggering in hard snow and I made do with the ski pole, but the snow was hard enough that I would have preferred crampons or an axe with a proper spike. Having left both my Summit and Irvis Hybrid crampons at home, in hindsight I would have taken the crampons.

- Last weekend (late July) for a scrambling trip I brought the Gully with a ski pole to cross a 30-35* snow slope. The snow was soft and the aluminum "chopped" shaft served well enough as a spike. On the way down I went for a glissade and found no issues controlling my speed with the reverse curve pick.

So I suppose the bottom line is that my personal choice of ice axe vs technical tool vs both really depends on the objective and what crampons are deemed appropriate. The Summit is definitely more capable in on easier objectives, especially when crampons are not worn because of it's spike and classic pick for self arrest. The Gully is a fine lightweight option on it's own for crossing smaller snowfields in summertime, and really shines when paired with crampons because (IMHO) the lack of a spike becomes less of an issue. The Summit + Gully Hammer option is heavier, but is super versatile. On future mountaineering missions, I would again advocate for taking a single Gully Hammer for the team as "group gear" in addition to personal axes. I've heard that a 1 axe plus 1 tool combo is appropriate for certain routes on Mt Rainier, and I suspect that the Gully Hammer (maybe with pick weights?) would be a lighter/better option than, say, a Quark or similar tool in that application.

I hope this helps!

Gully adze. Basically new. $105 shipped

How much does the Gully with pick weights weigh?

Ryan Mac wrote:

How much does the Gully with pick weights weigh?

Gully = 280g ( petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Ice-a… )

Pick Weights = 65g ( petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Ice-a… )

Total = 345g