Ski Mountaineering Ice Axe

Hi guys,

In the market f or a shorter axe. Had a too-long BD Raven Pro, but looking for a replacement. I think the leader at the moment is just a shorter BD Raven Pro. Handled the BD Swift (which has the benefit of being T rated vs B rated) but it's a lot heavier. Petzl's Summit and Summit Evo are both cheaper. With the Evo, I'm worried that the rubber handle will peel and rip with frequent plunging into snow. With both of them, I'm not sure how I feel about the head and spike being attached with rivets. Is this stronger vs the BD press fit? Does it allow for the spike to be replaced easier? On that note, the BD Venom LT Classic is in the same price range and features replaceable spike and pick. 

The there are the uber light options like the BD Raven Ultra Petzl Gully and Petzl Ride. These don't seem to have any upside beyond being lighter, and as I'm not super concerned with weight, these aren't high on my list. Just overall less robust.

Anyone have any experience they'd like to share with any of these options? Much appreciated.

Have the regular Summit, Blue Ice Akila (and ice tools for technical ice)

The Summit holds up well to regular abuse, good tool if you like a curved shaft. I wouldn't worry about the plastic peeling off on the Evo, never heard of that happening, and even if it does you can always put tape/ bike tube on it. 

If this is more of a mountaineering tool (vs a light axe for some easy ice/ mix), I personally don't think having a replaceable pick as that big of a deal.

For shorter axes I really like the new generation of Blue Ice tools, the quality and handling of my Akila is top notch. Also it's small enough to fit inside the avy pocket of my ski pack if that matters

Don’t worry about the robustness. If you’re torquing the hell out of your snow tools in skimo, you’ve chosen the wrong objective and needed full on ice tools. 

I have a BD Raven, that I bought long ago and doesn’t give me much confidence. For ski mountaineering I use a Grivel Air Tech Racing, which is relatively lightweight, a lot stronger and more grippable, a “real“ ice axe compared with the Raven.

I've been using a Gully since 2018 for ski mountaineering, summer alpine climbing, and general mountaineering, and it's been great.  The light weight and short length carry really well on a pack, and the trigrest and recurve pick allow it to climb easy ice decently.  If you won't be using it on steep terrain, the Ride saves a few grams a lot of dollars.

Quite a few other tools in this category now too, like the Blue Ice Akila.  For general use light axes, the Camp Corsa, Petzl Glacier Literide, Blue Ice Hummingbird, and others are all pretty similar and ought to do the trick. 

Ben Podborski wrote:

Don’t worry about the robustness. If you’re torquing the hell out of your snow tools in skimo, you’ve chosen the wrong objective and needed full on ice tools. 

Less concerned with torquing and more concerned with bashing the pick and spike on rocks. With the axes that lack a true spike and instead have a section of the shaft cut off, feels like that'll get beat up super quickly without a great way to sharpen it back again. And not skimo racing, primarily snow climbing couloirs to ski. 

+1 to Petzl Gully. The pick is actually stickable in ice and the size and weight are great. I also made the mistake of buying a too-long, traditional mountaineering ice axe when I started; that axe has stayed on my gear shelf since getting the Gully and I haven't had any issues with it. It's definitely seems to be one of, if not the, most common axes to see folks using in any ski mountaineering content, even by athletes not sponsored by Petzl.  

For snow climbing coolies, the Raven is great. Maybe get a shorter one. The traditional pick works best for self-arrest. My only concern with most of these axes is slipperiness. I put a gob of sno-seal on the gloves I'm going to use, and work it into the palms of my gloves, and onto the axe shaft. I've got a Blue Ice, Bluebird, at 54cm, that has a very nice, solid head. Haven't used it yet. It was a present, otherwise I'd still happily be using my Raven Pro, (straight shaft), at 50 cm. Both these axes are a little short for making an anchor on steep snow, so if I anticipate switching to skis on a steep slope, I'll also bring a snow-stake.

I like a longer length axe for skiing, so my 60cm Raven pro is good enough.   For instance hiking up icy slopes in spring,  which hopefully will soften enough on the ski down.

It is not good for actually swinging.  The head does not stick well.  too light, bounces off.

Checking in from SW Colorado, I’ll put in a recommendation for the Camp Corsa. I have mine in a 50cm and it feels perfect. It’s light enough that I might as well bring it — this is a major consideration. I used to have a laughably big Raven and would only bring it if I was absolutely certain I needed it. This led to a few days on a rocky ridgeline with no axe cursing myself. Now I just bring the light axe just in case, and it works well. My experience in my area is that no real ice climbing is necessary, just snow climbing with the occasional bit of 4th class choss. The Corsa plunges well and is a little bit curved, which has come in handy when I sometimes want a little more purchase on rock. It seems like many manufacturers do a similar short, aluminum-shaft, steel-head axe, and I suspect they all work pretty similarly.

peterfogg wrote:

Checking in from SW Colorado, I’ll put in a recommendation for the Camp Corsa. I have mine in a 50cm and it feels perfect. It’s light enough that I might as well bring it — this is a major consideration. I used to have a laughably big Raven and would only bring it if I was absolutely certain I needed it. This led to a few days on a rocky ridgeline with no axe cursing myself. Now I just bring the light axe just in case, and it works well. My experience in my area is that no real ice climbing is necessary, just snow climbing with the occasional bit of 4th class choss. The Corsa plunges well and is a little bit curved, which has come in handy when I sometimes want a little more purchase on rock. It seems like many manufacturers do a similar short, aluminum-shaft, steel-head axe, and I suspect they all work pretty similarly.

How talll are you?  I myself considering one 45 or 50 cm .  I’m 5’10”

5’ 11”. 

+1 for Petzl Gully. I have two which made for the perfect pair to tackle to ice in the Stettner and Chevy Couloirs while keeping things light for the descent of the Ford on the Grand Teton. If your ski mountaineering trends more towards ski alpinism, go with the Gully.

I really like my Grivel Air Tech Racing SA - pretty light but still has enough heft to it that I can actually use it for more than just balance.  And a very aesthetically pleasing tool to boot. Discontinued so you can get them pretty inexpensively. It will likely last you forever.