Never had it so good - Ice screws
“Andrew, Do you sharpen your own ice screws? Being a carpenter gives me good skills for using a file and I always keep my ice tools and crampons sharp. I have been using a very small file to tune up my ice screws, but notice that my new BD Express screws go in so much better than the filed ones.”
Geoff
Its a good question, and although a high quality screw looks very much like a high quality screw from ten years ago there’s been a subtle change in the design of the top end models that has had a big effect on performance (I can hear all those climbers with full racks of old screws groaning at the thought that there may be better screws out there).
This improvement - often only subtle - has come about due to the leap frogging upgrades by Grivel, BD, DMM and Petzl, with each trying to out do the competition, showing the importance of not having one brand dominating a market (best demonstrated by the rapid development of head torches once BD came on the scene).
BD have probably always been the dominant player in the serous ice screw game, both because historically that’s always been the case, and because they do make bloody fantastic screws. But Grivel shook things up with their 360 screws’ coming up with innovative ways of thinking about ways to place crews, while Petzl focused on subtle engineering solutions, each refining established ideas or coming up with new ones (in my book Grivel are the leaders in “blue sky” thinking, and getting these products to market rapidly, which always keeps the competition on the ball). But for my money I think Fred Hall at DMM made some real progress in the tube design (wall thickness, taper, materials) that pushed screw technology even further when they produced the Revolution, a screw with the audacity not to feature a spinny handle.
I think it’s important from a design point of view to question every part of what makes something work, and why people choose one thing over another (and if this is a correct choice, and not simply dogma). In the case of screws, climbers most often focus on “does it have a spinny handle or not”, discounting all screws that don’t as being inferior. In fact you could argue that a spinny handle is there due - in part - to an inefficiency in the design itself .i.e the screw is not efficient enough to be placed and screwed in without that extra mechanical advantage. If you look at past designs that had racket handles that could be attached you can see that slowly we’re working down towards a screw that will lock in the ice with one stab and twist, then screw in with one finger in the blink of an eye - and without recourse the folding handles, knobs and dangly bits. These things have come about because although screws were meant to go in like that, they just never did, but by adding a mechanical advantage achieved this ideal.
But here’s the thing. I think this competition in design and engineering has seen a rapid improvement not only in ways to make screws that don’t work, work as they are meant to, but also screws that work - full stop.
I’m no screw expert (I tend to drop most of my mine, either because I’m clumsy or because I break my plastic screw racking krab), but I can see there’s been a big improvement in interior and exterior plating and polishing of screws, leading to greatly improved speed, core removal and corrosion resistance. Wall thickness is also has a massive effect, as anyone who’s ever tried placing a Lowe RATS screw will attest, something DMM lead the way in, and I suspect the new BD turbos may have followed suit? Also the taper of screws has played a larger factor, the hardness of the steel, and tooth design and number of teeth. These are all changes that are hard spot, or make great copy, but then the best design improvements are the ones no one shouts about, no one sees; the subtle, the tweak, the small detail that you don’t really appreciate until you step back and try an old model and realize just how much easier the designer or engineer has made your life - and didn’t even bother to tell you. I think this is the case with modern ice screws; being more than just the sharpness of their teeth or the size and spinnyness of their handle.
Finally we’re getting the screws we thought we’d been buying all these years.
— December 30, 2009 09:06 AM
An 11 year old’s guide to avalanches: demonstrated via a Factory Records sleeve
Over xmas my daughter Ella asked me what caused an avalanche, probably because she was worrying that there may be one on her street (it is quite a steep Sheffield street, but all the cars, wheelie bins and dog turds mean it’s pretty safe from avalanches really). It’s a great question for an 11 year to ask, but the science behind what causes an avalanche is pretty dry and hard to fathom; well I found it hard to fathom when I started climbing (I read many boring books on the subject). So I decided to explain it in a way that may be easier to understand - and if not - at least be a bit more fun.
And so I started with a story about Factory Records. It’s a big leap but stick with it…
If anyone’s seen Michael Winterbottom’s fabulous 24 Hour Party People, a film that tells the story of Tony Wilson and Factory Records, then they may have already spotted Peter Saville, a cult figure in graphic design, and notoriously unreliable (working for magazines you tend to find the best stuff comes from the unreliable, while the dull stuff comes from the diligent). All of his work for Factory was ahead of its time, and was totally uncompromising and unconventional (his die-cut sleeve for New Order’s Blue Monday cost so much to produce that Factory Records actually lost money on each copy sold).
Anyway Peter Saville’s design for Fact 14 The Return Of The Durutti Column was probably one of the most unconventional ever, having a sleeve made from sandpaper. This meant that the album would destroy any other record sleeves it was sandwiched between.
So I started by telling this story to Ella then continued.
“Imagine you had a 100 copies of Fact 14 and you were carrying them up a steep hill in Sheffield. The hill gets steeper and steeper the higher you get, and the records (took a while to explain what a record was), are very heavy. And so every now and again you put the stack down on the floor and take a rest. The angle of the street goes from flat to 38 degrees. The friction between the records keeps them together when you put them down, and although it’s a stack of records, it’s just a sandwich of individual sleeves, but each sleeve binds with the one above and below. You make it to the top of the hill, and return to get another load of records. The stack is the same, only this time you’ve got a couple of copies of Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures slipped in, its sleeve slick and shiny. You go back up the hill, but this time as the angle steepens and you put them down you find the stack begins to slip apart, the smooth Unknown Pleasures sleeves stopping the Fact 14’s binding together.”
So imagine a mountainside covered in millions of records sleeves, layered up and metres deep. Most are Fact 14, but there are also layers of Unkown Pleasures mixed in, and in some areas there are just Unkwown Pleasures. If you stick to just the Fact 14 spots you’re safe. If you move onto the mixed areas you get less safe as the angle gets steeper, and the areas were there are only Unknown Pleasures will slip at even a shallow angle .”
And so the trick to being safe is knowing what kind of record sleeves you’re working with.
Ella looked a bit confused by this point, and I guess I did as well.
“What about CD’s” she asked.
— December 27, 2009 11:16 AM
The King of Adzes
Hello Andy.
I have a question about attachments to make extra large adzes on technical ice axes. I have seen these things that look like a small deadman attached to (often Black Diamond) ice axes, and used by folk like Fowler, Garriboti & Colin Haley.
I’m living in Peru at the moment and do come accros some silly snow conditions quite often in the Andes, especially off season stuff, and was wondering how I can get a bigger adze on my BD Rage Axe head? I’ve just noticed a short video on the Patagonia site, with Garriboti fixing one on his axe before some Cerro Torre chop pitch.
Any insight would be appreciated.
Cheers
Hi
If one thing really lets down modern axes for down and dirty climbing, is the lack of a really great adze. I don’t know if this is because most axe testers are doing predominately pure ice or steep ‘pick only’ mixed climbing, but all - and I mean all - leave a lot to be desired in my book.
Here’s a run down off what I’d consider as being the perfect “full contact” adze.
You can hammer in a gear with it and it won’t snap off or bend. This includes stubborn anchors, pegs and smashing frozen chockstones and crap out of cracks so you can get some gear in.
It must be able to be inserted sideways and take your entire weight without any fear of bending or breaking. An adze that can do this is a cheating weapon par excellence, and will get you up a lot of routes that would otherwise need scary laybacking moves.
The adze must be able to chop you a snow hole or bivy ledge in double time, and again it must not snap off when you hit frozen rocks with it.
The adze must be shaped so that you can hook wide cracks with it, so a modern tapered design is good.
Lastly it needs anough depth that when you reverse your curved axe, it can be used to get a solid stick in crud, shit and snowy crap.
Unfortunately such an adze does not exist, and the nearest we ever got to one was the DMM mixed adze (made for the Alien and Terminators), which was gods gift to heavy users. If you look at the early Terodactyl axes you will see they had the right idea, being a mini shovel (Don Whillians once climbed a pitch of Himalayan crud using two intrenching tools), and this was carried over onto the early Simond Chacal and the Piranha tools (I fitted a Piranha adze to my first DMM Predators with a bit of DIY ).
Most of the adzes on modern tools are limp affairs, used for scrapping away a bit of ice before placing a screw, or chopping your abseil tat, but for climbing their pretty crappy - well British climbing anyway.
Mick Fowler uses a special adze he had made by a blacksmith (BD were pretty perturbed by it when he asked why they didn’t start making them), while the attachments that Rollo and Bruno Sourzac used are in fact
plates that attach to the pick of the tool for climbing rime ice.
So what’s the answer? I doubt any manufacturer will be looking at doing something like this, as it will spoil the balance or the line of the tool in question, leaving only home made jobs. Maybe I’m wrong, but I think I’m actually being anti elitist - as the majority of climbers climb the type of routes I describe.
Anyone know a good blacksmith?
— December 23, 2009 08:58 PM
tip number 4 hook or book
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One of the scariest hooks you can have - well when you’re used to real locking hooks - is when you hook a small hold, the type of thing you’d crimp. These kinds of moves become more and more common as you get onto harder routes, and often the crux will be just such a move (or string of them), leading you to something a little more bomber.
If you’re unused to doing this kind of thing then here’s a few tips:
It’s vital that once you have a hook you’re happy with (see tip number 1), do not change the angle or position of your pull or your pick. If you do you stand a very good chance that it will rip. The best way to do this (or not do it?) is to follow a a great tip from Will Gadd, who said you should imagine you’ve got a cup of coffee balanced on the head of your axe, and when you move you mustn’t spill a drop.
Another vital thing is that your picks are sharp - which goes against the grain for scottish mixed climbers, but a sharp pick will hold an edge much better.
A hook will also only work when pulling down, and so the higher you go, the more unstable it will become. Cranked tools with two high hand positions are designed that they will stay locked on even when pulling from the top position, giving you that extra reach.
Lastly practice makes perfect, and doing traverses on brick edges is a good way of learning the ropes, or doing modern drytooling on limestone winter sport crags.
Once you can move comfortably on a hook you’ll find you have one more type of hold you can exploit.
— December 21, 2009 03:01 PM
what to wear under a speed ascent
Hi Andy.
Just a quick question for you about the Speed Ascent. When you tested it in Scotland what did you layer it with and what was the weather like.Just trying to compare it with ME Pulsar jacket for Scottish winter use.
Love the DVD by the way-almost split my sides!!
Thanks
Simon
Hi Simon, I’ve been using the speed ascent for a long time (i think I’m on my 4th one), and have used various things under it.
As you probably know - the deal with a proper soft shell is that it has to conform to a sort of Inuit way of dressing; having one thick layer than can be stripped in an instant to dump heat (you can’t do this with a layering system). For this reason I tend to wear a very thin but windproof under layer(s), which I wear walking in, walking out, and put on my speed ascent when I stop, when it’s too cold for my base layer, or to look more nails. This way I stay cool and my jacket doesn’t get soaked with sweat on the way in.
In the early days I wore a shell polyester top underneath it (like the Marmott Driclime/Rab Vapourise). For some reason Patagonia no longer make this bit of kit (even though it’s one of the best designs out their for active users), and I swapped my old one for bed and lodgings in Patagonia.
These days I wear a R2 R1 Hoody and Houdini pertex top under the Speed Ascent. Reasons are I wear this set up for most of my winter training (running and biking), and know how to play around with it to match my heat output. The shell keeps out wind, snow and a short shower, and the R1 fleece has great breathability (due to grid), and wet warmth/dry time (better than most normal base layers). I can get away with just this on my top (no hat or gloves), on most approaches, using the hood, thumb loop sleeves (long enough to cover your hands), and big zipper to tailor my warmth.
When I’m climbing I’ll wear the hood up on the hoody under my helmet as it gives a better fit then a balaclava or a hat (I hate balaclava creep!). The Houdini top creates a slick layer that stops the R1 or pile binding as well. If things get worse I can also throw up my Houdini hood (I think Patagonia have - eh em - stopped making this desert island bit of kit, so buy a Montane Filament jacket instead).
As for comparing it to the Pulsar; having not used one, it’s hard to do a comparison; but the Speed Ascent is much closer to what I’d call a real softshell as it’s not a laminated shell (a hard/soft shell), having instead a stretch woven shell (very tough, weather resistant and fast drying/breathable), welded at key points to R2 pile liner (making it doubly breathable and faster drying as trad seams hold moisture badly). Bottom line it’s the best there is in my book (irrespective of who I work for).
— December 18, 2009 03:33 PM
Tip Number 3: it’s all in the feet
When to see Powell and Pressburger’s magnificent The Red Shoes the other night, a film that would convert even the most jaded of culture trolls into a ballet lover (and I’m not talking old school Boreal rock boots). If it comes to a cinema near you (it’s be remastered and re rereleased) go and see it.
One thing that ballet dancers and climbers share is the knowledge that it’s all in the feet, even on the steepest of pitches or most acrobatic of moves.
In winter climbing this is even more the case, but with a few extra points (no pun intended) that are worth thinking about.
First off, unlike a rock boot, there is less room for error, as the connection between you and your foot hold is dulled by many layers of rubber, steel, plastic and wool, not to mention frozen toes and feet that are hidden by lots of clothing and a tangled rack. With a rock boot you have a much higher degree of leeway and creep. In most cases when your feet pop, you know it already.
WIth crampons this isn;t the case, and very often your foot has little room to move before it skates, meaning when you place it, try and keep it still.
Also exploit more than just your front points. If you’re about to start a long search for some gear, try using your heal instead of your toes to take your weight.
But the most important lesson to learn is to not undermine your feet - the major engine of your ascent - by focusing too much on your arms.
By this I mean that the winter climber focusses on their tools, after all they are right in front of your face; and what we do is look for a tool placement; set our feet; pull with the axes and push with the feet. But very often we have good foot holds, but nothing for our axes to pull on. Worse still is pulling on crap placements when we have stonking foot holds that we could climb in balance, if not for the fact we’re pulling on crap.
What I’m saying is that sometimes you’re better to drop your tools (hook them on your shoulder) and just use your feet, using balance and pressing hands to make the move.
This approach is used by many instructors with new ice climbers; making them climb without tools at all, but it’s a skill we can all learn from for mixed adventures as well.
— December 17, 2009 11:46 AM
Tip Number 2: A Tap for Luck
So we’ve covered testing a tool in tip one, but how about a step beyond just testing? Again, imagine you’ve got to make a move off a stance, perhaps a very big move, and you only have one pick hooked into a patch of dirt, or in a patch of soft neve. Maybe your last runners a long way below you and you can’t afford to fall.
What do you do?
One very handy technique - and one I’m not sure if it’s sporting - but then neither are two broken legs - is to give your good axe a little hammer with your other tool, knocking it in that extra bit, and giving you the confidence it won’t rip.
I’ve used this on a lot of climbs, and works really well for out of sight placements (remember using this on the crux of Mitre ridge a long time ago; just placed my axe, give a few taps, and pulled up).
Of course the trick is NOT to hammered it to buggery, as you will make that move, only to come short as you find your axe is welded to the spot. Be careful using this technique in cracks; the type of placement where you see hooks fixed.
— December 16, 2009 08:03 PM
Comment from Stephen Koch
Great comment from Stephen Koch on testing placements:
You are on to something with this but I would add one important item. When testing a placement, I suggest doing so with a straight arm and from the knees so to speak. Once you want to test the placement, bend your knees to weight the placement with a straight arm. This is less fatiguing than using a bent arm by using your skeletal system.
— December 15, 2009 09:01 PM
Pushing the Limits - A series of tips to improve your winter grade
It’s that time of year again were you’re glued to the climbing forecasts, digesting winter battle reports from UKC users, and juggling work and families for that amazing winter weekend you’ve been dreaming of since the last one.
Most climbers will want to push their grade this winter, going for a classic that’s a bit harder then the classic last year, a test piece, or even a new line. I thought maybe I could give a few ideas how to do that (I am mr top tip after all).
With all the banter on UKC about how hard VIII’s are, it’s easy to loose sight that all winter climbs are hard, be it a grade I gully or a overhanging death match; they’re all dangerous, they’re all serious, and no one climbs any of them whistling with their hands in their pockets. Almost all UK winter climbs are the real deal, onsight, ground up, probably in less than ideal conditions and in poor weather. And this is how we like it. We may be crap compared to the euro and certain expats, be I doubt we’d swap.
To be honest, I’ve done hundreds of ice routes and cascades in France, Norway, the US and Italy and after a while they get a bit dull. Nice clear weather, perfect ice, steep and pumpy, screws where you want them, bolts were you need them, and never very far too walk or ski too. But after a while…. it gets a bit dull, every movement a bit like the last, every move to come a bit like the one you’re doing; it’s like skiing on piste; fun when you’ve not done it for a while, but soon the attraction fades.
Anyway, I digress. Every day this week I’ll post a tip (a proper one meaty one - not “sharpen your ice axe”, but the type of tip that would give me a hard on as a young climber.
So…
TIP NUMBER 1: THE ARM TEST
How many times have you set your pick into a lump of turf, a patch of ice or onto a flat hold but been to scared to move up on it? Probably quite a few?? Also how many times have you moved up on some crappy placement, only for your feet to cut loose and leave to locked off - and not falling - from said placements? Probably also quite a few times??
Free climbing with hands and fingers allows you to judge in a split second if you can hold on, your finger tips sending back an OK instantly as they touch that crimp.
Lets consider what happens when we no longer have that relationship between what we want to grasp and the brain. In aid climbing and winter climbing this link is broken by a necessary barrier (and axe, a peg, a sky hook), because what we want to grip is ungrippable (ice, snow or holds to small to hang). In this situation we can only go by our understanding of our psychical world, the laws of psychics and a big dose of trust and experience.
A non climbing would trust an ice axe pick hooked onto a climbing frame, because they know that if they pull, the pick won’t be able to unhook itself. But if you asked them to climb a tree they would be less confident, because although they understand that a tree is soft anough to take a pick, they are unsure how far they pick would have to go in to hold them. An ice climber on the other hand builds up this knowledge, slowly at first; over driving picks into ice or turf, and slowly defining in their head how much depth is needed to hold.
This is a combination of knowing how a pick works, and an understanding of the medium on which your climbing. The same goes for mixed climbing; and axe tourqued at 45 degrees will hold, were as an axe tourqued at 15 degrees won’t.
Slowly we learn what is possible.
What I’m trying to say is that we don’t learn what we can crimp with our fingers - we just know - but we don’t know what we can climb using artificial means beyond the obvious, and instead need to build this up over time.
So this is where my tip comes in. What if you don’t know? What if you’re pushing your limit, say your on the Ben and you’ve got to climb ice only 2 inches thick and you’ve only climbed neve 3 feet thick; or you’re on a ledge and have to pull up on a flat hold and you’ve only hooked big stonking flakes before?
In aid climbing when you don’t know what a piece of gear is capable of doing, and the outcome of it coming out would’t be great, you bounce test it; clipping in a sling and applying full body weight. This not only tells you that the gear is up to it, it also tells your brain to relax and do the move.
In winter climbing this same approach can work really well when you’re unsure, or have doubt in the placement.
Unlike an aid climbers who has two daisy chains to do this, you instead use your arms.
To do this place your tool, and if you want to know if it’s good give it some good hard tugs.
This actually takes some practice, as you need to do it in such a way that if it does rip out - you won’t fall off!
Also go at it in the right frame of mind; think “I WANT TO RIP THIS PICK OUT!” rather than “please don’t rip out”.
This technique is a great one for pushing your limit, but don’t overuse it, as you’ll climb much too slow, and your arms will get very, very tired!
— December 15, 2009 11:26 AM
Open letter to Stevie Haston
Dear Stevie
Had a great idea this morning. I think you should get in touch with Ken Russell (film making version of Ken Wilson… but who looks like Ian Smith) and talk about doing a film of your life.
Think it would be be amazing, like The Devils meets Women in Love (you and JIm Perrin wrestling naked in front of an MSR stove springs to mind), maybe with a hint of Tommy thrown in (you used to have Roger Daltry hair in the early days).
I’m thinking of a musical of your life, with big music numbers with you and the late JC lafialle, Martin Burrow smith and Steve House (and number called “wanking in the toilet”).
Ken’s not working much these days and I’m sure he’s be up for it (he can’t climb for toffee, so I’m guessing you’d get on like a house on fire).
BTW have you ever heard that saying “like drinking poison while you wait for your enemy to die”? Always think of that saying when I read your less than positive view on us Brit climbers (who having no real mountains, dry rock, big walls don’t do too bad).
Hope this is you Stevie, because I’d like to say welcome back, we’ve missed you.
Andy