Great on ice, not so good for plunging

By Explorations Ranked #14 - Ice Climbing November 18, 2008

This tool works really well on alpine ice. It is much lighter than traditional ice tools yet plenty durable and the X-Monster pick excels. Due to the straight lower shaft it can be also used for plunging into the snow but here it does not perform as well as a traditional ice axe: The shaft bend is substantial so the tool tends to rotate around its shaft axis when pulled on. (In contrast, Air Tech Evo does not do it.) Also, the pick is very tall so it is harder to grip if you have smaller hands. Of course none of these matter much if you plan to use it mostly as an ice tool.

View Details: Grivel Matrix Light Ice Tool

Helpful Votes: 1 Yes