UKC

When we at Alpkit launched Figfour as a training aid for dry tooling and ice climbing, their designer Pete Dollman chose wood as the material for the shafts. The point was to strengthen your grip and he was following in the great tradition of using this material for this very purpose. Now it is great to see someone continuing to innovate in this niche area with a full on climbing pick.

http://www.dryicetools.com/news-blog/2014/1/22/sneak-peek-the-dry-ice-krono...

It will be interesting to see how they stand up to the rigours of outdoor climbing, who knows maybe we will see more wood used in outdoor products.. a return to wooden chocks?

In reply to alpkid:

Look pretty nice, given how far the pick extends down the shaft I suspect they will be pretty strong. I'm not sure I'd want to really torque them sideways though.

In reply to Kenny Stocker:

Thanks for the mention of our blog Kenny. We're really happy to be in the company of Alpkit in the manufacture of wooden handled climbing tools. As you said wood has been around for years and I'd like to think that there's still a place for it even in technical tools.

The Kronos project started as a challenge from a Dry Ice user that we couldn't make a 'proper' ice axe in his words. I kinda doubted it my self to start with but the testing we did in Ouray this winter proved that wood-laminate makes a really good material for the job. In fact I left my Nomics in the car the whole trip.

I working on a second version of the prototype as we speak, putting what we learned in testing into the design. I'm looking forward to getting some lab testing done soon to see just how strong they are. As mkean said, the torque test is the tough nut to crack.

We're hoping to have a production version ready for sale next season as the interest in the protos has been overwhelming. Stay up to date on the blog

http://www.dryicetools.com/news-blog/

Where else might wood make a comeback? I found these..

http://coyledesignandbuild.com

In reply to George Fisher:

These are fairly well-known I think

http://www.renovobikes.com/

In reply to nniff:

They're pretty cool. Bamboo bikes seem to be pretty common now although I haven't seen a very pretty one yet..

In reply to George Fisher:



One of the quotes of 2014 so far, I think

In reply to nufkin:


Ha ah. Yes. In my head it didn't sound so idiotic. I think meant as a material in ice axe shafts.

In reply to George Fisher:


I wasn't having a go - it made me smile