UKC

Has anyone heard of the Spanish climbing gear company, e-climb? They make some fairly nice looking ice axes:

http://www.e-climb.com/piolets_en/piolet_cryo_p_en

Which look pretty nice. Anyone used one ever? Any good?

Also they make some cool looking ice screws.

In reply to mattrm: Had a quick climb with a pair of e-climb axes in Norway.
Climb Inn lend then out to try. The axes seemed to light to me.
G

In reply to mattrm:

I used these axes for a day in Norway and thought they were excellent. The adze is a bit makeshioft but the axes themselves are good IMO.

In reply to mattrm:

Cool, well good to know someone has heard of them. I'm rather tempted to get a pair.

In reply to mattrm:

Think those are 'nice looking'? Och well, guess beauty's in the eye of the beholder (ugliest axes I've seen for a while?) and ultimately irrelevant if they do their job!

In reply to mattrm: And you can use the 2 slots in the axe head as a magic plate too. I think I'd be *very* careful with the pick though...

In reply to petestack:

When I said 'nice looking' I more meant, they look good from a performance/feature point of view. I agree with that the adze/hammer doesn't look like it's secured that well. I'm not bothered about 'looks' I just want something that's good/performs well. So yes, I agree with you totally.

The belay plate strikes me as something that could be useful if the excrement hits the fan, but ultimately a bit pointless. Not sure I'd use it exclusively.

Currently I'm having a good old dither about ice axes, as it's hard to know which one will actually be good. I guess the answer is 'probably any of them for the grade III/IV stuff I'll be doing'.

In reply to mattrm: Scott Muir uses them, the site says that he's the best sport mixed climber in the UK. Must be good axes!

In reply to Mr Eddie:
Sport mixed climbing! is there anywhere in the UK where you can do sport mixed?

In reply to mattrm:
Is it me or are they a bit on the expensive side? I've just had a play on the site and a pair comes in at 405 euros including vat with an extra 18 euros for postage. By my reckoning (well, google-fu) that equates to over £360! You could take your pick of the market leaders over here for that money and get to swing them around a shop before you buy.
I'm sure they used to be imported by a scottish climbing wall and used to go for about £120 each.

In reply to angry pirate:

If you look at the importers, the only UK company selling them, is indeed a Scottish climbing wall - http://www.extreme-dream.com/

In reply to mattrm:

They have them in my local shop (in Paris):
http://www.auvieuxcampeur.fr/catalog/category/view/order/price/dir/desc/id/...

They are clearly very nicely made and top quality/finishing, and very groovy looking & feeling. In comparison to a cryo/cryo pro, a Nomic looks and feels very conservative, almost rudimentary. The spec puts them at the same weight as a Nomic, but the Cryo's feel lighter for some reason.

In reply to mattrm:

On this side of the pond my buddy Buehler is using them. They are expensive but seem to climb hard mixed extremely well from his personal comments and the lines he has been doing..

Got a feeling it is more the indian than the arrow in this case though.

http://carlosbuhler.wordpress.com/

In reply to Dane1: Their Dissip extenders look interesting too... reusable 'screamers'