UKC

Hi guys.

i've got 1 new fly and one old with epoxied pinky/upper rest, both with T rated picks.
i've lead a half dozen Scottish mixed routes with them up to grade IV.

Had a few sessions top roping on continental water ice and feel more than ready to lead. I've got a couple of trips planned already and hoping to do more. I've not used flys for this yet but i have used quarks so i imagine flys will be fine. Also used nomics, fuels... ... all B rated picks.

Most of the time i should be able to borrow more technical tools over there but, there will be times i need my own.
i'm not decided on which tools to upgrade to and it will be handy to keep my flys as spare pair in the future.

So heres the question: What to do about the picks for water ice?

DMM are only manufacturing T rated picks for flys and old B rated aren't so easy to find.

So do I:
Sharpen my T's as usual and accept i'll have to swing alot more?

Or

Buy another pair of T picks and file the sides down and dedicate them to ice, (might be handy after i upgrade as climbing buddies will likely need to borrow some)?

Thanks guys.k xx

In reply to Keiran.A:

Don't worry yourself.

I've just pulled a Nomic and a Fly off the shelf and the pick width is all but indiscernible the'res a bit of a extra height on the Fly picks but not something that will effect penetration to any degree.

If there's any reason to go for Quark/Nomics it would be be cause of tool geometry rather than pick design. People get persuaded from Nomics because they're a 'high-end technical tool, only suited for high end climbing etc' (and of course the price!) when reality is they make everything easier from WI3 and up, the only time I curse them is when I go to plunge or stabilize myself with them and the skate!

In reply to Keiran.A:


Flys have a significantly straighter shaft than Quarks and so won't feel as positive/reassuring as Quarks on anything close to vertical. With ice climbing you want the pick to be angling down into the ice features when you swing. An axe with a straight-ish shaft won't be able to achieve this - whatever Fly pick you use. It won't make climbing steep ice impossible (people managed in the 80s) but will make it harder.

The weighting of the Flys always felt fairly neutral to me as well so suspect the swing won't feel as snappy on water ice compared to Quarks. It could mean more swinging to get good sticks. I only used Flys for mixed as well and that was many years ago.

Flys will be fine for WI3 and below though.

In reply to Lil_Pete:

Cheers Pete, i get the geometry. reaching over bulges, grip more in line with tip helping on streeper or thinner ice/rock, i've dry tooled on nomics.

i mentioned quarks as they're less radically curved, ok more curved then flys but i have used BD venoms on steep ice and got on fine.

is there much of a taper on the nomic picks, aren't they much thinner at the tips?k x

In reply to Keiran.A:

Another issue to consider with the Flys, is having a tool that has an adze on it.

In reply to taddersandbadger:

already have a scare under my eye to remind me about adzes :-o

In reply to Keiran.A:

I've a set of DMM B Ice pics for older flys if interested