In reply to Solaris:
On the mieje traverse last summer there was an unexpected pitch of Scottish III or so ice, where the cable was frozen in. My partners and I had one technical axe (quarks or similar) each. Another team had one lightweight, ski touring style axe each. I took one of my mates axes and bashed up the pitch; the leader of the other team managed to get a few meters in and took a fall (leaving one axe in the ice). An axe which my partners and I managed to pass back to him.
He then had the cheek that evening, at the hut, to imply that we had held him up by not letting him past. However, had he been ahead of me I'm not sure how he would have got his axe back in order to climb the pitch!
The lesson for me was that I'd rather have two technical axes in a pair than no technical axes, even if it does mean a slight weight penalty.
Post edited at 13:41