In reply to mmmhumous: The pick rating just refers to how strong it is, not anything to do with the grade it is designed to climb. On technical axes, B-rated picks are generally designed for pure ice climbing where having a thinner pick results in better penetration and their lower strength rating is less of an issue. However, T-rated picks are always recommended for mixed climbing where the higher strength is probably needed
There are stacks of existing threads but to sumarise:
- you'll get told, not to worry, pretty much any modern axes will get you up grade 4. Pick something you like the swing of.
- you'll get told to go with something like the previous generation Flys and pick them up cheap second-hand on here or ebay for around £100. You can then decide whether to keep them or upgrade in 1-2 seasons and if you do upgrade you can sell them on again and get most of your money back.
- you'll get told that 'Nomics' (or insert other top-end axe) are the way forward and that modern dedicated leashless designs are the only sensible option and to buy them straight away.
- you'll then get various love/hate recommendations for individual axes where the only common thread seams to be that loads of people quite like Quarks and Nomics, a fair few people rate Black Diamond axes and there are a smattering of fans for DMM, Grivel and the rest.
All are fairly valid comments and you and best placed to which advice to go with.
About the only thing then worth adding is that it is easy to sort out 'thin' shafts/grips with several layers of decent grip tape.