rhyang Posted September 28, 2004 Posted September 28, 2004 I just had a chance to climb with a petzl/moser aztar, and I really like it. However, I wonder about the teeth on the stock pick - they aren't beveled, the way Craig Luebben's book suggests (and as is found on the black diamond cobra picks). The stock pick is Petzl's 'blue ice' model, b-rated, ice-only. Did anyone file bevels into it, and did it help ? Or am I just being anal ? (wait, don't answer that...) Thanks for any info ! Quote
John Frieh Posted September 28, 2004 Posted September 28, 2004 The blue ice model I did bevel but not to the degree Craig recommends... I'd take a pic and post it but my tools are at home... I also have a number of quatro picks; all of which I modified more along the lines of dry tooling but I tend to not reach for my aztar when the sproto ice litter calls... Quote
rhyang Posted September 28, 2004 Author Posted September 28, 2004 Thanks, a pic of the pick would be super ! I guess the reason I ask was that it worked decently unmodified (or so I think at my level of inexperience), and am kind of worried that beveling might mess it up, thin as it is. I wonder if the new blue ice picks have the bevel already (as the product listing on mgear.com seems to infer), or if there's a reason why they don't have it ... I saw a quark on the same trip, and the b-rated 'cascade' pick it had was beveled on the teeth. Quote
John Frieh Posted September 28, 2004 Posted September 28, 2004 The catch is what type of ice you are climbing... water, blue, glacier, etc... the bevel/pick modifications will matter more in some situations... I would highly recommend reading Will Gadd's book... his pick modification section is excellent prose (in addition to his tips for training). Alternatively you can likely find some info on his site; some good info on pick and ice screw sharpening can also be found on the Montana ice site written by Conrad Anker. Finally if you have back issues of climbing and/or rock and ice Gadd generally wrote the training/technique articles which are basically a condensed form of his book. If you don’t have access to back issues I could photocopy them for you. Quote
rhyang Posted September 28, 2004 Author Posted September 28, 2004 Thanks again - I just received Will Gadd's book in the mail, and will check out those sections. Somehow I suspect there are a lot of questions I am about to have answered ... Quote
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