Pick life?

[John Frieh]

In general how much have people found they can file off a pick (from keeping them sharp) before the pick becomes too short and unusable? 1 cm? 2 cm? More? Brand specific?

 

Also: do/have people filed off the first (or second?) tooth of the pick as the pick becomes shorter and shorter over time from repetive filing? What about vertical crampon front points?

 

Any pics and commentary would be great!

[kurthicks]

I've been able to file about an inch off my Grivel picks with no ill effects on waterice. I did have to file off the first tooth and shape (thin) the second tooth because it kept catching when cleaning the placement.

 

Of course, I did it because I couldn't afford new picks at the time. They are still my DT picks though.

[J_Fisher]

The BD picks seem to vary in width from year to year/production run, but in general after about 2 cm the pick is so wide and tall it becomes too much work to get good placements. This is several teeth back, IIRC. I just file off the resulting little snaggle tooths to get an OEM-like flat spot at the base of the pointy part

 

It takes me forever to wear out crampon points. I don't do much mixed or any hardcore alpine so my experience here probably has little information value. Most of my winter climbing is plain old water ice