Upper grips on regular ice tools

[TrogdortheBurninator]

I have seen quite a bit of discussion on this board regarding fitting regular leashed or leashless hybrid (viper, quark, etc)tools with either factory or customized upper grip positions. I am wondering how useful people find these grips on WI tools. Last weekend I used my new x-monsters on ice for the first time, and really loved the ability to choke up either for a higher lock off, or to straight arm on a tool not swung at full extension. Now I am wondering if it is worth adding something to my quarks (which I will probably still favor for pure ice), to allow comfortable choking up on the tool. So, how much do people really use these upper grips on these sorts of tools compared to newer full on leashless tools.

[bigwallpete]

ive added hose clamps to the shafts of my quarks to use as either a trigger or as a match rest, seems to work well except it can be cold to use in certain conditions. Im going to try and tool dip to see if it adds any insulation.

 

I like it a lot for both straight dry tooling and for pure ice.

 

[bigwallpete]

as like other people on this board i used rubber splicing tape to protect the shaft where I attached the hose clamps too.

[NTM]

I climbed on a pair of quarks this weekend with baseball grip tape on the upper shaft. well insulated and great for grabbing higher up.

[powderhound]

I climb on ergos and when I first started I was a bit wary of using the upper choke up hold. But I would not want to climb ice without it. I have found the on hard ice where you may not have many options for pick placements that I can choke up loock off and gain a bit of heighth in my position allowing me to reach palcements I would have otherwise been unablt to get to. Also we traversing I find them invaluable. By matching on the upper hold and then switching tools I can by more efficent in my climbing and therefore spend less time dicking around.

[DanielHarro]

Try mastic tape, I am pretty sure it is the same stuff that Petzl uses on the Nomic tool.

[montypiton]

I've used retrofitted, homemade leashless support grips for several years with excellent results - even on old straight-shafted tools circa '89. While I rarely "choke up" to where my pinkie rests on the upper support, I find "trigger" support for the index-finger to be invaluable - think of it as power steering for the pick -- It saves energy. plus, going leashless saves literally hours on alpine-length technical ice routes where even operating clip-leashes adds up over the course of several thousand feet. At first I expected that mounting two "triggers" on each shaft might interfere with plunging the shafts, but I have not found this to be an issue. Where the surface is soft enough for piolet manche or cane, the "triggers" don't seem to make any difference. Given my success with retroftits, I doubt I'll ever bother to acquire a set of factory leashless tools...

[TrogdortheBurninator]

Thanks montypiton. Are you using hose clamps and pipe holders for the triggers, or something different/better?

[montypiton]

hose-clamps & sawed-off wire-rope-thimbles (cheap)- I tape over the hose-clamps so they don't trash my gloves

[bigwallpete]

wire rope thimbles with a little dremel mod look like they have a way better shape then pipe hangers bent to work as others have showed.

 

I think these things attached with a hose clamp facing the pic direction, to work as a grip match, might work for the perfect trigger finger/grip match.

 

Ill let you know when its done on the weekend.