BLACK DIAMOND X-15 BRS Ice Tools Circa 1991

[PeterZ]

 

Any info on these ice tools would be greatly appreciated. They are the ones with the bonded rubber shafts BD came out with them around 1991.

 

Thanks for any help.

PeterZ

[num1mc]

Give it time, CC's own Dane will pipe in shortly. He is basically an ice tool encyclopedia. Pictures would also be nice, and posting this question on Supertopo would probably get you more answers.

[Coldfinger]

Have you called BD? You'd be surprised how helpful they can be!

[Le Piston]

Is this one of the tools you were asking about?

[DPS]

Is this one of the tools you were asking about?

This one is newer than the X-15 BRS that was available in 1991.

[pu]

Good straight shaft tools with modular picks. They are compatible with the current BD picks. Adze and Hammer are fixed. The shafts were a bit large. I liked mine when I had them. They were sort of heavy. Good alpine or loaner tools.

[Alex]

What do you want to know about them? I had a pair of the original X-15s before BRS, but had BRS too. I liked the originals (only sold them a year or two ago!) but didnt like the BRS as much. You need really big hands to have them be comfortable, and using them plunging in snow doesnt work so well because it chews up the rubber at the bottom of the shaft. At the time they were cool because the rubber insulated your hand from the shaft so they were not as cold as some of the aluminum shafted tools of the time for ice climbing in really cold places like Banff where the cold just seeps out of your body. They were kind of heavy overall.

 

 

[wdietsch]

.... I liked the originals (only sold them a year or two ago!)

 

BEOTCH !! Did you post them in the "Yard Sale"?

 

Wes, I have a set of 55 cm Chouinard X-15s, however I still use them regularly. I havent seen on of the non-BRS tools anywhere in a long time, but I bet if you religiously watch Second Ascent you'll get one eventually. If I ever think about selling, I'll let you know first ....

 

Alex

 

Man, my loss ... I guess it was 7 years ago when I was looking for one myself.. how time flies

 

 

[wdietsch]

Any info on these ice tools would be greatly appreciated. They are the ones with the bonded rubber shafts BD came out with them around 1991.

 

Thanks for any help.

PeterZ

 

PeterZ ... here is a link from several years ago that has some info on the BRS tools.

 

Chouinard X-15 tools

 

As Alex points out above, the design made for a very fat shaft circumference .. they really suck with thick gloves

[Dane]

the design made for a very fat shaft circumference .. they really suck with thick gloves

 

Easy to peal off the rubber and have a decent tool.

 

"The original Chouinard or Black Diamond X-15 Axes with the plain carbon fiber/fiberglass over aluminum shafts .... no bonded rubber or BRS as they were known."

 

Same carbon fiber aluminum shaft under the rubber. I still have a couple of the axes. The original curved picks are a bit hard to come by these days.

[Alex]

Sorry Wes I probably even have the PM somewhere but flat out forgot.

[wdietsch]

no worries .. just flipping you shit .. climb on