cynicalwoodsman Posted January 30, 2011 Posted January 30, 2011 I'm currently soliciting advice/links about when/how to sharpen/retire picks and points. What kind of angle am I goin' for here? How much life can I squeeze out of this stuff? Quote
DPS Posted January 30, 2011 Posted January 30, 2011 Dane is he guy to talk too. He may have an article on his blog: http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/ If not there are a number of videos online that demonstrate tool sharpening techniques. I think Black Diamond made one. Quote
genepires Posted January 30, 2011 Posted January 30, 2011 depends on what you want to do with the picks. bullet hard ice, soft mellow, mixed, pure rock, alpine ice, techie mountaineering? Quote
cynicalwoodsman Posted January 30, 2011 Author Posted January 30, 2011 depends on what you want to do with the picks. bullet hard ice, soft mellow, mixed, pure rock, alpine ice, techie mountaineering? pick/'pon sharpening for steep ice, duh. Quote
genepires Posted January 30, 2011 Posted January 30, 2011 pick/'pon sharpening for steep ice, duh. FU. I was trying to help with your question. Quote
cynicalwoodsman Posted January 30, 2011 Author Posted January 30, 2011 you guys can sure dish it out; i'll give ya that. Just tryin' to fit in with the cool crowd. It goes both ways, no? Pure ice is what I'm concerned with. I'm poppin' tools when I think they're buried placements. Quote
genepires Posted January 30, 2011 Posted January 30, 2011 you guys can sure dish it out; i'll give ya that. Just tryin' to fit in with the cool crowd. It goes both ways, no? Pure ice is what I'm concerned with. I'm poppin' tools when I think they're buried placements. The crowd you are talking about is the spray crowd. Not everyone talks shit but some do like to help people. It doesn't sound like a sharpening pick problem but a body position problem. Maybe you are too high on your tools? What do you mean your tools are popping? Coming out of the ice or causing dinner plates or what? Quote
cynicalwoodsman Posted January 31, 2011 Author Posted January 31, 2011 Coming out out of the ice. Some dinner plating. Could be my body positioning... hard to pay attention to so many things at once. Shaking with fear the whole time doesn't help. I go ~190 lbs too so I'm wondering if I need to bury placements deeper than smaller dudes. Although, as I improve crampon technique I'll not pull quite so hard, but the steeps just seem to require pulling hard no matter what. What things should I consider when it gets bullet-hard? Softer ice seems to make for better sticks regardless of sharpness, but I'm still new at this. I'm wondering about efficient sharpening/angle of rub I should be putting on the points of my picks and crampon frontpoints... high angles like a wood-splitting axe, or lower-angle like a pocket/kitchen knife? Was also wondering how much material can be removed via sharpening before it's just time to replace. Thanks! Quote
genepires Posted January 31, 2011 Posted January 31, 2011 dane had some photos where he filed picks quite far down and still looks usable. Search here or on his site for the photos. I think 45 degrees is the standard with a give or take of 10 degrees. Maybe you need to try to keep the hips in close to the ice. Hard to say anything without seeing what you are doing when the tool pops out. Make a video? hard ice requires sharpness of pick and precision of swing. and maybe repeated swinging. burying the pick is not needed or even desired. Burying usually makes it too hard to get out. Quote
cynicalwoodsman Posted January 31, 2011 Author Posted January 31, 2011 genespires, good stuff! I like Dane's site. I'll look for related beta there. The vid's a great idea! I need a belayer and then I could TR this stuff 'n stop freakin'. I'm gonna get myself hurt bouldering the steep short drips I have access to. Not to mention my fear of breakin' an ankle is compromising my technique. Sorry about lumping you in with the sprayers. They have me on the defensive. Thanks for your help. I appreciate it! Quote
CaleHoopes Posted January 31, 2011 Posted January 31, 2011 Yeah, I'm not super experienced, but I agree with genepires. I think you probably aren't making your placements HIGH enough. It's really easy to pop out placements when your arms aren't locked off if they aren't planted very deep. And just cause I'm commenting doesn't mean I have it all dialed in. Down in Ouray I found that I'd get really lazy and not stretch my placements high enough. By the way, that shaking may not be fear - you burn your arms a ton by not placing high enough. Anyhoo, thanks for asking the question. I'm thinking that before next year I might want to get stuff sharpened. If you come back to Seattle before next year, I think Martin Volken does sharpening too. Quote
cynicalwoodsman Posted January 31, 2011 Author Posted January 31, 2011 Yeah, I'm not super experienced, but I agree with genepires. I think you probably aren't making your placements HIGH enough. It's really easy to pop out placements when your arms aren't locked off if they aren't planted very deep. And just cause I'm commenting doesn't mean I have it all dialed in. Down in Ouray I found that I'd get really lazy and not stretch my placements high enough. By the way, that shaking may not be fear - you burn your arms a ton by not placing high enough. Anyhoo, thanks for asking the question. I'm thinking that before next year I might want to get stuff sharpened. If you come back to Seattle before next year, I think Martin Volken does sharpening too. Good point (no pun intended)! I really need the security of a toprope I think. Then I can just focus on climbing instead of falling. I'll have some help next time I go out on wed. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.