Ice tool length mismatch?

[alpine et]

I picked up a factory second Petzl sum'tec 59cm adze version. I had planned on pairing it up with a 59cm hammer for alpine ice climbing. I only notice now, however, that Petzl only makes the hammer in a 52cm length.

 

Will it be weird to have one tool at 52cm and another at 59cm? I guess they're going to weight slightly differently anyway, with the adze / hammer difference, but will that extra 7cm feel weird while climbing? Or will it be hard to notice it in practice? Anyone use mismatching ice tool lengths?

 

thanks...

 

[Fromage]

It will feel a little weird at first but you'll adjust. I climbed the NF of Gannett Peak in WY (800 feet of alpine ice) using a Grivel Air Tech Racing 58cm axe in one hand and a Grivel Rambo 2 technical ice tool (50cm) in the other. One was light and a little longer, and I had to give it a swift swing to get a good stick, the other was a trusty, stout technical ice tool. If I had to do it over again I'd take a pair of matching Aztarex or something comparable, but at the time it was fine.

 

The combo worked okay, and since the steepest part of the face was only 60 degrees I felt comfortable with the setup. I don't think I'd use this combo for anything more technical than that (NW couloir of Eldorado, for example). Your combo, however, sounds more appropriate for moderate alpine ice routes with those reverse curve picks.

 

Why don't you take a quick lap up Observation Rock in Mt Rainier NP this weekend with those tools? You'll get a nice taste of moderate alpine ice, conditions will be good, and you can find outwhat the different lengths feel like for realz.

[alpine et]

Thanks for your thoughts... seems like your setup felt odd because of the difference in technical nature of the tools, and less so the length difference. I think the two axes will still swing & stick fairly similarly, so I'll give it a go.

 

I haven't bought the hammer tool yet... was scoping out thoughts before I picked up the other one and was stuck with a mismatching set... but I think it's worth a try- got one of them at discount, at least.

[genepires]

you r question reminds me of my first ice lead. Went up n ridge of baker before there was the select guide to wa cascades. Only had beckey guide for beta. Went up with one 70cm alpamayo axe, a 40cm stubai tool I found on w ridge of s twin sister and 3 old chouinard ice screws. That lead was "interesting" (in that I thought I would die) but we were committed (I thought) by that point. That is a very big difference between the tools in length (with different swing patterns, neither of which I mastered).

 

Later on I bought a pair of grivels, one 60cm and a 50 cm, both reverse curve and I used the 60cm for regular alpine and snow and pulled out the secret weapon (the 50cm) when things got steep. I thought this worked very well for the alpine ice stuff. Though modern hardman tend to use matching tools but then they are doing really hard stuff.

 

I think your offset matchup is a good setup.

[montypiton]

I can remember the days of WI4 with a 70-cm ice axe in one hand and an alpine hammer in the other. (that was state of the art in the '70s) You're likely to hardly notice a 7-cm difference in the length of otherwise matching tools.

[tvashtarkatena]

Might making switching tools a little confusing at first, but they'll probably swing a lot more like each other than two different models of matched length.

[lummox]

I have tools intentionally of different lengths (5 cm). They work fine.