Grivel Matrix Lights - Maximum Versatility

[burchey]

Inspired by some posts by other gents pretty-ing up their GMLs, I thought I might take it one step further. I liked the idea of taping up the full handle with mastic tape. I also liked the idea of climbing leashless with them on reasonable waterfall/alpine ice. I also wanted them to be plungeable, so tossing a slider in the mix made sense. I wanted to dial in a couple axes that I could make do in the majority of situations I'd find myself in outside, minus very steep ice and such. I'm pretty happy with my results after building them and beating them up a bit.

 

Before

 

 

After: add a horn, slider, and mastic tape. Toss the accordions.

 

 

The grivel slider is great, but you can't slide it past anything but the bare handle. Add tape, and you're screwed...or so I thought I swapped out the stock bolt on the slider for a longer bolt (that had to be trimmed to size) - one I could easily turn with a glove on. You have a few options here: a wing screw, a thumb screw, or what I'm using now - a bolt with a press-on plastic head. This is probably the least durable of the options, but it was what the hardware store had, and I was impatient. For best results, choose a bolt that will match the stock nut that comes with the slider. I also found it helpful to remove a little of the nylon from the locking portion of the nut - this reduces the friction needed to turn the screw, which makes the whole thing easier to manage with gloves. Be careful not to remove all the nylon, you still want some resistance to keep the screw from unscrewing easily. A small washer is necessary as the stock bolt was conical in shape and had a matching divot in the black side of the slider.

 

 

Even with a layer of Scotch 2228 Moisture Sealing Electrical Tape, the slider can be opened up enough to move past to the head of the axe for a plungeable tool in firm snow.

 

 

The cut side of the bolt was sanded to get rid of sharp edges.

 

 

Open up

 

 

Slide on up

 

 

Tighten and get ready to plunge like a beast. Whatever that means.

 

Followed a couple pitches of WI/AI3 with a 45 pound pack on my back this weekend - they worked like a dream. You can toss the bungie cord thing as well, don't need it.

 

Note: I think the slider is no longer in production, so you might have trouble finding one for sale.

Edited May 4, 2012 by burchey