Ice Tool Developments and Innovations (brief)

sidebar for Tools for the Wild Vertical draft by John Middendorf

John Middendorf

May 9, 2023

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Volume 1: (mostly) European Tools and Techniques to the 1930s

Volume 2: (mostly) North American Climbing Tools and Techniques to the 1950s

Ice Tools Developments

Cover of The Alpinist, A Guide to the High Mountain World, 1911.

General Evolution—ice tools overview to late 1970s.

Most of the research in these pages are about the tools for bigwall rock climbs, but let’s examine some of the evolution of the most iconic piece of mountaineering gear, the ice axe, since the beginning.

Early History: The first axes were cast:

1800’s: In the 1800s, the metal (steel) components were hand-forged in shops like this:

Later 1800s to 1950s: Designs evolved with added adzes, first vertical like a wood axe, then horizontal, which was an improved design for cutting steps in glacial ice. Whymper was an early proponent of the horizontal adze, but in his famous portrait, he has an axe with a vertical adze.

Whymper with a vertical adze ice axe, and the variants during the transition to horizontal adzes as standard design.

The shafts on early ice axes were generally over a meter long, doubling as a comfortable walking stick. As climbing became more popular and demand increased, ice axes were mass-produced with drop forge machines. The design remained pretty much the same for over 100 years with only a slight droop on the pick.

Ice axe design changed little between 1913-1953. Note the men’s and women’s models of ice axes sold by Abercrombie and Fitch, a major supplier of outdoor gear in the pre-WW2 years in America. The A&F “Life or Rope Belt” (1916) is an early climbing harness.

For climbers who were mostly using ice axes to get to get to a rock climb, Kenneth Henderson in the 1942 Handbook of American Mountaineering recommended cutting stock shafts to as short as 15 inches long (38cm) so the tool could be carried in a pack without interfering with climbing.

Ice protection 1930s

Ice pitons in the 1930s were simple shafts of flat steel. Various serrated designs were developed, in order to conceptionally (not always practically) increase pull-out strength— a simple design that remained the standard until the late 1950s. This type of ice piton could support the weight of a climber but would pull out in a long fall.

Left: Figures 1 and 2 (side and top view) were noted as a new design in 1939, using the offset eye design, which provided slightly better pullout resistance. The design in Figure 3 had been in use since the early 1900s. Right: Marty Karabin collection.

Ice pitons were installed easily into glacial ice with a hammer:

Placing an ice piton. Note the chopped steps, as most climbers until the 1960s still used traditional crampons with only downward points.

New ice piton by Jungel superseding the Wilo Welzenbach design, late 1920s, “made of wrought iron that is not too soft but not too brittle either. The ice hooks are mostly made as ring hooks; Duralumin hooks have not proven themselves and are too expensive. A number of years ago, Italian ice climbers recommended a 25cm tubular design, not common in our country” (Maduschka, ~1930).

“Old form” still being sold in the late 1930s.

Crampons 1910-1950s

Eckenstein design, 10 points (4 on the heel, 2 in the midsole, 4 in the front), with a single hinge point. A standard design for most of the 20th century, first produced by Henry Grivel in 1910.

Oscar Eckenstein with his gang in North Wales (seated, second from left with rope). An egalitarian portrait of a climbing community in the pre-WWI years.

Mizzi Langer Kauba's catalog illustrations show the variant designs available in 1937. The Eckenstein 10-point design (#4) was the standard for serious climbing.

Various textbook designs in the 1930s and 1940s. Note the 12-point Grivel listed in Henderson’s 1942 instructional.

10-point crampon TECHNIQUE 1930s

Prior to the widespread use of front point crampons, most glacial slopes could be climbed with “flat-footing” (Pied à plat in French) methods. In the 1970s André Contanime perfected this balancy Piolet style, with many refinements of technique.

Front Points Appear

Front point crampons were first made by Grivel in 1927, and initially considered a highly specialist tool. They were notably used on the first ascent of the north wall of the Eiger (see Volume 1), and they were also used in 1936 on the ‘tremendous Mer-de-Glace face’ on the north wall of the Grandes Jorasses (Rudolf Peters and Martin Meier), and on the first ascents of Siiolchu (6887) near Kangchenjunga (Paul Bauer and team), and Tent Peak (7363m) in the Sikkim Himalaya (Ernst Grob, Paidar, and Ludwig Schmaderer).

Miriam O’Brien was an early adopter of front-point crampons for some of her climbs. (National Geographic, Manless Alpine Climbing, 1934).

Various other experiments

Ice daggers, first seen as modified ice pitons (left) were used as a lightweight second tool for steep ice. A short-lived technique once smaller ice hammers became available.

Jump to the 1960s and the transition to two tools for steep ice.

Summit Magazine cover 1965 state-of-the-art ice climbing equipment. Note the shorter “alpine” ice axe, at the time still considered experimental. The ice dagger shown was a short-lived concept. The corkscrew ice piton design was offered by Stubai in 1961 and later became widely sought after as cool wine bottle openers but this design was weak as an anchor in ice. The tubular ice screw (far right), developed by Hermann Huber and first produced by Salewa in 1964, revolutionized ice protection with pull-out strengths exceeding 1200kg.

Tubular designs, 1958 (left) could be placed well in harder ice, but were not strong in pull-out strength. Right: Chouinard catalog 1970. Hermann Huber’s Salewa tubular ice screw design underwent a number of improvements, including thicker teeth soldered to the cutting edge, which made the resulting ice core smaller than the main diameter of the tube, so the ice was easy to remove from the tool after use. The Salewa Spiral piton was an improvement on the Warthog design originally developed in the Soviet Union and an ideal tool for softer glacial ice, but for hard waterfall ice, they were too blunt and would shatter the ice. The Charlet Ice Screw pictured was occasionally used by some to aid waterfall ice, but was not a suitable lead protection tool.

Various ice screws (1990s). Lots could be written about the pluses and minuses of each design, and how and why they came about.

Marty Karabin’s collection of old ice pitons.

Front point design refined

Even though front-point crampons had been manufactured by Grivel since 1927, for decades most climbers continued with the versatile hinged 10-point Eckenstein-type crampons for most climbs, resorting to the age-old technique of chopping steps on the steepest ice, until the advent of fully rigid front-point crampons, as hinged crampons are tenuous when front pointing with flexible boots due to flex of the boot/crampon system. Strength and durability were also issues with early designs, as thin sharp front points needed to penetrate hard ice were prone to failure (and were not designed for modern higher-stress dry-tooling on rock techniques). Front-point crampons were originally called “toe point” crampons in the USA, and in the era prior to fully rigid plastic boots, the rigid crampon design was essential for the steepest waterfall ice.

Footnote: During his first trip to the Himalayas during the 1963 Himalayan Schoolhouse Expedition led by Edmund Hillary, Tom Frost once explained to me how he zenned in on watching the pattern of his partner’s spikes on various angles of the glacial ice, and an improved rigid crampon design that would work with flexible boots came to him in a flash. The adjustable rigid frame design closely follows the edge of the boot’s sole, eliminating flex between the boot and crampon. His engineered design using six parts fastened with set screws, adjustable for any size boot, became standard on many of the hardest climbs of the 1970s and 1980s.

1972 Mountain Magazine review shows variants of front point crampons, both hinged and rigid designs. The Chouinard/Salewa rigid crampons (top center) were made from strong 4130 steel and designed and manufactured by Tom Frost and Yvon Chouinard in the 1960s.

Frost’s rigid crampon design (~1965), with horizontal front points. Note the design of the two forward-facing and two downward-facing points to create a secure ‘4-point’ placement. In 1972, Mike Lowe improved on the rigid crampon design with the rigid Footfang with vertical hooking front points (as were the original 1927 design).

Into the 70s and 80s

In 1971, Jim McCarthy published “Coming of Age—Ice Climbing Developments in North America” in the American Alpine Journal, foreseeing the incredible advancements in technical ice climbing that was to come in the following decade. And as the standards rose and new techniques developed, so did the variety of specialized tools for the job, and he considers the rise of variants, such as the improvements in secure tubular ice pitons and more radical droops of ice axe picks. McCarthy concludes, “Armed with these tools and techniques a small but rapidly growing number of American ice climbers are busily engaged in a great game called “Find the Ice.” In the last two years truly challenging climbs have been discovered in the Pacific Palisades, the Northeast and the Canadian Rockies. The adventure begins.”

Jeff Lowe demonstrating a heel-down stable stance made possible with rigid crampons on vertical ice, with four points stabilized in the ice. The sequence shows the placement of the latest (1979) hammer-in, screw-out ice piton design, the tubular Lowe Snarg, another breakthrough design for protecting steep water ice.

The Droop transforms into a Beak

In the late 1960s, the Chouinard/Frost Piolet added a bit more droop to the traditional pick, which held better in thin ice (than a straight pick) and was easier to swing into the ice. In the early 1970s, the Snowdon Mouldings Curver took the concept a step further with a curvature that followed the radius swing of the short-shafted tool.

A good example of ongoing refinement of a design in a production setting to produce a lovely second or third tool for alpine ice climbing. Left: Chouinard 1972 Alpine Hammer design. Right: 1975 design, now an effective ice tool with a little pick modification by the user. Described in the 1975 Great Pacific Iron Works catalog: “Over the years the Alpine Hammer has gone through four major design changes. This model has an added set of teeth on the pick next to the shaft for climbing waterfalls where the ice is often thin and the pick breaks through to water or air. The pick also has a bit more droop than before. It requires a subtle wrist action to place it without bashing your knuckles but you gain by not having to swing as hard. The same holding power can be achieved with the pick driven less deeply into the ice. The hammer can also be removed more quickly in sticky ice, thus saving considerable time and energy.”

One of the more significant early developments in the late 1960s, which took time and refinement before it became a standard design, was the Terrordactyl by Hamish MacInnes, with a radically angled straight pick. The Terrordactyl required a different placement technique in ice than tools with curved picks, which were designed to swing through an arc. The MacInnes’ design required more of a hooking motion to set the tool, and would hold well in even the thinnest ice (and on rock). Both types of pick designs were in play for a while, but as steep waterfall ice became popular, the hook-type front picks in various forms, angles, etc, became the prevalent design starting with an era of innovation in the 1970s and still today.

Hamish MacInnes (John Cleare photo) and his Terrordactyl designs advertised in Mountain Magazine. In 1972, these cost £9.75 (~$24 USD at the time).

Left: Two of my first ice tools, late 1970s. The red-handled Snowdon Mouldings ice axe (left) produced by Mo Antoine and Joe Brown had a curve that followed the radius swing of the short-shafted tool. My well-used Terrordactyl (center) was the first forerunner of modern steeply angled picks of today’s ice tools (to the right of the Terrordactyl is my wine bottle opener). Right: this Mountain Technology Glencoe ice axe (UK) would still would be a favorite tool when only a short approach on ice is required—very lightweight and with the most classic curve for swinging!

Simond and Stubai Tools, 1992. The hinged crampons worked well with rigid plastic boots, and the versatile Stubai ice tool could be quickly transformed into a shovel with a lightweight attachment even with thick gloves and no need for tools.

Simond crampons, Stubai ice tool, and the Chouinard ice hammer (pictured earlier) on top of Great Trango, 1992. A great compact and versatile kit. For the steep water ice pitches in Gollum’s Gully, we combined our two primary tools for the leader.

1990s state-of-the-art tools for steep ice, with reverse-curve picks. In the 1990s, more radical innovation brought new techniques. The single front point design allowed for a whole new way of climbing ice, with more gymnastic climbing movement made possible with a greater ability to pivot on the ice, as well as being more precise for dry-rock climbing.

A typical cutting-edge ice challenge of the 1990s. Carl Tobin and I climbed this rarely-formed frozen ice pitch on a Telluride climbing trip.

This has only been a brief overview of ice climbing tool development in the early period; for more detail on the ice tool development, the book Alpinisme, La Saga des Inventions (Gilles Modica, 2013) has details. For the best online museums for the older tools, see Marty Karabin’s amazing collection and Vertical Archeology.

Conclusion: The pace of innovation

The evolution of mountaineering's iconic tool, the ice axe, alongside other spawned tools of ascent such as ice screws and crampons, illustrates a common pattern in innovation: a tool undergoes initial development and refinement, with a number of variants favored or dismissed by proponents. Once a tool reaches the stage of significant production, its design might remain fixed for periods, sometimes decades, such as the design of the long ice axe with slightly curved pick and horizontal adze. Sometimes a new idea is presented but not immediately adopted widely, such as when the Terrordactyl with its modern steep hooking pick appears, the prior (curved arc) style continues to be refined concurrently for a time. Some designs, like front point crampons, are introduced but remain less popular; then, often with the emergence of new materials and refined designs, in this case almost 40 years later, a new iteration of the design appears and captures the entire market. Often it is the small producers who are tinkering with batches of new variant designs, and old ideas are sometimes merged: ice screws evolved from hammer-in, to screw-in, then back to hammer-in (and screw-out). Engineers with an interest in climbing work behind the scenes, analyzing and testing new tools while providing fresh design directions. Over time, design variants tend to stabilize, and eventually, a specific and versatile tool design becomes mainstream.

Leo Maduschka identified a major shift in climbing sytles in the 1930s, when he wrote a treatise on how “modern icecraft follows modern rockcraft”—in contrast to an earlier age when snow and ice were the first steps in mountaineering. And as new techniques and skills are developed during these shifts, the climbers seeking new standards of difficulty are often the drivers for change. However, many new ideas remain purely conceptual until a collaboration among talented individuals—artists, engineers, product testers, and producers—comes together to transform the idea into a usable tool. This art of design is a much-studied field, and the evolution of ice tool design highlights the incremental and sometimes staccato development and refinement of new tools.

Footnote: there would be a bazillion examples of imagined ideas, ranging from grappling irons and suction cups to refinements of existing designs that have the potential to enhance the tools and techniques of climbing, yet fewer examples of one-off physical prototype designs that could be field tested. And much fewer yet of ideas that make it to a production phase—the fun of prototyping a small batch of a product quickly becomes work to create a production system and requires a very broad engineering mindset that becomes the Edison 99% perspiration.

Note: I have gotten great input on the transitional developments, such as how the ice dagger helped point the way (no pun here) for steeper picks, and how Hamish found inspiration from the design of ship anchors for his Terrordactyl—these will be added when I compile this material into Volume 2 of my ongoing research. And also how the first batches of the Chouinard Frost rigid crampons weren’t quite right with the heat treatment leading to failures when used with flexy boots—an important point regarding the pace of innovation. Thanks, Duncan, Kevin, Lindsay, and others!

2023 State of the Art ice axe, single front point crampons, and lightweight warm stiff boots.

Next: more on Bigwall Bivouacs, part 2

State-of-the-art equipment, 1979 (The World Guide to Mountains and Mountaineering, John Cleare, 1979). Except for the gas stove, climbing helmets, synthetic fabrics, and slightly more modern designs, this could be a scene of a 1930s typical big wall bivouac.

We’ll next consider how general bivouac equipment evolved, so we will have a look at what was available in the 1930s next.

Mechanical Advantage: Tools for the Wild Vertical