The Best Ice Axes

Pete Whitaker here hey, if you’re, climbing Rainier with me, you better have a good ice axe, and this is it right here. The Black Diamond Raven Pro, this thing’s super lightweight, but strong, has an aluminum shaft and a stainless steel head with a great pic perfect for ice axe, arrests, a nice ads used for chopping steps or digging a tent platform and a nice spike down here.

At the end, this thing’s put together well and for climbing Rainier. This is the axe you want to have believe me. I know after 227 of Center rain, here, I kind of know what works you.

What’s up guys nossek here and today, we’re gonna be talking about the black diamond raven ice, so reviewing an ice axe is kind of difficult because I mean there’s not a whole ton to go off of here, but it is also a really important tool that I think every mount that every Mountaineer should have and it’s kind of a symbol of mountaineering and so as a result, choosing an ice axe is a really important part of you know any Mountaineers development and there’s a lot of choices out there and so I thought I might try and help people who are hoping to pick up an ice axe.

By giving my thoughts on this particular one, the black diamond Raven ice axe now number one thing you need to know about ice exes is, of course you need to know what sort of climbing you’re going to be doing right if you’re doing highly technical ice, climbing or dry tooling. This obviously isn’t the axe for you, but hopefully you know that at this point so I’ll assume that if you’re here, it’s because you’re considering picking up the Black, Diamond Raven ice axe and that means you’re in the market for a basic or general mountaineering ice axe.

You always want to make sure that when you’re purchasing one it’s stamped by something like seee here or another international student organization, because this will ensure that the ice axe is durable enough and it’s held up to the testing of those rating organizations. I want to look for like a B stamp or whatever on the shaft of the ice axe, because this means that it has been rated as a basic ice axe and you really do want that minimum durability.

But luckily, most all ice X is made by major brands such as Black Diamond, Gravelle camp, most of those ones. Most of all, those are going to be C and rated. So you should be good there, but it’s always good to check to make sure. Because, again, this is a tool and it’s a tool that can save your life, as it probably has mine. So you want to buy with care. But beyond that, there’s a few key points to talk about when looking at an ice axe and there’s a few reasons why I chose this particular ice axe and for me number one has cost can’t you can’t really bypass that one can’t count it out.

Money does play a factor and ice axes can get really expensive, especially if you’re getting into those ice tools. Try doing all that, but a basic general Mountaineer ice axe is gonna, cost you between probably 80 to 200 dollars somewhere in that vicinity. You have the more advanced options like the Petzl, some tech, or maybe some it Evo I believe, are some of the newer models that are a little more curved but still maintain, most of the general mountaineering ice axe, shape and overall design, and then you’re gonna have more basic models like the Black Diamond Raven, which is kind of the standard basic ice axe model.

Another thing to count in is, if you’re planning to get tip protectors. This will be an additional $15 I honestly, don’t know why they do not come with the axe. I kind of I’m still mad, that I had to pay $15 for these, but there you are now moving on to the axe itself. You have a very basic shaft. Blank flow, of course depend on your height, but I’ll leave that to you and the employees of whatever store you go to pick this up.

It’s got a very basic spike at the bottom of the shaft. It’s got a hole. Usually this will fill up with snow if you’re poking it in at this point, I can’t quite remember how sharp the spike down here was. I think was fairly sharp, though, because I’ve had to resharpen it multiple times that all works as it should it’s a regular spike and the straight shaft. The straight shaft is a basic design, but it’s useful for, like probing crevices things like that can be useful if you’re close, lotting right to control your speed and maybe a little bit of steering as well, if you’re, using if you’re gonna be using your ice axe with when you clotting what you probably should be so yeah basic spike and then your shaft very simple, but here the head is really where a lot of axes differentiate themselves and the black diamond does really stand out in this regard.

Many people have praised it for its comfort and I am inclined to agree. I think they did a really good job, especially compared to some of the other ice axes on the market, making this as berg anomic a handle as possible. So if you’re carrying it in right, self-arrest position, self, belay or really. You know. However, you want to you know: hi dagger, like a low dagger like really. However, you want to carry this guy, it’s going to be it’s going to be pretty comfortable and because you have these holes up here, you’ve got a couple of attachment options.

We’re gonna attach things like a leash or whatever, but really it’s very smooth through here very comfortable, and you will not have a problem resting your hand on this for long hours on some it pushes so. The pic and the ass right here are pretty basic. It’s got some positive clearance. As you can see, it’s got a couple of teeth along here, not super sharp or anything, but they really don’t have to be a solid angle right here.

Pretty general basic stuff you’ll find a similar angle and similar clearance in most ice axes and then on the ATS you’ll notice. There is this hole in the ass, which some may argue might inhibit its performance for things like chopping steps are clearing, snow I haven’t really had many any issues with the hole and I think it is a pretty efficient way to save a little bit of weight and then the back of the adds is, of course, fairly sharp.

You can use it to cut steps. You know move snow, do all these sorts of things. It’s your typical adds, and it does a good job of being adds. I really have had no problems with this, the pic digs into snow quickly and it can effectively stop you if you’re in a self arrest situation which I have been in multiple times and I’ve, been very glad to have the Raven by my side. What I’m doing so now.

Another thing to mention is the Black Diamond Raven Pro. This is a month. That’s a much lighter ice axe or a little bit more money. So if you’re more budget inclined, this is a great basic ice axe that you can really trust your life to its durable tons of people have used it. It’s popular for a reason, and it served me very well, but if you’re willing to spend a little bit more and you’re a little more weight conscious the Black Diamond Raven Pro is basically the exact same model but made out of lighter materials, but without sacrificing that durability, some people might claim it feels less durable and that’s certainly an argument you could make because of the lighter construction.

But I really see no reason why you wouldn’t then step it up to the Raven Pro if you’ve got the extra cash simply because those weight savings and mountaineering can be a heavy, pretty heavy activity and pounds add up quick and so reducing weight where you can can be it off in a very smart move, and so that’s why I think going with like a the Raven Pro might be a good choice. But if you’re on a budget, I have no fear recommending the Black Diamond Raven as an ice axe to any general mountaineering enthusiast, because it’s a standard axe and it does its job really well.

If you guys have enjoyed this video, please consider giving it a thumbs up, and if you liked the content, then consider subscribing and leave a comment. If you have something to say thanks for watching guys, I will catch all of you in the next video bye-bye.

You hi guys today we’ll be testing out. My new black diamonds ice pick. Alright, this is actually made for climbing ice, but you could also use it for climbing mountains and one of the reasons I got. This is that there is a bluffs in the coast over here by my house and we’re going to and some of the area to get down to this private beach. It’s sort of dangerous, so I was looking for a tool that could safely help me and it’s not like completely serious.

This shit definitely helped me climb down the bluffs a little better, because the inclines a little steep last time, I didn’t have any tools, and you know I was climbing these hills. I mean they were sort of dangerous. If you didn’t have any tools. So that’s why I got it and we’re going to test out how this works, and this could become a very good weapon against wildlife, because at night out here, there’s sometimes a bunch of coyote packs.

I, don’t think they’ll attack human, but it’s safe to have a nice cool tool like this. You can use as a weapon and also you can use it as a cane all right so which is really nice, especially when you’re going down and we’ll go and test this out. That’s how it works, yeah, so I’ve been I haven’t been to this hills for a couple years. The main reason is that it’s dangerous, some of the path is really dangerous with tooth this tool down here.

So here this rose not exactly safe, so they even have the rope but yeah. Looking pretty good now on the way back up, I’m gonna try to see if this don’t see. Now how do we need the rope? It’s really cool, so yeah in this situation. I would slip without the cane, but what the pic I can use it as a cane and I think I will probably have to get another one I’m to really help it.

Then I can use to to go down. So that’s I just wanted to get one to test out later on. I’ll probably get two but yeah. Okay, the view here yeah one of these I didn’t come out here. Obviously, let’s go ahead and see because it’s sort of so hard without a tool like this, but this really helps me stay stable, while walking those steep hills down. Now this going to be the ultimate test down to here, it is really easy now to get down to the actual beach.

Now you have to go through without the rope. This is where it’s gonna come in, really handy and use this to help me rappel down faster yeah. This is awesome, so I can really anchor myself here here before I used to grab onto these ice plants and they’re not really stable, well yeah. This makes it so much simpler. I wish I had two of them that I could just oh I could go really fast, so I might get another one of these that way.

I have two and I could just race now, yeah, that’s so much safer. I got something so really help me all right, especially like this kind of location, where I can really just step down all right without it, oh man, it’s almost harder. That was so easy. The first time I came here. I took the wrong path too, but yeah. This is the private suits by my house.

You can only get through this path, but once you get down here, it’s really nice. Nobody out here and boom Shakalaka the Daly City private beach. The reason why this Beach is private, because the bluffs out the cliffs out here block it off alright and that’s up there up. There is actually where I made that LGV 40 video up on the cliffs and on the other side, it’s also right now it’s open, but when the tide comes in that speech gets closed and the only way out is the way I came through, but one of my dreams is definitely one of they.

Just bill will rappel down straight from one of the cliffs. That’s coming really fun, but there’s supposed to be a little waterfall we’ll go check out. If the waterfalls active today, yeah I, think people are making some a fire here, Nightfire. Maybe oh Jesus, that’s a dead seal! Oh holy jesus! It’s a dead seal at first I thought. It was like some kind of a seaweed and I saw the dude.

I was like damn it’s a dead seal. That’s why the dead seal looks like okay and ah there’s a waterfall. You guys see it, it’s not really a waterfall, but I mean it is a waterfall, but it is basically the city sewage pipe going down, go check it out a little bit yeah. So this gonna really help me get through the rocks. Also, alright sort of help me grip, yeah, maybe I, could just use a cane ya know but I’m sure this going to be coming.

Handy wanna climb back up, oh yeah, so this is actually fresh water, I’m coming from the city and yeah. Let’s go check out the waterfall man-made wow, it’s a little creek. So this gonna help me rappel down melt the rock someone. So this is like the hidden waterfall people are saying so yeah, so this is in Daly City near nut, mussel rock I’m. The judge just follow the path I went through and you’ll be able to see this water Wow waterfall.

That’s really cool I’m gonna come out here and make some videos later check this out. Huh almost I got to cool. It conclude it little area. Alright, the water is kind of not really really clean. These things are not just rocks everywhere. It’ll be careful. I should repel up, maybe check this out. Do you think I can make it up that hill? This thing, okay, I, can’t really get a grip.

Oh I got a grip. Now this is really helping me just don’t fall! Oh all, right made it up we’re almost there just a lot of old junk, so walls left the little walls. So this is actually turning into a very fun experiment. Looks like a lot of people came out here. Somebody left the can that’s up garbage. Oh look at that. That’s actually pretty cool-looking.

What to fall. Hi, guys, I told you making through the waterfall okay, actually pretty it’s pretty serious client yeah. The can really help me all right. Yeah whoo well made it now. Let’s go all the way up to the top over there be real careful I mean that’s something to bring some gloves. Are you okay, use the cane I got and go ahead and try to see whoo.

That’s a lot of some serious exercise. I got through there, so yeah um dumpy helps humming this versus not having the airplanes going by. Let’s say: I make this up this steep hill. Yeah. Definitely I need two of these all right. All right not really helped. Okay, let’s try to get beyond here. I made it oh man through the waterfall of Daly City, oh hi, guys I’m gonna, try to make it back here and see if this works well for us here: okay, pretty steep downhill, I’m, gonna, I, just realize I’m, not through the hardest path.

I could have just gone around I feel like an idiot. Let’s go ahead and rappel down this stuff, Oh falling pretty Wow. These rocks here help Oh some newer mountain quani. Here: okay, okay, hey there’s a bunch of baseball here left by a bunch of I, fell down the hill closer look at the water Paul. Some photos, yeah. Okay, let’s go out here that is pretty dangerous over there yeah.

This is all unstable, rocks, easiest pump it nuisance all right, all right sort of muddy over here, yeah I took the easier path. Why did it go over the rocks? Oh you I sex. We had the rocks out here, not the safest place. Oh great, oh boy! How do I get down here? All right, I was afraid of these rock, crushing my legs or something stuck, but I definitely think I need two of these to rappel down and up definitely I would recommend getting a pair.

This rock log was scary, see if I could make it over again without falling whoo. That was a total adventure. Okay, a fun adventure, oh yeah, so this thing doesn’t really help. I’m going uphill through these deeper in pines I can really get a nice grip, but thanks to this ice pick, I can go ahead and climb up these hills. No problem Wow. This is where this becomes very useful, go and do that up in here.

Without the rope oops yeah get up here and oops Oh now, I can use, go up this hill, absolutely without a rope Wow. It’s very useful, all right, most of the paths pretty easy, just a few. Those very steep inclines- this come in handy, ah so I really like it definitely would recommend it. Buddy out there we’re back to civilization, not really climbing up.

Those hills would require me to use a rope val is able to make it up with how you still broke at all. It’s definitely. This can be very useful for mountain climbing, maybe in hiking. Sometimes you said as Kade. Some of the harder inclines go ahead and use this as a pick, it’s gonna be great yeah overall, really loving. This ice pick works well for these Bluffs out here.

I think you do need two of them to really be able to be safer, so definitely gonna definitely check it out. Yeah.

Welcome to space 2020- and we are here with KP from Black Diamond, the famous KP o, to take us through the updated Raven answer age. Everything that’s right, so we have updated the entire Raven family, a really popular general mountaineering act, so basically chomping around in the Alps or doing whatever kind of a basic mountaineering tool.

We had these three in the range before, but everything is new, there’s only three components and they were very popular before so. It’s kind of hard to improve something with only three components, but that’s what the guys did so the whole the whole head has been approved. It’s still investment casting let’s deal, we’ve updated the pic geometry, so a little bit better bite and a little bit better ads and really comfortable for holding whether you’re, like a pick for a guy or a pick, a backward guy depending on how you want to hold it or girl.

Okay, the shaft, the big difference in the shaft is this is asymmetrical, so it’s wider here and narrower here. So when you grab it, you can tell which way it’s facing and it’s less likely to spin in your hand, let’s check that out, so you can tell like it’s not symmetrical and then the spike is a tactical engineering term. It’s way more spiky, so it’s way sharper and you just get better bite when you’re.

You know when you’re plunging along so only three components, but all three have been updated. So this is the Raven which is our most basic model, and then this one called the Raven with grip, which yes has a grip. That’s the biggest difference. The rain would grip, also comes with the leash, and this slider leash has been updated.

So it’s really really comfortable. The old leash was just a basic webbing, and now this is. We basically took this technology from our trekking pole, straps and our ski straps. So it’s just more more comfortable with this easy slider, so Raven Raven with grip and then probably the biggest change in the line is with the Raven Pro.

The Raven Pro this year now has a slight curve in the shaft. The old version was a straight shaft. So slight curve in the shaft, and then we have these grooves in here for better grip and it’s a it’s a different head, neglected to mention on this one. These two heads are the same. The difference is just a grip. This is a different head.

A little bit lighter, more aggressive teeth, pull in the ads good for opening beer and a different shape ads still super comfortable weather, no matter which we hold it same spike, but polished so more spiky. So this is probably the one that’s seen the biggest change, but they all have all new components across the board. Fabulous.

Thank you! So much there you go.

Another unboxing video I had to make this quick intro, though, to apologize to you guys, because what you’re about to experience is some really crappy audio don’t tune out. Yet let me explain: I usually record my audio with a sound recorder, but unfortunately, I was doing some dub over stuff and I accidentally erased that audio. So what you’re gonna experience now is the actual onboard audio from my camera. That’s on this camera and it’s pretty crappy audio, so I apologize bear with me, though.

It’s an unboxing, it’s already dark outside I, can’t really reshoot it or I have to tape the box back up. That’s kind of disingenuous, so I just decided to go with the regular audio I screwed up, I apologize, but bear with me and without further ado, enjoy this crappy audio and boxing. You hey guys. What’s up today, bringing you another unboxing, this one’s gonna be a quick one. It’s a little chilly outside it’s already starting to get dark, I’m running a little bit late today, so I’m gonna try to make this one short sweet and just tell you what I got in it’s.

Basically, my last piece of gear for alpine climbing I have signed up for a thing called the six pack of Peaks, which is climbing six of the most prominent peaks here in Southern California, and it’s provided by a website called SoCal hiker net and I’ve been waiting to alpine climb with snow and all my snow gear and everything, but I needed one. Last piece of equipment. I, finally got that in I’m gonna show you guys what it is. It’s a little thin right. So it’s not like a regular standard box.

This shouldn’t take long, it’s a little cold out here. This is my new Black Diamond Raven ice axe came with a leash. It can’t this one comes with a rubber handle which I wanted. As holding this one gets really cold. So I wanted to rub her handle cuz it’s a little warmer, even though I’ll have gloves on, but even like right here. If you grab it, it’s freezing cold, it does rubber handle a lot warmer. It’s a standard ice axe. It’s got the ads pick. You know for carving out snow steps, you name it.

It’s brand new I’m. Looking forward to putting it to use making work of this new axe, the Black Diamond Raven ice axe are designed to give you the greatest comfort and ease of use possible. The ergonomic stainless steel head has a flat top an hourglass shape at its connection to the shaft. This creates a shape, that’s comfortable, to hang on to and allows fast transition to self arrest. The Ravens pick shape is very secure in its self-arrest, and the large adds makes the dismal job of chopping a belay ledge, a little more bearable, you’re going to be walking for days with your axe.

The Ravens comfortable head will make all the difference. This particular model of the Black Diamond Raven ice axe is sixty centimeters in length. It comes in anodized gray. It also comes standard with a rubber grip at the bottom and includes the OEM black diamond hand, leash to wrap around your hand, hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this unboxing video. If you did wait, a minute was crappy I told you I’m, sorry, I apologize, don’t forget to give it a thumbs up click the thumbs up. There should be a little icon.

Um I don’t know if it’s this side or this side little round icon, with my face on it and hit that and subscribe, and if you enjoyed this video there should be another one look for the square box, because you can click that video and watch that one next don’t forget to comment. Tell me what you thought have any questions about this black diamond Raven ice axe hit me up in the comments section: peace out.

It’s time to start thinking about summer, Alpine kit. So this week’s pick of the week is the Black Diamond Raven ice axe for one week only we’re selling it for 60 euro at the epic TV shop, with free delivery to all EU countries. The Raven is a bomb-proof, but lightweight axe designed for alpine climbs. We’re too technical axes aren’t required. Sometimes you need a walking axe that is easy to plunge into the snow and support you on steep terrain.

The spike at the bottom ensures that each plunge sinks the axe into the snow and secures you if you happen to trip the Raven, has an aluminium, shaft and stainless steel pick that is set at the perfect angle for self arresting, as well as a sharp point and serrated teeth for biting into the ice and snow. There is a built-in adds that is great for digging out snow, belays or even steps and seats.

It also provides a great grip when walking here’s a size guide for the Raven that might be useful. Remember the size is optimized for walking on steep terrain instead of flat ground. So don’t worry if your recommended size seems too small. This axe is designed to last you for years and is a fantastic investment. If you intend to venture into the big mountains, absolute quality at a fantastic price.

Hey guys, so let’s do a little review of I have this on my backpack here I specifically got the 75 centimeter one, because I wanted to use it as a cane as well, as you know, like an ice axe like while I’m walking around in the snow. I want to be able to kind of stab it into the snow and the rocks and kind of balance myself if I trip or fall or something.

So what’s the difference between this one and the regular Raven Pro? Well, this one has a silver handle. The Raven, the regular Raven, has a green hand, huh The, Raven Pro. The top is also some kind of shiny steel, whereas the regular Raven is unpolished and not shiny. This is 20 extra dollars worth making your friends jealous.

Of course it is chucking this into some rocks and stuff on Mount Rainier, and it held up great, so Black Diamond, Raven Pro ice axe. If you guys are looking for this protector for it, it’s not so much a protector for the ice axe as it is a protector for your backpack. You got this thing inside your luggage on the outside your Packer inside your pack.

I can guarantee you 100% chance that this or this end is gonna stab in your pack and chop a nice hole in it for you. So this ten dollar cover is definitely worth the extra money to protect your expensive pack. So that’s how it looks on a pack. You know nice and light just sits right in there. Alright, guys, thanks for watching, see you.

Welcome back YouTube the icy chaste edge I might see chap reviewing my gear that I brought to Mountain Washington I, recently climbed Mount Washington, and even though there are a lot of videos on YouTube talking about gear, you can take to the mountains or Mount Washington. Specifically, I did not find a lot of reviews after the fact. So what I decided to do was to beat on my gear, abused it and come back and tell you what worked and what didn’t this absolutely worked.

This was my PLA otherwise known as a mountaineering ice axe. This is the Black Diamond, Raven Pro and arguably the most important tool you can take in the mountains. The ice axe has a few features to it and I’ll go over those. Now it’s got a head and the head is divided into the pick and the adds. The pick is basically a spike and the adds is a flat blade. Then you’ve got the shaft and I’ll talk about shaft lengths in a minute and then you’ve got the spike.

The idea behind the PLA or PLA otherwise known as the mountaineering ice axe, is different than ice tools. Ice tools are the kind of ice axes that have the radically curved picked a very curved shaft and they’re much shorter. Those ice tools are used for climbing vertical ice. You typically will have one in each hand and those will create your hand, holds in the vertical ice. This type of axe is primarily a walking stick and that’s why it’s got a straight shaft and a straight spike.

The head, in this case the Black Diamond one, is stainless steel and so is the spike, and then the shaft is aluminum. The raven pro is kind of a well-balanced ice axe. It’s between the raven pro ultra and the Black Diamond Raven. The Raven has a little bit more of a durable shaft, but it’s significantly heavier heavier enough. That I could really tell the difference and I didn’t want to be carrying it with me. The Black Diamond ultra was much lighter, but maybe not quite as durable.

So this was middle of the road. Read all the reviews. They were all excellent, so I decided to go with it. So the next decision was what length to go with and I can tell you. I chose 70 centimeters, which for me I’m, 5 foot, 10 inches was perfect. The old school is to use a longer ice axe, the idea being that, because it’s a walking stick, you want to be able to lean on the axe without leaning over too far the new school say that you want to have kind of a shorter axe.

You want it to be more nimble and it’s going to be easier to self arrest with, because you’re going to be able to get it across your body. Self arrest. For those who don’t know is, if you are in a fall, you have to be able to stop yourself from falling. You can’t always rely on your team to catch you and that’s kind of the main function of the pick of the ice axe and I’ll get into that in a minute, so I kind of went with the old school a little bit, because the old school concept is to prevent the fall in the first place, and if you have an adequately long axe, then it’s going to be more comfortable for walking the way I measured it up was I held it loosely in my hand, I let the axe dangle and the spike came to just about my ankles.

So that was perfect length for me and this one was 70 centimeters. So, let’s get into the specifics of this axe. I paint about 70 bucks for it from Eastern, Mountain Sports, and that was a pretty good deal. I got these covers, which were another 10 bucks. They did not come with the axe and as far as I was concerned, they were no brainer, they’re, very hard, durable plastic. They protect the pick in the ads and also, very importantly, they protect my pack when I attach my ice axe to my pack.

Definitely a no-brainer if you are considering getting this axe, buy the covers. – I did not bother buying a cover for the spike, because the spike when it’s attached to the pack is up in the air, no real chance of damaging anything and besides the spike is very durable. So, let’s talk about why this is such a great pick. Well, Black Diamond put a very sharp edge on it. I can definitely cut paper with it, and the spike is very, very sharp that could definitely break skin very important for chipping this into ice.

If I’m in a self arrest situation where I’m falling I want to be able to jam the entire spike into the ice- and this is gonna, do it and I can tell you from personal experience even though I never fell, I didn’t have a self arrest situation, we did have winds in excess of 80 miles per hour and I definitely needed this pick to be jammed in to be able to anchor myself. So basically, when you grip the top of the head and put your weight on the shaft, you jam this into the ice.

It’s this part of the head of the axe. That’s going to be penetrating and creating the friction to slow you down. There are lots of videos on YouTube showing self arrest. You can look them up. The other nice feature of the pic is that it’s got these reverse angle, teeth which again are going to bite into the snow nicely and create a lot of friction to slow you down so excellent design to the pick part of the head. As far as the ads is concerned, I can’t really comment.

I really did not have occasion to use it on Mount Washington I used it only once, and that was because I wanted to test out its ability to create a step or a foot hole, but I’m, not Washington I really didn’t need to. If you were climbing another mountain like Mount Rainier, you might need to use it a lot more frequently, but I just didn’t have to so. I can’t really comment brief point on the rating. This is a b-rated head, typically on ice tools, the ones that you’re using the climb vertical ice you’ll see T rated heads.

What that means is that they are T for technical on PLA s or mountaineering ice axes. You almost never see a T rated head. You just don’t need it. You’re, never going to be supporting your entire body weight with this head, and even if you had to you, probably could for a short period of time, it’s really the ice axes that are being used to climb vertically that need that extra durability to them, but the spike. Let’s just talk about that really briefly, the spike is what allowed the axe would be jammed into the snow and ice, which is very important if you’re using it as an anchor this one’s stainless steel, very durable, you can see some signs of abuse and use, but I can tell you when I was above the treeline I Jam this against rocks very frequently, not on purpose.

It just happens, and there are very few signs of where it’s not really sharp anymore, to break skin, but more than adequate for breaking through snow and ice, so very durable there. Overall, the Black Diamond Raven Pro was just awesome. Oh one other feature to talk about you’ll notice that the shaft is completely smooth. Some ice accents come with grips bad idea. In my personal opinion, and again, this is speaking from experience on their Washington.

The ability to jam this into snow and ice is very important, especially above the treeline. You’ve got wind buffeting you from either side. You need to be able to jam this in firmly at least to about half way so that you can prevent yourself from rocking back and forth or really from being blown off the mountain. If you’ve got a grip here, even though it’s going to let you get a nice grip at the base of your axe, let me tell you the fact that it’s going to prevent the shaft from sliding easily into the snow is definitely makes it not worth it.

The other thing is, you are almost never going to be chopping. Your axe by holding the bottom you’re, typically always going to be holding the head you’re actually going to be holding it so that the head is always up Mountain and you’re almost never going to have occasion to grip it. That way, so, in my opinion, if you are looking at getting a PLA, get one without a rubberized grip or any sort of grip around the shaft I would say: go for a huge shafted axe.

So there you have it. The Black, Diamond Raven, Pro, I, highly recommend it. I can speak from personal experience. I use this axe and it works. So there you have it thanks for watching. Please subscribe and leave comments and have a good one.

Career to king, with the 49th parallel about one of my most favorite wilderness tools that I carry with me at all times, and that is that Alton stock, also known as an ice axe, ice axe. I carry specifically this one is the Black Diamond Raven Pro in 70, centimeters or twenty nine and a half inches is what the overall is weighs. 422 grams or just over 14 ounces bear with my lanyard duct tape and whatnot I think it comes out to just just shy of one pound. It’s got a straight shaft on it, stainless steel, head and spike.

This is a classic curve. Real aggressive pick head on it and a curved adds as well, which really gives you a nice natural arc when carving steps and ice or snow or Duff. Oh, why do I carry this with me? Well, one I don’t need a shovel anything I need to shovel as far as hold defecate in or throw food in or whatnot I can pretty much dig with the ads. We’re gonna cut roots, real good I could for trenching it’s perfect for making the trenches for diverting rainwater off your tent or off your fly in the ground.

So it’s great for doing trenches. It is also a very formidable weapon if I must say yeah if I have this in my hand and an animal comes out of the bush at me, sticking that in its skull I mean or wherever I stick it. It’s gonna hurt him pretty bad so and when this is super shark, which you can get sharp um, you can hit them with with this and too so. That’s another nice thing about this tool works good as a stake. I use them a lot in the snow and ice to stake down my so that’s another, very beneful, beneficial use for it.

I’m on the trail, walking or whatnot I can just put this down and put my bet the base of my pack right on it to get some weight off. My shoulders or I could sit right down on it and get to take some weight off my legs during the rest. If I need be so it’s great for that too, as a stool also windfall up here in the northwest, the wilderness there’s lots of big trees laying on the ground and sometimes when you’ve got 50 60 pound pack on it’s impossible to get over, even with no pack, sometimes they’re impossible to get over because there’s nothing to grab hold of sometimes so.

This really makes that just that much more easier, being able to stick that in the trunk of the tree and have something to grip and pull yourself up on going up steep terrain and the Duff rock and whatnot just another, really good point of protection for climbing or down or descending with self-arrest huge, huge benefit and self arrest. You Pete kick out from your traversing on the side hill and your feet slip out from underneath you and you’re gonna start tomahawking down the mountain.

This is good to be able to self arrest with. So you know stop yourself from going gaining momentum sore, just tomahawking down down the mountain. So it’s a very, very good tool, very, very, very useful tool. It’ll you know make up for I. Don’t know three or four or five different tools you might want to carry with you. This one tool will do the job of many. Like I said it’s a good stool, it’s a good spear or axe in real in defensive, wise. It’s a good shovel, a good trowel lots and lots of good uses and their.

You know this one’s like a hundred bucks, so you know for a hundred bucks. You can’t beat it other than they don’t come subdued I just do it myself got some duct tape. You always want duct tape on ax ax. Just it’s just the standard thing that you furniture, you see on the ice axes. It should have some duct tape on there just cuz. You do find yourself on the glacier and you need some glasses there you go. We do have bio luminescent tape on here. That’s because, when I’m, using that as a stake on my tent or something I want to be able to see this, so you don’t kick it with your shin or your foot in the middle of night, so very good, very good, useful tool to have on yeah and I.

Just got some 550 cord here so if I need to be able to hold myself to it, but mainly I have that for my pack, you just stick this in the ground on the side hill, if it’s steep and by either by the pic we’re just the shaft in it and I can just wrap this around. My pack tie it back off and my tacks: not gonna, run downhill or in a tree. I can shove this in a tree and tie my pack to a tree if I want to hang it up off the ground, so very, very good tool. If you’ve been looking for a good tool to assist you in the wilderness and don’t know I, don’t know a good one, pick yourself up a nice axe and put it to use.

You will not regret the hundred dollars you spend on it and the pound of weight that it is um. Make sure you, if you do, have it on your pack last year, pack make sure you have it in there in a really good secure way. Last thing you want is this thing coming and hit me in the head because it wants to move around in your pack, so make sure you have that really good and secure on my pack. If you look at my video on the ilbe, my Maine wilderness kit, um I got a carabiner that this sits through, so it stays the head stays right in there.

It’s not gonna, come forward smack me or or hurt me so thanks for watching, if you guys hope you guys liked my video, if you do please like and subscribe, if you have any questions or comments, don’t hesitate to leave those below and be safe out there, thanks for watching.

People always asked what kind of ice axe the truth is. It depends on what type of train I’m traveling on if I’m gonna be on steeper slopes, where the chances are good, that I’ll need to swing. My ice axe above my head, I’ll choose something shorter and slightly more technical, like this black diamond venom. It’s a shorter ice axe easier for me to swing over my head, but it still offers me all the versatility of a regular tool.

If I’m climbing on more standard mountaineering, train I’ll choose something like this Black Diamond Raven Pro, it’s slightly longer, since I am using it primarily as a third point of balance and safety in case I need to self arrest. I also have this ads in case I need to chop steps. So when you’re selecting an ice axe, think about where are you gonna travel? In most cases, the standard, Black Diamond Raven pro type axe is going to be perfect.

The Raven is a bomb-proof but lightweight axe designed for alpine climbs, where two technical axes aren’t required. Sometimes you need a walking. Access is easy to plunge into the snow and support you on steep terrain. The spike in the bottom ensures that each plunge seeks the axe into the snow and secures you if you happen to trip the Raven has an aluminium, shaft and stainless steel. Pick that set the perfect angle for self arresting, as well as a sharp point and serrated teeth for biting into the ice and snow.

There is a built-in adds that is great for dick me out, snow B lays or even steps and seats. It also provides a great grip when walking here’s a size guide for the Raven that might be useful. Remember the size is optimized for walking on steep terrain instead of flat ground. So don’t worry if your recommended size seems too small. This axe is designed to last you for years and is a fantastic investment. If you intend to venture into the big mountains, you.

Hi, my name is Erin Lindsay I’m a polar review day and, as you can see, this is what I’m going to be reviewing today: the Black Diamond Raven Pro, the Black Diamond Raven Pro. This is definitely one of my most favorite glacier ice axes. This thing is super light versal and it just saved my bacon multiple times now and you might say first of all what what about ice axes? Why do you care? Well, if you’re in the mountaineering, climbing or anything the ice axe is the most fundamental tool you can have in mountaineering, even more so than your rope, even potentially more than your crampons, but not as much as your head? So let’s talk about the qualities of the Raven Pro here this is by Black Diamond.

There are several other manufacturers of ice axes and very totally popular, but this has become my favorite and the number one reason that this has become my favorite and you can see it’s. It’s definitely seen its mileage and I’ll. Tell you what this business about and what this business about is because it is insanely light.

This version, the let’s see how many centimeters is it sixty five centimeters is something like 14 ounces, so this thing is way less than a pound. Now it’s probably a little bit taller than I should have got a long time ago, but it reaches right to my ankle here. Let me show your hair, so there’s a whole theory of how your ice axe should be measured and figure it out.

But right here you can see that it goes when I’m standing upright. The point here touches my ankle bone or just the top of my boot when holding the ice axe in the classic style. So that’s how I measured it so right there you can see how that is now the reason I got that the longer I sex is, let’s see how we doing here it’s because when you’re poking along and glaciers, it’s really nice to be able to sometimes as you’re stumbling, maybe punch that guy out into the ice or the snow and really I don’t have any problems with it.

So what what do I really like about this guy? Besides its lightness, it has a very classic shape. The head is all stainless the pick and the adds here, I’m an I’ve chipped away. A lot of stuff and I see I see a few little dings on here, but nothing too crazy. The pic here, still sharp as ever and I mean I’ve.

Had this thing for trying to remember how long I’ve had this thing for and 15 20 years I mean this is really truckin. It’s funny I’ve been on quite a few expeditions and met up with other climbers and we’re pulling out all our gear, and everybody looks at me hey. What’s that thing? Oh it’s, the black diamond, and you pick it up and they’re.

Like you sure this is gonna, save your life. It’s really light, and this came from one of my climbing buddies, Randal Peters I’ll put a link to his video here is a book below, but he has this old-school heavy carbon steel, oh, my gosh I’m is like weighs at least twice as much as this thing now. Would you say, Oh Aaron, shouldn’t the ice axe, be as heavy as possible to keep you safe, no I, don’t know any correlation between the weight of the ice axe and your safety, because ultimately using the ice axe besides using the ads to pick stuff out and the pic maybe to climb now notice, just as a pointing at a case in point, this is a completely straight shafted ice X.

This is not designed for climbing at all. That’s is definitely not the ice axes point because if you’re using this to climb- and here I’ll crank this down to the snow here now, if you’re doing this maneuver, where you’re picking in the ice and doing all that it’s okay for a few times, but because this doesn’t have any angle on it, it’s really not meant for that, because over time, it’ll wear out your wrist now, I will always I’ll always hold the ice axe with my little little leash here with my one inch strap and then you get in there and I mean no problem.

The adds this side of the ice axe, its chiseled out. So many little steps and things in the ice, I don’t even know I mean totally effective, not of problem chips. It up pretty well seem easy and then, of course, the the pic part or the the point part here in the bottom I mean, though you could totally bury that in now what I immediately just bleh off an ice axe now only in a in a total pinch of a situation, but it definitely gets the job done.

You’ll see a little bit of snow does get in there, but virtually everybody always makes a hollow hollow pointed face of the ice axe there. Now a couple of things to note about this ice axe that are really nice is insane. This is that level. I, don’t know. That’s okay, they’ve got this nice little strap hole here where you can put any sort of strap and I mean I’ve got my on my Black Diamond venom I’ve got one of those fancy drawstring straps that bet totally works, but for this guy I just use a one.

Inch strap no big deal the via tosses back in the ice here, one of the fancier straps. It’s definitely nice, but I found over time this guy it looks totally ghetto, but it actually works better because there’s a little the draw style, I really like it, but sometimes it gets too tight and now I gotta loosen it up and get my hand in there and futz around, and you know what a pain in the butt so ultimately, I’ve just stayed with this ghetto style strap now another thing that I’ve have and one of the nice things about this particular ice axe as well, is that the head is stainless steel.

So when you get your ice axe protector and I highly recommend, you get one of these things because, as you’re traveling around and climbing or hiking you’ve got your i6 in the back. You know, god forbid. This should hit you in the back of the head. If you fall or I mean that this will put a hole through a Nalgene bottle, I mean it is sharp and hard, but you’ll notice, no rust on here whatsoever, and you just put the little protector here.

You can get the ice off. I mean you don’t want to abuse the steel of- and you put this here, because that ads is actually pretty sharp, I wouldn’t say it’s going to cut my hand open, but it’s it’s definitely sharp now you’ll notice too, so that that’s a good idea, so I’ve flown with this in my backpack in the 65 millimeter fits in my old Gregory Denali style, huge backpack.

Just fine being this long of a nice axe, I recommend you go to a store and check out the ice axe that you need and get the recommended length. Also that the shaft is one solid piece: I mean I’ve, never had anything come loose. I’ve never had this break, so that works pretty well, so I’m gonna I’m going to take off the tip and adds protector there now Aaron, you might say, what’s up to the ghetto pipe foam, dude I mean come on you’re supposed to be doing a product review and showing us exactly how the product looks completely clean.

No, because I’ve used this ice axe, I mean I was on Mount Elbrus. We were doing some training. I sat up one Elsa and I started sliding down some turning over and that’s stopping with the ice axe and yep prevented me from rocketing to the bottom and saving my life. But when I’ve climbed on Denali- and this actually was useful in Everest, one of the things is whoo man my fingers are freezing is because holding this steel are holding the aluminum shaft, even with a regular glove on a cold mountain like Denali, you’re, gonna freeze, your fingers, I’ve seen quite a few people with frostbitten thumbs or something because when you hold the ice axe in traditional fashion, you’ll hold it backwards and that doesn’t make sense until you realize you have to put your ice axe up turn over and dig that thing in and basically stop with your nose.

If you have to learn exactly just don’t put your ice axe and your teeth or your shoulder, because it’ll punch a hole in you. But the nice thing about this ghetto foam is with a little bit of Gorilla Tape here in just a basic piece of pipe foam. I can grab this thing and it’s it’s probably 20 degrees and I have no problem holding – this thing whatsoever, so you can see in there I’ve put a little bit of nuclear tape, but not nothing too special in there, and that allows me to climb holding my ice axe.

My fingers are freezing, but only from the air and not from the ice axe. So this is definitely advantageous. This ice axe. The point is also not removable. This is not designed as a direct ice climbing ax. This is designed as an arrest and anchoring type axe. So if you need a more traditional, hey I need to do more ice.

Climbing. This is definitely not the ice axe for you, but if you need a total glacier ultra light, Musa might say: oh it’s a little bit more expensive. Look at it. This way, I would I, say: I’ve owned this thing, 15 or 20 years, and still trucking do I care about that 15 or 20 bucks that are extra. That I spent no, but do I enjoy the lightweight feather nests of this ice axe every time I use it.

You better believe it so trust me when you have the opportunity to shell out 15 or 20, more bucks or or whatever the price is I. Don’t know it is I’ll. Put a link below to the ice axe on Amazon definitely check it out, but believe me spend a little bit more and get the professional version. That’s much lighter and man.

You will not regret it. So I definitely love my Black Diamond Raven Pro ice axe and you can actually read it on here. A full disclosure I am not sponsored by Black Diamond I’m, not sponsored by Amazon I. Just do this these videos of my own accord just to share my experience for you, so you can receive a good, honest review about.

Let me tilt this down one more time: the joys of the ice axe. Oh yeah, my name is Erin Lynn stout I am a polar explorer motivational speaker. Thank you very much for watching. Please like and comment on my video comment by hitting that little arrow by the video subscribe to the channel. So you can get more reviews just like this.

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