Petzl Picks again?

Or, "Why do your new DRY and ICE picks suck on ice and mine don't?"



If you aren't having a problem ignore the rest of this. For those that are hopefully this will be helpful.



Most of us loved the original Cascade picks on the Nomics and the older Quarks simply because theyclimbed water ice better than anything else available in factory form...then or now.



Petzl in all their engineering wisdom decided to better the first generation Nomic and we see now how that has gone. I am a little amazed at just how far off their customer's requirements are in all of this.



Not like it will lose Petzl a large part of the market share but disappointing none the less that we have to fiddlewith the gear to make it work as required.



I posted most of this info previous but people keep asking as the new tools arrive and get into climber's hands.



The first change is the new DRY and ICE picks have another couple of degrees in incline. To put that into perspective there is generally 2 or less degrees of difference between the Fusion/Cobra/Viper?Reactor.



So in the grand scheme adding two more degrees on the Nomic is a BIG deal.



Top set of picks is the Cascade overlaid the new ICEMiddle is the new ICE PickBottom is the older Cascade pick for a Nomic

But the change in tooth pattern on the ICE pick is what most will easily notice on the Nomic while on ice.



It isn't easy and you can't duplicate the Cascade exactly by carving up a ICE pick. But you can get close enough to make them climb ice easier.



Again the Cascade is the upper pick. The lower is a slightly modified ICE.On this one I have only cut down the newelongated and heavy hooked front tooth.



dbl click the picture here. Top pick is a ICEImodifiedto climb pure ice easier and the lower on a brand new ICE, that is untouched.As you can see to improve removing the pick on water ice the entire row of smaller front teeth ( I dothe first 6 and taper into the higher ones) need to be cut down to the smaller proportions on the upper Cascade pick.

All of this is easily done with a hand file (I use a 10" Bastard file) in just a few minutes.



I have highlighted in the pinkcircles the new pick where I cut it down with a hand file.



Here is another look at the added angle to the new picks.Cascade pick is in back of this overlay and a new (slightly modified) ICE in front.

The new picks work great for mixed and dry tooling imo. Not so much on pure ice. I have saved a small stock ofthe older Cascade picks for pure ice just to save myself the hassle. Hopefully Petzl will still be selling the original Cascade picks.