BEARTOOTH BEAKS

WE USE BEAKS ON BIG ASCENTS MORE THAN ANY OTHER KIND OF HARDWARE, SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY DO MORE. BLADES OF COURSE ARE A MAINSTAY OF ALPINISM, BUT BEAKS HAVE BOTH A GREATER RANGE OF PLACEMENT AND HOLD BETTER IN ANYTHING ICED, AND IF YOU BANG THEM IN IN CREATIVE WAYS GO RIGHT UP TO SMALL WIRE SIZES. IN A WORLD WHERE TRIPS CARRY GEAR FOR KILOMETERS OF VERTICAL GAIN, STUFF MADE OF METAL GETS CLOSE SCRUTINY AS A PLACE TO SAVE WEIGHT. THIS IS A GAME APPROACHING RUSSIAN ROULETTE, SO THE MORE ADAPTABLE AND VERSATILE THAT HARDWARE IS, THE COLD REALITY IS THE BETTER YOUR CHANCES OF COMING HOME.

AMERICANS HAVE BROUGHT MUCH TO ALPINISM, AND WE WILL GO SO FAR TO SAY THE BEAK MAY BE THEIR GREATEST CONTRIBUTION, FROM THE CAULDRON OF YOSEMITE THAT RAISED THE BEAK FROM OBSCURITY TO BECOME A PILLAR OF BIG WALLS AND BY ASSOCIATION BIG ALPINE. AN ARRAY OF VARIATIONS SPANNING THE WALMART MASS PRODUCTION OF BLACK DIAMOND TO THE ESOTERIC GENIUS OF PIKA AND MOSES EXIST, WITH BEARTOOTH BEING THE FIRST TRUE ALPINE DESIGN.

LIKE SEEMINGLY EVERYTHING, WE AT FEEDING THE RAT EXPEDITIONS THOUGHT SOMETHING BETTER COULD BE DONE FOR OUR UNIQUE NEEDS, WITH THE SAME OLD EQUATION OF WANTING LIGHTER, STRONGER, MORE FUNCTIONAL, MORE ALPINE-SPECIFIC, AND BEING WILLING TO INVEST IN IT. WE DABBLED WITH DESIGNS, SAWING THINGS DOWN AND DRILLING HOLES IN STUFF, USUALLY WITH GOOD EFFECT, BUT BEING GARAGE PIRATE STUFF THE LITERATURE EXPLICITLY WARNS AGAINST, NEVER REALLY BROADCAST IT, AS SOME MODIFICATIONS ARE BEST KEPT UNMENTIONED.

THEN BEARTOOTH CAME ALONG, PRESENTING A DEGREE OF KINSHIP IN ATTITUDE THAT IMMEDIATELY STRUCK. ALREADY A QUIET ACHEIVER IN THE AMERICAN ALPINE CLIMBING SCENE THEY CAME WELL RECOMMENDED, AS ONE OF THE NEW GENERATION OF SMALL PRODUCERS THAT ARE DOING WHAT THE INDUSTRY MONOLITHS CAN’T, DON’T OR WON’T.

.

THE FIRST THING THAT HIT US WAS THAT BEARTOOTHS BEAKS ARE ALPINE-SPECIFIC, MADE FOR ICY, TORTURED ROCK, TO BE POUNDED WITH LITTLE ICE TOOL HAMMERS. OF COURSE, ALL BEAKS WORK ON NON-ALPINE ROCK TOO, BUT THIS DOESN’T REALLY GO THE OTHER WAY AS IT IS THE BEAKS TEETH THAT MATTER IN ICED CRACKS AND EVEN STRAIGHT INTO ICE ITSELF.

THE NEXT THING IS THAT BEARTOOTH PRODUCE TWO VERSIONS – ALPINE AND REGULAR – WITH THE ALPINE DESIGN KICKING OUT ALL THE JAMS TO BE HALF THE WEIGHT OF OTHER BEAKS COMMONLY SEEN. THESE ARE WHAT INTEREST US, BECAUSE WE CARRY A LOT OF THEM, MAKING THEM THE ONLY TRUE ALPINE BEAK OPTION REALLY AVAILABLE.

AFTER THAT, WE REALLY LIKE THE CUT AWAY DESIGN THAT ALLOWS BEARTOOTH BEAKS TO BE SLUNG IN ALL SORTS OF WAYS, ESPECIALLY HITCHED DIRECTLY INTO AN EXTENDER SLING SO NEGATING A BINER. THE MILLED EDGES MEAN A ROPE CAN BE BE RUN STRAIGHT THROUGH, WHICH IS VITAL AS THESE ARE OUR CHOICE OF GEAR FOR DESCENTS, AND THE LARGE CUT AWAY IN THE HEAD MEANS THE BEAK WORKS FINE AS A BLADE PITON, PUNCHED IN ACROSS ANY PART OF ITS SHAPE.

IN THE HAND THESE BEAKS ARE CLEARLY WELL FINISHED, WITH ATTENTION TO LOTS OF DETAILS THAT COVER GEOMETRY, ANGLE OF FORCE AND PULL, HOOKING AGGRESSION, SURFACES TO HAMMER IN AND THUNK OUT, AND A LEVEL OF MACHINING THAT FEELS CLOSER TO SMITHING THAN TO MASS PRODUCTION. ALL EDGES ARE SMOOTHED AND THE BEAKS TAPER HAS A CURVE RATHER THAN JUST A DIRECT ANGLE, KEEPING METAL WHERE IT’S WANTED MOST BACK IN THE LINE OF APPLIED FORCE.

COMPARED TO COMMON BEAKS THESE ARE CUT WITH SERIOUS PRECISION, NOT JUST DRILLED, TO REMOVE AS MUCH METAL AS POSSIBLE AND DIRECT THE ANGLE OF PULL. THESE ARE MADE FOR THE AWKWARD PLACEMENTS OF RUN OUT ALPINISM NOT JUST THE CAREFUL LINE OF AID, AND BY DOING SO REMOVE THE NEED FOR CABLES AND SWAGING THAT ADD SO MUCH WEIGHT AND MESS ON THE RACK.

BEARTOOTH CALL THESE PITONS, NO DOUBT TO AVERT THE IRE OF WHOEVER CLAIMS THE NAME BEAK, BUT THEY DO INDEED HAVE MUCH IN COMMON WITH ALPINE PITONS WITH THE WAY THEY CAN BE CLIPPED. BEYOND THE OBVIOUS HOOKING GEOMETRY, THE OPTIONS FOR TYING OFF, SLINGING AND CLIPPING THESE ON TOP OF A FORM THAT WILL TAKE PLACING IN ALL SORTS OF WAYS, MAKES THEM A STANDALONE BIT OF HARDWARE AND NOT JUST ANOTHER BEAK AMONG MANY.

.

BEARTOOTH DO WHAT THEY DO AT THE HIGH END OF THE MATERIAL SPECTRUM, JUST LIKE OUR OTHER PARTNERS SUCH AS ELITECLIMB, MALACHOWSKI, SAMAYA, PARBAT AND CHHOGORI WHO ALL PUT MATERIAL ADVANCES AT THE CENTER OF DESIGN. BEARTOOTH USE THEIR OWN TYPE OF ARMOR STEEL, APPLIED WITH PAN-INDUSTRY KNOW HOW, TO GEOMETRY HONED AND TESTED ACROSS THE US AS WELL AS THE GREATER RANGES. THE TYPE OF STEEL MEANS THEY ARE VERY RESISTANT TO DEFORMATION BUT CAN BE RESTRAIGHTENED IF NEEDED, AND BEARTOOTH STAND BY THE INTEGRITY OF THEIR BEAKS BY BACKING UP EVERY ONE SOLD.

THIS IS THE SORT OF THING WE LIKE A LOT, GIVING US KILOGRAMS WE CAN SAVE ON HARDWARE AND TURN INTO FOOD, FUEL AND ENERGY. OUR EXPEDITION ONES WE GET ETCHED WITH THE FEEDING THE RAT EXPEDITIONS NAME AS WELL AS THE EXPEDITION, SO ANY LEFT BEHIND DON’T INSTANTLY BECOME TRASH OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN, BUT CAN BE USED AGAIN BY ANY FOLLOWING CLIMBERS WHO CAN MAKE THE JUDGEMENT CALL ON HOW OLD THE PIECE IS.

BEARTOOTH ALPINE BEAKS FORM A PART OF THE SPECIALIST STUFF WE WILL TAKE ON OUR RETURN TO THE NORTH KARAKORUM IN AUTUMN 2024, OUTFITTED WITH DESIGNS THAT CHANGE WHAT ALPINISM CAN DO BY BEING MORE EFFICIENT AND SAFER.

.