ELITECLIMB THIRD TOOL

FEW COMPANIES INNOVATE AT THE RATE ELITECLIMB DOES – AND THOSE THAT DO WE ALSO PARTNER WITH TO DEVELOP THE HIGHEST FUNCTION EXPEDITION ALPINE EQUIPMENT POSSIBLE. WHAT ELITECLIMB AND THEIR ILK HAVE IN COMMON IS THEY FIND SOLUTIONS TO THINGS THE BIGGER INDUSTRY IGNORES, TAPPING IN TO A LEADING EDGE THAT’S DOING STUFF AT THE HEAD OF THE CURVE.

IT’S COOL THAT ELITECLIMB FIND OUR IDEAS INTERESTING, BUT WHAT’S COOLER IS THAT OUR IDEAS SOMETIMES COINCIDE WITH THOSE OF OTHERS ALSO PUSHING INNOVATION, IN THAT OFTEN WHAT WE WANT IS ALREADY BEING DISCUSSED IN ELITE CIRCLES, IN THIS CASE JEDRZEJ JABLONSKI THE CLIMBER BEHIND THE MORPHO ICE TOOLS.

.

THE IDEA IS A SMALLER ‘THIRD TOOL’, THAT IS HAMMER SIZED AND USED TO PERFORM A WHOLE ARRAY OF TASKS. WE CALL IT A THIRD TOOL BECAUSE THAT IDEA IS ALREADY IN ICE CLIMBING PARLANCE, BUT THESE THINGS DO MUCH MORE THAN JUST ACT AS BACKUP IF A MAIN TOOL BREAKS OR IS DROPPED.

THE FIRST NEED CAME FROM A LOVE OF THE MORPHOS, THAT ARE SO FAR AHEAD OF WHATEVER COMES SECOND THAT WE WANTED TO TAKE THEM BEYOND ICE AND ONTO BIG PEAKS. THE LIMITATION HERE WAS THAT MORPHOS CURRENTLY DON’T TAKE HAMMERS, MAKING THEM USELESS FOR SINKING BEAKS AND PITONS. WE DEALT WITH THIS BY TAKING A JAPANESE TITANIUM HAMMER, WHICH SOLVED HALF THE PROBLEM, BUT FOUND OURSELVES DREAMING OVER COFFEE ABOUT A DREAM TOOL THAT DID THIS JOB BUT FILLED OUT THE SPACE TO THE SAME DEGREE OF OTHER ELITECLIMB TOOLS.

WE KNOW THIS IS NOTHING NEW, AND THAT SINCE THE EARLY DAYS ALPINISTS HAVE CARRIED THIRD TOOLS THAT COVERED ALL THIS. ASIDE FROM THE CONTINGENCY STUFF, A THIRD TOOL CAN BE MORE SPECIFIC AS A HAMMER, ALLOWING MORE RADICAL TOOLS TO BE CLIMBED WITH AND THUS NO COMPROMISE EXCEPT FOR THE TRADE OFF OF WEIGHT.

ELITECLIMB SOLVE THIS EQUATION, WITH 2 X MORPHOS + 1 X THIRD TOOL BEING COMPARABLE TO 2 X OTHER TOOLS IN WEIGHT, WHILST COVERING A FAR WIDER SPECTRUM OF FUNCTION. MORPHOS ARE ACTUALLY INCREDIBLE STEEP ALPINE TOOLS THAT DAGGER, PIOLET AND CLIMB MIXED WITH THE BEST OF THEM, WHILST THE THIRD TOOL – BEING BASED OF THE KRUK – DOES ALL THE BRUTAL STUFF.

.

FIRST AND FOREMOST THE THIRD TOOL IS A HAMMER, SIZED AND SHAPED TO SWING FOR PLACING HARDWARE IN CRACKS. THE HAMMER HEAD TO SHAFT WEIGHT RATIO MEANS IT REALLY PUNCHES, AND THOUGH YOU WON’T BE PLACING BOLTS IN GRANITE, WELL, WAS THAT HAPPENING ANYWAY?

AS A GENERAL IMPLEMENT FOR SCRAPING, HACKING, CLEANING AND RAKING THE PICK COVERS IT ALL, SWAPPING OUT FOR ANY OF THE NON-MORPHO PICKS DEPENDING ON THE JOB TO BE DONE. ITS ARMOR STEEL, SO STUPIDLY HARD, AND COMES WITH AN UPDATED ERGONOMIC DESIGN, MEANING IT WORKS AS A MINI-PIOLET AND HOLDS COMFORTABLY FOR DIGGING.

THEN THERE’S ALL THE OTHER STUFF IT DOES.

ON LOW ANGLE TERRAIN IT WORKS AS AN ICE DAGGER, SOMETHING LOST FROM THE CLIMBERS ARSENAL BUT NEVER REALLY FORGOTTEN. ON THINGS LIKE SCREE APPROACHES AND FROZEN STREAMS AND NEVE AND GLACIAL SNOUTS, THIS LETS THE CLIMBER RUN UP SAFE STUFF WHERE A FULL LENGTH TOOL GETS IN THE WAY. BASIC ARREST IS POSSIBLE AND YOU CAN STILL CLIMB TO A DECENT DEGREE.

ANOTHER SECONDARY USE IS AS AN ANCHOR, AS A BIG ICE HOOK, PUNCHED INTO FROZEN GROUND, HOOKED INTO CRACKS AND SCREE, AND FOR TENTS ALONG WITH OTHER SHARP GEAR. IN HIGH WINDS THIS BEATS ANYTHING ELSE TO SECURE A FLAPPING TENT AS ITS PUT UP, AND IS STRONG ENOUGH TO ANCHOR FROM AS PART OF A BELAY. THERE’S LOTS OF CLIP OPTIONS INCLUDING HITCHING OFF THE EXTENDED HAMMER HEAD, AND IT CAN BE TORQUED IN AT THE HAMMER LIKE A MIDDLE-SIZED NUT.

IT WOULDN’T BE HARD TO RETROFIT SOME PICK WEIGHTS IF YOU REALLY NEEDED TO BANG IN STUFF, AND IT OBVIOUSLY CLIPS TO A LEASH WITH A FULL SIZED BINER AND CAN FUNK OUT DIFFICULT GEAR. THE CARBON COMPOSITE SHAFT IS WARM TO HOLD, ROBUST AND TEXTURED SO IT WON’T SLIP, AND DAMPENS JUST ENOUGH TO NOT BE JARRING FOR ALPINE USE.

IT FITS A SLIDING TRIGGER WHICH MAKES IT A REAL TOOL FOR EASY USE ON LOW-TECH ROUTES, SUCH AS SNOWPACK AND TRAVERSES OR EASY RIDGES WHERE IT CAN PAIR WITH A SINGLE AXE OR POLE. IT CLIPS NICELY TO THE BACK OF A HARNESS LIKE A HAMMER OR ANY PACK WITH NORMAL ATTACHMENT SYSTEMS.

.

IT’S UNLIKELY ELITECLIMB WILL MAKE THESE ARE STANDARD, SO GO THROUGH US SO THEY KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT.