NOTE THIS REVIEW IS OF THE AERO SCREW, NOT THE AERO LITE SCREW THAT MUCH NOISE IS ABOUT.
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ICE SCREWS HAVE COME A LONG WAY IN THE LAST 10 – 15 YEARS, AND LIKE MANY THINGS HAVE PUSHED UP AGAINST THE WALL OF BEING TOO LIGHT FOR FUNCTION IN THE ARMS RACE TO MARKET ACCORDING TO GRAMS. YES WEIGHT DOES MATTER, BUT ONLY IN RELATION TO FUNCTION, AND IN THE CASE OF SOMETHING AS EPHEMERAL AS ICE SCREWS WE THINK THE NEW GEN OF ALU SCREWS IS A STEP TOO FAR IN MOST CASES.
WE SAY THIS HAVING BEEN THROUGH THE TRIAL AN ERROR OF IT, TAKING UP THE ULTRALIGHT SCREWS EARLY IN THE DAYS, AND COMING TO DISMISS THEM AS THINGS CAME AROUND. FOR SURE, ON ASCENTS WHERE THE WEIGHT OVER A FAIRLY SET OF SCREWS MAKES A DIFFERENCE THEY HAVE THEIR PLACE, BUT FOR THE 90% OF OUR STUFF THAT ISN’T THAT THEIR FUNCTION JUST DOESN’T ADD UP.
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A SCREW NEEDS TO BE RELIABLE FIRST AND FOREMOST, FOR PUTTING IN, MAKING THREADS, HOLDING POWER, AND ROBUSTNESS, AND ALU/STEEL ULTRALIGHT SCREWS FAIL ALL THAT IN COMPARISON TO FULL STEEL ONES WHEN IT COMES TO BIG MOUNTAIN USE. THEIR ONLY ADVANTAGE IS WEIGHT – WHICH ITSELF IS NOT WHAT IT SEEMS – AND WHEN WEIGHT IS WEIGHED UP AGAINST SECURITY, WHATEVER GAINS THERE ARE START TO DIMINISH.
ROAD SIDE OR WEEKEND ROUTES SURE, OR WHERE ONLY USED A FEW WEEKENDS A YEAR, BUT JUST AS WHEN THE SAME CRITERIA IS APPLIED TO ANY BIT OF PPE, WEIGHT SAVING AS THE ONLY VECTOR IS RARELY THE MAIN CONCERN. NEVER FORGET SOME OF THE GREATEST ROUTES EVER WE DONE WITH SCREWS MORE THAN DOUBLE THIS WEIGHT, SO IT BOILS DOWN TO LITTLE AND AS IS OFTEN SAID ‘IT IS THE WIZARD NOT THE WAND’.
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THE PROBLEM WITH ALU SCREWS IS THEY ARE HARDER TO PLACE, INITIALLY BECAUSE ALUMINIUM HAS A GREATER FRICTION INTERFACE, WHICH ONLY WORSENS AS THEY INEVITABLY GET DINGED UP. THEY WILL STILL ALMOST ALWAYS WORK OBVIOUSLY, BUT AS THE CLIMBING GETS HARDER THE DIFFICULTY OF PLACING ALSO GOES UP, EVENTUALLY BECOMING AN ISSUE THAT MUST BE WORKED AROUND. NOW, STEEL SCREWS ARE NOT TOTALLY IMMUNE TO THIS EITHER, BUT BY THE SIMPLE MATERIALS THEY STAY IN BETTER SHAPE LONGER, FAR LONGER THAN THE RELEVANCY OF WEIGHT WHICH WE WILL SEE IS LESS OF AN ISSUE.
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OVER A SET OF SAY 10, COMPARED TO THE LIGHTEST ALU SCREWS AVAILABLE, ALU SCREWS WILL GIVE YOU TWO MORE FOR THE SAME WEIGHT, WHICH IS REAL NUMBERS. WHETHER THOSE NUMBERS HAVE ANY BEARING ON A CLIMBER IS SUBJECTIVE, BEING ONLY AROUND 200g.
FURTHER INVESTIGATION SHOWS THAT NOT ALL ALU ‘ULTRALIGHT’ SCREWS ARE CREATED EQUAL, WITH SOME FROM SOME BRANDS EQUALING THE WEIGHT OF THE FULL STEEL AERO. THIS COMPARISON IS FURTHER SKEWED AS IT IS IN RELATION TO LENGTH, WHERE A FULL STEEL AERO IS ALMOST IDENTICAL TO A LONGER ALU, IN WHICH CASE IT IS THE RACK THAT MATTERS NOT THE INDIVIDUAL ICE SCREWS.
SO YOU CAN GET WHERE WE ARE GOING WITH THIS, THAT ON WEIGHT ALONE THE COMPARISON IS ARBITARY, AND SO WHEN WEIGHED AGAINST FUNCTION THE VIRTUES OF THE BLUE ICE AERO SCREWS IS WHERE THE REAL COMPARISON HOLDS WATER.
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THE FIRST THING MOST NOTICE IS THAT THE AERO SCREWS HAVE ONLY 3 TEETH, PURPORTING TO THEN MEAN A MORE AGGRESSIVE CUTTING ACTION AND THEREFORE ARE QUICKER TO PLACE. IN REALITY THEY CERTAINLY FEEL FAST AND AGGRESSIVE, BUT HOW REALISTIC THIS IS WOULD NEED SOPHISTICATED TESTING, BUT THE POINT IS THAT IT DOESN’T HINDER THEM.
WHAT DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE IS THE WAY THE METAL HAS BEEN SPENT, WITH THINNER SCREW WALLS BUT A WIDER DIAMETER, USING ABOUT THE SAME AMOUNT OF METAL DIFFERENTLY. BLUE ICE AERO SCREWS ARE NOTICEABLY WIDER, WHICH AS A CRITICISM OF OLD SCREWS FROM DAYS OF YORE WHERE IT ADDED FRICTION, BUT IN THIS CASE THE THIN WALLS NEGATE THAT BY CUTTING THROUGH THE ICE AT A THINNER PROFILE, AND DUMPING THE CUT ICE OUT FAST VIA THE RELATIVELY WIDER TUBE TO EXPELL IT.
BUT AGAIN, THESE ARE THINGS THAT WOULD NEED REFINED TESTING FOR REAL WORLD DATA TO SHOW A DIFFERENCE, UNTIL IT COMES TO THE HOLDING POWER WHERE THE ADDED CIRCUMFERENCE IS OBVIOUS.
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ICE SCREWS HOLD BY THE RETENTION OF THE THREAD IN THE ICE, CREATING OUTWARD FORCE OVER AN AREA WHERE MORE SURFACE AREA MATTERS. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT BLUE ICE IS DOING WITH THE LARGER BORE OF THE AERO SCREWS. WHATEVER THE ACTUAL AMOUNT, THE LARGER DIAMETER EQUATES TO MORE THREAD CONTACTING MORE ICE FOR MORE OUTWARD PURCHASE, WHICH WHEN ADDED TO THE EQUAL OR BETTER PLACEMENT IS WHAT THESE SCREWS ARE ALL ABOUT.
BLUE ICE PROMOTE TOO THAT THE LARGER DIAMETER BORE MEANS BEING ABLE TO REUSE OLD SCREW HOLES FROM OTHER SCREWS, REAMING THEM OUT TO SIZE. IN A BUSY LOCATION THIS CAN BE A REAL FACTOR THAT CHANGES THE WAY THINGS LIKE ANCHORS ARE PLACED.
BEYOND THAT, AND MOST RELEVANT TO ALPINE CLIMBING, IS THAT THE ADDED GIRTH MAKES A AND V-THREADS HUGELY EASIER, WITH MORE BORE MAKING THE INTERSECTION OF THREAD HOLES EASIER, AND ALSO EASIER TO SEE DOWN TO HOOK CORD. THREADS WHERE THE ROPE ITSELF IS GOING THROUGH BECOME NOT ONLY EASIER BUT IN SOME CASES SIMPLY POSSIBLE, IN WHAT IS PROBABLY THE BIGGEST LEAP IN ICE PROTECTION SINCE THE ADVENT OF THE COMMERCIAL THREADER.
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A SECONDARY, IF THAT, ADVANTAGE OF THE AERO SCREWS IS THE DESIGN OF THE TIP CAPS, WHICH ARE USUALLY A PERIPHERAL THING THAT GETS LOST OR DISCARDED, BUT NOT IN THIS CASE. TO SAVE THE TIPS FROM DAMAGE BLUE ICE HAS MADE THEM BOTH ROBUST AND FUNCTIONAL, SO THEY CAN BE KEPT ON WHEN CLIMBING AND REMOVED EASILY WITH ONE HAND WHEN THE TIME COMES TO PLACE. NO LONGER THE SIGNATURE OF THE CLIMBER WHO FORGOT TO CHECK THEIR GEAR, THEY ARE WHIPPED OFF EFFORTLESSLY ONTO AN ICE CLIPPER AND RETAINED TO BE PUT BACK ON QUICKLY.
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WE CAN’T SAY ENOUGH ABOUT THE AERO SCREWS, WITH THEM BEING THE FULL CIRCLE OF SOMETHING THAT NEEDED IT, WHERE PRIMARY GEAR GETS MATCHED UP ACROSS ALL VECTORS TO BE A HIGH POINT OF CLIMBING DESIGN.
