ELITE CLIMB
SALAMANDRA
CARBON/KEVLAR
TOOL
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2022 UPDATE
TRUE TO ELITECLIMB’S HISTORY OF INNOVATION, 2022 SEES US BEING ABLE TO OFFER THE NEXT GENERATION OF CARBON COMPOSITE CLIMBING TOOLS TO OUR CLIMBING TEAM MEMBERS – FORGED CARBON. LIGHTER & STRONGER THAN THE ALREADY GROUND BREAKING CARBON-KEVLAR TOOLS, FORGED CARBON FURTHER EXPENDS THE EXCEPTIONAL PROPERTIES OF USING A COMPOSITE TOOL. PAIRED WITH SEVERAL OTHER NEW FEATURES THAT UPGRADE HOW THESE TOOLS WORK, THE NEW ELITECLIMB TOOLS CONTINUE TO LEAD THE WAY IN CLIMBING TOOL DEVELOPMENT.
AVAILABLE ON SPECIAL ORDER, ENQUIRE HERE
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AROUND THE WORLD NO CLIMBER FAILS TO BE AMAZED BY THESE TOOLS, SO MUCH SO THAT WE ARRANGED A SPECIAL ORDER PROCESS FOR FEEDING THE RAT EXPEDITIONS TEAM MEMBERS.THESE TOOLS ARE MADE FOR HIGH ALTITUDE CLIMBING AND FROM THE BEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD TO DO IT, POLAND.
GROWING UP IN THE 80s WE ALL HEARD THE STORIES OF THE AMAZING GEAR BEING HAND MADE IN EASTERN EUROPE; TITANIUM, KEVLAR & COMPOSITES BEING APPROPRIATED AND MADE INTO LIGHTER AND MORE RADICAL STUFF THAN WE WERE GETTING FROM THE CORPORATE MAKERS IN THE WEST. ACCOUNTS OF ASCENTS ONLY ADDED TO THE MYTH, OF SLAVIC HARDMEN ON DIFFICULT ROUTES, HAVING PREPARED IN EXOTIC RANGES. THERE WAS SOMETHING ARTHURIAN OR JEDI-LIKE ABOUT IT ALL AND NAMES LIKE KRUKONOGI & USHBA WERE IN-WORDS THAT GOT ATTENTION.
30 YEARS ON, THE WORLDS UNITED YET THE WONDER GEAR FROM EASTERN EUROPE STILL HOLDS IT’S PLACE AS SUPER EQUIPMENT MADE WITHOUT THE KMART STYLE PRODUCTION SOMETIMES FOUND IN THE SUPER COMPANIES. OF THESE, ELITECLIMB HAS EMERGED AS THE LEADING EDGE IN TOOLS.
AS AN EMERGING COMPANY, THINGS MOVED FAST AND WITH 10 DAYS A RANGE OF TOOLS WERE IN OUR HANDS. TO DESCRIBE THESE TOOLS AS ‘NEXT LEVEL’ IS TO UNDERSTATE THEM. SINCE PRIMALOFT SOX WE’VE NOT SEEN SUCH A JUMP IN AUTHENTIC COLD CLIMB EQUIPMENT. MATERIAL-WISE, THE COMPOSITE CARBON FIBER / KEVLAR CONVEYS A WIDE SPECTRUM OF ADVANTAGES, ALL OF THEM REAL; +/-30% LIGHTER THAN ALUMINIUM, STIFFER THAN ANY OTHER MATERIAL USED IN TOOLS, WARM TO THE TOUCH AND MOST IMPORTANTLY – USEABLE ACROSS MULTIPLE DEMANDS AS TO MAKE SINGLE-PIECE TOOLS. THAT JUST ABOUT COVERS EVERY ANGLE OF PROBLEMS WITH EVERY OTHER TOOL ON THE MARKET; NO JOINTS TO BECOME WOBBLY, NO SUPER COOLED SURFACE FOR SNOW TO STICK TO, NO LOSS OF FIDELITY ON DELICATE ROCK. 2 TOOLS COMBINED EQUAL WHAT A SINGLE TOOL DID NOT LONG AGO.
IN USE? THE ELITECLIMB’S HAVING A NICE BALANCE DUE TO LIGHTER HEADS THAT MAY EVEN THE PLAY BETWEEN MOMENTUM AND PRECISION. TO ME AT LEAST THE ELITECLIMB’S FEEL LESS UNGAINLY TO PROBE WITH. IN THE HAND THE TOOLS CAN FEEL TOY-LIKE THEY ARE SO LIGHT, DECEPTIVELY SIMPLE AND TACTILE. THEY SWING DIFFERENTLY, RELYING ON MORE FLICK – STILL RETAINING A WEIGHT DIFFERENTIAL WITH THE HEAD, BUT DEMANDING A BETTER TECHNIQUE THAN HEAVIER TOOLS. THIS IS NOT A BAD THING AND CAN BE TWEAKED WITH PICK WEIGHTS.
THE QUIET ACHIEVERS IN THE SET UP ARE THE PICKS. STYLISHLY AGGRESSIVE, FUNCTION-FIRST AND COMPOSITE SPECIFIC, THESE NEW GEN PICKS SHOW WHATS MISSING IN PICKS FROM MOST OTHER COMPANIES, NAMELY A LARGER TAPER FROM TIP TO HEAD BASE THAT HAS MORE LEVERAGE IN ALPINE ROCK (SEE RED CAM SIZED CRACKS), TOP TEETH AS STANDARD AND BOTTOM TEETH EXTENDING DOWN THE SHAFT TO BOTH PROTECT THE CF/K AND BETTER HOOK LARGER ALPINE FEATURES. LIKE THE SHAFTS THEY ARE CLEARLY ADAPTED TO A WIDER RANGE OF CLIMBING THAN REGULAR ‘ICE’ TOOLS. SECONDARILY, THEY SIT SO LIGHTLY CLIPPED TO THE HARNESS I ACTUALLY PANICKED MORE THAN ONCE THAT ID DROPPED ONE. TRUE.
NEGATIVES; PERIPHERAL AT MOST. THE SLIM HEADS ARE A BIT UNCOMFORTABLE IF USED PIOLET STYLE, BUT A WRAP OF TAPE FIXES THAT. THREADING CORD AS CLIP LOOPS THRU THE POMMELS ANNOYS ME AS IT COLLECTS ICE AND DETRACTS FROM THE TRUE ‘ONE PIECE’ MEME, BUT AGAIN RESOLVABLE.
PERHAPS THE BIGGEST REAL-WORLD FACTOR HERE IS COST – THESE THINGS ARE AFFORDABLE. UNTIL NOW CF TOOLS – LET ALONE CF/K TOOLS – WERE BOTH HYPER EXPENSIVE AND HARD TO GET HOLD OF. THE GRIVEL CF TOOLS WERE EXCELLENT BUT SEEMINGLY NEVER AVAILABLE AND OLD GEN MATERIALS MEANT SOME AWKWARD & EXPENSIVE DESIGNING AROUND LIMITATIONS IN THE MATERIALS, BY EXAMPLE CARBON FORCE PICKS COST (AND WEIGH…) 4 TIMES WHAT THE ELITECLIMB PICKS DO, NEGATING THE WEIGHT PART OF THE CF ADVANTAGE. LIKEWISE BD COBRAS – ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL TOOL – HAVE ONLY ABOUT HALF CF IN THEM, THE MATERIAL LIMITATIONS OF THE ERA MEANING HANDLES AND HEADS WERE STILL OTHER STUFF. ELITECLIMB HAS FINALLY GOT A COMPOSITE WHERE IT SHOULD BE FOR ICE TOOLS AND ALONG THE WAY MADE THEM COST EFFECTIVE AND PROCURABLE.
IN A SINGLE PARAGRAPH; WE’VE ARRIVED ON COMPOSITE TOOLS, BEING FULLY FUNCTIONAL, AFFORDABLE AND WELL DESIGNED. SEVERAL ISSUES WITH TOOLS IN GENERAL HAVE BEEN ADDRESSED IN THE REAL WORLD, THE ETHICS ARE RIGHT (EMERGING, SMALL FOOTPRINT CRAFTSMEN), A GENUINE STEP IN EVOLUTION HAS BEEN TAKEN.
CURRENTLY WE HAVE THE REGULAR RANGE OF 3 TOOLS; RAPTORS FOR MIXED, SALAMANDRAS FOR ICE AND ALPINE AND THE KRUK FOR MOUNTAINEERING.ALL SALES INTEREST DIRECT TO FEEDING THE RAT EXPEDITIONS.
