ELITECLIMB MAKE THE BEST ICE TOOLS AVAILABLE, WE SAY THIS WITH TOTAL CONFIDENCE. BY ANY METRIC YOU CHOOSE, ELITECLIMBS TOOLS HIT THE HIGHEST STANDARD, AND NEVER BY A NUANCE OR IMPERCEPTABLE MARGIN, BUT BY ‘OUT OF THE BALL PARK’ DEGREES. NO ONE WE HAVE EVER HANDED A PAIR TO HAS FAILED TO BE STUNNED BY THEM.
THESE TOOLS ARE 20-30% LIGHTER. THEY ARE WARMER IN HANDS. THEY ARE BOTH MORE RIDGID AND MORE DAMPENED BECAUSE OF THEIR COMPOSITES. THEY ARE SINGLE PIECE SO THERES NOTHING TO LOOSEN. THEY ARE SO PERFECTLY ENGINEERED THEY DON’T HAVE SHIMS. THE PICKS ARE AMOR STEEL SO UNBELIEVABLY HARD. THE GEOMETRY IS SET BY HUMAN ERGONOMICS NOT THE LIMITATIONS OF MACHINED ALUMINIUM. THEY HANDLE THE SEVERE TREATMENT OF SEASONS OF MIXED CLIMBING IN THE HANDS OF THE WORLDS BEST ALPINISTS. THE PRICE POINT IS BELOW THAT OF MANY INFERIOR OR UNSPECIAL COMPETITORS. AND THEY CAN BE MADE IN ANY COLOUR OR DESIGN TO MATCH YOUR WEIRDEST FETISH OR NEED FOR INDIVIDUALITY.
ANYTHING ELSE YOU CAN THINK OF?
ON TOP OF ALL THIS, ELITECLIMB EVOLVES, EXPERIMENTS AND PUSHES FORWARD AT LIGHTSPEED COMPARED TO ANY OTHER TOOL MAKER. EVERY WINTER THERE’S IMPROVED OR REINVENTED STUFF, USUALLY THE RESULT OF COLLABORATION FIRST HAND WITH POLISH CLIMBERS AT THE LEADING EDGE OF THE GAME.
OF THIS IS THE LATEST SPECIES OF TOOL, THE MORPHO, AS DISTINCT IN THE EVOLUTIONARY TREE AS THE SALAMANDRA AND RAPTOR THAT CAME BEFORE. THE MORPHO HAS BEEN ABOUT FOR A YEAR OR TWO NOW, CREEPING UP TO NORMAL MARKET AVAILABITY VIA A STRING OF VERSIONS AND OFFSHOOTS THAT NAILED DOWN ITS POSITION AS THE FINEST MIXED TOOL OUT THERE.
VARIOUS VERSIONS EXIST, AS TO BE EXPECTED WITH ELITECLIMBS PLEASURE TAKEN IN EXPERIMENTATION AND REFINEMENT. GEOMETRIES EXIST THAT SPECIALIZE IN COMPETITION, DRY AND HARD MIXED, AND OUR ONES BEING TWEAKED FOR MORE ICE. THESE ARE A TOOL THAT HAS COME DOWN FROM THE HANDS OF THE ELITE-ONLY, CUSTOM SCENE, TO BE AVAILABLE TO EVERYONE. BE WARNED THOUGH; JUST AS EATING SUSHI IN JAPAN RUINS EATING IOT ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD, SO TOO DOES USING THE MORPHOS AS THEY SHOW THE GAP BETWEEN THEM AND EVERYTHING ELSE. AGAIN, WE SAY WITH CONFIDENCE.
EVEN IF YOU’VE BEEN AMAZED WITH THE SALAMANDRAS AND RAPTORS, THERE’S A LEAP WITH THE MORPHOS EVEN WE WERE STARTLED BY, AND THEY ARE A RADICAL DEPARTURE FROM EVEN ELITECLIMBS PREVIOUS RADICAL PROGRESS.
IMMEDIATELY OBVIOUS IS THE WAY THE MORPHOS HAVE BROKEN SYMMETRY. WHERE THE SALAMANDRAS AND RAPTORS WERE BUILT AROUND A BASICALLY SIMPLE AND EVENLY PROFILED MOLD, THE MORPHOS ARE MUCH MORE DIMENSIONAL, FLARING AND FLOWING TO PUT THE WEIGHT AND STRENGTH WHERE IT’S WANTED, TO MAKE FOR HEADS, CURVES AND HANDLES THAT ARE ORGANIC AND SOPHISTICATED.
THE HANDLES FEEL LIKE NOTHING ELSE OUT THERE, SURPASSING EVEN THE GRIVEL-REPARTO CORSE SERIES FOR FLOWING ERONOMICS. BORDERING ON FEELING LIKE SOME EXOTIC SEX TOY, THE MORPHOS CURVE TO THE PLEASURE OF THE HAND, WITH SUBLTIES THAT LET THE HAND RELAX, AND MOVE AROUND THE ENTIRE TOOL WITH NONE OF THE TOOL-LIKE FEEL OF OTHER GEAR. WONDERFULLY SLIM BY FORGOING ANY STRENGTH ISSUES FROM HAVING TO JOIN WITH OTHER MATERIALS, THE MORPHOS LITERALLY OPEN UP NEW HAND POSITIONS HITHER TO RARELY KNOWN.
OFFSET WITH THE INCREDIBLE LIGHTNESS OF THE TOOL THAT AMPLIFIES THE PICK-TO-HANDLE WEIGHT DIFFERENTIAL, POWERFUL SWINGS CAN BE MADE USING ELEGANT HANDWORK THAT IS UNKNOWN IN MORE BALANCED TOOLS. WHERE MOST TOOLS BALANCE SOMEWHERE AROUND THE MID-SHAFT, MORPHOS WITH THE PICK WEIGHTS ON BALANCE ABOUT 1/3 DOWN FROM THE TIPS, MAKING A HELLUVA LOT OF MOMENTUM IN A TOOL THATS SO LIGHT.
THE SWAN-LIKE CURVE OF THE SHAFT PLACES THE PICK SIMILAR TO HOW THE REPARTOS DID, BUT IN THIS CASE WITH A FLATTER SHAFT AND SO A GREATER SPACE TO REST OVER A SHOULDER, BUT THAT DOESN’T REDUCE THE SHAFTS MASS. FANS OF THE BD COBRA WILL RECOGNIZE THIS ELEMENT, BUT SEE IT EXAGGERATED BY THE MORPHOS EXTREME WEIGHT DIFFERENTIAL THAT GIVES NOTHING OVER TO THE COMPROMISE OF MATERIALS.
ON ROCK THESE ARE A PLEASURE TO TINKER AND TORQUE OVERHEAD WITH, BEING AT MAXIMUM COMPETITION LENGTH BY SO LIGHT AND NIMBLE AS TO NOT SUFFER FROM IT WITH DEXTERITY. THE WELL SUNK PICKS ARE EMBEDDED IN A LOT OF CARBON/KEVLAR COMPOSITE MASS SO AS TO NOT FEAR LOOSENING, WITH THE FRICTION OF THE COMPOSITE KEEPING THE BOLTS TIGHT AND NO THERMAL WEIRDNESS TO BE CONCERNED WITH.
DESPITE THE CONCERNS OF SOME THAT CARBON COMPOSITES AREN’T UP TO THE JOB, TESTING AND ELITE USE SAY OTHERWISE, ESPECIALLY WHEN MOST FAILURES COME FROM THE JOINING OF MATERIALS WHICH IS A DESIGN AND COST ISSUE.
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ALL THIS YOU PROBABLY EXPECTED TO HEAR, AS EVEN A LOOK AT THE TOOLS SHOWS THAT THEY HAVE ERGONOMICS BEYOND WHAT ANYTHING ELSE HAS. WHAT CAN’T BE SHOWN THOUGH IS THE ELEMENT OF WORKING WITH A TRUE PRODIGY IN THE FIELD, THAT PLACES CRAFTMANSHIP, MATERIALS AND CREATIVITY BEFORE ANY CORPORATE MENTALITY.
DEALING WITH ELITECLIMB IS TO LITERALLY DEAL WITH THE LEADING EDGE, AND THIS IS A TRUE MAVERICK IN THE BUSINESS THAT HAS LEFT THE OTHERS BEHIND. LIKE SAMAYA, PARBAT AND MALACHOWSKI THIS IS A COMPANY THAT LISTENS, AND FINDS NO GREATER PLEASURE THAN PUTTING INNOVATION INTO THE HANDS OF THOSE WHO PLAY WITH IT.
ABSOLUTELY WE FROTH OVER THESE TOOLS, AFTERALL THEY ARE THE TOOLS OF THE TRADE, AS WELL AS BEING TOYS, ART, ARTIFACTS AND SYMBOLS. THESE THINGS LET US GET INTO PLACES NO ONE ELSE CAN, AND IF THE MORPHO TELLS US ANYTHING IT IS THAT EVOLUTION IS WELL UNDERWAY.