I have an embarrassing secret: I do all my vertical ice with dual horizontal frontpoints. (Pause for gasps of disbelief) In my own defense, none other than Will Gadd recommends this approach.
Then I noticed that young wanker master Gadd is never, ever wearing horizontals in any pics I've seen. You bastard! I went right out and bought the scariest looking teeth I could find, the Grivel Rambo 4.
These monster fangs have a big-ass monopoint and removable heelspur, plus a second half-size frontpoint outboard from the mono and a third vestigial mini-point inboard. Length and points are single-screw adjustable, and the asymmetric footprint that seems too extreme nonetheless matches most boots. Integrated anti-balling plates and a simple yet solid clip system, with little shock-absorber coils in the front bail, round out the package.
So how do they climb? In a word, OMFG. They sink like an Argentine battleship, and with a little toe-up kick the aggressive splayed secondary points seat firmly. The most amazing thing is the feedback; with a suitably sensitive boot it actually feels like climbing rock. I could go on, but I'm too lazy. Suffice it to say the Rambos are at the top of food chain for climbing ice and mixed, and I'm never going back to horizontal frontpoints again. I don't care what Gadd says.
Next to your climbing partner, your axe is your most trusted friend on a big mountain. The Grivel Air Tech Evolution axe will be there for you when you need it, and at only 16.1oz it won't be a burden. Unlike, for example, certain climbing partners we have all known.
Yet another little thing that makes your life on the mountain easier. This ice axe leash is clear proof of intelligent design. Well, at least from Grivel.
