Equipment notes (11): "the device is well spoken of"

Advice on alpine outfitting from the mid-1930s.

Ice-axe.—Ice-axes have not altered notably since Dr. Claude Wilson wrote his description of the best form of axe in his book on mountaineering in 1893. He agrees with the Badminton Library that the ice-axe should balance at about 12 or 14 inches from the head; but nowadays, since shorter axes are popular, it is sufficient for an axe with a shaft only 39 inches long to balance only nine inches from the head. The best axes are to be got in Switzerland or at Chamonix from blacksmiths who specialize in making them.

Illustration from the Badminton Library: Mountaineering (1892)

The Badminton Library (1892) speaks scathingly of the man who may succeed in solving the problem of making an axe with a removable head, and recommends those who want axes without heads to use alpenstocks. But the problem has altered and, today, is not quite as stated. It is now a question of making the axe in two sections so that it can be carried in the rucksack; a great advantage, for instance, on some of the Chamonix climbs. The device has been carried out by Simond, of les Bossons, and is well spoken of. There is, in fact, no mechanical reason why the piolet démontable should be a failure.

Beale, the ropemaker in Shaftesbury Avenue, supplies the ideal contrivance for carrying the axe while rock-climbing; it was invented by Dr. Wilson and, with strong pressure buttons, works perfectly. Mr. Fynn’s patent sling, supplied by Fritsch & Co. of Zurich, comes near to it in excellence and can also be used to prevent the axe from slipping out of the hand while step-cutting. It suffers, however, from the serious defect that the sliding ring that travels along the axe-shaft requires a stop and the latter interferes with the shaft in its function of sounding for hidden crevasses. The same disadvantage also applies to the leather rings that used formerly to be nailed to the shaft to give a better grip for the hand. There is also a tendency in time for the wood of the axe-shaft to rot from damp and rust underneath the ring.

References

Chapter Three “Equipment” by C F Meade in The Lonsdale Library of Sports, Games and Pastimes, Volume XVIII, Mountaineering, London: Seeley Service & Co, 1934.