This is a working document of Drytooling terminology that can change and is updated. If you see something wrong or have input on a new term, Let Us Know!
Ice climbing continues to grow! And with it are several 'mark your calendars NOW' events that bring us climbers together for fun, friends, ice climbing, and usually lots of beer. Check out the starred events to check out DRY ICE Tools in person!
NORTH AMERICA
MCA Ice Climbing Festival September 13-15 2019 Glacier Park Resort AK (near the Matanuska Glacier) Events are based out of campsites #9 3/4 in the open field by the river and closer to the toe of the glacier.
Portland Alpine Festival Paused due to COVID. Usually in November Portland OR
Bozeman Ice Festival December 4-12, 2021 Bozeman, MT
Sandstone Ice Festival Paused due to COVID. Usually in January Robinson Park Quarry, Sandstone, MN
Adirondack International Mountain Fest January 14-17, 2022 Keene Valley, NY
*Ouray Ice Fest January 20-23, 2022 Ouray, CO
Smuggler's Notch Ice Bash January 28-30, 2022 Smugglers Notch, VT
Catskill Ice Festival January 22-24 2022 New Paltz, NY
Mt. Washington Valley Ice Festival February 4-6, 2022 North Conway, NH
Duluth Ice & Mixed Fest No Dates yet, Duluth, Minnesota
Michigan Ice Fest February 12-16, 2020 Munising, MI
Valdez Ice Fest February 14-17 2020 Valdez, Alaska Get REALLY psyched with this:
Rock Spot IceFest March 2020 The Flume Gorge NH
Southern Ontario Ice Fest February 2020 Maynooth, Ontario, Canada
INTERNATIONAL
KAILAS ICE CLIMBING FESTIVAL Dec 30-Jan 2 Sugunaing National Park Shuangquiao Valley, China
Remarkables Ice & Mixed Festival Aug 13-16 2020 Queenstown NZ
Portillo Ice Fest Aug 2-4 2020 Portillo, Chile
Erzurum Ice Climbing Festival Jan 2020 Uzundere, Erzurum, Eastern Turkey.
While wearing TG’s®, climbers now ascend the cliff armed with the knowledge of decades of beta right in front of their eyes!
Ben Carlson bridging the gap on the final pitch of Buttermilk Falls, Catskills NY. Photo: Bill Baer.
One of the finest outings in the Catskills, climbing the entirety of the Buttermilk Falls (BMF) ravine offers one of the longest adventure outings in the range. While not the most technically difficult climbing in the Catskills, BMF is an involved day that includes a challenging off-trail approach with bushwhacking, route finding, rope and risk management rewarded with 7 fun pitches of Catskill backcountry grade WI2-WI5 ice climbing. BMF has enough terrain to support several parties and allows climbers to choose their own challenge. Add in an exciting river crossing that may or may not be easily passable and you have the makings of a deeply memorable and exciting day out.
This is a beta guide to climbing Buttermilks Falls. If you’re the self-sufficient outdoorsy type that likes to figure it out on your own, stop reading. If you feel more comfortable having more information than none, this is for you.
Note: Snow and ice conditions vary from year to year, month to month, even hour to hour. It is possible that much of the information here may be incorrect. I’ve tried to be general about the character of each pitch, but BMF is it’s own beast. It can be forming when you think it should be falling down, deteriorating when you think if should be fat. Be prepared for everything and #seekqualifiedinstruction. Rescue from the BMF ravine would be a costly and arduous affair. Be prepared to spend the night. If you don’t think you can handle any one of these wilderness challenges described below, swallow your ego and hire one of the excellent guides out of New Paltz: Mountain Skills, EMS Climbing School, Alpine Endeavors, more guide services are available at Rock and Snow.
Route Condition Beta: BMF is a reliable north-facing route that sees little direct sunlight. BMF comes in early and lasts till late in the season. It is possible to scope out the top pitches from the road. Binoculars are helpful.
Gear Beta: Most parties will feel comfortable with 5 to 6 13-16cm screws, a 60m rope, and 8 alpine draws. If the plan is to climb harder or mixed terrain, edit your kit appropriately. Of note: Microspikes can be very useful on the approach / descent.
Descent Beta: There are two options of the descent, rappel or walk off. Details here.
Below is a map of the journey. The approach / descent is in red. The ice climbing portion is in blue.
Parking Beta:
Typically most climbers start from the parking area on Route 23A located here:
This is the same lot used by climbers accessing the ice climbs at Asbestos Wall. On weekends with good conditions this lot can fill up quickly.
Tip: On the drive up the ravine from Palenville, scope out the level of the water in the creek. If the water is high you may choose to do the long approach from the very limited parking area down valley for Moore’s Bridge.
Begin by walking downhill on the shoulder of road about 70 meters. Use extreme caution and stay off the road. The ski traffic is heavy and they drive fast. Peer over the guardrail and select the least treacherous descent down the steep slope to the Kaaterskill Creek. This slope faces due south. Depending on the sun condition this slope can be very loose and muddy, or leaf-covered and frozen. In a good year this will be covered with snow and you can delightfully glissade through the hardwood.
At the creek, find the widest part of the creek. The widest part with have the slowest current and higher potential for solid ice bridges. The creek can be completely frozen over, or a slippery boulder hopping affair. You may choose to don your crampons here to manage the risk of slipping or falling in the creek. Many times it is possible to hop from boulder to boulder in the creek. It is entirely possible that the creek may not be crossable. DO NOT chance it. If you cannot find a safe place to cross, or if there is rain or a very warm temperature swing in forecast in the afternoon, climb something else.
Tip: In recent years, someone has marked a decent crossing with pink surveyor’s tape.
Crossing Kaaterskill Creek in solid conditions.
After crossing the creek, scramble up the opposite slope until you come across what feels like an old road. Turn Left and head down valley until you are about 50 meters from crossing the BMF drainage. Staying climbers right of the BMF creek bed, bushwhack and scramble your way up ravine for about 30-40 minutes from the Kaaterskill. This slope can be very steep. Use caution. Again, put on your crampons if you feel the footing is insecure.
Tip: For the full monty, continue into the BMF drainage. Climb up the entire creek bed of ice bulges and short pillars from Kaaterskill creek to the top of the final pitch.
About 40-50 mins after leaving the car, you’ll arrive at the first pitch. This pitch is a great example of how BMF offers something for everyone. Steep vertical ice on the right, lower angle, fat ice on the center and left, and if the pitch is a total disaster, it’s even possible to scramble around it and avoid it. Gear up here. Most climbers will climb with their packs since they may not be descending this way (see Descent).
Gearing up at the beginning of P1.
After P1, continue scrambling up the creek bed till you arrive at the shortest pitch on the route. Pitch(ette) 2 climbs up from a very deep pool. Make sure its frozen before walking over it.
View from the top of P1. Kronos Ice Tools in the foreground.
“Pitch” 2. Not really a pitch, but not really a place you want to fall either.
Continue up the creek to the tantalizing Pitch 3. Climb on the left, or right, center, or challenge yourself with one of the emerging mixed lines on the far right.
P3
Mixed lines for the creatively minded.
Coming up P3. Photo Ben Carlson.
Wide and aesthetically pleasing, the poetic Pitch 4 offers many options. It would be possible to climb at the pitch 4 amphitheater all day. The left side of the high flowing main falls is usually in good and easy shape. The right side offer steeper climbing. For those seeking a challenge there is usually a very steep grade 5 pillar forms to the left of the main falls. Take care in lean conditions as the ice can be thin at the top.
P4. Steeper than it looks.
Climbing the steep pillar left of main flow at P4.
From the top of P4, scramble up to the rollicking P5. Really 2 short pitches, P5 can very wet. Pick a line but do your best to avoid the wettest section as the best is yet to come.
Looking up to P5, on the right, from the top of P4.
P5
Wild and free on P5. Note the wet ice on the right of pic.
Tip: It’s possible to diverge from the main creek to the rolling slabs Left of the main flow..
Slabs and short pillars in a never-ending-choose-your-own-adventure of ice climbing that is BMF.
Surmount a short bulge on your way to ‘the wall’ that is P6.
Short bulge pre-P6.
Tip: Those with a keen eye will notice an exciting line dropping down to the right of P6. If you have it in you, do this route. Excellent, steep climbing, and fun. Lower back to the main route from the tree anchor and continue over to P6.
P6 is wide and offer several different types of featured ice. Usually best in the center. Enjoyable climbing on your way to…
P6. So much ice! P7 visible above.
…the final pitch of Buttermilk Falls.
What’s better than climbing, MORE climbing! In typical BMF character, the transcendent P7 offers many options, a fat main falls, a fat, steep pillar just right of the main flow, a Stas Beskin style freestanding pillar on the right, and mixed routes far Left and far Right to explore. Woo-Hoo! Note: There is a rescue cache far right on this final tier.
BMF early in the season.
BMF later in the season.
Soak it in, have some tea, eat something, and prepare for the descent.
Descent
Option 1 - Leave pack at base.
Rap the route, pick up your pack, and follow your steps out the way you came in.
Option 2 - Take pack with you.
If you choose this option you’ll be walking down The Express.
This is a walk off option that is a bit of a quad burner with some involved route rinding. The advantage is that if there is good snow, this option is much faster and also much safer than rappelling. Remember, the largest percentage of climbing accidents are rappelling accidents.
There is no defined trail. The general trend on this descent is to ride the sharp steep ridge along the edge of the drainage 1500ft down to the bottom of the valley. I’ve documented some significant features for you to find along the way. Ultimately, use your nose, stick close to the ridge, keep going down, and be careful.
From the bottom of P7, look off to the far far left. Head for the large pillars / slabs left of the main BMF flow.
Continue along this tiny terrace into the woods.
Wend your way down the ridge and find this split boulder along the cliff band. There is a large crack in it. Go down through it.
Trend Left and continue down to a break in the next cliff band. Climbers have begun to build cairns at these cliffs band crossings..
Some kids / hunters have built a small fort out of sticks and tow rope. Pass this. Stay Left and find another break in the next cliff band.
Continue to ride the ridge down. Stay left and find a break in the next and last cliff band. Descend.
At this point a slight but steep trail will begin to reveal itself. Follow this and wind back to the left and down the ridge.
Continue down the trail. Stay close to the ridge.
When you’re just about to the Kaaterskill Creek, bust Left (skier’s left), cross the BMF Drainage and pickup your track from the way up.
Cross the creek, then up the final slap-in-face slope to the car.
Crossing Kaaterskill Creek.
What a kick in the teeth this final slope it.
-BC
Rock Climbing season, also known as the ‘off-season’ for ice-thusiasts, can be a wonderful time of cragging and suns-out-guns-out excitement. Except for this past year in the Northeast USA where the weather was crap for 9/10 of the year. Rained almost every week, and when it did, it came down harder than an Access Fund campaign on threatened lands.
So rather than lament the terrible rock season, why not knock together some oddball pieces of wood and build a dry tooling wall? My house, a.k.a. Furnace Industries USA Headquarters, was currently undergoing some renovations, so I asked the contractor to leave me some scrap wood for a ‘proj’. Here’s how my buddy Mike and I built a super-low-budget wall to get psyched for the upcoming ice season while waiting for the cliff to dry out. Cost: $8.49 Time: 2 hrs.
If you want to go only a teensy bit bigger, you could easily bolt on some Verticallife Dry Tooling Holds available here or if you want to get serious, screw on some Krukonogi Dry Tooling Holds available here.
Materials list:
2 - Good condition pallets, Leftover from building materials delivery, or scavenged from any big box retailer. The ones we used happened to be 36” wide.
2 - 12’ 2 x 12s Leftover from roof construction. These were untreated, I know they’ll rot, but you use what you have.
1 - 4’ 2 x 12 - Rando off-cut from renovations.
1 - 4’ 2 x 4 - Pulled from the dumpster
52 - Exterior Grade 2.5in #8 Screws (or ‘fasteners’ for the O.C.D. ilk) Found in the back of the garage, or $8.47 at Home Depot.
1 - Slab of leftover LVL from renovation for the wall to stand atop so that the bottom doesn’t sit directly on the ground and rot quickly. Could easily have substituted cinder blocks.
40’ - Leftover Gym Rope. Our local gym was tossing their old top ropes during their routine rope replacement. Although not good for climbing, they are still fine for rigging the dry tooling wall.
2 - 4in x 1/2” Stainless Steel Eyebolts with nuts and washers. These we did buy. $8.49 for both at our local hardware store. Probably could be found cheaper other places, but, you know, tariffs…
1 - Locking Carabiner. Just pulled one from the gear bin.
Tools:
Eye Protection and Gloves. Don’t pull a Tommy Caldwell or lose an eye.
Drill
Saw, in case you need to trim things down or cut anything to size.
Screw Bits and Drill Bits
Sawhorses or table, although we could have just worked on the ground.
Building the Wall
Gather materials and get ready to rock.
-Squeeze clamp the pallets to the 2x12’s We chose to make the top pallet flush with the top of the wall and then space the lower pallet 4” lower from the bottom of the top pallet so keep the rungs at a regular spacing. We also chose to align the front of the pallet to the front of the 2 x 12s. It was just easier to build that way.
-Pre Drill 8 - 1/8” holes long each side of each pallet. We chose to do 4 from the inside and 4 from the outside on each length of each pallet for no other reason than we thought it would be stronger.
-Slam screws in. Make SURE the screws are connecting in both the pallets and the 2 x 12s.
-Add some structure. We chose to add a short 2 x 12 at the bottom and a 2 x 4 at the top for rigidity. 2 screws each side on each.
-Add some feet. We didn’t want to have to worry about wearing rock shoes or fruit boots, so we added two rungs of scrap flooring material pulled from the dumpster and cut to size.
-Install eyebolts. Drill 1/2” holes equidistant from the sides and top of the 2 x 12’s on both sides. This is the place you do not want to take chances. These must be solid.
-Rig up the wall. We had a tree in the back yard with a convenient split at a good rigging height.
-Crush. As a bonus, we rigged to be able to adjust the angle.
So there you have it, a DIY Drytooling wall that cost less than a coffee date at Starbucks.
And again, if you want to get just a little bit more rad for little $, you could easily bolt on some Verticallife Dry Tooling Holds available here or if you want to get a lotta bit more rad, screw on some Krukonogi Dry Tooling Holds available here.
UPDATE 2/7/2021: The wall has been up for over 2 years now, and it’s still as solid as the day we built it.
-Bc
Ice climbing continues to grow! And with it are several 'mark your calendars NOW' events that bring us climbers together for fun, friends, ice climbing, and usually lots of beer. Check out the starred events to get your hands on DRY ICE Tools and ICICLES!
NORTH AMERICA
MCA Ice Climbing Festival September 21-23 2018 Glacier Park Resort AK (near the Matanuska Glacier) Events are based out of campsites #9 3/4 in the open field by the river and closer to the toe of the glacier.
Portland Alpine Festival November 13-18 2018 Portland OR
Bozeman Ice Festival December 5-9 2018 Bozeman, MT
Sandstone Ice Festival January 4-6 2019 Robinson Park Quarry, Sandstone, MN
Adirondack International Mountain Fest January 11-14 2019 Keene Valley, NY
*Ouray Ice Fest January 24-27, 2019 Ouray, CO
Smuggler's Notch Ice Bash January 25-27, 2019 Smugglers Notch, VT
Catskill Ice Festival January 25-28 2019 New Paltz, NY
Mt. Washington Valley Ice Festival February 1-3, 2019 North Conway, NH
Cody Ice Fest February 7-10, 2019 Cody, Wyoming
Lake City Ice Climbing Festival February 9, 2019 Lake City Colorado
Duluth Ice & Mixed Fest February 2019, Duluth, Minnesota
Michigan Ice Fest February 13-17, 2019 Munising, MI
Valdez Ice Fest February 15-18 2019 Valdez, Alaska Get REALLY psyched with this:
Rock Spot IceFest February 15-24 2019 The Flume Gorge NH
Southern Ontario Ice Fest February 22-24 2019 Maynooth, Ontario, Canada
INTERNATIONAL
KAILAS ICE CLIMBING FESTIVAL Dec 30-Jan 2 Sugunaing National Park Shuangquiao Valley, China
Remarkables Ice & Mixed Festival Aug 15-18 2018 Queenstown NZ
Portillo Ice Fest Aug 17-19 2018 Portillo, Chile
Erzurum Ice Climbing Festival Jan 24 2018 Uzundere, Erzurum, Eastern Turkey.
It’s that time! The Ouray Ice Festival, the biggest, baddest, most amazing ice festival on planet earth happens this weekend. Furnace Industries is proud to return as a sponsor. We have the tool that has everyone in the ice community talking, awesome prizes for our annual pull-up contest, and our flagship product that has completely changed the game in training for ice.
If being in beautiful Ouray, Colorado wasn’t awesome enough, here are 3 more reasons to swing by the Furance Industries booth this weekend:
1. The Kronos
It’s gorgeous, reduces vibration, keeps your hands warmer and of course climbs amazingly. The Kronos offers features no other tool can, and YES, we will have them available to demo. This is a big deal. Why? No other wood ice tool in history has achieved the 'T' rating. The KRONOS is the first. Don’t know what a ’T’ rating is? You should, our lives depend on it.
2. The Annual DRY ICE Tools Pull-up Contest!
It's open to any man/woman/child/bighorn sheep/space alien. The winner will be whoever knocks out the most pull-ups over two days. The contest is cumulative, starts on Friday at 8 a.m. and finishes on Saturday at 4 p.m. Climbers can pop in, crank out 10, head out climbing, swing back, crank out 10 more, go have a beer, crank out 10 more... Last year, our comp brought out some big guns at Ouray. Devon Stratton won with 910 pullups! Devon won a sweet Grivel Zen 35 Backpack. This year the prize is the top-of-the-line Maxim Rope , the 9.1 x 60m 2X Dry Bi-Pattern Airliner Torch. That's a $349 prize folks. Get excited for this pull-up THROWDOWN!
3. DRY ICE Tools
Our original product continues to change the game in large part to a fan base that understands that training in the off-season, even a small amount, leads to big results in strength, muscle memory, and confidence. They also appreciate well-crafted, excellently-designed products. Many climbing gyms now own their own DRY ICE Tools as well as our ICICLES and offer clinics to members on ice climbing movement.
Do not miss this! Get down to Ouray and check us out. We also have some other new surprises, hats to win, along with our usual pithy and humorous sticker selection to decorate your helmet/car/water bottle/wind deflector/friend's forehead when they're sleeping...
Furnace Industries is proud to present Génération Dry.
Come with us to discover what dry-tooling is through world class athletes and astonishing routes all over the Alps, including a historical route in the North Face of the Drus. These events are FREE.
There will be two showings:
Jan 27 Rock and Snow, 8pm
Feb 23 Southern Ontario Ice Festival, 8pm
#ItsAlwaysIceSeason Gaetan RAYMOND Génération Dry Dry Tooling Style
It is a fact that our winters are less and less cold (although maybe not this year). Therefore it is harder and harder to get the conditions for ice-climbing. Fortunately, man adapts to his environment and makes progress: this is how dry-tooling was born. This movie will make you discover this discipline: its history, its evolution and the current practice. You will also see how much excitement dry tooling can bring. Dry-tooling now allows to free-climb some routes which were impossible to climb without aid in the past.
To make this documentary worth it, we have spent two intense years of filming. From Chamonix to Italy, but also in Grenoble and in so many other places… we traveled a lot. We were looking for the most astonishing routes, awesome landscapes. Even though you may not be a climber, we wanted to make a film that you will enjoy watching.
In fact, this movie is not just about dry-tooling, but it also aims at showing the many dimensions of the mountains, through the multiple aspects of current alpine winter mountaineering. It is the history of the evolution of the alpine practice through dry-tooling.
So just grab a seat, some popcorn… and enjoy the film!
The film is available for purchase here: https://www.reelhouse.org/pierre.chauffour/generation-dry
Sometimes genius is recognized. Our Chief Product Designer George Fisher was profiled in The Oxford Times recently for his woodworking business. (Pinch to zoom images below)
For some it's with that first swing. For others, it's when they hear the sound of the file on their picks...
For a select few, ice season never ends.
Our latest video asks the question, and helps to explore what it means to be an ice climber.
Suffering through a hot, humid, sticky New York summer, we like to escape to the ice with laps on DRY ICE Tools, and also some get-amped-for-winter films.
Hot Aches consistently produces excellent and award-laden climbing films. From their early work in E11 to their latest installments, they are able to weave very beautiful pictures coupled with a compelling story, something lacking in many of today’s climbing films.
How close to the edge can you take it? How do you reckon the route and the risk? The film asks two simple but loaded questions. However the film’s main mechanism is not an original idea. It’s the main character, a Yorkshireman who once worked in the coal mines, quietly narrating over footage of him climbing.
Andy Cave, full of energy and zeal for life, shows us some of the best of Scottish winter climbing. At around 34 min tho, shit gets real. The climbing... The story... I’m not going to spoil it. It’s just a fabulous piece of filmmaking and storytelling.
Intercut with literary moments and scotch barrels are Steck-style fall line assaults and excellent, hard earned camerawork to capture Cave and his partner Gary Kinsey climbing on Ben Nevis and other Scottish areas.
Worth a look for sure. Def worth the purchase (or rent). Pour three fingers and enjoy.
Produced and directed by Paul Diffley. 42 min
-Bc
FURNACE INDUSTRIES is very proud to present Time to Climb Fest on April 22 at the NJ Rock Gym. Time To Climb Fest is a day event of Pro Climbers, Clinics, Workshops, Films, Gear Demos, Giveaways & More! Get your tickets here: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/ttcws/2904558
During the day – NJ Rock Gym
9:30am to 5:30pm
Climbing Clinics:
Climbing Techniques Clinic with Paul Robinson & Alex Kahn – 10:00am– Register
Beginner Training & Climbing Techniques with Nina Williams -10:00am – Register
Advance Training & Climbing Techniques with Nina Williams – 1:00pm – Register
Dry Ice Tool Clinics – FREE – Sponsored by Furnace Industries Training for Ice inside the Climbing Gym with Mike Burk – 10:00am & 1:00pm – Sign-up
Professional Development Workshops: – Free
Promote your Skills to Climb– By Luis Hernandez of IBM
Networking in the Digital Age – By Nicholas Hernandez of Time to Climb
more tba
Meet & Greet with Pro Climbers
3:30pm – 5:00pm @ NJ Rock Gym
A Night of Films & Talks
with Paul Robinson, Alex Kahn & Nina Williams
The Darress Theater – 615 Main St Boonton, NJ
Doors: 7:00pm
Featured Films & Talks:
Premiere of Uncharted Lines:
Premiere of Ronnie Dickson: The V10 Project
Sending Ambrosia a presentation by Nina Williams
Chasing Winter:
Get Tickets – HERE
Non-Profit Partner: Peak Potential – www.PeakClimb.org
A raffle of donated prizes will be held in the evening at the Darress theater to help raise money for Peak Potential!
Ice climbers are a creative bunch, likely due to the mental processes required to get us to the top of a frozen bit of water. There are really very few rules in this activity. We are after all climbing with a portable one-armed belay. Anything goes really, just get to the top safely.
And just as there are few rules in climbing there are seems to also be few rules in how to approach the artistry used in Ice Fest Posters.
Last year, FI Co-Owner Ben Carlson shot aerial footage of the Ice Park and Camp Bird Rd. Get psyched with his edit, and be sure to come by our booth to check out the Kronos, DRY ICE Tools, and ICICLES. See you at the fest!
It's rare, that feeling you get when the pick sinks into the ice just right. The moment we all seek as climbers, that perfect stick, that perfect moment.
Ice climbing continues to grow! And with it are several 'mark your calendars NOW' events that bring us climbers together for fun, friends, ice climbing, and usually lots of beer. Check out the starred events to get your hands on DRY ICE Tools and KRONOS!
Portland Alpine Festival November 15-19 2016 Portland OR
Bozeman Ice Festival December 7-11, 2016 Bozeman, MT
Sandstone Ice FestivalJanuary 6-8 2017 Robinson Park Quarry, Sandstone, MN
Adirondack International Mountain Fest January 13-15 2017 Keene Valley, NY
*Ouray Ice Fest January 19-22, 2017 Ouray, CO
Smuggler's Notch Ice Bash January 20-22, 2017 Smugglers Notch, VT
Catskill Ice Festival January 27 - January 30, 2017 New Paltz, NY
Mt. Washington Valley Ice Festival February 3-5, 2017 North Conway, NH
Cody Ice Fest February 10-12, 2017 Cody, Wyoming
Lake City Ice Climbing Festival Feb 4 2017 Lake City Colorado
Duluth Ice & Mixed Fest February 10-12, 2017, Duluth, Minnesota
Michigan Ice Fest February 15-19, 2017 Munising, MI
*Valdez Ice Fest February 17-20 2017 Valdez, Alaska Get REALLY psyched with this:
Rock Spot IceFest Feb 18-23 2017 The Flume Gorge NH
Southern Ontario Ice Fest February 24-26 Maynooth, Ontario, Canada
Matt Shove, AMGA Certified Rock Instructor, SPI Provider, and CWI Provider
I have seen the KRONOS tools around for 2 or 3 winters now. Someone always seem to have a pair at the ice fest clinics. At first glance, I wanted a pair to hang above my fireplace. They are just beautifully designed. Elegant even. I hated the idea of taking them climbing. I wouldn’t want to ding them up or even scratch them. However, they are T rated!
During this past winter, I was teaching a clinic at New Hampshire’s Mount Washington Valley Ice Fest called Ice Climbing for Rock Climbers. We had done some top roping to get the excitement out of our system. Everyone climbed a few times. I was collecting tools to do some drills. I like to do that so when we get to the point where we can coach climbing movement, everyone has some context to draw from. My colleague Karsten Delap gave me a belay. I started up a 50 foot WI 3+ practice flow with 4 Petzl Nomics, 2 Grivel North Machines, a pair of Quarks, and a pair of Furnace Industries Kronos. My goal was to set up an offset ladder of staggered tools so our guests could practice working their feet with out exhausting themselves swinging.
I knew what the Nomics were going to do. The North Machines were pretty good. The Quarks are always too light for pure waterfall ice. By now, from swinging tools overhead on a cold day, my hands were getting cold. I unclipped the Kronos from my clipper, gave it a swing, and sunk it first try. I had a similar experience with the second Kronos. I can only compare it to hitting a baseball with a Louisville Slugger. It has a very distinct swing, but it was good and solid. When you hit the first swing stick, it was as if David Ortiz himself hit your home run.
I continued to use the Kronos for the remainder of the day, my hands stayed warm due to the wood shafts, and most of all, I preferred the damp vibration-less report that is too common with aluminum shaft tools. Plus, they have something the Nomic doesn’t: a real spike for lower-angled terrain.
Furnace Industries Co-Owner Ben Carlson loaned me a pair to use for the remainder of the winter after Rock Climb Fairfield’s Ice Fest and dry tool comp. My clients and guests loved them, and in fact they gravitated towards these beautiful tools over the gear they used in the past. We used them in Huntington Ravine, on the steeps at Frankenstein, at Champney Falls, Cathedral Ledge, and other local spots. They were a hit.
Impressions:
- · Functional design and shape
- · Thin pick for limited ice displacement (a mixed pick is available tho)
- · Pick shape is optimized for ice climbing or dry tooling on rock
- · Wood shaft is elegant and keeps your hands warm, hard to beat this
- · Elegant appearance—a work of art
- · Good, functional spike
- · Shaft doesn’t flex even when full size dudes yard/stein pull hard
- · Narrow grip allows smaller hands to fight the pump
- · Tool does not shift when matching on the upper grip
- · Fine tuned picks that wear well and are replaceable
- · Strong T rated shafts, strong enough for use as a deadman anchor in snow
Bottom Line: If you prefer an elegant and functional piece of kit, this tool is for you.
Matt Shove
AMGA Certified Rock Instructor
AMGA SPI Provider and CWI Provider
NY State Guide Lic# 4218
(203) 228-2311 HQ
http://www.raggedmountainguides.com
http://www.Furnce-Industries.com/about-kronos
Photos Courtesy Ragged Mountain Guides
Being a small gear company means we possess the unique opportunity to inspire, interact, and invite climbers to help support worthy causes. The HERA Climb4Life project seeks to fund raise to eliminate ovarian cancer by hosting climbing events in important locations.
Ice tools are funny things. In the beginning they were wood, then they were steel, then aluminum, carbon fiber, and now... back to wood.
Tools have personality, and after even a few seasons, all of them have a story to tell. Tools wear in and become chipped and worn, nicked and scraped, each mark a record of a moment in the climber's life. Tools are swung into the ice or hooked on the rock and act not only as an extension of one's physical self, but also the emotional self. We 'feel' our climb through our ice tools.
Finding the right tools can result in a magnificent marriage between gear and climber, best friends who add up to more than the sum of their parts. For some, they are easily their most cherished piece of climbing equipment.
In his article Against the Grain, Switzerland-based adventurer and writer Bruno Schull compares the Bhend Ice Ax to the Furnace Industries KRONOS. Schull reveals some startling reasons why climbers chose wood then, and why they will choose wood now and into climbing's future.
