. I,ve been invited on a mountain climb down in America in 2010 , and need to get some gear ... What length Ice ax do you use for general mountaineering .. I don,t think there is any verticle ice involved so I don,t think I will need any frozen waterfall axes.....????? Thanks

that takes me back alot of years, but as i remember it our were about 18". to long and it gets in the way

O.K. ,, so here,s what I,ve come up with so far ,, , As a walking stick / cane / rifle rest / Ptarmigan killer / self arrest ect tool 90 cm length is great ,, for really steep going a shorter ax , like 80 cm or 75 cm seems to be preferred..... Don,t need Terradactil picks ect. Just a general Mountaineering ax , like the Black Diamond Raven are fine .......... I may end up with a small fleet of different ones till I find what I like .................. I wish I could find some made by Snow & Neeley , or Peavey Manufacturing , Or Catipillar ,Husquvarna, Atlas Coptco , Stihl,,, Wabco ,. ect.ect. Even Vaughn ,or Estwing or Stanley ........... Thats the problem with mountaineering , too many environmentalist pricks involved in it ......... I wish I could get a mushers hat made from Snow leopard to wear while mountaineering . ...

Been a lot of years since I used an ice ax. Did a lot of sheep and goat hunting in my teens and 20's but in later years I've replaced the ice ax with a hikeing staff.

With out digging out my old ax I want to say that it was more like 24" or a little more. I did actully do a self arrest with it one time when I had a goat on my back. Was really glad that I had it then.

I think when you shop for one find one that will touch the floor when you hold the head in your hand and a couple inches longer than that would be better.

Petzel and Black Diamond both make light weight telescoping ice axes that double as a trecking pole. Hard to beat!!!

Brett