AK Troutbum
WKR
I guess I'm a minimalist and see no reason to lug a larger and little heavier ice axe around instead of a pair of trekking poles.....at least when hunting in no snow or ice. I've been on 4 sheep and goat hunts in Alaska and numerous sheep/goat hunts in the lower 48 and never needed anything more than trekking poles. As mentioned above, if you are putting yourself in a position where an ice axe is needed when there is no snow or ice you shouldn't be there! When I put my wrist through trekking poles I can really torgue on them inside the handle....similar to what I do when downhill skiing. Not sure you can do this same thing with an axe?
If hunting in a lot of snow and ice I can see the advantage to an ice axe but when hunting without snow or ice? I would think some type of cramp-ons or rubber/metal pull-ons would almost be more important than an axe in slippery conditions?
For me an ice axe is more like a multi purpose tool, and not really used much in icy/snowy conditions. I’ve used mine as a walking stick a lot, but also for helping with climbing up really steep cut banks out of creek bed, climbing up steep slippery slopes, cutting a trench/French drain on the up hill side of my shelter for diverting water/rain around the shelter, digging out a flatter area to pitch my shelter on, and cutting/chopping the rib cage away from the back bone on animals when I didn’t have the time or patience to do it with a knife. There’s probably more that don’t come to mind right now but basically I just find it to be a really nice tool to have in the field for many different purposes. I wish I could say that it also replaces my trekking poles, but I’ve come to rely too heavily on my poles to replace them with a single ice axe.
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