Petzl's new tools?!

It only took one bad experience for me to want a ski specific axe.  Dropping into a gully late in the afternoon and then running into hard ice after the surface slide off  frankly scared me.  Watching everyone pull out their single aluminum tool while either on skis or a snow board as I began setting screws was a little more hair ball than I really appreciated.  Wouldn't have taken much on anyone's part that afternoon to really fook things up beyond repair. 

Later that week I went to Snells and bought two Sum'tec's   One for me and one for my long time ski partner.  I really, really like the tool.  Hammer is great for setting pro.  Pick and weight is good in hard ice conditions.  The same kind of ice that scares me as a skier.

A pair of them actually make a decent pair of alpine ice tools.  But using them sure made me want a pair of chopped  up and a little less technical Nomics even more.  Easy design transition if you have any imagination.   Take a chop saw to a Quark would do the trick as well.  Thankfully Petzl and Ueli Steck saved most of us the cash and trouble of finding a chop saw..

Two new tools from Petzl this year.  The new "Sum'tec" is just a toned down Nomic.  The lwt skimo axe, The Gully,  handy and lwt if you aren't a chuckle head like me and get yourself into trouble on occasion. 

The new Petzl tools should be available by Late July '17.

Ueli Steck's previous PROTOTYPE lwt technical tool below.  And still the version I would REALLY like to own.

The new Sum'tec: 480g or less in a 55cm in length.

The "Gully"... 280g, 45cm.

Steck ,  Kilian and a few others  have been playing with the proto-types
of both tools for awhile now. A pair of them weighs about the same  as one Quark.