When it came to vertical ice, they were very aggressive, too much so for my taste I’m used to the gentler curves found on the Nomics. I chose these when climbing routes that required hooking vertical and overhanging rock more often than swinging into ice. This is Petzl’s ultra-specialized, high-end tool, which debuted in 2008. Pro climber and guide Andrés Marín leading hard mixed terrain with the new Ergonomic ice tools. The price for the Nomic is $300 each, ships with Pur’Ice picks. The head also has a built-in hammer – which is great because my old ones are bashed up from smashing pitons in the rock – yet with all these improvements the tool is lighter (585g). And the Nomic has a serrated stainless-steel endpoint for use in cane mode. The hollow, offset double handle grip is now easier to hold, and also lanyard compatible. I used these the most during my time I was at Ouray. I also use these for dry tooling, where I wedge, pry and hook the picks on rock edges and cracks. The Nomic, which debuted in 2006 and was updated in 2010, was my first technical ice tool - and I’ve since sampled Black Diamond’s Fuel and Cobra tools, plus a pair of prototype Trango Mantis tools – and they remain my go-to for hard ice and mixed. The price for the Quark is $260 each, ships with Ice pick. I climbed for many hours with the Quark on the toughest pure-ice routes I could find and was psyched. These tools are still featherweight, but at twenty grams lighter, now even easier to swing, making them more desirable for demanding alpine routes where every ounce counts. They have an improved spike at the bottom, plus a button-activated folding, adjustable grip (Griprest) an updated sliding trigger-grip (Trigrest) that’s now easier to use for technical mountaineering when planting in couloirs and the grip handle is now wrapped in high-friction rubber. This is the third time these tools have been changed since debuting in 2010, and each time they’ve gotten lighter (now 550 grams with accessories).

Photo: Courtesy of Chris Van Leuven Quark Rock and Ice Magazine former digital editor Hayden Carpenter using Petzl’s new Ergonomic ice tools in Ouray, Colorado.

Ice climber review