Simond Ice screws

Simond Tornado ice screws have several high-performance attributes, most of which involve how the teeth, surface and thread are machined. The most important feature is how the tube is tapered to reduce friction as you turn the screw into the ice. This tapering is not visible to the naked eye, but is the difference between an ice screw that is quick to place one-handed and one that will take some effort to place.

Tornado ice screws have a fold-out handle to further accelerate placement. Furthermore, there are two clip points on the hanger. At anchors, this allows the second climber to clip a daisy chain directly onto the screw rather than onto his/her partner’s carabiner. It is even more useful for leading, since after you place a screw as a runner, you can clip a daisy chain to the screw and rest, then clip the quickdraw and rope at leisure.

The handles are colour coded to quickly identify the length of screw on your harness. Lengths are 13, 17, 21cm. The 13cm screws are used more for mixed climbing on thin ice, the 17cm screws for water ice and hard alpine ice, and the 21cm screws for hard and soft alpine ice.

The most recent addition to the Simond ice screw range is the Racing screw, which is identical to the Tornado except that the winder is more compact. The advantage of the Tornado screw is there is greater leverage in winding the screw into the ice, whereas the advantage of the Racing screw is its low bulk when racked on your harness. Lengths are 13, 17, 21cm.

tornado screw (any length) A$80
racing screw (any length) A$80

Simond Pitons

Pitons are protection that consistently help climbers out of tough situations. When a crack is too thin to take a wire, usually a knifeblade piton can be used; when a crack is full of ice or it just doesn't taper the right way for a wire, then just hammer in an angle piton; when forced to abseil off rock protection, you want that piece to be a solidly smashed-in piton.

All pitons can be removed from a crack by hitting them back and forth in a direction parallel to the crack.

Simond pitons are made of hardened steel and are available as either knifeblades (top) or angles (bottom).

Knifeblades taper from 1mm to 4mm in thickness with 60, 75 and 90mm lengths available A$17

Angles are available for A$17 in sizes:

1. 15mm thick, 70mm long
2. 18mm thick, 90mm long
3. 20mm thick, 105mm long
4. 22mm thick, 120mm long

Simond Wires

Simond Camerocks are wires with grooves used to increase stablity when stacked (see left). The ability to stack wires means that you don't have to pass on a good crack when you have already used the appropriately sized wire earlier in the pitch. Available as a set of nine (size 1 is 6x12mm, size 9 is 19x29mm).

camerock (set of 9 sizes) A$135