[pct-l] ULA Potty Trowel

[jeff.singewald at comcast.net]

I carried a CAMP lightweight ice axe in 2006 and while it is certified and worked well for snow travel in soft and morning crusted snow as well as for the long glissades, they are simply too-light to do anything such as cut steps in icy slopes.  We had two occassions to do this in 2006 and I had to laugh when the aluminum pick just bounced off the icy surface.  Personally, I would not take one of these lightweight axes on my Ranier and Shasta summit attempts, but by all means they work pretty good for most conditions on the PCT during heavy snow years, as long as you don't get off-trail on very icy slopes :( 



Elevator 




----- Original Message ----- 
From: gwschenk at socal.rr.com 
To: "PCT MailingList" <pct-l at backcountry.net>, "AsABat" <asabat at 4jeffrey.net> 
Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2010 6:46:30 AM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific 
Subject: Re: [pct-l] ULA Potty Trowel 

---- AsABat <asabat at 4jeffrey.net> wrote: 
> The question that I've never heard answered is: Is the potty trowel not 
> certified because it could not pass the tests, or because the manufacturer 
> did not want to spend a considerable amount of money to submit it for 
> testing? I suspect the second answer is true, leaving the first answer 
> unknown. 
> 
> I do NOT recommend anyone use this tool for mountaineering for, as Eric and 
> Ned said, it is NOT certified. I would think, however, it would work better 
> than a ski pole or even a whippet in some cases. 

For only 2 ounces more you can get a certified axe from CAMP. 
http://www.camp-usa.com/products/ice-axes/corsa.asp 
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