Ice Axes
Alpine
↑ 030: Black Diamond Alpamayo
- Made in USA [1998].
- 700x290 mm.
- Weight: 870 g.
- Aluminum Shaft.
- Shaft: 33x23 mm.
- Fixed Head with carabiner hole.
- Straight adze with straight edge.
- Adze: 70(l)x60(w)x0(curve) mm.
- Curved Alpine pick with a negative-clearance chisel tip and with 11 ventral teeth.
- Pick: 150(l)x25(h)x5(t) mm.
- Triangular plate spike.
- Spike: 65(l)x31(w)x5(t) mm.
- Equipped with Black Diamond leash..
- A standard general-purpose ice axe of the 1990s.
- Bought in 1997 as a loaner for a friend.
↑ 071: Black Diamond Raven
- Made in USA [2024].
- 750x260 mm.
- Weight: 580 g.
- Aluminum Shaft.
- Shaft: 30x20 mm.
- Fixed Head with carabiner hole.
- Straight adze with straight edge.
- Adze: 60(l)x51(w)x6(curve) mm.
- Curved Alpine pick with a negative-clearance chisel tip and with 11 ventral teeth.
- Pick: 100(l)x23(h)x6(t) mm.
- Triangular plate spike.
- Spike: 34(l)x29(w)x5(t) mm.
- Equipped with Black Diamond leash. This leash is more suited for technical ice climbing than for mountaineering, so I may swap it it with the leash on my X-15.
- A standard general-purpose ice axe of current vintage.
Modular
Black Diamond offered an alpine pick, a straight Alaska pick, and three recurved ice picks for their modular ice axes and hammers. Two of these appear identical in photographs. One (the Titan) met the CEN-T standard for pick strength. The other (Laser) was thinner and gave much better performance for finesse climbers like me. I do not have an example of the third (the Fusion).
↑ 204: Black Diamond Black Prophet
- Made in USA [early 1990s].
- 500x265 mm.
- Weight: 740 g.
- Rubber-covered Shaft.
- Shaft: 36x24 mm.
- Full modular head with carabiner hole.
- Triangular adze with notched edges.
- Adze: 95(l)x65(w)x12(curve) mm.
- Modular waterfall ice pick with a positive-clearance chisel tip and with 13 ventral teeth.
- Pick: 130(l)x24(h)x4(t) mm.
- Double-pointed spike.
- Spike: 27(l)x27(w)x4(t) mm.
- An older and heavier version of one of my favorite ice tools.
- I find the straight shaft less comfortable than the bent shaft version for waterfall ice.
- The unusual triangular notched adze is designed for crack wedging but also works surprisingly well for clearing waterfall ice. This one has a polished finish.
↑ 203: Black Diamond Black Prophet
- Made in USA [early 1990s].
- 500x265 mm.
- Weight: 740 g.
- Rubber-covered Shaft.
- Shaft: 35x23 mm.
- Full modular head with carabiner hole.
- Triangular adze with notched edges.
- Adze: 95(l)x65(w)x12(curve) mm.
- Modular waterfall ice pick with a positive-clearance chisel tip and with 13 ventral teeth.
- Pick: 130(l)x24(h)x4(t) mm.
- Double-pointed spike.
- Spike: 27(l)x27(w)x4(t) mm.
- An older and heavier version of one of my favorite ice tools.
- The unusual triangular notched adze is designed for crack wedging but also works surprisingly well for clearing waterfall ice.
↑ 038: Black Diamond Black Prophet
- Made in USA [ca. 1998].
- 500x260 mm.
- Weight: 770 g.
- Carbon Fiber Shaft.
- Shaft: 36x24 mm. (Grip: 35x23 mm.)
- Full modular head with carabiner hole.
- Triangular adze with notched edges.
- Adze: 76(l)x62(w)x12(curve) mm.
- Modular waterfall ice pick with a positive-clearance chisel tip and with 13 standard and 3 U-notch teeth.
- Pick: 130(l)x27(h)x5(t) mm.
- Double-pointed spike.
- Spike: 20(l)x32(w)x9(t) mm.
- Equipped with a Black Diamond leash.
- The unusual triangular notched adze is designed for crack wedging but also works surprisingly well for clearing waterfall ice. This tool has the thinner Laser Pick that better suits my finesse (vs. haul off and whack) style of ice climbing. The double spike works but is not my favorite type.
- I bought a third Black Prophet to replace the heavier X-15 that I had been using as my third tool. The new Black Prophet had orange trim, so I made it my adze tool.
↑ 037: Black Diamond Cobra
- Made in USA [ca. 2011].
- 500x270 mm.
- Weight: 745 g.
- Carbon Fiber Shaft.
- Shaft: 24x32 mm. (Grip: 35x22 mm.)
- Full modular head with carabiner hole.
- Triangular adze with notched edges.
- Adze: 76(l)x62(w)x12(curve) mm.
- Modular waterfall ice pick with a positive-clearance chisel tip and with 12 standard and 5 U-notch teeth.
- Pick: 130(l)x29(h)x5(t) mm.
- Double-pointed spike.
- Spike: 20(l)x32(w)x9(t) mm.
- Equipped with a Black Diamond leash.
- The curved shaft provides extra clearance compared to the straighter Blaxk Prophet shaft.
- The unusual triangular notched adze is designed for crack wedging but also works surprisingly well for clearing waterfall ice.
- The Cobra came out after I acquired my Black Prophets. Fortunately, they use the same head accessories.
↑ 222: Black Diamond Cobra
- Made in USA [ca. 2015].
- 505x235 mm.
- Weight: 620 g.
- Carbon Fiber Shaft.
- Shaft: 28x22 mm. (Grip: 30x21 mm.)
- Full modular head with carabiner hole.
- Triangular adze with notched edges.
- Adze: 55(l)442(w)x3(curve) mm.
- Modular waterfall ice pick with a positive-clearance chisel tip and with 14 dorsal and 14 standard and 6 U-shaped ventral teeth (Krukonoga pick).
- Pick: Krukonoga: 125(l)x40(h)x4(t) mm.
- Double-pointed spike.
- Spike: 25(l)x23(w)x11(t) mm.
- Equipped with a Black Diamond leash.
- Great ice tool for pure ice climbing. The curved shaft gives great clearance for bulges but limits the tool's usefullness for alpine climbing.
- Equipped with the Fang as shown, it is a good tool for leashless climbing.
- Equipped with Micro Adze.
- The black picks are Black Diamond picks as used on my other Black Diamond technical ice tools.
- I replaced the Black Diamond picks for Krukonoga PF1(A) mixed climbing picks because of course I did, they look cool.
