[pct-l] Ice Axe Length? " Longer IS Better!!"

[CMountainDave@xxxxxxx (CMountainDave@xxxxxxx)]

Monte -I agree that a longer ice ax is better for all your well reasoned
logic. And I normally carry one measured just as you suggested. Shorter ice
axes were the trend a few years back, but they became a specialized tool just
to save weight.
   I suggest a short ice ax on the PCT as an option to those who want to go
as lightly as possible and on a budget. True they will lose the benefits of a
multifunctional tool, but one can get by with a tiny ax as many, many people
already have. And carrying one only in the Sierras is certainly an option to
save more weight. If they don't plan to use it again,
    I lucked out and had free access to a short one and figured the 1 LB +
weight savings was worth leaving mine at home. Now if I was on a peak bagging
session, I would most certainly carry a long one. And now that mine is long
titanium one, I would take it on the PCT if doing it today. But they're
spendy. I got mine at an outdoor club auction at a considerable savings over
the $120 list price. An  8 to 12 oz. aluminum one can probably be picked up
for under $50 and will make a nice ornamental PCT memorial above a gas fired
fireplace for someone who has no intention of ever using it again because it
is considered dead weight.
   Olympic College of Bremerton has dozens of wooden handled ice axes that
were purchased in the 1950s for their Basic Mountaineering course. They were
gradually replaced with metal ones because metal ones were deemed safer to
use during crevasse rescue as a snow anchor. Imagine a wooden handle snapping
and shooting the metal head at the belayer at high velocity. Not to mention
what anchor failure means to the poor chap in the hole. A lot of stress can
be placed on anchors used to extricate someone from a crevasse.
 Another thing about long axes is that they make for a much deeper anchor in
deep, soft snow, and the deeper the better, but that has nothing to do with
the PCT