How to ice axe self arrest

**LeeLau** · 06-04-2007, 10:46 PM

Really good technique shown here. Not strictly avalanche awareness related but still really good

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LM3xLshmNnk

**f2f** · 06-04-2007, 11:05 PM

that is a good find, thanks lee!

**skimasterflex** · 06-05-2007, 12:30 AM

Summits Jong!!

**splat** · 06-05-2007, 12:27 PM

Someone should do a whippet self arrest video.

**Hacksaw** · 06-05-2007, 05:01 PM

Originally Posted by splat

Someone should do a whippet self arrest video.

Yea, we need to have a video that shows how to whip it out........

Sorry, couldn't resist.....

**splat** · 06-06-2007, 12:20 AM

I nominate DEVO.

**IridePow** · 07-11-2007, 01:01 PM

Bump

**Stymie** · 07-11-2007, 02:02 PM

thought I would post this for those of us who don't carry whippets/ice axes... have had to do this several times to prevent high speed collisions with hard stuff.

http://www.skinet.com/skinet/videos/...156886,00.html

**benwolf** · 09-27-2009, 07:06 AM

Just thought I'd add my but... Here's me performing the ice axe self arrest on Mt Cook (Aoraki) under actual dangerous conditions. You can clearly see the drop off to the glacier below.. Good practice!!!

http://www.remoteadventurer.com/inde...=41&Itemid=102

Enjoy

**farmer** · 09-27-2009, 02:29 PM

that vid is great. it was the one that i used, along with freedom of the hills when i taught myself how to self arrest.

its amazing how many people own an axe, but don't actually know how to use it

**grubbers** · 09-28-2009, 11:32 AM

i really don't recommend falling on your ice axe with the head directly underneath your shoulder unless you want to get a nice, sharp jab from the adze. move it up just a little bit higher next to your head and make sure to turn away from it. i also don't think he mentioned levering up on the spike end of the ice axe to get the pick to dig in even more. and lastly, if you aren't wearing crampons, use your feet to kick into the snow to stop yourself even quicker.

**Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer** · 10-05-2009, 02:38 PM

Thanks Lee - good vid!

nomensteven · 11-10-2009, 01:03 PM

Thanks for the post!

**::: :::** · 11-10-2009, 02:43 PM

at the risk of a threadjack
at what point is carrying an ice axe useful to a backcountry skier?
thx

**LeeLau** · 11-10-2009, 02:52 PM

Climbing an icy slope or in any situation where you might want to arrest a fall.

- or - pissing off tourists in puffy jackets in the gondola

- or - a sign of virility in apres-ski to impress the cougars, doo0000d

**wcf3** · 11-10-2009, 05:20 PM

Originally Posted by acinpdx

at the risk of a threadjack
at what point is carrying an ice axe useful to a backcountry skier?
thx

For me, climbing on firm snow (even if the firm snow is under 3"-6" of soft snow) and slope angles above 40-45 degrees. (At lower angles too, if the surface is really icy/slick). Sometimes this may only be for the last 10-20 feet of an ascent, but having one along can take alot of the pucker out of that last little bit.

With a ski pack on (awkward, top heavy with skis sticking out that can easily push you off your stance if you turn quickly) it probably makes sense to have one out even in some situations where it might not feel necessary when climbing without skis.

**gretch6364** · 11-16-2009, 03:57 PM

Originally Posted by wcf3

For me, climbing on firm snow (even if the firm snow is under 3"-6" of soft snow) and slope angles above 40-45 degrees. (At lower angles too, if the surface is really icy/slick). Sometimes this may only be for the last 10-20 feet of an ascent, but having one along can take alot of the pucker out of that last little bit.

With a ski pack on (awkward, top heavy with skis sticking out that can easily push you off your stance if you turn quickly) it probably makes sense to have one out even in some situations where it might not feel necessary when climbing without skis.

So do you typically always carry one with you in the BC during tours? I think that may be the question, as I would hope it would be apparent when out in the field when you need to get it out.

Seems as though some dies here in CO every couple years because they did not know how to self arrest or have an ice axe with them.

I should start carrying one when I go to Vail due to all the extreme in bounds skiing...and cougars...

**arewolfe** · 03-20-2010, 05:10 PM

BUMP.... great find.

**hot.carl** · 03-30-2010, 01:42 PM

Originally Posted by grubbers

i really don't recommend falling on your ice axe with the head directly underneath your shoulder unless you want to get a nice, sharp jab from the adze. move it up just a little bit higher next to your head and make sure to turn away from it. i also don't think he mentioned levering up on the spike end of the ice axe to get the pick to dig in even more. and lastly, if you aren't wearing crampons, use your feet to kick into the snow to stop yourself even quicker.

i would think its more of a life over limb situation, you might have it pushing against you but the worst you would get is a bruise. The force applied with your arms plus the weight your upper body is far greater than any you could apply with just your arms. If you were to hit a rock whilst sliding it could deflect sideways into the side of your head and cause much more damage.

**HotCarl** · 03-30-2010, 04:25 PM

Wtf is this shit! GTFO imposter! There's only room for one hotcarl around these parts,cockgobbler....

:

**Shadam** · 03-30-2010, 04:42 PM

I was trying to find the photos of the guy that tryed to self arrest with ice axe and put the shaft diagonlly thru his thigh.

**Alaskan Rover** · 04-07-2010, 03:54 AM

My ice axe saved my life when I was young and stupid (yeah, yeah yeahh). I thought I'd commerate my friend (and Homer LEGEND) Yule Kilcher's (RIP) famous walk across the Harding Icefield from Seward to Homer in the 1930's with my own walk over the same basic route. Yule (the grandfather of Jewel, BTW....yeah THAT Jewel) did it in corduroy pants with almost NO gear except for crampons and a decent rope. I had ALL this shit with me...transponder, high-tech hardshell boots, gore-tex up the ying-yang, nice little bivy sack; nice pad; MSR this MSR that, and my SAVIOR: an old Chouinard ice axe.

Like I said, I was young at that time and thus had the blind, perceived infallibility that comes with youth. The second day out, I was still having problems with my new crampons that would trip me up at inoppurtune times....the inoppurtune time in question being on what seemed a fairly simple traverse beside a crevasse, with good footing and plenty of distance between me and the damn yaw of that crevasse. Good footing until I trip on my fucking crampon and down I go on the ice. Wasn't sliding too fast at first so I wasn't too worried....until I started sliding faster, and faster. I thought I'd be able to arrest most of my speed with my crampons, but they had other ideas...they were flailing on the ice like silly popsicle sticks. I knew if they DID dig in, my slide might turn to an all-out tumble, which would be far worse. Ice AXe!! Somehow, it was as if I'd just remembered my ice-axe that was looped on my right hand like some souvenir, and luckily I wasn't strapped in with my poles, so my hand was free. At the time, I didn't know proper self-arrest, so I just jammed it into the ice with everything I had. I think I screamed something out loud like "NO, Mother FUCKER !!!". I stopped. I still remember those first few seconds of stillness...my life started again in those seconds. A feeling of rebirth, almost. That was the first. I've had many since then. But you always remember your first near-death. You really can hear your heart beat in those silent times between death and life, or maybe it's just that you think you should, so you do.

I had stopped about a dozen feet from the edge....a dozen feet from death. I was wearing the skis on my backpack, but I don't think they would have stuck to do any good at all, not in THAT thing. I remember actually kissing that Chouinard that afternoon...the best 40 bucks I ever spent on a piece of used equipment. It takes up a special place on the bulkhead of our boat now, still ready to use...but its main use is to remind me that you don't always get a return trip in life, so you might as well enjoy every moment.

I never did finish the complete walk that Yule did. I guess I didn't really have to. My way to commerate his life (he was 85 then and STILL homesteading) was just to be out there on that icefield, looking at the same stars he did as he walked...surrounded by the same spectors of huge blue ice that will kill you in an instant if you let it, and hoping that I could carry my way through this life with at least half the grace that that old homesteader did.

**old goat** · 06-02-2010, 03:45 PM

I've practice ice axe arrests a lot--never had to do one for real. Turns out it's a lot easier to actually arrest than it is to throw yourself downhill headfirst on your back to practice.

**dannyboy** · 06-04-2010, 10:48 AM

in my opinion an axe and poons are essential for big or exposed steeps, especially if you are dropping blind, axes aid in climbing of snow and ice, (plungeing is often the only way to find purchase climbing on steep snow), getting through cruxy sections of a descent, transition from skiis to poons if some shit goes down, makeing anchors/crevasse belay...and hopefully not for a self arrest -- which may not be possible.

**SILENCER** · 05-21-2013, 12:28 PM

I just finally got around to ordering the BD whippet. Have always had axe & crampons, but luckily I've never had to arrest.

Has anyone here ever had to arrest with a whippet? I did some digging (where I found this thread) here and elsewhere and only found axe arrest instructional vids. I did find this though:

Obviously not intentional, but at least it's a data point. I presume that whippet technique is still basically the same, get both hands on the pole spaced apart, weight on the pick, etc.

Does anyone have any stories to share with a possible fall & arrest with a whippet, how the whippet held up? Any adjustments? When I get it I should just go practice of course, but was curious if anyone had any other data, tips, etc.