3 Not quite what I wanted

Reviewer: J Ash, London   (13-5-2010)

I bought this after reading a very positive review on PTC's website but ended up being rather disappointed.

It's certainly a lovely looking axe and is very solidly built despite its light weight. It is excellent at chopping ice, either when step cutting or levelling ground for a bivi spot. It also has a nice swing when being used to assist climbing. Surprisingly, I found that the smooth shaft presented absolutely no problem as far as grip was concerned.

So why was I disappointed? For one, the head (despite being a gorgeous looking design) was not as comfortable in my hand as I was expecting. Perhaps this is because I have quite large hands? Whatever the reason, it was rather awkward to hold whilst plodding up steep snow slopes. This wouldn't have mattered so much if the axe had actually functioned better on those steep plods but I found that the spike design, whilst beautiful and weight-saving, just did not bite securely enough into hard neve or ice to inspire confidence.

Overall: if you're mostly going to be in softer snow and the head fits your hand this would be a lovely lightweight axe. If you are going to be on hard neve or ice get something with a proper spike.

5 Black Diamond Raven Ultra Review

Reviewer: Danny McShane, Fyvie   (20-3-2010)

This is a really neat axe. It is as light as the specs say, but manages to feel reassuringly heftier in use and penetrates and cuts like an ice axe should. I think this is due to getting the balance of the steel head on the lightweight shaft right (I have a 60cm one). The polished head is compact and I initially thought the pick was short, but the tip is 132mm out from the shaft. The teeth keep a 4mm thickness virtually to the tip. For comparison this pick is as long as and thicker than my Mountain Technology Walking axe. The adze is small at 45mm wide with a cut out to save weight, but I've had smaller and it still cuts (it has good corners to bite in harder snow or ice, unlike, say, a Camp Nanotech). The head is comfortable to grip - 12mm wide at the widest point above the shaft, and subtly rounded and shaped in all the right places. After 12 hours (or 3 days) you really appreciate these details. When I was looking around I noticed that Black Diamond have quite a range of detailed changes to the head designs on these axes - secondary stuff like differently shaped adze cutouts (diamond or triangle), double or single holes in the head casting at the top of the shaft, "milled out" pick cross section or smoothly profiled ... I asked BD for a list of options but heard nothing back. This particular axe has the options I wanted (triangle, two holes, smooth profile) In use the shaft penetrates well into late season neve -the steel insert is really quite sharp (and I'm not entirely sure how I'll protect it for carriage - though the 12mm hole means something will clip or tie on for next time). The shaft is 'cut' the right way round for maximum bite in piolet canne with the pick away from the slope. The shaft is slim, perhaps a little slimmer than usual, and it is featureless as far as grip is concerned. I might look out for a bit of grip tape for it, though. Once I had added a simple sling there was no problem with holding on. I'd just like a little more indexing to prevent turning in my hand when things are really icy. This is a fully functional ice axe that seems built to last and very well thought out. It's beautifully made and will just take its place and do the job without any fuss. If you fall for a particular head shape, just check that it's the one currently available. Downside? Only the slim featureless grip -but that's also a plus for a lot of folk and easily remedied. I think it's better to have the option to do what you want than live with an overly bulky grip -and you can read all this as a plus if you have dainty digits. BD prices sting a bit too, but I forgot about that on the first day out (I just pretended to myself I'd filled the tank with diesel one more time).