An
ice tool is a specialized elaboration of the modern
ice axe (and often described broadly as an ice axe itself), used in
ice climbing, mostly for the more difficult configurations.
[1]In contrast to typical ice axes, usually used one to a person for the hours or days a party is traveling with need of them, ice tools are used two to a person for the duration of a pitch, and thus in some circumstances such as top-rope-anchored climbs, a pair may be shared among two or more people, where only one of them at a time is climbing.
In climbing of vertical ice, two tools are needed in order for the climber (supported by cramponed feet) to use each tool in turn in maintaining balance with the body's center of mass nearly straight above the toes, while repositioning the other tool to a higher level, before raising the body weight with the legs and thereby setting the stage for repeating the process.
The physical designs of ice tools differ more widely than those of other ice axes.
