Climbing Technology Agile Shovel and Ice Axe
What we liked …
Weight and simplistic design.
What we didn’t …
Holding ice axe head as the shovel handle whilst digging. Only short shaft lengths available.
The Verdict
Our Rating
4.5 out of 5
the Short Read…
I used this bad boy in Kyrgyzstan and the Climbing Technology, Agile Kit +, Shovel and Ice-Axe, proved to be a tough yet light-weight avalanche shovel and ice-axe combo.
The Long read …
Climbing Technology, manufacture specialist climbing equipment. We think they’re very good at it, so were keen as mustard to get our hands on their first soiree into the development of light-weight mountaineering safety kit.
For many years I’ve used the excellent Ortovox PRO ALU III shovel and “pocket spike”. The pocket spike turns the shovel shaft into a ice-axe like walking aid, and weighs next to nothing, but its not an actual ice-axe and while never breaking on me, does have weak points. And the ALU III shovel and shaft is heavy (around 800g) so the idea of a real ice-axe that's also compatible with a shovel head, seems an interesting alternative approach to try.
The shovel head (400g) is a good size and has holes drilled into it, both bringing the weight down and helping it be attached to a set of skis when building an emergency sled.
It’s available in two versions:
The “Agile Kit” - with a 45cm ice-axe shaft, is a super-light 220g. Giving an overall weight of 650g with shovel head and ice-axe sleeve.
The “Agile Kit+” - with 45cm shaft at 340g and overall weight of 770g
It should be noted that the axe head isn’t the most comfortable of handles when it’s being used in shovel mode - a pretty important consideration - but when its being used as an axe it will offer you solid protection while walking, and is perfect for a deadman anchor.
The Long read …
After two seasons of use, I’d recommend the Agile Shovel and Ice Axe to anyone who is both serious about the weight of their bag and only packs kit they can fully rely on. To sum it up, if you buy this set up you’ll likely be happy with the lighter load, and your (shorter) mates will soon get sick of you telling them they should buy one too, mine are!