Aero Lite

these screws really rock. zero sticking issues in warm ice.

Love these screws! They start extremely well and are very light. It’s nice to get a steel ice screw that weighs as little as some aluminum screws and never gets stuck in the wet ice like aluminum ones.

Until I used them the design looked very promising, but there are just too many problems with them.
1. too sticky
2. hanger to weak
3. teeth come off

1. Stickiness. They are extremely sticky, it happened to me multiple times that I wasn't able to drive it all the way in. This has never been a problem on steel screws and on BD and Petzl alu screws stickiness is noticeable but at worst it's just inconvenient. With these it might be impossible or drive them in even on second or third attempt (after taking them all the way out and back in).
2. Hanger is made of thin hollow aluminum and it bends every time you place and clean the screw. Over time it accumulates fatigue and breaks off.
3. There are problems with connection between steel and alu on all brands. On these ones, however, the problem seems to result in losing teeth much more often than BD. It happened to me and a few of my friends. With BD I've only heard about cases of missing teeth but I haven't witnessed the problem myself.

While I can't claim to go back to what was orginally used as ice pro, but I have been using ice screws sine the late 90's. I have used every brand of screw since. Just when I thought screws had hit their technical limit with the advent of aluminium hangers and tubes, these Blue Ice screws are well beyong that in performance. Other brands as good as they are hang-up when placing to the point of causing a serious flex in the handle. These Blue Ice screws are like sugical instruments, they bite and have not expereinced any hang-up while placing. A great inovation with the 3 tooth design.

Love them!