Akila Adze

Took a pair of these to the top of Mt Hood early this winter. They were incredibly light and still had amazing purchase into the 60-70 degree snice slopes I ascended. The sliding pommel is great for quick switches between punching into soft snow and swinging into hard ice. I’ll be bringing these bad boys to any technical climb that doesn’t require mixed tooling. Amazing!

Owned a petzl gully, bought an akila to use as a second tool, ended up selling the gully and buying a second akila. This is a great versatile axe that can do quite a bit. Compared to the petzl gully which is its most obvious (and popular) competitor it has a lot of advantages with only a small 60 gram weight penalty. For those 60 grams you get an extra 5cm length, a real spike, longer and more aggressive pick, bigger adze/hammer, and a adjustable handrest that is less prone to freezing. The only part I liked more about the gully was the handrest is slightly more comfortable, but it hasn't bothered me using it in the field. I was surprised at how much I liked having a real spike, using the gully as a quiver of one tool for a year I had convinced myself a real spike wasn't necessary, but climbing a couloir of steep firm windboard with an akila in one hand and a gully in the other I used a lot less energy and had a lot more confidence in the placements with the akila. I see no reason to buy any other tool in this niche, if weight matters that much then buy an ultralight tool, if you care about technical performance then the 50-60 gram weight savings doesn't matter when you consider how much more performant the akila is than competitors. I do wish the pick was replaceable since I do use it for easy mixed climbing (up to m3 or so) and the alpine environment isn't always kind on picks, but I don't foresee it being a major issue.

Perfect tool for fast ascents of your snowy objectives, or those forays deeper in to the wilderness. The curve of the shaft and adjustable finger rest makes this a great performer.

When my Akilas arrived, I picked them up for the first time and had some initial shock at something so light having the ability to perform in the way I need it to. 3 years later, they are still holding strong after multiple laps on Cascade volcanoes including the N Ridge of Mt Baker. The pair of Akilas handled steep, firm alpine ice with no issues. I had precise swings with solid sticks, no problem. The sliding pommel is well-formed as a nice pinky rest. I even choose these at some water ice crags!