by Ken BÉLANGER

June 2019

A renowned name in alpinism and safety gear, Petzl is known for its quality products. These three products are highly recommended for their intended use.

Altitude harness

Lightweight (150 grams) and low bulk without sacrificing comfort and gear loops.

Petzl’s Altitude harness is designed for ski-mountaineering.  As such, its emphasis is on light and small.  And maybe also fast, but that’s up to you.  Petzl didn’t skimp on features either: four innovative vertical gear loops, with elasticised ice screw holders on the legs (I guess to avoid mildly annoying screw against biner clanking and abrading your new pants), plus a functional belay loop combine to create a comfortable all-day harness with a nearly-invisible feel under a backpack.

As with most ski-mountaineering harnesses, the Altitude can be taken on and off without removing your skis.  This is slick if you have multiple transitions in a day (I’m not really sure why), or you’re just lazy.  Or maybe you’re wandering on glacier ice, then suddenly realise the bridges are not as burly as you hoped, and don’t really want to take your skis off to don your harness!

The low profile, now-ubiquitous double-back buckle allows one to leave the waist belt attached, but negates donning the harness whilst wearing skis.

To make this light and low-bulk, some features had to be sacrificed, e.g.: adjustable and quick release leg risers.  Therefore, some nature calls may require complete removal of the harness.  However no foam padding also means zero water absorption, so what’s stopping you?

Sure it’s light, but one of my favourite features of this harness is its low bulk.  It takes minimal space in my already-small pack.

Fit

Very comfortable, hardly noticeable under a pack.  The vertical gear loops reduce bulk, but of course also gear racking abilities.  If you’re looking for tonnes of racking options, then you’re perhaps outside the intended use of this harness.  The wide waist belt impressively distributes force and is relatively comfortable for short hangs, but not intended for extended alpine routes, hanging belays, or whippers on lead.    

Sizing

For some mystical marketing reason, Petzl has chosen to size these as S/M, M/L, L/XL (instead of simply S, M, L).  This suckered me into the wrong size on my first attempt.  At a 32” waist (81 cm), I’m a medium in EVERYTHING.  So I thought the S/M would be my ticket. That size was fine for my waist, but the non-adjustable leg loops didn’t fit my cyclist quads.  After a few trips with the plastic buckles undone (not a safety hazard, but not ideal either), I ended up replacing mine with a M/L.  Much better.  My recommendation is to try before you buy.

Ride ice axe

Available in only one size at a measly 240 grams and 45 cm in length, the Ride axe is short enough to “ride” inside your pack.  I find this a pretty valuable feature, as I’ve nearly lost an eye more than once from axes lashed onto the outside of others’ packs. It also fits in most avalanche gear pockets of a ski pack.

It has a slightly curved aluminum shaft, a steel head, and an aluminium angled spike to save weight.  As one would expect from something this minimalist, it’s rated Type B.

This is a purpose-built axe with a relatively narrow usage application. Whilst it could work for summer alpine routes, it would likely serve better as a second or backup tool. 45 cm would have you hunched over on all but the steep pitches, and then you’d probably be hoping for something more burly when the snow is all gone and you’re dealing with ice and rock.

Step chopping in hard snow is doable - barely.  You can mostly forget about chopping ice, as the light swing weight and virtually zero leverage from the short shaft would make you don crampons instead. 

If you’re looking for something small and light in the Petzl line, but with a bit more of a technical focus, then check out the Gully axe.

Leopard crampons

These 10-point wonders are probably the most startling of the three products reviewed here: cord linkage instead of aluminum?! How strong can that be?  Well, it’s Dyneema so plenty burly and resistant to abrasion.  They’re 100% aluminum so not intended for rock or ice use – their domain is snow. Yeah, they’re light – but wow, do they ever pack down minimally!  The cord attachment allows them to easily fold into themselves. Not sure whether you’ll need crampons?  No problem, just throw them in the corner of your pack.  320 grams isn’t going to break your back.

There are two models, choose the correct ones for your boots.  I have the LLF: meant for ski touring boots with toe welts.  They took a bit of time to set up to my satisfaction: I ultimately went with one extra (longer) notch for the cord on the outside of each boot.  This gave me a snug, and confidence inspiring fit. I never had any concerns with movement or blow-outs. 

In spring conditions, the minimalist curved plastic buckles on the elastic ankle strap would sometimes clog and/or freeze with snow & ice. I had a few annoying but in hindsight somewhat amusing struggles getting the buckles undone a couple of times. 

Anti-bottes (anti-snow) plates are available.  I don’t have them, but a few times wished I had. The open, corded design coupled with spring snow created some intense balling situations a few times. 

Colour

Orange is my favourite colour.  With the white contrast, these remind me of delicious Creamsicles.  So there’s that too…