Pros: Fairly lightweight, with a very well-balanced swing. It plunges and self-arrests very well. The slightly bent shaft provides additional clearance over snow/ice. The tech pick provides good balance between technical performance on ice/hard snow and self-arrest capability, but can be switched out if a less-aggressive pick is preferred.
Cons: Not as lightweight as Black Diamond's Raven Pro, which is better suited for lightweight ounce-counters engaging in moderate climbing. Not as effective - in terms of technical ability on harder ice and mixed climbs - as some of the other tools on the market.
This ice axe fills a very interesting niche. It is technical enough to be used on almost anything but the hardest pure ice and mixed routes. However, the Venom's shaft and spike still plunges for boot-axe belays and moderate slopes, and either pick (comes with two interchangeable) self-arrests with just as much purchase as any classic mountaineer's piolet.
I used this axe on my latest climb on Shasta, and was very impressed by how well it performed. The 64cm was not too short, not too long. I had the adze (not the hammer), and switched out the regular pick for the tech pick. The swing of the tool was perfect for steeper, consolidated slopes, and Black Diamond's tech pick has excellent bite in hard snow and ice. However, using the ice axe as a walking-aid while climbing the moderate slopes of Shasta was a total breeze, and the shaft plunges easily and securely for a boot-axe belay, self-belay, etc. The leash that comes with the Venom is easy to cinch on the wrist with one hand, and can be easily loosened the same way. While swinging overhead, the leash actually does a great job of supporting the wrist and hand comfortably.
If you're going to be primarily climbing nothing but moderate snow, and need a classic mountaineering axe without any crossover capability into the technical world, I would choose something a little bit lighter (why not?). Otherwise, it would seem to me that the Venom is the perfect hybrid ice axe/technical tool for moderate and intermediate routes in our Cascades. A good combo of tools to consider would be the Venom (adze) with a regular pick, and a Venom (hammer) with the tech pick!
Props to Black Diamond - I almost never fail to be impressed by the scope of their R & D, and all of their gear's functional simplicity.
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Thanks for your post. I’ve been thinking about writing a very comparable post over the last couple of weeks, I’ll probably keep it short and sweet and link to this instead if thats cool. Thanks. axe throwing bar near me
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