I figured we’d continue yesterday’s theme of making your own ice gear. Today we’re talking about making your own ice axe leash. This is for mountaineering ice axes, not technical ice tools. Why would you want a leash on your mountaineering ice axe? Well, mostly so that you don’t drop the freakin thing and lose it/skewer someone below you. Here’s a pic of my leash:
The leash! Sorry for the crappy pic...
You can see that the leash can slide open for you hand and then cinch down again. I didn’t want it to cinch down tight on my wrist, so I tied a knot (a simple overhand knot) to stop it. The free end of webbing is easy to grab even with gloved hands or teeth. You pull that free end to loosen the leash when it’s cinched.
I made mine the leash out of 1/2″ webbing. The knot at the head of the ice axe is simply an overhand knot. If you zoom in to the pic below you can see what the bottom end of the leash looks like:
The business end of the leash that goes around your wrist.
You can see where I sewed the webbing with dental floss. I used floss because I already had it, it’s strong, and I didn’t have a sewing machine at the time. And that should just about cover it! Let me know if you’ve got any questions.
{ 1 trackback }