DMM Apex/Switch Ice Pick Replacements - kuzniaszpeju?

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 joe.wahab 01 Dec 2022

Does anyone know where the replacement ice picks for the DMM Apex are in stock? I can't find them anywhere! Needlesports have kindly informed me that the ice adze is available, but they don't have an eta from DMM on the hammers. 

Found some aftermarket picks from kuzniaszpeju that look like they would work, but wary about ordering from abroad. Anyone have any good/bad experiences with this make/model? 

Hoping I can get some before an ice climbing trip in January.

https://en.kuzniaszpeju.pl/en_US/p/APX-ice/96

 ross 01 Dec 2022
In reply to joe.wahab:

Hiya, I can't recommend kuzniaszpeju highly enough. I've been using them several years on my Nomics and they are excellent. They stay sharper and  last much longer than other picks, but aren't so hard that you can't sharpen them. The Tatra is ideal for Scottish mixed. I've used other models too and I use their crampon points. 

You might get stung for VAT and import handling charge but they are still well worth the money. 

Cheers, Ross 

 Jeff Ingman 01 Dec 2022
In reply to joe.wahab:

What Ross said is bang on 

It takes about 2 weeks for the stuff to arrive from Poland but it's very good service. The picks cost about half UK price and are twice as durable. 

 Jeff Ingman 01 Dec 2022
In reply to Jeff Ingman:

.... should have said that the Polish picks cost about half as much as big brand picks in the UK, and they're twice as durable....

OP joe.wahab 01 Dec 2022
In reply to joe.wahab:

Ross and Jeff, thank you so much for your recommendations and advice about those picks. Looks to me like they don't have a mixed pick for the Apex, but I am after something for Ice in Aosta! I hope they'll be fine with the odd mixed move though. 

In reply to joe.wahab:

Why don't you ask DMM directly?  I have always found them very helpful with stuff like this.

OP joe.wahab 02 Dec 2022
In reply to Conspiracy Theorist:

I emailed DMM over a week ago and sent a follow up recently, and I haven't heard back from them as yet.

 TobyA 03 Dec 2022
In reply to Jeff Ingman and other happy kuzniaszpeju customers:

Have any of you bought replacement picks for DMM Apex/Switches specifically, from them? I could do with getting new picks for Switches, the current blades are the ones that came with the tools when I got them in 2013! But looking at the pictures on their website they make picks with no hammer or adze attached, and and alternative pick with an extension to which it seems you bolt on one of their designs of hammers or adzes.

I think I could live with out the adze on my Switch picks, but a hammer (even if it is hard to use with the switch shaft shape) is useful for smacking bulldogs and warthogs in. I'm interested if anyone has used the picks with no hammer/adze and whether they missed them? I guess if you only climb water ice there's no real need for a hammer, but for UK mixed I think even if you aren't carrying pitons, with turf gear there is still some need for a hammer.

 Jeff Ingman 03 Dec 2022
In reply to TobyA:

I have knowledge of the replacement picks for Petzl, BD, Grivel and Cassin. None of my mates use DMM tools. I don't know how the head system works on the switch/apex so shouldn't comment.

As for hammer and adz - I always use them for UK mixed. More options to torque with and placement of warthogs. For ice I use 2 small hammers, allows you to tap your placement a little deeper when gripped!

Cheers.... Jeff 

 TobyA 03 Dec 2022
In reply to Jeff Ingman:

Cheers Jeff. I might have to hang on and buy some DMM ones when they make some more. I'm not sure if I've ever used the adze on the Switches though, and I think in my original review of them, noted that on mixed the adze never looks healthy particularly when you pull up on on a marginal edge and its at eye level! But maybe two hammer heads. This winter, will be my 9th since coming back to the UK, and while I don't get to do loads of winter climbing - living in Derbyshire is unhelpful in that respect! - I think I've climbed at least a few routes every winter, and I often think my DMM Vipers are the better tools in the UK mountains for me. That's climbing up to V, and while the Switches are great on steep techy bits on many of routes, the Vipers are better at the mountaineering bit of the day, getting up to the route, and off from the top. And they're no slouches on vertical ice and mixed either! Actually, maybe I'll order new picks for them from the Poles and see how they go. Their Bulldog/Spectre copies are well priced as well, and I seem to have lost one of mine...

 Exile 03 Dec 2022
In reply to TobyA:

Off topic I know, but if you get replacement DMM pickets Toby go for two hammers for mixed - I did that as, like you, I was worried about taking my eye out with an adze. I have never looked back. Current tools are Switches, but I did the same with my previous X Monsters. 

 Rampart 03 Dec 2022

For general reference of anyone similarly minded, DMM's website seems to be broadly up to speed with their stock levels:

https://dmmwales.com/climbing-products/winter-equipment/ice-axe-spares-for-...

(no Switch pick spares currently, unfortunately).

 Nathan Adam 03 Dec 2022
In reply to TobyA:

The picks that these guys make have a bit of extra length on the back that protrudes and helps serve as a hammer on the Switches. In reality, the brunt of the force will probably go through the whole of the back of the head but I did this all last season with fairly minimal damage.

My usual way of placing bull dogs and terriers is with the side of my axe as they're so thin that unless you can get both hands off to hold it still, it's pretty tricky to be accurate enough to hit them effectively anyways (at least not with useless modern hammers). I did the same with previous stock picks from DMM.

For thinner placements in cracks and for peckers, the protruding piece of pick is definitely enough to get stuff seated the way you'd want. 

 TobyA 04 Dec 2022
In reply to Nathan Adam:

Thanks Nathan. So you haven't mashed up the side of your tools too much by hammering with that? I think I did note in my UKC review of the Switches 9 years ago that the hammer is only of limited use anyway because of the curve, so using the side is probably the best solution anyway!

 Nathan Adam 05 Dec 2022
In reply to TobyA:

Yeah no major damage, or more so than I had already put them through. The DMM picks with the hammer cover it up more obviously but they don’t save it much.

My pair of Switches have started wobbling at the head after 6 good years of service and are getting retired. They’ve basically climbed every winter route I’ve done in that time and have been a brilliant purpose built tool. I hear DMM are currently refining them a bit for a new release with a slightly less aggressive angle and smaller handle, which if they can keep the durability as high as they have been will be an absolute best seller. 

 TobyA 05 Dec 2022
In reply to Nathan Adam:

Thanks again Nathan. I think I'm going to end up now ordering a set of blades for both my Switches and Vipers from the Poles now! 

I agree the Switches could maybe be slimmed down a bit - if for no other reason than they have gained a reputation for being a rather heavyweight tool regardless of whether that is really case or not, or because some extra weight is the only way to get the level of durability they have gone for. They have just brought the new Vertex tools out, so I wonder if it will take them some time to relaunch the Switches, but no reason why a successful tool can't go on for over a decade with minimal changes likes, Vipers, Nomics and Quarks have. 

 LucaC 06 Dec 2022
In reply to joe.wahab:

I've used Kuznia picks for years and rate them better than OEM picks. I've not ordered from them since Brexit so no idea what impact thats had on the process/prices/importing.

OP joe.wahab 05 Jan 2023
In reply to joe.wahab:

LucaC - great to hear your vote of confidence. My picks arrived in about a month to be honest with you, and they look fantastic. I thought the delay was to do with the postal strike action over anything else, but I could be wrong about that. Very pleased! 

Post edited at 21:08

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