Black Diamond Venom Ice Axe

The Venom's aluminum shaft is thin, and plunges into the snow well, especially due to the no-frills spike at the end. The rubber grip never impeded the plunging action as far as I could tell, but it was sticky and easy to grab. A set of Venom tools, especially if you paired a short hammer with a longer adze tool, could tackle the majority of mountaineering challenges, whether it's building snow anchors, low-angle terrain, even steep and technical ice. The Venom hammer comes in 50 and 57 centimeter lengths; the adze gives you a choice of 50, 57 and 64 centimeters.