Review: Cassin X-All Mountain Ice Tools

Have you ever tried climbing grade 2 or 3 with aggressive tools? It’s not fun. Swinging down instead of over your head is cumbersome and trying to pull the tool out after is even more so. The curved shape (instead of bent shape) of the X-All Mountains allows for climbing on easier ice as well as steeper climbs. Though I have climbed my fair share of 5’s on top rope, I am just beginning to lead easier climbs and wanted a tool that would work in a variety of situations. Furthermore, I have found that these tools will work mixed climbing without being a mixed specific tool or having a mixed specific pick. This was a big factor in choosing the X-All Mountain vs. the X-Dream. The X-Dream are very nice to climb with, but were a bit too aggressive to learn to lead easy ice with. Lastly, the shape of the handle and spike at the bottom of the X-All Mountain makes using it on the approach slopes easy to penetrate snow like with a mountaineering axe.