Black Diamond Ultralight Express screws: A versatile screw for a more refined audience

Black Diamond designed the Ultralights to fill a specific niche—mainly ski mountaineering, glacial travel, and big alpine adventures. For these pursuits, where weight savings can be critical, the Ultralights are clearly the new gold standard, and I would rate them 5 stars. However, after several days of climbing frozen waterfalls using both Ultralights and traditional Express screws, I noticed some design limitations that, in my opinion, were not offset by the reduced weight when used exclusively for this application. Therefore, these screws will prove ideal for specific audiences and applications, but do not look to the Ultralights to become the new workhorse screw at your local ice crag.