When mountaineering, ski touring or even just hill walking in winter you may be required to cross patches of steep ice or climb on steep slopes of snow. If so you need to take special precautions to stay safe and one of your most important safety tools is an ice axe NZ. Ice axes are important for a number of tasks on mountains. Their most important purpose is to give you the ability to self-arrest, a term for stopping yourself if you happen to slip and start sliding down a steep snow-covered slope. This makes them essential safety tools. Without the ability to stop yourself you will simply keep gaining speed as you slide. Self-arresting is an essential skill and needs to be practised regularly but essentially involves digging in the pick of the axe to gently slow and eventually stop this descent. Among the secondary functions are using the adze, or shovel, to cut steps into steep slopes.
Use Thermarest camping beds when you are on hiking:
Self-inflating camping beds like the Thermarest NZ line provide more warmth than the foam mats while staying just about as light. They pull a layer of air in between two layers of insulation, and the warm air trapped inside keeps you off of the cold ground. Self-inflating beds also are easier on your back, giving you a little extra cushion on top of the rocks and sticks beneath your tent. When you are ready to break camp these beds can be compressed in order to squeeze all of the air out, making them easy and compact to pack back into your backpack.
Full inflatable beds offer even more warmth and protection, though their Instagram and bulk usually restrict their use to groups who are car camping. For those who can get this luxury to their campsite, their nights under the stars will be as comfortable as staying in their beds at home. Since, when inflated, inflatable camp beds take up as much space as a standard mattress, they take quite a bit of air to fill. They’re also susceptible to punctures, which can mean a night on the cold, hard ground.
Types of axes that can be chosen for hiking:
Ice axes NZ generally fall into three broad, if slightly overlapping categories. The first is walking ice axes, which are usually the longest with a straight shaft. They are good for hill walking, glacier crossing and climbing on gentle slopes. For slightly more technical climbing on steeper snow people generally prefer to use a shorter mountaineering or alpine ice axe. This may look very similar to the walking axe apart from its length, but they often also have a slightly curved shaft and a slightly more aggressive pick on the head, which allows them to be used for more technical climbing.