Climbing Technology, as the name suggests, is a specialist Italian climbing brand. It's known throughout the climbing world for top quality, design and advanced know-how, and the company has over thirty years' experience of developing mountaineering safety kit that the industry trusts.
So at Snow, we were keen to test their first kit especially designed for backcountry winter travel - and what we found was an excellent shovel/axe combination.
Alleviating the need to carry both a shovel and separate ice axe whilst ski touring/splitboarding, the Agile kit integrates a lightweight aluminium shovel head, with an ice-axe into one piece of kit.
The shovel head (400g) is a good size and has eight holes in it, which not only brings down the weight, but also enables easy attachment of skis if building an emergency sled.
The ice-axe, available with either 44cm or 50cm shafts, is an unbelievably light 240g, and while the axe head isn't the most comfortable of handles when it's being used in shovel mode, as an axe it will offer you protection while walking and is perfect as a deadman anchor.
Overall, the Climbing Technology Agile Kit is the perfect companion for anyone heading into serious backcountry with an eye on the weight of their pack.
