{"id":731,"date":"2014-02-06T10:18:01","date_gmt":"2014-02-06T17:18:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/larsonweb.com\/blog\/?p=731"},"modified":"2022-02-10T09:23:43","modified_gmt":"2022-02-10T09:23:43","slug":"e-climb-klau-alumiinum-ice-screws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/larsonweb.com\/blog\/e-climb-klau-alumiinum-ice-screws\/","title":{"rendered":"E Climb Klau Aluminum Ice Screws"},"content":{"rendered":"

The E-Climb “Klau” ice screw is not widely available in the United States. \u00a0As of this date, I couldn’t find a single U.S. seller. \u00a0I ended up ordering the screws directly from Spain, where E-Climb is headquartered. \u00a0E-Climb Website HERE<\/a> \u00a0The E-Climb Klau screw has a couple of features that make it different from most other screws on the market. \u00a0It has an aluminum body, and removable\/replaceable steel teeth.<\/p>\n

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E-Climb Klau Ice Screw<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The aluminum tube body makes the Klau screws marginally lighter than all-steel screws. \u00a0This is a nice feature for gram-shaving alpine climbers who obsess over gear weight.<\/p>\n

Some weight comparisons:<\/p>\n

19 cm Black Diamond screw \u00a05.7 ounces; \u00a0\u00a022cm Black Diamond screw \u00a06.2 ounces<\/p>\n

16 cm Grivel 360 screw \u00a0 6.2 ounces<\/p>\n

14 cm Klau screw 4 ounces;\u00a018 cm Klau screw 4.4 ounces;\u00a022 cm Klau \u00a04.7 ounces<\/p>\n

The per screw weight savings aren’t really huge. \u00a0Average savings of less than 2 ounces per screw. \u00a0However, with a 10-12 screw rack, you could save about a pound or more with aluminum Klau screws compared with traditional steel screws. \u00a0For weight obsessed climbers, a pound of savings may well be worth it.<\/p>\n

The teeth of the screws are steel, and can be replaced if they are damaged. \u00a0Changing out teeth is pretty easy. \u00a0You just screw off the teeth, using the crank handle of another screw as a wrench. \u00a0The replacement teeth then just screw back on. \u00a0The replacement has some dry adhesive (think \u00a0“loctite”)\u00a0on them to keep them from unscrewing when they’re not supposed to. \u00a0Replacement teeth are about $13. \u00a0The instructions for the screws say that conventional sharpening can mess up the interchangeable facility of the screws. I don’t think that a little touch-up with a file here and there would ruin it, if you stayed away from the little threads that secure the teeth to the tube.<\/p>\n

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Replaceable tips\/teeth for E-Climb Klau screws<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The most important characteristic of an ice screw for me is how quickly and easily it can be placed. \u00a0The Klau is comparable to other modern screws in ease of placement. \u00a0It bites into the ice and gets started just as easily (maybe a little bit easier even) compared with my Black Diamond screws. \u00a0Starting them seemed about the same as my Grivel 360 screw. \u00a0I could place a Klau screw with my left hand, which is a good test, as I am pretty clumsy with my left hand. \u00a0The folding crank gives good leverage for turning it into hard ice. \u00a0The crank doesn’t have much up and down wiggle room, however, so on featured ice, you will need to chop away lumps and bumps that impede rotation of the crank, as there is very limited ability to maneuver the crank over such obstacles. \u00a0 In my completely non-scientific tests of these screws, they do seem to be slightly more difficult than steel screws when trying to clear ice out of the tube after use.<\/p>\n

\"screw-1\"<\/a>
E-Climb Klau (left) and BD screw (right)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The threads on the E-Climb screws are not quite as tall as the threads on other screws in my arsenal. \u00a0I have no idea what effect this difference might have on holding power. \u00a0However, I think that I might place the screws in a more horizontal position compared with the slightly down-facing position of other screws with larger threads.<\/p>\n

Overall, \u00a0I like the Klau screws. \u00a0I like their light weight, and they place easily in hard ice. \u00a0I don’t think that they will replace my steel screws for every day ice cragging, but for alpine climbs where weight is an issue, I will definitely use the Klau screws to lighten my load.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The E-Climb “Klau” ice screw is not widely available in the United States. \u00a0As of this date, I couldn’t find a single U.S. seller. \u00a0I ended up ordering the screws directly from Spain, where E-Climb is headquartered. \u00a0E-Climb Website HERE \u00a0The E-Climb Klau screw has a couple of features that make it different from most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,131],"tags":[212,213,217,214,215,216,108],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/larsonweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/larsonweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/larsonweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/larsonweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/larsonweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=731"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/larsonweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2040,"href":"http:\/\/larsonweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731\/revisions\/2040"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/larsonweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/larsonweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/larsonweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/larsonweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}