Rambo Evolution 2

I am quickly coming to the conclusion that all ice axes are basically the same it is only the little minor things that cause us to choose one over another. I have heard many great things about this tool and was lucky that the local rental shop had a pair to rent when I wanted them because they seem to be much in demand.



They do have an outstanding pick, which performs quite well on any ice or rock challenge that you can through at it. It sticks well on hard ice with little fracturing because it is so thin. As well it has a real good droop on the blade that makes it easy to extract. I didn’t have the problems I some times have of driving the pick in too far it always seem to go in just far enough and always gave me good feedback.



One nice feature is the ease in which the picks can be changed and the different tools that can be added to suite local conditions. The picks I had were factory fresh and had a negative cut in the pick and went into ice really well and even though they were rather thin they still seemed to hold up when using them for dry tooling. As well, the hammer was far enough away from the shaft so it can be used in cracks without getting you arm in a knot and it was a good size for pounding pitons.



I found the swing to be good for me (other’s I tried were better though), but what I really liked was the handgrip, which was just perfect for my rather small hand. The finger guard at the top of the handgrip was nice as it stopped me getting a knuckle bash on at least one occasion. Most of the time the bent shaft kept my knuckles well away from the ice and really helped when going over bumps and bulges better than all the other tools I tried out this winter.



As an alpine short axe it was adequate but not outstanding. It did plunge all right but I noticed that the handgrip was starting to roll up the shaft on one tool and the other looked like it was about to. IMHO it would only take a few long alpine trips to totally trash the grips so some tape around the base may be something you may want to do if you pick one up. For daggering the newer version is much better (I had one older one and one newer one) as the head was redesigned with less nuts sticking and into the hand and a much better adze.



They come with your basic type leash, which is not as nice as the higher end ones out there but did do the job. I myself would invest the money in a better set of leashes to get some real performance out of the tool.



In all there are a very good all round tool since their performance on ice and mixed ground well out ways their average performance in a pure alpine setting. If you are looking for a set of moderately priced high performance tools that can go both ways and if you have smaller hands then there will do you nicely. I would just rent them first to see if the swing fits you as I have heard just as many people complain about the swing as praise it. It seems that Grivel had dropped this tool from its product line, which is a pity because it is a most popular tool so watch out for them coming on sale soon.

Although I always thought that I would like to try another ice tool, for example, from Charlet Moser, I never did it - maybe this speaks for itself. I'm simply very satisfied with it for the usage in firn and pure ice in northfaces (till 90°). It has very good bite, which is the most important thing of an ice tool. The form is also good, although I'm also interested in an comparison with Grivel The Mashine. I like the grip as well. It is also quite light for an ice axe compared with other ice axes. When I climb ice faces, I use Grivel Geronimo2 as second ice tool. The only disadvantage: The steel is not very hard so that I have to sharpen it after every harder ice climbing trip.

Grivel has discontinued the Rambo axe, so why review it? Because that means there are good close-out deals around! Though the new Tech Wing indeed looks interesting, a pair of Rambo's on sale will be hard to match for price/performance ratio.

Grivel makes to my opinion the far best blades. It cuts into hard ice no matter how cold, but is still wide enough to support in slush. The adze is beautiful and the hammer adequate.

The grip fits my hand so nicely that I can climb leash-less with relatively little finger strength. Most of the time, though, I do use the leash, which is the best I have tried. A slider stays in place to define minimum opening around wrist, while a small loop can be put around adze/hammer to open the leash - simple and easy, does not freeze over or require the help of mouth.

With it's doubly curved shaft, the foot goes straight down, making the Rambo good as piolet for steep glacier walking (it is too short on shallow slopes). I often use one Rambo uphill and a normal length piolet in the downhill hand when moving on hard snow slopes.

There might be better axes around for top-notch ice climbing, but if the ice is surrounded by mountains, I can recommend the Rambo.

One of two sets of ice tools that I use. The Rambos are great for an all mountain tool working best on moderate mixed climbs.

They are very durable and take a beating. The somewhat straight shaft allows for a variety of techniqe but isn't the best for overhanging ice.

The price is great compared to other tools in this category.

I'd suggest them to new climbers as well as those looking to get into alpine mixed.