Gear Review - Petzl QUARK : The perfect tool for Himalayan Alpinism
I’ve always struggled to write gear reviews. The main reason behind this has always been that it’s historically been near impossible to find high quality, technical climbing gear in India. Things are beginning to change, but it’s still hard to find technical gear.
Which is why I decided, for my first review, I’d review a piece of gear that I absolutely love, and is available here – The Petzl Quark.
I acquired my Quarks (oddly, before that, I didn’t own ice axes, like many Indian climbers still don’t) almost 10 years ago. They were only available on special order from Allied Petzl, Mumbai, who kindly also gave me a significant discount on them. I think Allied Petzl will still sell them on demand, if you can’t jugaad them from abroad. If you can’t own one (because they certainly aren’t cheap), you can rent them for expeditions from the IMF in New Delhi (but, for some reason, they only have the Hammer version).
Since then, I’ve been fortunate enough to try a variety of ice axes of all types, on a variety of terrain, from straight shaft piolets to hyper aggressive ones for dry tooling. But my scratched up, beat up Quarks, I would never get rid of.
First lets start with the design and construction.
The QUARK (Petzl capitalises all names for gear, I don’t know if this is a French thing or a Petzl thing, but I’m not going to do it) is a modular, technical ice tool, with a significant curve in the shaft. The angle of the pick is quite aggressive – at least compared to straight shafted piolets. Both the pick and shaft are rated T (or 2), for use on rock and ice. The picks are replaceable, and you can add a hammer or an adze to the tool, which takes the weight to 550 grams. The quark has a TRIGREST, a small, movable rest that allows you to grab the tool in the higher position. The trigrest also has a removable mini-trigger (that’s the best way I can explain it), which also acts as a lock. When unlocked, the trigrest can be moved up, allowing it to be moved upwards to the head of the tool, which supposedly makes it easier to plunge into the snow. I can’t really tell, because this system never worked too well for me, neither did it last too long with all the punishment the Himalayas mete out. I lost one trigrest, and removed the other.
The bottom of the tool has a spike (or ferrule), a fairly comfortable pommel which has a griprest, meaning you don't have to grip the tool hard when you pull on it. In the updated (2018 onwards) version, it folds in to make it easier to plunge into the snow. It’s fixed on my tool, but I’ve never had a problem with using it in piolet canne position.
Usage.
After using a variety of climbing gear over the years, one thing I’ve learned – there is no such thing as perfect gear. Be it boots or ice tools, it comes down to how well it fits you. Fortunately or unfortunately, in India, the best gear is the gear you have, and the gear you can afford. The Quark works well on all counts, it works well, is available in India, and can be rented for a minimal price!
Before I start praising the usage of the tool, let me say again, the fit and usage of any piece of gear is subjective. You might think another tool is better, and you’ll be right.
The Quark is a versatile tool. It works well on fairly high angled ice, as well as on lower angled, snowy terrain. I’ve used it on glacier ice upto 80 degrees, and it works beautifully. It has a really nice swing, and the pick always finds that satisfying thunk on the first swing. That being said, I’ve also used it on steep WI4 water ice, and found it a bit hard to use. It’s not essentially a water ice tool, and I kept hurting my little finger. In the big mountains, though, we rarely encounter ice that steep, and I’m more concerned with the versatility of the tool.
The aggressive pick angle and T rated pick mean it can also be used on rock quite comfortably. I remember slotting it into a crack on a climb in Zanskar, and then torqueing on it with all my weight, and it never felt like the pick was going to break.
On less steep terrain, it can be used as a piolet, with the ferrule plunged into the snow, even though it's a short, 50cm tool. Its too short to be used on flat ground, though, unless you’re a short person.
When climbing in the Himalaya, it’s important to have both an Adze and a hammer. One of my Quarks has an adze equipped, which in invaluable in clearing snow to place screws. The hammer can be used for pitons, but the few times I’ve used it, I found it a bit small.
What really works for me is the weight and the profile. Its not so heavy that it tires me out, and it’s not so light that I have no heft in my swing. The profile too, is quite compact, and carries well on my pack.
Since I started climbing Water Ice some years ago, I’ve found another set of Petzl tools I love – Nomic. I’m considering using them on a climb in the mountains to see how well they work. The obvious disadvantage of the nomics are that they are too aggressive, with a separate space for the hand. While this is great on steep, tough, terrain, it makes plunging the tool into the snow hard (and who wants to make the last 100 meter snow slog to the summit hard?). It also doesn’t have an Adze or a hammer – though this is easily rectified by Petzl’s modular design. I’ll let you know how that experiment goes.
There are a few alternatives to the Quarks. One the Black Diamond Viper, which is also a very good tool, and about the same price, about 140 Euro. I’ve used this, and didn’t love it. That being said, my friend Bharat Bhushan uses these, and I think he doesn’t like my Quarks. Cheaper alternatives too, are available. Decathlon, for a while, sold a tool called the Anaconda, which I quite liked. It isn’t available now, though.
All in all, the Petzl Quark is a great tool, and if you can get your hands on a pair (even temporarily), go for it!
