That was fun to read, Jan! I too, have used an ice ax (There seems to be some disagreement on the internet about ax vs. axe, BTW) when glissading in the Teton Mountains! I took two back to back summer college courses in Wyoming through Albion College. One of our Bio professors taught both courses--Mountain Ecology and Mountaineering. That would have been 6 weeks total during July/August 1975, when snow & ice still persisted at the highest elevations during the summer. I remember the practicing, but I don't remember ever needing to halt a slide down on an emergency basis. I do remember a girl in the Mountaineering class accidentally slipping into a shallow crevasse--maybe 10 feet max. We had been crossing a bit of a "bridge" between 2 shallow crevasses without any sort of ropes, etc, as it didn't seem too dangerous. That may've turned out to be a good thing, because she might have taken other students with her! But, we did get her out safely.
I don't remember any sort of walking stick at Kilimanjaro, but maybe I did have one. I don't remember the crampons, either, but maybe our whole (little) group did wear them. I'd have to dig out my photographic slides to see what was on my feet! Maybe I should go out snow shoeing instead of walking for my exercise this afternoon!
That was fun to read, Jan! I too, have used an ice ax (There seems to be some disagreement on the internet about ax vs. axe, BTW) when glissading in the Teton Mountains! I took two back to back summer college courses in Wyoming through Albion College. One of our Bio professors taught both courses--Mountain Ecology and Mountaineering. That would have been 6 weeks total during July/August 1975, when snow & ice still persisted at the highest elevations during the summer. I remember the practicing, but I don't remember ever needing to halt a slide down on an emergency basis. I do remember a girl in the Mountaineering class accidentally slipping into a shallow crevasse--maybe 10 feet max. We had been crossing a bit of a "bridge" between 2 shallow crevasses without any sort of ropes, etc, as it didn't seem too dangerous. That may've turned out to be a good thing, because she might have taken other students with her! But, we did get her out safely.
I don't remember any sort of walking stick at Kilimanjaro, but maybe I did have one. I don't remember the crampons, either, but maybe our whole (little) group did wear them. I'd have to dig out my photographic slides to see what was on my feet! Maybe I should go out snow shoeing instead of walking for my exercise this afternoon!
Whether you need it again or not, your ax is a symbol of a lifetime of adventures. There's no reason not to keep it!
So wonderful to have caring neighbors like yours. And thanks for sharing your previous ice axe adventures!