KRUKONOGI - Ice, Mixed & Drytooling Picks Guide

How to get the right Krukonogi picks for your tools?

Verti Call is the first store in Canada and seems the Second in America to make Krukonogi products available for climbers, but it also leads many to wonder, is it worth the hype.

First, let’s introduce the brand. Krukonogi mostly designed ice, mixed, drytooling and aid products. It's also one of the very few businesses that develop titanium and carbon fibre for climbing applications. If you follow UIAA Ice World Cup you have seen the art of Krukonogi for sure. The Russian brands, from St- St-Petersburg, sponsor many top ice, mixed and drytooling athletes. When Krukonogi is on the tree steps of a podium and their athletes won the overall World Cup standings for both men and women, it means something. The brand is renowned for its high strength spare pick and its high-performance ice tool optimized for World Cup and other big competitions.

Krukonogi is making so many different picks, enough to confuse even the most advance climbers. 
Let me explain how to read picks! The first letter in the name of the pick represents the brand and the model of the tool on which it is compatible. For example, the PN from the popular pick PN0(A) means Pick for Nomic (Petzl). Notice that Nomic picks are also compatible with Petzl Quark and Petzl Ergo.

The number after the letters show the type of pick. An ice pick is thinner, teeth are less aggressive and the angle of the pick is less steep. Drytooling is the opposite of ice pick, aggressive tooth and steep angle. The pick is also thicker and will allow a heavier torquing in cracks. Notice in the product descriptions that drytooling picks are also not strengthened as some ice picks. It's because drytooling picks must bend or flex when torqued and not break. The mixed pick is an in-between from ice to drytooling picks.

00 - Pure ice (optimized for cold, hard and high-density ice). Very thin pick. Not for rock.
0 - Optimized for ice but also good for mixed
1 - Mixed (ice and rock)
2 - Mixed or drytooling
3 - Drytooling and competition.
5 - Competition (often used with titanium cheeks)
7 - Shorter pick for competition (often used with titanium cheeks)

There are no numbers 4 and 6.


Number 00, 0, 1 and 2 have wavy teeth that get closer near the tip of the pick. This is more suitable for ice or mixed. See PN0(A) on the next picture.

Numbers 3, 5 and 7 have aggressive teeth for the full length of the pick. It looks like a saw blade. This is more suitable for drytooling. See PND5(A)TC on the next picture.



Numbers are sometimes preceded by a letter.
D - Slightly shorter drytooling pick.
G - Giraffe (extent the length of the tool and change the angle of stein pull). For drytooling and competition.
S - Stas Beskin edition. If you don’t know Stas, take a look at his Instagram account. He is impressive and we are proud to sponsor him. He has contributed to the design of the PXS(A) and the 00 picks. Stas describes it as the best ever pure ice pick.

In brackets:
(A) - Armor steel (made of). This steel is one of the main reasons why their picks are so praise. It's so damn hard! You definitively don't have to file the picks as often as other brands and the lifespan is incredible. However, if you have to sharpen, I recommend a good diamond file otherwise it will be a very hard task.
(TN) - Titanium Nitride Coating. This is a very nice beautiful pinky/purple/bluish colourful coating. It can cure cancer. I'm kidding! It's cosmetic only.

The final letter is for accessories like a hammer, represented by an or TC for titanium cheeks. The cheeks make stein pull a lot more stable and are used mostly in competition. You might also see E meaning it's made from a Wire Cut EDM machine (ex: PAN5(A)E).

Let's see what it looks like! In the next diagram, take a look at how the G (giraffe) extended the reach. Notice the tooth difference of both giraffes picks PNG(A) (wavy) to PNG3(A) (saw blade) and how the tip is more aggressive on PNG3(A). See how 00 pick is low angle and ''soft'' tip, perfect for hard ice. Notice also how D pick is slightly shorter. PNS00(A) have the least aggressive angle, follow by PN0(A).



The next diagram shows one more time how the G (giraffe) extended the reach. See how D pick is shorter but how number 7 pick is even much shorter.



A downside for Krukonogi is every original accessory that needs an outcrop on the pick for its insertion is not compatible. It's the case with Petzl and Cassin branded hammer and adze.

The price

We usually believe that original parts and accessories made by the manufacturer are better than alternatives made by a third party. However, Krukonogi is world-renowned in the competition field for the quality and durability of their picks and front point. Despite the high price tag, the very good lifespan of their picks makes them much cheaper in the long run than the original picks. In the end, the high price tag is really not that high.

To find the right picks in-store 
Black Diamond tools, click here
Cassin tools, click here
Elite Climb tools, click here
Grivel tools, click here
Ice Rock tools, click here
Krukonogi tools, click here
Petzl tools, click here
Trango tools, click here

All crampon's front point, click here

Hope this article will help you choose the right picks.
If you have additional questions, give us a shoot by email at info@verticallstore.com or leave a comment in the box below.

Climb hard! 



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Posted by Marc-Olivier Chabot
Ice climbingKrukonogi

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