Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand
Glacial Pace:
With ice axes, you put your wrist through a loop at the bottom of the handle. The inside of the loop is usually made out of leather or rubber so that it won't slide off should you lose your grip on the axe. This saves you the embarrassment of having to look up at an ice axe firmly planted in the slope, capable of holding someone twice your weight... as you fall backward toward the rock field below you.
That loop is also the reason why s...