Size
Ice-axe spike-to-head lengths generally range from 60 to 90 cm (or about 24 to 36 in.). This is too short to be used as a walking stick on level ground (the way its forebearer, the 5-foot (1.5 m) 19th century alpenstock, was), but is ergonomic when ascending steep slopes. Ski mountaineers often carry shorter ice axes (50–55 cm) for emergency use if unexpected conditions are encountered.
Read more about this topic: Ice Axe
Famous quotes containing the word size:
“In mathematics he was greater
Than Tycho Brahe, or Erra Pater:
For he, by geometric scale,
Could take the size of pots of ale;
Resolve, by sines and tangents straight,
If bread and butter wanted weight;
And wisely tell what hour o’ th’ day
The clock doth strike, by algebra.”
—Samuel Butler (1612–1680)
“One writes of scars healed, a loose parallel to the pathology of the skin, but there is no such thing in the life of an individual. There are open wounds, shrunk sometimes to the size of a pin-prick but wounds still. The marks of suffering are more comparable to the loss of a finger, or the sight of an eye. We may not miss them, either, for one minute in a year, but if we should there is nothing to be done about it.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“Eat your meals according to the size of your bowl.”
—Chinese proverb.