Grivel Air Tech Light with G Slider

A lighter classic alpine mountaineering axe suitable for winter walking and easier "one axe" climbs.

The one-piece hot-forged steel blade makes it light, balanced and solid and the G-bone shaft with lateral grooves (similar to an I-girder) gives it a greater strength with a lower thickness of metal and also guarantees an excellent ergonomic grip along the entire shaft. It comes with the innovative G-Slider for leashless climbing and is an ideal companion for all types of winter walking and mountaineering.

Materials: hot-forged steel blade, aluminium shaft.

Certification: CE EN 13089, Type 1, UIAA 152.

Weight: c 415g.

New Axe Tests
B and T Ratings have been superseded by new EN Ratings, Type 1 and Type 2:
Both have the same test and strength requirement for the shaft strength test (which best simulates the buried axe/T-Slot technique), so either axe type can be used for belaying from the shaft in a buried axe belay. Where the differences between Type 1 and 2 become more obvious is in the lab tests that try to simulate torqueing/stein pulling and really test the strength of the pick and the pick-shaft interface, with the loads required for Type 2 tools being significantly higher.

So in summary:
Type 1: Standard walking and alpine mountaineering axes, suitable for ice axe belaying, but not designed for hard modern mixed climbing involving torqueing picks etc.
Type 2: Modern leashless tools suitable for ice axe belaying, and also designed for hard modern mixed climbing involving torqueing picks etc.

Thus it is not strictly true that Type 1 = B and Type 2 = T as both tests pass the old T shaft test and Type 2 axes are now being tested for properties that were not previously tested for.