Blue Ice Hummingbird Ice Axe Review
By Graham Johnson
Over the past decade or so Blue Ice has grown from making only one piolet (the Bluebird) to whole family of piolets and ice tools. At the top of their piolet hierarchy is the Hummingbird. As might be inferred from the name, the Hummingbird is at the lightest end of the spectrum—weighing in at 230g for the 50cm version and 213 for the 45 cm, this is a seriously lightweight ice axe for skiing or mountaineering.
Let me be clear that this is not a general purpose axe that you might bash snow stakes in with on a regular basis. This is an axe for ‘I'm probably only going to need this for a little bit’ and ‘It's not technical enough for a proper ice tool, but I am going to want something’. And for that role, it is fantastic. As light as it is, it is still approved by the ISMF (International Ski Mountaineering Federation) for competitions. This is probably the bare minimum standard for ‘Yes, this a real ice axe’, but it also meets the standard UIAA B rating that all piolets must meet. If I were guiding or doing a lot of classic mountaineering where I'm going to be knocking the snow off my crampons all the time, bashing it into rocks, pounding stakes in, etc, I would definitely pick something heavier. By comparison—a 55 cm Black Diamond Raven (which I would consider to be a nice light general purpose axe) weighs in at 430g—nearly double the weight of the Hummingbird.
That's not to say it's not durable, but … horses for courses.
How does Blue Ice achieve this? Space age stuff—the head assembly is a single piece of titanium, with cutouts for both decreasing weight and (probably more so) for aesthetics. The pick is a classic piolet shape that tapers to a very narrow point. A small, but functional adze with some cute little holes in it as well. Two plastic ‘cheeks’ and a single rivet hold it all together. A gently curved B-rated aluminium shaft with a little bit of knurling at the bottom for extra grip. I honestly don't know if this does anything or not. The ‘spike’ is formed by just cutting the shaft at an angle—this is the least durable way to make a spike, but it is also the lightest. Using this on rocks a lot will chew it up. A wedge spike like this is also the least secure—it just doesn't penetrate into hard snow like a proper steel spike does. A plastic plug prevents snow from getting packed into the shaft. At hole in the spike accepts a carabiner, as does the largest cutout on the pick where you could attach a leash (if you're into that). A really nice pick and adze protector is included as well.
In use the Hummingbird is very comfortable to carry in both the piolet panne and piolet canne positions. The teeth on the pick are concentrated at the tip, so you aren't grabbing them when using the axe in the self-arrest position. Speaking of self-arrest, this is a short axe, with a short pick—in softer snow you might have to get your elbows involved when self-arresting. The short shafts offered make clear it's preference for steeper slopes. This is not an axe for swinging over your head, but it can be done. The narrow pick penetrates well and the curved shaft is nice for keeping your knuckles from being so close to the snow. A sliding pommel (10g) is available from Blue Ice, but was not tested. I suspect this is more for hand comfort when daggering than for swinging. It is compatible with all modern tool attachment systems on packs, but if you have an old school pack with very large tool loops, there might not be enough head to hold the axe securely due to the small size of the adze. When skiing, I prefer to carry this in the avalanche compartment of my pack. It might not be as quickly accessible as having it on the outside, but it keeps it from flopping around and potentially getting caught on stuff. If I think I'm going to need it mid-descent I will carry it in the shoulder straps or in my hand.
I think this is a great little ice axe. I can't really find any true faults. Yes, it has its deficiencies, but the counter argument for all of them is ‘it wasn't designed to do that’. If cost is a factor, Blue Ice makes a very similar ice axe in the FALK—which has a steel head instead of titanium and is still sub 300g.
5/5 Stars