ice axe

British

noun

a light axe used by mountaineers for cutting footholds in snow or ice, to provide an anchor point, or to control a slide on snow; it has a spiked tip and a head consisting of a pick and an adze

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Crossing the High Sierra in June usually means slow going over deep snow, with crampons on your boots and an ice axe in hand.

From New York Times • Aug. 31, 2022

Might that film show Mallory, ice axe held triumphantly over his head, standing on top of the world?

From Salon • Apr. 8, 2022

He did not take part in a rescue until he had served an "apprenticeship" - training in navigation and the use of crampons and an ice axe.

From BBC • Nov. 28, 2020

Wickwire forced himself back up the slope on his hands and knees, then used his ice axe and ice hammer to pin the sack to the slope.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 6, 2018

Using a soup ladle attached to an ice axe, Swanson reached out, straining to touch the ground as the helicopter lowered nearer and nearer the summit.

From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023