Skip to main content

Trekking: The Kronos is the world’s first wooden ice axe

Man isn’t meant to stay indoors — our weekly “Trekking” column can attest to that. It’s a column dedicated to the adventurer inside of all of us, the one pining to ditch the office humdrum for a quick surf session or seven-week jaunt in the Grand Tetons. One day we may highlight an ultra-light stove and the next a set of handmade canoe paddles. Life doesn’t just happen inside the workplace, so get outside and live it.

Pressed beech wood is not the first thing that comes to mind when you think ice tools — and why would it? The most durable, reliable, and commonplace climbing gear is often made of steel, which allows it to withstand an insane amount of force without bending or breaking under pressure. The makeup of humble ice axe is often no different, though, if New York-based Furnace Industries had its way, that would not be the case.

Recommended Videos

KronosMeet the Kronos ($389), a wooden ice axe that’s built to be as dependable as it is charming. The simple tool touts industry standard safety certification — or a T-rating, for those outside the know — meaning it was subjected to range of tests, including those to ensure the strength of both the shaft and embedded pick. The sleek pick uses a dense beech wood laminate that relies on a swath of thin veneers and resin, a combination that’s melded together under high pressure and temperature to integrate the latter into the wood’s cell structure. This creates a dense composite, one that touts incredible wear resistance despite its natural look and feel.

The wood build isn’t merely for show, however. The unique construction allows your hands to stay warmer while climbing, and the wood helps increase sensitivity and dampen your strike. The aforementioned durability of the Kronos relies on a network of “islands,” which function like wooden bolts to secure the stainless steel hardware and help evenly distribute force throughout the pick when swung. A handful of visible bolts on the shaft further compress the wood, providing you with a greater sense of assurance should you decide to take it off your mantle and along with you for your next frozen ascent. And if you don’t? Well, we totally understand that too.

Check out Furnace Industries online to make a purchase and for more information regarding the Kronos, or the company’s youth-centric indoor ice tools.

Brandon Widder
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Brandon Widder is a journalist and a staff writer for the Manual and its brother site, Digital Trends, where he covers tech…
Topics
Don’t ruin your cigars: here’s how to properly season a new humidor
Seasoning secrets every cigar lover could use
faceless man presenting a cigar humidor with cigars inside with gloved hands

If you're a newcomer to the world of cigars or just bought a brand-new humidor, you'll need to season it. And no, I'm not saying to add salt and pepper to it. If you've never heard of it, you might ask, "What is seasoning for a humidor?"

Don't think you need to flavor the box or anything — seasoning is really about getting the wood inside your humidor so as not to rob your cigars of precious moisture. Easy to understand, and getting it done is relatively straightforward as well. The trick is figuring out the "why," and we'll get into that in a bit. But let's first discuss seasoning a humidor.

Read more
The NBA’s ultimate celebration tool: The victory cigar
A look at the players and coaches who smoke to celebrate
Jordan smoking a cigar image on a bag

Sports are synonymous with celebration. After winning the biggest trophy of their lives, athletes want to indulge in the payoff that comes with seeing their dreams realized. Teams go into the locker room, where a waterfall of champagne hits them in the eyes, and swimming goggles seem to be a requirement, lest you walk around on the best night of your life half blind. While drinking is often the activity of choice after winning a championship, the NBA has an alternative symbol of greatness that other sports don't use nearly enough: the victory cigar.

Basketball is a team game, but it's also an individual canvas for solo superstardom. After winning an NBA championship, the coaches and players who sit atop the throne have long smoked a cigar in the locker room, during the parade, or even on the bench before the clock has hit zero. There's nothing quite like a good stogie to signify the ultimate win over the rest of the league, but how did the victory cigar get so ingrained in NBA championship celebrations? We want to take a walk down memory lane and look at some of the historical moments and people who made the cigar what it is within the NBA today.
Red Auerbach's victory cigar on the bench
Red Auerbach: The Story Behind the Victory Cigar + His Disdain of NBA Officials - Red on Roundball

Read more
The best medical shows of all time to binge now
From ER to The Pitt, these are the best medical shows ever made
Noah Wyle in the Pitt

Throughout TV's long history, the medical drama has occupied a somewhat unique place in the landscape. Medical shows are often some of the most reliable on TV precisely because there's so much drama built in to working in a hospital.

Personally, I've found the medical drama to be deeply comforting for years, even if I have no desire to be a doctor myself. Understanding the stress of people in the healthcare profession is fascinating in and of itself.

Read more