I had a chance to climb on the new Cassin tools last week. They have a fairly similar design to the Awax's they replaced, but a little more shaft curvature. The result is a "head heavier" feel. They stick like a dream on pure ice, the X-ice being my favorite combination of features.
Here is a link to them; this is the only place that I've seen them for sale: http://www.prolitegear.com/site/search_ ... ria=cassin

I suspect we will hear more about this soon .. the winter OR trade show is later this week I guess. Apparently C.A.M.P and Cassin are merging and the Awax is going to be discontinued.

btw Rumor on cc.com has it that Petzl is coming out with a new version of the nomic ?

http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthr ... _Quark_Ero

rhyang wrote:Apparently C.A.M.P and Cassin are merging and the Awax is going to be discontinued.

This is indeed the case. Camp will only be making general mountain axes now, turning the steep ice line over to Cassin.
I had a chance to go to OR this weekend and turned it down; if the new Nomics are there I might wish I went! Thanks for the tip rhyang.

Wow, looks like three new technical tools from Petzl - revised quark, nomic, and ergo - pics stolen off cc -









Spike and hammer on the nomic ! Hmm ..

damn, orange tool looks sick! I want to hear how they climb.

Each year I wonder what makes the majority of the manufacturers (with the exception of Simond, Black Diamond and AustriAlpin, and perhaps a few other) fail to built tool-less pick exchange systems.
Am I the only one who considers a design with no tool-less exchange system is pretty much a failure no matter how good the rest of the tool is?