Ice screw case and leash

Motivation

If I want to take a break whilst snow kiting, I would normally land the kite and tether it to my board. I push the board in the snow at an angle, up to the binding. I then use a carabiner to hook one line to the binding.

This normally works great, but there is the odd occasion when the snow is so hard that it is not possible to get the board in far enough. I landed my kite once near the road and didn't get the board in very far. I turned my back on it for one second and the board came loose and got dragged by the kite towards the road. Luckily one of my mates managed to stop the kite.

So, I decided that it would be good to carry an ice screw in really icy conditions. I didn't want to just clip it to my harness as this could be quite dangerous in a crash. So i decided to make some sort of cover and attachment.  

Scope

Here is a list of requirements for combined screw and cover:

• Attach easily to the harness.
• Easy operation with one hand
• No rubber buggies as the loose their tension in the cold
• No small parts or parts that can be lost

Solution

So this is what i came up with:

Ice screw case and leash assembled

It is a piece of PVC plumbing tubing, connected through the ice screw loop to the carabiner with nylon webbing. The buckle in the webbing allows it to be tightened up. There is a large fold on the end of the webbing so that it wont thread back through the buckle.

Here is what it looks like when you take it off:

Ice screw case and leash disassembled

So I'm really happy with the results. I would feel perfectly safe with this on my harness. I will report back once I have used it.