Imagine yourself hanging on the North Face of the Eiger. You need pro, but trying to fiddle a #2RP into an ice-filled crack just doesn't get it! What you really want in a spot like that is a thin-bladed piton—something you drive into the rock with authority—something that you can trust your life to. The problem is that your steel pins are too heavy and, like so many alpinists, you leave them behind after mentally weighing your rucksack before the climb.

Ushba's titanium Alpine Pitons are designed to provide bombproof, yet lightweight, protection in thin cracks for the alpinist or mixed climber. They complement a rack including Sphincters and Ushba Ice Hooks for extreme mixed climbing.

This collection of 4 Ti pitons compliments a basic nut rack. They address the small sized cracks that require micro nuts. For alpine climbing, small cracks are frequently filled with dirt and ice, making pitons especially useful. And, the light weight of these Ti pins is not much greater than nuts. They go well with a basic alpine gear assortment to make up a perfect rack for mixed/alpine climbs.

The taper of the Alpine Pitons are on the bottom side, as they should be, with the top side flat and the taper uniform. The eyes are welded very solidly due to two main factors: 1) Ti is naturally well-suited to welding, and 2) All welds are fabricated in a vacuum (argon-filled chamber) to eliminate possible contamination. In fact, tests of eye strength show that the weld on Ushba's pitons is always stronger than the eye itself. The carabiner hole is 16mm in diameter for easy clipping. The eye shape is uniformly rounded because this shape fits more handily.

The basic three sizes are thin, medium, and thick (referring to the size of crack to fit). The #4 Alpine Piton is long (20cm) and thick (1.5mm-4mm taper) for flared cracks and mud/ice filled cracks; it has smooth edges for tying-off. And, the shape of the already thin, notched tip on the #4 allows it to do double-duty as a nut tool - for alpine climbs that require you to carry an ice hammer, a light rock rack that includes a range of nuts can be complemented very well by a #4 because it can be used both as a piton or nut tool.