Blue Ice Roll-Up Ice Screw Holder Review
By Graham Johnson
Twenty years ago, Black Diamond came out with a sort of revolutionary product—the Screw Up case. A protective case for your ice screws with a little zippered pocket for a file, spare pick etc... Great for it's time—I even gave it five stars when I reviewed it here. And that's kind of where things stopped for many years. Some cottage industry folks would sew up something custom but nothing ever really took off. There was room in the market for improvement for sure.
If you haven't heard of them, Blue Ice is a relatively new player (15 years or so) in the climbing and skiing game and has been shaking things up with lightweight but very functional equipment—on a recent trip to the Alps it seemed like everyone who wasn't a complete punter had at least some Blue Ice gear.
Blue Ice seems to have a knack for seeing a niche in the market and filling that void and the Roll Up case is just that. At 44g of strangely rubberized (but very durable) fabric with six screw slots and an elastic bungee, this is a stripped down version of the Black Diamond Screw Up (130g). There's no little zippered pocket or bulky buckle. It fits all sizes of screws—from Blue Ice's wide diameter screws to the more traditional diameter of Camp, Grivel, BD... It will not accommodate leaving the screw caps on, but why would you if you're using the case? It rolls into a tight little bundle that's easy to put in a pack and I've never had a shortie screw fall out like I used to with the BD. Even with it not full of all six screws, the remainder are held snugly. I feel like six screws per case (seven if you put one in the middle of the roll) is a good number of screws. 12–14 screws should be more than enough to get you up just about any pitch of ice (even for me—who likes to place lots of screws). There are eight slot roll up cases on the market (Petzl Octo), but 16 is too many for a climbing paiur and you end up with a half empty case—as well as the volume of screws making a much bulkier bundle. Blue Ice has really managed to hit the sweet spot here. Super light, compact and just exactly what you want. The elastic bungee may not last forever, but it would be easy to replace with a hair tie or something else. And as far as the fabric goes—I've been shoving screws in it and tossing it in a backpack for almost a year and it still looks brand new.
Honestly, at this time there's no good reason to purchase any other ice screw case on the market. It's just that good.
5 stars