Simond Coyote, $275,
1 pound, 5 ounces
Overall grade: C
The Coyote is a very direct descendant of the first World Cup-driven designs and suffers greatly for it, earning the worst marks for dry-tooling overall. Simply put, this tool lacked any sort of stability. When weighting the lower handle, we found that the tool wanted to skate back off the rock. Not only that, but the tool would pivot side-to-side on the rock — unnerving to say the least. We also found the tool to be a bit bulky for stein pulling. On the plus side, the tool did do reasonably well on the ice, swinging and penetrating as well as some of the stacked-grip tools.
What we really didn’t like about this tool was the enormous spike at the pommel’s end. This is obstensibly for planting the tool in ice at the top of routes, but when it comes do dry tooling, the fewer sharp and pointy items staring you in the face, the better. We ended up taking a Dremel to the spike and buzzing down the sharp point, but it was still unpleasant to look up at that dagger while pulling on a tenuous hook move.
Simond/Vertical Addiction: (403) 688-1830, www.vertical-addiction.com

Test Results:
Austri Alpin Phreak
Black Diamond Fusion
Grivel Racing Wing
Petzl Ergo
Simond Coyote
Trango Mantis

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