How to Use ice ax in a Sentence

ice ax

noun
  • Perhaps his most famous invention was the first all-steel ice ax.
    — New York Times, 3 Dec. 2020
  • Yet that tiny snap would lead to the world’s first carbon-fiber ice ax, the Black Prophet.
    — Outside Online, 11 Aug. 2014
  • That can include not only snowshoes and ski poles but also an ice ax and crampons.
    — Los Angeles Times, 12 Jan. 2023
  • At one point Milligan duct-taped his ice ax to a ski pole as a precaution.
    — Gregory Thomas, San Francisco Chronicle, 25 Feb. 2021
  • Searchers in a helicopter spotted a jacket and an ice ax believed to belong to the men.
    — Phil Helsel, NBC News, 6 Dec. 2024
  • Mekha El-Rashidi checked his ice ax's hold, the grip of the crampon claws on his boots, the tension in the ropes.
    — Keith Matheny, Detroit Free Press, 22 Feb. 2023
  • And then Mira and Anya show up to find Kristen screaming on the ground with the ice ax next to her.
    — Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 25 July 2021
  • Libecki regularly swings the stove like a weapon into a rock or hits it with an ice ax to remove ice from the exterior.
    — Joe Jackson, Outside Online, 10 Aug. 2020
  • Unable to hide it any longer and truly broken down, Kristen confessed to her crime with the murder weapon, the ice ax, in her hand.
    — Chancellor Agard, EW.com, 25 July 2021
  • Allen was seen carrying a green Osprey backpack, ice ax and crampons and was using a green Nemo tent.
    — From Usa Today Network and Wire Reports, USA TODAY, 22 July 2022
  • But Bhatta had stored his ice ax — the crucial tool needed to arrest a slide — out of reach in his pack, opting instead for trekking poles.
    — Gregory Thomas, San Francisco Chronicle, 14 Mar. 2026
  • As in, carrying 60 meters of rope, ice axes, and a base camp, including the kitchen, into thin alpine air.
    — Popular Mechanics Editors, Popular Mechanics, 29 June 2018
  • The test involved various traverses on steep ice that gauged candidates’ skills with crampons and ice axes.
    — Simon Akam, Outside Online, 27 Nov. 2019
  • The murderer infamously used an ice ax; Trotsky died in a hospital the next day.
    — Washington Post, 21 Mar. 2024
  • The bloodstained ice ax used to kill Leon Trotsky in 1940 has resurfaced for the first time in more than six decades.
    — James Hohmann, Washington Post, 14 Sep. 2017
  • Worried they hadn’t been spotted, Neupane gave his injured friend his ice ax then left him in the snow to seek help at the trailhead several miles away.
    — Gregory Thomas, San Francisco Chronicle, 14 Mar. 2026
  • On Everest, the more experienced Sherpas showed Kanchha how to walk with crampons and use an ice ax.
    — Freddie Wilkinson, National Geographic, 17 June 2019
  • The season-one finale heavily implies that Kristen had enough, went to Orson’s home with an ice ax, and bludgeoned the guy to death.
    — Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 20 June 2021
  • The climb from the south is not considered technical, but the Forest Service recommends use of crampons and an ice ax.
    — Hal Bernton, The Seattle Times, 29 May 2018
  • One member of our team dived onto the picket that was holding the near end of their rope and hammered in his ice ax to back it up, while others used a second line to pull the climbers back to safety.
    — Mark Synnott, National Geographic, 16 June 2020
  • The Sherpas connected Ghosh to a new rope, anchored in a rock about 30 feet uphill, and used ice axes to dig and pry the body from the snow.
    — John Branch, Anchorage Daily News, 19 Dec. 2017
  • In an area called the School Room, Chapko demonstrated how to kick our crampons into the ice, then swiftly swing one ice ax at a time overhead.
    — Jen Murphy, Travel + Leisure, 2 Jan. 2022
  • Today’s Ryan McCarty construction was like clinging to the side of a mountain with an ice ax for me, or at least the southwest corner was.
    — Caitlin Lovinger, New York Times, 17 Apr. 2020
  • There’s loud knocking at the door, Kristen grabs her ice ax and heads into the backyard … and finds a bloody Orson LeRoux hanging around.
    — Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 25 July 2021
  • In addition to clothing that protects against the wind and cold, anyone attempting to climb steep terrain covered in snow and ice should have mountaineering boots, heavy metal crampons and an ice ax.
    — Jack Dolan, Los Angeles Times, 10 Feb. 2026
  • Trotsky and the ice ax Russian spies — and their American informants — have a long history in Mexico.
    — Owen Hayes, NBC News, 21 Sep. 2024
  • Leclerc pushed the cutting edge of alpinism by soloing increasingly ambitious alpine lines with only an ice ax and a pack, both captivating and terrifying the climbing world.
    — The Editors, Outside Online, 23 Dec. 2021
  • Prosecutors said evidence showed that Gunnarsson put on gloves, which were found at the scene, then used a 24-inch-long ice ax to strike Pham in the head, face, and neck more than 10 times.
    — Nicole Acosta, Peoplemag, 30 Oct. 2023
  • Walls are decorated with vintage mountaineering equipment including an ice ax their grandfather Hans Weber used on ascents of peaks in the Arctic.
    — Jen Murphy, Robb Report, 8 Mar. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ice ax.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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