Tired of being kicked out of the gym for training with your ice tools?

With the increased popularity of books discussing training for winter climbing, Duck Rings created by Tindeq are a good alternative to taking your ice tools into the gym.

First, they save you the hassle of physically taking your axes to the gym and then it saves you the unnecessarily time it takes to explain to the other gym goers what you are doing.

Nothing like the guy getting off the hang string curl machine and coming over to ask if you are going to climb a mountain? Duck Rings help you avoid this conversation from the start, allowing you to focus on your training.


The alternatives for bringing your tools into the gym are often annoying and time consuming; padding your picks with foam, wrapping the pull-up bar with PVC or not being allowed to use your tools at all.

Duck Rings will also save the pick on your tool too; without hanging them over the metal pull-up bar you are extending the life of your pick and not destroying the pull-up bar for other users. When you transition from winter training you can use other grip configurations on the rings to work on your pinch and crimp strength.

Unless you are into muscle-ups and doing iron crosses then the Duck Rings will work for the rest of your ring specific training, while at the same time working on your ice tool specific grip.

Duck Rings are the brain child of Tindeq and they are currently running a Kickstarter campaign to get them going which has already received more than 281 per cent of their required funding to get the project off the ground. For more information visit here.

– Written by Calgary climber and photographer Tim Banfield.