This shovel appealed to me because it is so light. At 400g it’s lighter than any alloy shovel. Plastic shovels are generally a waste of time in the hills but the addition of a steel blade on the cutting edge of this shovel makes it a consideration.

In Use

I tried the shovel in a bank of hard packed crystalline snow. After the first 30 seconds or so I nearly threw it away in disgust. It may have a steel tip but the fact it is so light and doesn't have a proper shaft means it lacked momentum in the initial frozen layer. What appears to happen is that the steel tip does bite, but because it doesn’t extended across the full length of the shovel blade, the plastic edges either side of the steel immediately drag as soon as they hit the surface.

The information that comes with the shovel suggests that the steel blade is even more effective that an aluminum shovel.

Grivel say: ‘the best possible blade is a steel blade. Not a plastic one and not even an aluminum one: cutting knives have steel blades to be effective, not plastic nor aluminum ones!’

I’ve done enough snow shoveling this year to categorically say that this claim is a load of rubbish. A totally steel shovel maybe, but not just a thin strip of steel on the end of a lump of plastic.

Once through the frozen surface progress was relatively quick. It took me about 15 minutes to excavate a pit big enough to get in with my knees bent. In a survival situation such a pit would make a big difference and once protected I could have expanded the pit further into the banking.

Having a short handle is an advantage when you are digging in a confined space, although a shaft would have been helpful in getting started. It is possible to use an ice axe or trekking pole as a shaft but I didn't have an axe with me and the upper section of my Black Diamond flick lock pole would not fit through the hole in the top of the shovel. The middle section of the pole would fit, but it was too slack to be effective. To take advantage of this feature you would need a classic straight shaft axe or a twist lock trekking pole. Technical climbing tools are unlikely to fit.

Grivel Say: ‘The Grivel shovel is a completely new product, designed to cover the needs of rescue and snow digging’

I can’t accept that this shovel would be more effective that a telescopic shaft alloy shovel. From my experiences using the Grivel shovel on hard packed snow I think it would take an eternity to dig someone out of concrete avalanche debris.

Grivel emphasis the speed of deployment in a rescue: ‘without complex maneuvers to assemble the shaft’.

Again, I can’t imagine that a two click telescopic shovel would be more complex than messing about with a trekking pole or ice axe to create an effective shovel.

Mitigating factors for the Grivel shovel are, I’ve only had one day out with the shovel and not used it in any kind of emergency situation.

Conclusion

I was initially attracted to the Grivel Shovel because it is light and easy to cary. As I spend a lot of time alone in the winter hills I’m always looking for ways to give me a better chance of survival over an extend period should something go wrong. So, I’m thinking about digging an emergency shelter rather than using it to dig a partner out of an avalanche. For this fairly narrow range of use it is possibly worth consideration. Even then the saving of 165g over the alloy Deply 3 shovel has dubious worth.

If you are looking for a shovel for rescue, or if you plan to spend a few days snow holing don’t buy the Grivel shovel. In my opinion it is totally unsuitable for these purposes.

Consider the Black Diamond Deploy 7 at 700g or the Black Diamond Deploy 3 at 565g