The tool is simple...simply retract to open the claw, grasp and release.

You should have been off the mountain hours ago. It's 3am and you still have another four abseils to go. You are so tired it is tempting to just abseil off your $100-a-piece ice screws. But no, you persevere with making v-threads in the ice. By some miracle, you manage to line up the holes perfectly but damn, you just can't hook that annoying piece of cord you are trying to thread through the holes with your v-thread hook. Maybe you'll just give up and leave the screws behind after all....

Yep, v-thread anchors can be fiddly. Mike Buchanan told Mountainz about this handy device for threading v-thread anchors...

'This v-threading tool makes it super easy, laughable in fact. I can get it first time, every time.

'The tool is actually a mechanic's tool – mechanics use them to grab things they might drop in hard-to-reach places. I can't take credit for the idea of using it to make v-threads because I read about it in one of those 20-year-old magazines in a hut.

'This winter at Bush Stream I used the tool to thread a v-thread one-handed, while leading 80-degree ice, because I only had one screw left and needed another runner.

'The tool cost about $30 from Trade Tools in Christchurch. I guess the only disadvantage is the tool is more fragile than a piece of wire. I normally leave mine in my pack until descent time, unless I'm in an ice crag environment and then it goes on my harness straight away. The other thing that could go wrong is it might freeze up if water ran down it then froze – though I haven't had this happen yet.'