alpenstock

American  

[al-puhn-stok] / ˈæl pənˌstɒk /

noun

1. a strong staff with an iron point, used by mountain climbers.

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alpenstock British  

/ ˈælpənˌstɒk /

noun

1. an early form of ice axe, consisting of a stout stick with an iron tip and sometimes having a pick and adze at the head, formerly used by mountain climbers

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Etymology

Origin of alpenstock

1820–30; < German, equivalent to Alpen Alps + Stock staff

Example Sentences

Says the caption, “They wear hats, bloomers, hiking boots and gauntlet gloves, and hold alpenstocks.”

From Seattle Times

Brooks himself reads as the opposite of acrophobic: scaling the icy pinnacles of Hollywood without anything more than a pang of self-doubt, using humor as his alpenstock.

From New York Times

Piled in a corner, his hiking gear—boots, alpenstock, leather knapsack.

From Literature

Following closely behind them perhaps there would have strode a professional pilgrim, supporting himself on a stout knobbed staff shod like an alpenstock and weighed down with blessed medals, relics, shells, vernicles and so forth.

From Literature

But the rest shout “Excelsior,” take a firmer grasp of alpenstock, stamp feet more vehemently into the snow, and with dogged perseverance move step by step up the final height.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• cane
• crutch