On trips to Norway and Scotland, and when the Welsh Winter Conditions set in, a set of Americana Screws are just the thing to have jangling on your harness.

The first thing you notice about these screws are the large yellow handle, on its extending bar. This 'swing open handle' allows the screws to pack up neatly for storage on your harness, but to have plenty of leverage for screwing into the hard Norwegian ice, and the large handle means that they're easily handleable with Gloves on, a lot better than the small winders on some of the competition.

The teeth bite nicely into the Ice, instilling confidence in the climber, and allowing for quick progression.

The only negative is that when removing them, the handle tries to fold away, but hey...your second can use that handle the hassle, they're not suffering the stress of the lead!

One other negative is the long hangar, which can be problematic when it hits ice bulges, I've often found myself having to chip ice off quite a large radius around the screw to get it to sink all the way in.

So...as a bold statement, I'd suggest that these are the second best screws out there currently, my first choice would be the Grivel 360, as it has all the benefits of the Americana (large winder, good teeth, etc...) but has no extended hanger, meaning Ice Bulges aren't an issue. However, I'm not made of money, and the Americana is a damn good comprimise