A lot of people when they hear ice pick, think of a sharp spike, easy to conceal and ubiquitous in the early 20th century as frozen ice production became more large scale. I hear this mistake on podcasts every now and then.

But no it was an ice pickaxe, apparently it belonged to a member of the household who did mountaineering or at least that’s what I remember. Which is wild, Mercador just grabbing what’s close to hand (after being frisked by Trotsky’s bodyguards).