The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word ICE-PICKS
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
I
C
E
-
P
I
C
K
S
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "tools for alpinists" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case tools for alpinists = ice-picks.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.