Extreme leashed ice axe "skewering" usually occurs during out of control tumbling down the mountain at high velocities. It takes a lot of force to drive an ice axe through your body like a shish kabob.
Another thing, I am kind of amazed how sharp the spike on my new ice axe (Petzl) was. I damaged stuff accidently while just transporting it. Now its nice and dull. I heard that "hair splitting" sharpness is not really necessary for the spike so haven't sharpened it. I also have the usual protectors (top and bottom) corded together to reduce likelyhood of loss but they are less necessary now.
