Illimani94

I've used my Yashica T4 for 5 or 6 years now. Light, weather-resistant, takes good pics. I've only shot slide film through it. I do miss having a zoom lense at times. For a small, light zoom cam the Olympus Stylus Epic series is the way to go.

My Vertech is now 10 years old, and has always worked great, as long as I feed it a battery every couple years. I tend to wear mine on a cord around my neck, so getting wet hasn't been an issue. Also I've had the batteries changed at Avocet, so maybe they are more careful with keeping any case seals intact. Don't know.... None of the newer watches have intrigued me except the Highgear model someone mentioned, the one with the carabiner. That would make it simple to keep on a cord safe under clothes, or clip it to a pack where an accurate temperature reading could be obtained.

I can never get a decent fit in the BD gloves - weird hands or something. My current favs are the Iceflow gloves from Cloudveil. The other guys hit it dead on: great close fit that allows you to fiddle with gear, surprisingly warm (I've used them down into single digit temps). Not sure how they'd handle multiday trips w/ no heat for drying though. For shelled gloves w/ removable liners I get a pretty decent fit from Granite Gear's Ice Sparring gloves and the old Stretch Triolets. Have yet to try the Stretch Element gloves. Basically, if it's too cold for the Iceflow gloves I go straight to mittens....

You could try a gear repair shop like Rainy Pass Repair to see how hard it would be to remove the cuffs from a jacket you like otherwise, then add in sleeve extensions with new cuffs at the ends. Doesn't look like it would be too complicated on a 3-ply laminated or coated fabric. Worth a shot. Alternately, call Integral Designs and explain what it is you want in a jacket. They may have some lighter weight material that they could turn into a jacket for you. Any time I've talked to them they've seemed fairly open to custom work. Good luck. My arms aren't as extendo as yours; I sometimes get a decent fit from Patagonia, Cloudveil, or Arc'teryx. Not always, but sometimes.

For trips where the bag might end up on the top of a truck - or a pack animal - Wild Things Mule Bags. My pair of these are 12 and 19 years old respectively. Both have flown somewhere every year of their lives, both have been dragged through parking lots, strapped on mules or llamas, lashed to the top of buses, etc. One served as a flexible Rocket Box for several ice climbing trips, strapped to the Yakima rack on my car. Tough duffels. That said, I've become a big fan of those wheeled Eagle Creek (and others, but mine are Eagle Creek) duffles. The one we have is massive, yet the wheels and rigid undercarriage make it a breeze to roll across parking lots, through airports, etc. I note that the wheels and undercarriage take up some of your precious weight allotment, something the airlines are getting more picky about. If you decide to go wheeled, get one with the collapsible rigid handle - much easier to tow than the ones without that feature.

I have about a week's worth of climbing, and no problems so far. I did cut off the little clips though. First time out one of those ended up under the cuff of a tool leash - painful. The only climbing I've done in them has been cold. I find them surprisingly warm, but I do swap into a pair of mittens at the belays. I like 'em. As to the guy touting the Vinylgloves, or whatever they're called.... A Canadian buddy of mine used to climb in these rubberized canvas fisherman's mitts (Nokia I think). I used to laugh at him until I tried them. Warm, very grippy on tools, precurved and box cut, and really really waterproof. The canvas interior takes a long time to dry, but even swapping a fresh fleece liner into a damp mitt was pretty warm the next day. The palms even survive rappels if you don't rush them. Certainly better than some of the OR mitts I've climbed in. Some of the oddest solutions can work really well.

Yeah, that's about the size of it. So far I've found a couple things that work reasonably well FOR ME 1. Cloudveil Icefloe gloves. These fit my hands really well. Thin and grippy; I can handle gear, clip stuff, etc. with ease. I've used them in pretty cold conditions (single digit temps - Farenheit) and they're surprisingly comfortable. I do swap into a pair of mittens for the belays, and warm the gloves inside my jacket. I have yet to use these gloves in wet conditions, and I have a feeling they aren't going to be very waterproof - or not at all. 2. Granite Gear Ice Raptor gloves. These are similar to BD's Ice Glove. I got them cheap, and found that they are a better fit on my hands. Reasonably good feel, pretty warm, reasonably water-resistant. I sometimes climb with these over a pair of Powerstretch gloves instead of using the stock liner. One annoying thing: they have this waterproof membrane insert that's not attached to anything. The theory is that if you NEED waterproofness this non-sewn membrane will keep your liners dry; if you don't need the waterproofness you leave the inserts out so they don't get damaged. In practice, adding the inserts trashes the fit of the gloves, for me anyway. But they're otherwise sturdy and warm and have survived abuse so far. That's what I got. I love climbing in the Icefloes (BD Drytool would probably be similar, but different fit), but if it's seriously wet they're not going to keep it out. For a shelled glove, BD Ice Glove, the Granite Gear glove, something like that is the best bet so far. I keep meaning to try the Mixed Master; if they fit the price is a steal. Or you could just climb in shelled mitts, which are warmer when damp anyway....

I've used the Alpine Light. Pretty nice pack, carries surprisingly comfortably for having just a wide piece of webbing for the waistbelt. Tool tubes are hypalon, which may be a bit harder to holster/unholster than nylon; plus side, you can't hurt 'em. Ditto the crampon patch. Uses those tough rubber Voile straps; tough, darned tough. Comes in 3 sizes for getting that perfect fit. Nice pack, very well made.

One option that's sort of midway between the small gaz stoves like the Pocket Rocket, Primus, Gigapower, etc. and the liquid-fuel workhorses from MSR or Primus is the Coleman Xtreme. The stove itself is light, a blowtorch when cranked up (at one of my winter camping clinics the Xtreme outran a Dragonfly to boil - and not by a little), yet simmers beautifully. It's a separated-fuel design like the MSR liquid fuel stoves, so you can use a serious windscreen with it. To be fair, Coleman doesn't supply a windscreen, but getting an MSR 'screen is no problem. The fuel cartridges are a unique design from Coleman; they only work on the X stoves, and they're the only fuel you can use with the X stoves. Fuel seems to be readily available from REI, so no problem unless you're flying somewhere that doesn't have access to the fuel. The big cartridges carry 300 gm of butane/propane mix; we've gotten 5 or 6 days use for two, 4 or 5 days for three - this with no melting snow for water. The legs are a little narrow, but still more stable than a typical gaz stove in non-hanging mode. I've never run it in a tent, but it's never flared on me either and I'd do it if without worry. In short, this stove offers most of the advantages of gaz stoves (simple and mostly unbreakable, easy to light, simple to simmer) and many of the assets we use liquid fuel for (massive heat output, serious windscreen/heat exchanger). If you plan on being out for a long time, or if you're spending serious time in someplace really cold like Alaska, or if you're cooking in camp in Bolivia, you may have to go multifuel. Otherwise, the Xtreme is worth a look.

As a former four-eye (LASIK last year, the best option IMHO), and user of 4 or 5 pairs of 'scrip glacier glasses... 1) Plastic lenses are preferable to glass. Glass does have better optics (though not by much) and don't scratch as readily. It's also heavier, break-prone, and must be coated to get the UV absorption. Any of the optical plastics absorb 100% UV naturally, so no UV coating is required. A SCRATCH-RESISTANT coating definitely is unless you want to replace lenses every year. 2) One argument for glass lenses if your 'scrip isn't too bad ( I was -8 diopters in both eyes before the zap) is photograys. As someone else mentioned, photochromic lenses can go from moderately tinted in flat light conditions to DARK in bright and cold conditions. My photograys got as dark as any glacier glass lenses I've seen. Photogray is in the glass, and it doesn't wear out with time. There's also a brown photochromic if you prefer the contrast-enhancing brown lenses. Down side? Glass, so high corrections are heavy. Breakage is more of an issue as with all glass lenses. There is a plastic photochromic lense material. It's range of darkness isn't nearly as good as photograys, and the effect apparently wears out after a few years. 3) For most conditions, glacier glasses are better than goggles. Sturdier, less prone to fogging. I like frames that have removable side shields, but then I'm more prone to overheating than many. 4) Frames I've used that tolerate prescription lenses well. Cebe 4000, the standard Bolle glacier glass frame, the classic round Julbo. I especially like the fit of the Cebe frame, though it is expensive. The important thing is to find a frame that hugs your face and allows minimal light leaks around the frame and side shields. Good luck. Actual prescription glacier glasses can be expensive, but I've never found a "fitover" type of glasses that didn't have distortion problems or fogging.

Re. the Vertige. The last time I used one of these (some years ago now) the reverse curve pick was pretty steep. Hard to get a natural swing without bouncing the pick. They may well have changed this by now...

I have the related Wild Things Denali - same basic concept as the Belay Parka, but with a w/b shell (mine's ancient, so the shell is Gore-tex; last time I looked they were using Sympatex). I can second DP Smith's comments. Put this sucker on and I warm up right away. And no matter how much spindrift falls down my neck I stay that way. Just check the sizing before you buy...

The old Mixed Master was about the size of the larger Ice Pack. Had a framesheet with two narrow stays as well as a trifold piece of thin closed-cell foam. Two compression straps, the crampon pocket, tool tubes and a vertical access zipper down one side. Fabrics appear the same as current Ice Packs, except that the back of a MM was soem sort of textured material that gathered snow; current Ice Packs have plain cordura back there. If memory hasn't shorted out the MM came in 3 back lengths, making it easy to get a fit. I used to have a Mixed Master, which was a reasonably nice pack. Comfortable, fit me pretty well, reasonable capacity. I used mine for most of a winter without the frame sheet, and the carry was still as good as any soft pack I've used. The current Ice Pack 50L is probably pretty close to the Mixed Master, but check the fit before buying; I think the Ice Packs come in only one back length.

I've had a Mk3 for about 7 years now. Has held up well. ventilates well (we got the 2nd door) in just about all conditions. I'd avoid the heavy-duty floor next time; really adds weight and - worse - packed size. As noted by someone else, get the extra guyout points and the door awning options. I'd buy another one. Maybe a smaller one next time....

I used a set of the Blacklite pots on the Wonderland Trail this summer. Light, good heat transfer, staggeringly easy to clean. Even the boiled-over cream sauce (don't ask!) came off with a bit of scrubbing with a scrap of Scotch Brite pad. Heat transfer is good too. Titanium is lighter for sure, but enough to justify the cost?