fishstick

Well done! A great description of a great day in the hills. GB

I haven't used them but suspect that the Asolo Nanga GV might work very well. I own the non-welted Sherpa GV and found them to be exceptionally comfortable out of the box and very durable. GB

Re: How warm? I have a pair of men’s and my wife now has women’s in the correct size. The problem is that we haven’t used them much since getting them. My gut feeling (having used a very similar fabric in a jacket) is that the pants will work for winter BC touring, likely without long johns. We expect to use them with cap 3 underneath for ice climbing. They’re going to be too warm for spring skiing (at least for me) but I’d likely use them on a spring alpine route. We did one mild-weather day of lift skiing and they were brilliant. It’s all a bit of guesswork due to a lack of mileage… The fabric is really comfortable. It’s warm and very weather-resistant without being stifling hot. I question if the women’s would fit a male; they’re pretty sculpted. Cheers, GB

Bump (price change)

Bump...

Product details here: http://www.patagonia.com/us/product/womens-northwall-pants?p=83315-0-155 Pants were ordered in wrong size, have not been used and have tags attached. Size small, 26-27 inch waist, wmns 4-6. Warm, very weather resistant and arguably the nicest soft-shell pants out there for winter climbing and BC skiing. Now asking 230.00CDN (pants retail at 399.00USD)(was asking 280.00). Cheers, GB

Answering your question in detail would require a reply the length of a small novel. There's a number of different ways of approaching the problem, most of which have gotten more confusing with clothing advancements introduced in 2011. You're asking for lots of air permeability AND water resistance; these two characteristics are generally considered to be going in opposite directions on the performance continuum. My short answer, also being a person who generates a bunch of heat while touring, is to supplement your layers with a light-weight, unlined stretch-woven jacket like the MEC kinetic. It won't work in prolonged rain but it looks like you're carrying a hard-shell anyways. Think of the stretch woven as being a softSHELL. It isn't warm on its own but you can dial in your thermal needs by layering underneath. A second option worth considering is the Patagonia Knifeblade. It's a very different solution. It's an unlined soft-shell constructed like a hard-shell. It breathes much, much better than hard-shells but still offers enough water and wind resistance to replace the hard-shell on most trips. Seams are not taped so in theory it can leak when conditions go monsoon. Breathability rates are about 1/10 of the Kinetic but 12 to 20 X greater than the best of last year's hard-shells. The problem is going to be smoothly transitioning from multiple layers sans shell to wearing the shell. You might have to remove a layer for up-tracking... All of this said there's no correct answer but I will say that the new (2011) fabrics are a paradigm shift.

It's pretty simple really. You get to climb in notoriously condition-dependent areas while enjoying the rare benefit of the very best of local knowledge. More importantly you get to share ideas with, learn from and drink with some of the very best winter climbers on the planet. It's about opening up your mind. GB

The Petzls fit other BD harnesses so I assume that they'd work on the Couloir. It's a tight fit and they're awkward to remove (a rib of plastic tends to hook the fabric keeper) but they're more stable and hold an extra screw due to their larger size. I tried one and then replaced all of my BDs.

The screws will self-thread into the hollow rivets. This should take some effort but if the screw absolutely stalls before bottoming out then the inside of the rivet may need to be very carefully cleaned up with a drill of the same dimension (or slightly smaller) of the hole. Once complete the system has proven to be surprising bombproof if not liberating over several years of use. Good luck! GB

Drive about 1 kilometer east beyond the hamlet of Glacier. Turn RIGHT on Glacier creek road. Follow the road for about 10 or 15 minutes until you get to the one and only obvious parking lot 300m beyond a sign advising the need for forest passes at trailheads. The trail takes a bit over an hour to get to the campsite on the moraine. Take ski poles for the last two creek crossings. Cheers, GB

Dane, You're really going to smile when you see the new Nomic... GB

Ah, you might want to check where your BD and Osprey packs are made...

Climb-wise, are you looking for a summit, ice or rock? How hard? With the realization that I'm 2450ks away, I suspect rock routes on sunny aspects of the Flatirons and Boulder canyon should be very climbable after mid-morning. In the winter Boulder tends to be cool at night, but surprisingly warm during the day. In terms of ice, drive north to Estes Park (maybe 60ks) and continue into RMNP to the parking lot for glacier gorge. Follow well-beaten snowshoe paths to either Loch Vale or Glacier Gorge. The latter would likely be less crowded. More info here: http://www.mountainproject.com/v/colorado/co_ice__mixed/rmnp__mixedice/105744515 Also look here: http://climbinglife.com/ An easy walk-up summit with a view might be something like Lady Washington, also in RMNP. Park at the Long's peak trail head. The area above treeline gets incredibly wind blown. Re: Skiing in the Front Range. Compared to the Coast or Cascades, skiing around Boulder is brutal. It's too windy and has far too little snow. I hope that helps! Cheers, GB

Sat phones may have problems as well. There was a case in the West Kootenays (BC) last winter where a Sat phone was used to request assistance following a serious injury in an avalanche. From what I gather, provincial authorities refused to take the call because their call display indicated an 011 (overseas) area code. Local RCMP thought the call was a hoax for similar reasons. Eventually the Sat user called their employer, who then called the RCMP and had to convince them that the previous call was real. A helicopter picked the victim up just before dark; it was questionable if they would have survived the night. GB

The three partners deserve an incredibly swift kick in the nuts. GB

Thanks for the information and sharing your thoughts on the east face, SE ridge and block tower area; it's all very much appreciated. I agree the approach is a bit long, but it's just a case of walking (or riding) rather than battling bush, bugs and rivers. That said, the winter approach via the same has a pretty high suck factor. Cheers, GB

Nice TR and images. I've been wondering about that East side of North Twin Sister for a bunch of years, but have tended to lack the ambition to poke my nose around the corner after doing other lines. Do you think it might be fun after an initial fall/early winter storm or two? Cheers, GB

I've gotta ask... Why not Baker? It's an easier and shorter drive, shorter and easier approach, has much higher quality ice and most importantly, it has 500X more boulder problems than any other local (Vancouver) option. If you look beyond the limits of top roping, the place is like a frozen Fontainebleau. Not all the routes are in shape at any given time, but unless it's unseasonably hot, you can always find quality terrain between August and the beginning of November. Cheers, GB

I used a Reactor a reasonable amount over the winter, but never in truly cold temperatures. Re: Use in cooler temps. I agree that performance dwindles as the cartridge cools during use. I found the solution is to place the cartridge in a small very light-weight pot (or other cylindrical shaped object) filled with water to the top of the cartridge's vertical sides. In my case the diameter used just slides over the heat exchanger/pot base for ease of packing. I tried to use a shallower water source, but found it froze solid quickly. I use the system described when nights are known to be below about -6 or -7C. Re: Efficiency for "winter" use. Assuming the stove is responsible for 100% of water supply and cooking, allow one 220g cartridge per 24hr/2people with no rationing. Re: Speed. Running side by side with an MSR Dragonfly in -5C conditions (sans water source described above), the Reactor melts and boils 3 X 1.7L pots of water faster than the Dragonfly MELTS 1 X 2.8L. The Reactor makes even an XGK look like a dud. Re: Wrapping cartridge in foam. Not. The foam will seal in the cold; what's needed is to warm the cartridge. A brief experiment with hand-warmers (actually toe warmers) proved that a water-jacket works vastly better. Re: Reliability. Thus far it's still going. Re: Overall for mild winter/spring touring etc. The stove is so fast, so good in the wind (except for lighting) and so easy to use, I've been taking it over white gas alternatives such as the DragonFly. In a sense, this is to stoves what the original Tikka is to headlamps. GB

Didn't the Forrest Lifetime also take tube picks? I'm unsure, but I think the early Lowe tools had a single attachment hole through the side of the tube (no plate welded on the end). GB

Thanks Dane. Did you try to shape the stock liners? Cheers, GB

Spantik question: I own a pair, but have yet to have the opportunity to us them in truly cold conditions. Assuming your motivation to go with Intuition liners was warmth, how cold a temperatures would you consider the stock liners suitable (assuming multi-day rather than roadside)? Thanks in advance. GB

Re: Lining up images of tools etc. Going beyond the purpose of this thread, an easy way for perspective buyers to gain a guesstimate of how various tools might behave is to draw a line running from roughly an inch or two behind the tip of the pick, to the front of the pommel or spike. Look at the angle between that line and the underside of the pick, tip-side. Steeper angles (noticeably under 90 degrees) tend to hook well, but require a distinctive wrist flick. Shallower angles just under 90 degrees provide a more natural swing, but hook less well. In very thin ice, I suspect those near 90 degrees pry ice off the rock to a lesser degree (but it’s just a theory of mine…). Shaft design is still required to stabilize those good hooks – try a BD Fusion and a Scud on the same day to get the idea. Re: Pick volume vs. Strength. My gut feeling is that taller (front two inches near the tip) picks are somewhat susceptible to breakage as a result of twisting in very hard ice. In a perfect world we don’t twist picks, but in reality we do sometimes load tools via force vectors that don’t align perfectly with the shaft. Picks may also twist as they as they deflect micro amounts as they penetrate through semi-bonded icicles. Picks absorb some of the tool vibration that doesn’t make it to the user’s hands. Shallow (less tall) picks provide a smaller surface which better allows the pick to twist in the ice, rather than on its own axis. Based on the above and personal experience, pick strength likely comes from pick thickness, not height. Good metallurgy and pick design still trump thickness. Re: Bevelled (sharp) tops. Keeping the top edge of the pick very sharp aids removal, which should also extend the pick’s life. Be sure to file out any stress-rising nicks in the top edge as they occur. Re: Bevelled lower edges. These also aid removal, as well as seem to aid penetration. I suspect they lower the angles of stress-risers on teeth, and minimize drag while penetrating ice. Less drag, should equal less stress. Regarding stress, I’ve never broken a pick by twisting it in a big, slow manner. I think of picks as shattering (cold metal slamming into hard ice is sort of like a beer glass flying into brick wall). When my picks have broken, they’ve certainly broken 100%. Breakage has become evident only upon removal, which is kind of scary; 80% of body weight may have been hanging on the thing as I was probing with the other stick. My suspicion is that some failures are the result of imperfect metallurgy due to bulk production. It’s far easier to nail the process over the entire length of the pick on one sample, than to do so in a bulk batch of 100 or more. All of this is of course theory… GB

From what I heard, Aermets were discontinued due to problems with production. The picks were so tough that the tooling used was getting damaged or destroyed. GB