fishstick

Dru, I've got one of the "clippers" but you're right, we don't sell them. They're OK, but in my opinion not really any better than a small nosed biner held in place with an ID. Considering you'll need up to four of the units (and four Ids to better secure them), I'd say save your cash. GB P.S. Fins fail at the task. Screws ride up above the nose, then slide down and open the gate (and fall off).

What sort of info and especially, what sort of terrain. Potentially a complex topic. GB

I've tried a number of options depending on various geographic locations. For those living in the PNW, I'd suggest serac climbing at Baker each fall. A day of ice bouldering will give up to 5 hours of pulling on tools. A day in the same area on TR might offer as little as 30 minutes of actual climbing depending on group size. Vary terrain as much as possible to include all angles and many stemming problems. Also practice placing multiple screws on steep terrain. Traverse problems exist that require 25 minutes or more (1 way) to build endurance. The simplest exercise I do requires simply swinging an ice tool indoors. Get down on your knees (and face Banff) and swing one tool above you head in the same manner/velocity that you would when climbing (you're on your knees so the tool doesn't hit lights or the ceiling). Watch the tool to make sure your swing is smooth and the tool travels in a straight line. Quickly repeat. Do as many reps as fast as possible until your arm is smoking. Switch to your other arm and do the same. Your focus is maintaining an accurate swing when your arm is pumped senseless. A friend does the same exercise with small sandbags (from kung fu) attached to the head of the tool. Using an overhanging campus board or similar structure, do foot assisted pull-ups with the tools hooked over the top. Leashes optional. Repeat one armed to stall. Also try by doing 5 reps, lock off high, 5 reps, lock off lower, 5 reps, lock off very low, 5 reps…to destruction. I also train on a 45 degree (overhanging) bouldering wall with a few maple hooking holds set at the maximum distance that I can complete a static move. The moves are set in a triangular pattern so I can move in a continuous circle. The goal is 75 moves (about the same as amphibian). Leashes optional. I find the 45degree wall actually too steep. It develops specific shoulder and twisting strength but tends not to work the arms as much as you'd think. The holds also work for inverted sit-ups from a figure four. I've never used a figure four outside, but they are amusing to do at work. I used to climb dead trees. Set your watch timer for 45 minutes and don't come down until the beeper allows. Overall however, I think the tree exercise is uninspiring and doesn't actually provide enough of a useful pump. Perhaps the most obvious exercise is to climb in a gym. Concentrate on big friendly holds, running laps up and down on very steep routes. GB [This message has been edited by fishstick (edited 10-18-2001).]

Use a small round chainsaw file and very carefully file the vertical portion of the tooth at EXACTLY the same angle as the factory. Push the file towards center. Don't "pull" it outwards. Touch up the top of the tooth with a flat file moving towards (upwards) the tip. If the tooth is really gorked a dremel power tool (keep the screw very cool) works well. If you make the internal angle on the vertical portion of the screw steeper the screw cuts better but dulls quickly. A flatter filing job (angle wise) creates a screw that very difficult to place. GB

Since my previous posts I've managed to snag four days using Rambo comps. Initially I wasn't impressed with the fat front point; it forces the user to give a firmer kick than the old Charlet grade 8 mono. Having gotten used to them however, I think they have good potential. Still unsure about the fat mono in brittle ice, but the intial downward point (the yellow ones) layout is brilliant on steep terrain. Probably superior to normal rambos in that regard. The massive distance between the heel and forward points is certainly cause for concern, but the four small teeth on the rails limit skating. They're very small however and when balled up with snow, they're probably quite useless. Minor negative point is the ease with which one destroys gaitors with the forward yellow points. Overall however, not bad crampons for steep terrain. GB

I'm unsure of the ice climbing potential around Portland, but I'd strongly recommend learning the basics of ice on stable serac (glacial) ice. Learning to climb in the winter at say, Lilooette isn't ideal because it's cold, the days are short and many of the ideal intro pitches form the first pitch of a multi pitch route (tres un-cool to clog those areas). You can learn basic body positions and develop specific strengths climbing serac ice that will make your intro to the bigger world of ice vastly more satisfying. Learning how to place screws when bouldering 2 feet off the deck on vertical serac ice is much more sensible than reducing yourself to a useless mess learning new sytems while facing a 100 footer on what's otherwise a grade 2 pitch. I'm unsure of recent snow levels, but one can usually get very high quality mileage on the lower Coleman glacier at Baker until November. If there is fresh snow in that area be very careful not to fall in small slots or through lenses of water ice covering pools of water. Overall however, get as much mileage as possible prior to winter. I'd also strongly recommend learning to down climb (via ice bouldering) at your lead level. GB

If the reverso isn't attached directly to a hardpoint, it should work fine. GB

I agree with Don that the munter is a very suitable method of belaying from an anchor with less expense and weight. The real joy of the mechanical systems however is their ability to deal with two ropes and auto lock. While belaying the second you can re-fuel, deal with rope stacking or adjust your clothing system. They just seem to make things go a bit more smoothly. Last weekend I tried a sample German device called a TRE. It's essentially a spring loaded plaquette that doesn't require an extra carabiner. One belays the leader, a second, raps or lowers all from the same rope configuration. It also auto-locks in all modes (although it auto-locks both ropes). At 155 grams it's heavy, but it has a great deal of potential. Better in my mind than the three other options. Unsure when they'll be selling them. GB

Set up a block and tackle running from the carabiner that the rope runs over, to the station (min distance 10 inches). With two to three loops of cordelette running in the block, a firm pull with your free hand releases the load. Block and tackles also work to release the load on gi-gi's. GB

Terminators I tried Terminators a couple of times. I'd describe the performance as OK, but not on par with Charlet Nova/Grade 8 monos. Fat front point. Gotta kick HARD. The strangest problem I had with them is that the curved shape made me pronate badly on easy ground. It's as though your body weight rides along the curve of the outer rail. Wondering if it was the fact that I'm pretty bow-legged, I asked another climber who used them and he looked as his feet, looked up and said "that's it". He thought something was really weird about them but couldn't quite figure it out until then. GB

I should begin by admitting that I haven't used harpoons or rambo comps. I fit a pair of the former on my boots once and decided to stick with my own units. If memory serves correct, I was unimpressed with the positioning of the front-most down points. I also see a potentially off-set mono bad solution to a non-existent problem. In terms of the rambo comp, I've looked at them. I once used (actually used them about three times) a pair of Stubia bear traps. Total death on a stick because of a huge spacing gap in the down points below the arch. You'd go to french over a feature and the crampon would skate out. Comps will have the same problem. In terms of mono vs dual vs horizontal things aren't quite as complicated as it seems. Monos work very well on easy or well consolidated ice and simply rock on mixed or dry tool terrain. They're less happy on heavily aerated, thin or chandeliered ice. I've also had problems snapping the base of the foremost part of the tip of the front point off. It leaves a rounded edge and makes you wonder why you keep popping off small edges. Don't buy mono models that don't allow you to see the front-most down points. They're critical edging surfaces. Conventional vertical duals are OK, but I see little or no advantage over monos unless the ice is heavily aerated etc as mentioned above. Foot work is more important with duals as you have to be careful to keep your heels from moving side to side, especially on rock. For young (very tensioned/brittle/aerated ice on the coast I've gone back to horizontal points (2Fs) after wearing out three pairs of monos. They shear less and I often find that the harder the route, the better the natural footholds. Icy cluster-fucks that make tool placements brutal provide natural texture for your feet. For early season serac climbing (until about the first week of Oct at Baker) I use horizontals, but when the overhanging stuff forms really hard ice I switch to monos. The serations on the base of the front points keeps your feet a bit more secure when you're resisting a strong outward swing. Hope this helps. GB

If the weather gods cooperate (little snow, but cool air mass) I'd say it's likely that something that's more W than M grade will get done prior to Nov 12th. If one was willing to climb a bit to get to the base of a route, I think it's very possible to climb alpine waterfalls here as early as October 20th. GB

I've got a pair of Trango extremes. I don't think they're a good mountain boot. Too stiff on rock, yet at the same time lack ankle support when walking on frozen, sun cupped glaciers or stumbling around on wet rock slides. The soles also offer poor traction in muddy or snowy conditions. You might consider the Kayland Giove kevlar. Very light with a better stiffness compromise for alpine rock. They don't seem as breathable as Trangos, but out of the box you could probably walk the AT in the things. In terms of warmth they're similar; both offer cold toes on belays below about -10 or 15C. One nice aspect of the kevlars is the fact that they don't stretch after getting them wet. Having seemingly hyped the kevlar however, I've got to admit that I prefer a leather boot. GB

Climbed seracs on the lower Coleman at Baker Saturday. The ice is starting to come in good. You still have to be selective about where to pull hard, but another week or two of cool nights should put it in excellent shape. There's a great selection of problems this year. GB

Hi Norm, I've tried AT boots for climbing ice, but in all honesty don't like them. Most AT boots are canted forward somewhat, which puts a huge stress on your quads when front pointing. I'm honestly unsure of which modern models can be adjusted to get rid of all of the cant altogether, but the old Dachstien DC tours worked in that regard. Secondly AT boots have zero side to side ankle flex, which compromises your ability to french and work with the terrain at hand efficiently. Keep in mind also that a DIN toe eats up some of the available front point on many crampons. The lack of rocker in a ski boot will also limit which crampons will fit. Finally, the buckles on AT boots are fragile when it comes to boulder fields and kicking into heavily chandeliered ice. I've managed to both bend and snap them. Then again it's really hard to justify expenses sometimes. Of the modern ski boots one caught my eye for mountaineering purposes. It's a Dynafit with a climbing boot style, rather than a DIN toe. Very soft so it'll be a compromise skiing steep terrain. Should tour well however.

I don't know of any shop here that sells them. In all honesty, every Canadian I know who uses one prodealed it. It might make sense to try to S/O one now and pick it up when you come to town. Best of luck. GB P.S. Ask Dru. He worked there before embarking on his 6 digit career with the government.

I agree. tried the fabric (shelled regulator) last winter and found it great. Warmer and better DWR than powershield. Simply in a different league than shoeller. Nice stuff. GB

Given the probable mildew problem and the fact that it's 10 years old, just say no. That way you'll remain friends. GB

98.00 CDN for the tights, 146.00 CDN for the pants, 125.00 CDN jacket. 145.00 CDN for Powershield jacket. 185.00 CDN for Powershield bibs. Sorry about breaching bb etiquette by spewing party line... GB P.S. Agree regarding the green option. We call it state trooper. [This message has been edited by fishstick (edited 08-23-2001).]

Razorback Mtn. Point two hours South of Bluff Lake BC in a helicopter or 1 serious day of Picketesque terrain in a valley where the grizzlies all have a crack problem. 5 established routes, each of which is about 3000 feet from Schrund to summit (bigger than true North face of Robson). No seracs above your head, no rangers, no other people. GB

If you've got a beginner with you and you're in the Baker area, consider the West ridge of North twin Sister. The West ridge of South is good as well, but doesn't offer quite as high a value factor. Both peaks are scrambles (no rope required) but offer some of the best rock I've encountered anywhere. The peaks are located roughly between Baker and Bellingham. Overall the views aren't as good as Ruth but the climbing is 100% more fun. GB

We did the arete boardering the face a couple of years ago. Forget exactly what Kevin calls it in his guide, but Mike Down and I think John Howe put it up in the 80s. The face to its left looks pretty steep. Based on the arete, I think it would be worth pondering carrying at least one big cam (larger than #3 BD) Nice area with a perfect bivi site on top of a HUGE flat rock. GB

What is your price range?

Realizing that terrain in the mountains differs widely, I was wondering what people's thoughts are on a "universal alpine rack". What do you carry when you don't know what to expect or even what route you might find yourself on?

I feel your pain regarding choice of third tools. First and foremost I think you're on the right track getting a real third. Having snapped picks about half a dozen times when soloing, I've learned that there's a very real benefit to having a third tool that you can climb at your limit with. If nothing else, knowing a real tool is holstered gives that warm and fuzzy security blanket feeling. I faced the hammer and adze choice myself as well. Hammers are better for pins and tend not to get in the way of gear racks as much as a big adze. However hammers are more likely however to fall through a gear rack if that's how you holster them (although BD's have larger heads than Grivels, Charlets and Najas). By carrying a fully modular third tool however, you can switch to double bent hammers for drytooling as it reduces surgical bills and allows the placement of pins with both hands. For the odd totally plastered alpine route (Coast range in May) double adzes can just rock. Picks on that terrain can feel pretty useless I'm unsure of the price difference between a shrike and prophet, but if you can afford the difference, I'd go two bent and one straight prophets. That if nothing else would be the cost no objective solution. GB [This message has been edited by fishstick (edited 08-03-2001).]