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Increasing the length will improve the flotation, although not as much as if you could increase the surface. There is also a different binding, for using without crampons. The crampon-compatible binding doesn't work without crampons I think, and maybe not with all crampons either.

That's an interesting article. It argues that gun ownership, including assault rifles and whatnot, is protected by the constitution and that pro-gun control (sorry, "gun control") arguments about the exact words of the second amendment are somewhat misguided. Let's say everybody were to go along with this argument. Then the remaining problem is figuring out how to have guns around without people getting shot all the time. Going back to the article, it states that "over 40,000 murders were committed in the United States in 1986 and 1987, and that fully sixty percent of them were committed with firearms." That comes out to 12,000 murders committed with firearms, each year. Gun laws are even more liberal in Switzerland than they are in the States (when I started googling around there were a whole lot of pages about this, have fun if you haven't already). In particular, the Swiss seem to have taken a page from Uncle Tricky's book - every Schweizer is issued an assault rifle to keep at home, sometime after they're 18. Yet with all these assault rifles the gun-committed murder rate is a whole lot lower - 66 gun-committed murders in 1996 in a population of approx. seven million. Correcting for population size and we get five times as many gun murders in the States as there are in Switzerland. Maybe we should stop arguing about "gun control" and instead argue about gun control, that is, how to not have people shot while still having guns around? Would be interesting for sure. Oh, and the first gaper to state that people getting shot isn't really his problem as long as his gun isn't involved, is an asshole who deserves to have his gun regulated away from him. It's precisely his problem because without some form of at least alleviation "gun control" will eventually become much stricter here - just like it's becoming stricter in Switzerland.

I'm curious too. How do they compare with the MSR Denalis?

Actually, my feet used to be not only numb but hurting, when my only shoes were Boreal Aces. Those are great shoes but Just Don't Fit me because they're shaped wrong. Maybe that's the problem?

Inadvertently went to http://www.alpine-club.org/ instead of http://www.alpineclub.org/ or http://www.alpine-club.org.uk/ and my wife wasn't too impressed, oops

I came down with a cold, stuck at home.

Being Icelandic this for some reason is hugely hilarious to me. Edit: I went through the web site and there is a list of activities. They're going to go kite skiing in Iceland, HAHAHAHAHARHARHARHAR heehee, ow, so funny it hurts. The windstorm we had Friday is regular everyday weather over there and even better, the wind never blows from the same direction two gusts in a row. I saw a few guys in the SAR unit I joined play with a kite on skis and it was funny to put it mildly. The fall was abnormally nice though, so maybe they finished the shooting already and got lucky. I'll be sure to watch this show religiously.

Err, there is a really noticeable sign right there behind the counter at FF, it says ABSOLUTELY NO RETURNS ON TECHNICAL CLIMBING GEAR or something pretty close to that. There is pretty much no way to pay for anything without seeing it. The FF staff also often mentions that there is a no-returns policy, if you're getting technical gear or buying something on sales - at least that's my experience. The policy is clear enough when you buy it, but of course that doesn't help much when you want to return a gift...

According to the weather reports the snow level was at 3000-3500' for most of last week, then yesterday it briefly went up to 5000' and now it's going down to 1500-2500' for a few days. The avalanche forecasts were for moderate conditions most of the week, with something like one crust from mid-December (correct me...) and everything fairly stable, but since Thu or so we've gotten a lot of snow. I'm curious what people think the effects of the short warm spell Friday will be, especially in the Alpental area which is at 4000-6000'? Is a warming trend for a part of a day enough to create a dangerous crust and bad avy conditions? What about ice forming on routes like the N Face of Chair and the NE Slab of Tooth? I thought this would be great, thaw followed by freeze, but I guess it wasn't enough of a thaw... Any words from the wise? I know I should go out and look for myself but I'm confined to armchair mountaineering this weekend because I came down with a cold (where is the wazzup gremlin, again?).

Is there any logical reason for the ordinance? I haven't seen the boulder, is it big enough to get hurt falling off? I just don't understand why there have to be all these rules and whatnot, if people want to risk their ankles climbing around on a boulder that should be their business no?

I bet it gets a lot friendlier when the ice thickens. What do you think climbing the W Face would be like, given the current conditions? Much of the steep sections looked dry to me, but with snow on all the ledges etc.

Is it true Dwayner and Pope were at VW too? Or is it just a horrible horrible lie?

Yeah, Cavey can get brutal and not only on the approach. Didn't TLG's toes get numb because the shoes were too tight? You weren't out rock climbing in the snow were you TLG? Cheers to you if you were... but unless you tell us otherwise I'll just assume you got pinched toes at VW Anyways, I'm just using the same boots I use in the summer, a pair of Kayland multi-traktions. I just exchanged my thin wool socks with a thick pair, and throw in a good set of tight gaiters that I can trust to keep the snow out. Keeps me balmy warm and dry. A thicker setup would just make me wet and cold from sweating more. Double plastics are overkill for anything in the PNW that isn't at least three days and in the dead of winter, unless it's for skiing.

It's a bit tough on FF to bash them for sticking to the no-climbing-gear-returns policy. I've heard REI will take climbing gear back, but only because their satisfaction guarantee overrides the no-climbing-gear-returns policy. They don't restock stuff like that, they destroy it. That's why there is never any technical climbing gear at the garage sale. I have never heard of any other store taking back technical gear. There is a piece in a recent ANAM where somebody died (?) as the result of a crampon strap breaking, so it's not hard to see why crampons and axes get thrown in with ropes and cams - from a liability standpoint.

Did everybody leave already? Ping me if you're still around, if you're looking for more folks to go that is

Woo-hoo! Catfight w/ 2 cats + 1 arborist

New Leatherman from my wife To replace the one I lost on the Olympic Peninsula in summer 2000...

Play it again sports, great! I'm going to try it, but it might be a nuisance to get it off. I think the best grip surface I've seen is what the Grivel Top Wing has, and that's somewhat abrasive. If snow doesn't stick to it then it might be cool. The self-vulcanizing tape sounds better though, I found lots of web references, but I can't seem to find a place to buy a roll or two for a decent price. I only need 10-12' or so. The stuff is used for various car repairs and I'm going to ask the guys at the garage where I take my car, maybe they'll know. I brought the leashes with me but they stayed in the pack. Instead I tried a retainer system pms explained to me. It was way cool to be able to get the tools out of the way, I always seem to get all tangled up in my leashes, but I hadn't figured out a way to securely stash the tools which made for some goofy moments (like, dropping both tools upside down while leading through a steep section, and of course the picks hooked on something and I had to stop and futz - I actually dropped a mitten at that point )

Didn't mean to snap at you bcdog. It sure was a fun time, I want to get back up there and do something else soon.

How much did you guys simulclimb and how many belays did you make? What length of rope? Did you use the big bro for a deadman?

Oops, spoken a moment too soon... "Self-vulcanizing tape" actually gave me a bunch of hits.

Thanks guys! I don't really care so much about wearing my gloves out, I mean, I'm happy to rap with them and that's definitely a lot of wear right there. Do you guys know where I could get some of this tape, or maybe know a product name so I could google and try to order some on the web? Would appreciate! The hockey tape I tried is called Powerflex, I ordered a few rolls from http://www.hockeymonkey.com/. I'd definitely use that if I could do any water ice or sport mixed climbing or something like that but I don't expect I'll be able to take off from Seattle for very long this winter, so I want to find something that plays nicer with snow.

Leashless is great

The guys at the local hardware store (Hardwick's, U District, they're super) suggested tool dip but it would be a big hassle - tricky to apply plus extra nuisance waxing the spike to make sure the dip would only adhere to the grip. I thought watertight taping usually involved teflon? Teflon will bond to itself and definitely doesn't absorb water, I'd find it hard to believe snow would cling to it either. But I think it's very slippery, and if that's true then it wouldn't make for good grip material.

Anybody have ideas for putting a sticky surface on ice tool shafts? I experimented a little bit with hockey tape (thanks Lambone). It's really sticky and great for anything except alpine climbing, but it's textured so snow clings to it - big minus. One cool thing about it was that by varying the number of wraps I could tailor the thickness of the grip to fit my hand exactly. Also was durable, easy to wrap/unwrap, and cheap - ca. $2/roll, one roll covers a shaft nicely. There is an article by Will Gadd in the latest Climbing, he mentions people putting "skateboard grip" on their shafts, but I have no idea what that means. Is it the surface on top of the board? Where would I get some? Anybody tried glueing rand rubber on shafts? The Grivel Top Wing and old Top Machine (or maybe it was the Light Machine) has a really good grip surface but it comes off with time - anybody have an idea how to put that kind of surface on a shaft? Don't laugh too hard at the question folks, I'm just a bit of a sucker for tinkering with things