Ibex

Has anybody tried contacting Cilogear lately? I am trying to get some info on their packs but haven't been successful at getting in touch with them over email/phone. Thanks!

I have one of the shovels and the BD Alpamayo Axe that it fits on. It is a nifty concept, and when used with the axe it was designed for (the Alpamayo) the blade attaches amazingly securely to the shaft of the axe. Obviously its lightweight, etc... The downsides are: 1) You *seriously* have to be careful when shoveling that you don't stab yourself in the leg, or in your partners leg, while you vigorously dig with it. Carrying an axe-head guard mitigates this issue though. 2) For some reason they made this a "round-nosed" design, so when you hit a hard chunk of snow with the corner, it glances off instead of slicing through. 3) The blade is kindof smallish 4) The T- handle is actually the top of your mtn axe, which at a 1/4" wide isn't the comfiest handle on earth to use for driving into hard snow. All things considered, it is a reputable product when used with the right axe (I have tried it on a few othe axes over the years and did not get the same secure attachment), and if lower cost or "light and fast" are a priority it may be the ticket. If you were a serious skier or somebody who spent a lot of time in avy terrain, I would probably encourage you to pony up for a bigger, D- handled, square cornered design. Cheers!

The 'daks are nice, but there is a lot of great stuff to be done just east of there in NH. Try: Whitney-Gilman- 5.7 ish 4 long or 6-7 short pitches up a nice knife edge arete (its on Cannon Cliff). Great exposure, fractured granite but this one is the cleanest routes on Cannon. Pinacle Buttress- 5.7ish and about 5 pitches. Nice wandering alpine route up a buttress in Huntington Ravine on Mt Washington. Then behind each of these rock routes are NICE ice climbs. Behind Whitney-G is the Black Dike (a venerable WI4) and Pinnacle Gulley a sweet moderate WI3. Just food for thought. A google search will yield plenty of beta, these are all well traveled routes. Ibex

Alright... curiosity is killing me. What is the Mounties "fraternization policy" Cheers

He did the work in about 2-3 days. I am sure you could have them faster if you called and talked to him. FWIW, I think he is out of town for the next week, so I would wait until the beginning of Oct to try him.

I have to highly recommend Forrest Safety Products as a place to get your cams reslung. The do a great job with spectra webbing, have lots of colors,good prices, quick turnaround, and can do custom work. I had my Metolious cams reslung with a custom length extendable spectra slings and they turned out great. Highly recommended. A regular looped sling (like BD Camalots or WC Friends) costs $4 and an extendable doubled sling (like DMM) is only $5. Ask for Dennis. Forrest Safety Products 248 Bodo Dr. Durango, CO 81303 Telephone: 970.247.1776 dls_44@hotmail.com Cheers

A pretty good way to do it is to use a cig. lighter held about 1-2 inches away from the point where you want to cut the cord. Rotate the cord so the heat from the flame uniformly melts/glazes the sheath. You want to apply only enough heat to hold the sheath together after you cut it, so dont burn through the sheath or char the whole thing black. Once you have melted about 3/4" of the cord (completely around its circumfrence) slice it in the center of the melted bit with a SHARP knife against a piece of wood (for anything over 9mm) or with a sharp pair of scissors for anything smaller. Then use your lighter to fuse the "butt" end together, and to fuse it to the already melted sheath. Wet your fingers and quickly/lightly shape the semi-molten ball of nylon into a smooth slightly rounded tip. The finished product should have a melted sheath for the last 1/2-3/4", well fused to the melted core. For those lamenting the cutting of Spectra/Kevlar cord, use the same process as above except: -use coxial cable cutters to cut the cord after melting the sheath -once the cord is parted, gently work the (cooled) glazed sheath back to expose about 1/2" of the core. Use the above cutters (or a razor knife) to trim off 3/8" of the core -work the (now) extra-long sheath back over the shortened core, making sure to eliminate as much slack as possible from the sheath. Then fuse the sheath into a smooth, bullet-shaped point that is easy to thread through a hex. Cheers Shawn

Actually I would argue to the contrary... I like to keep the bottom 4-5 tricams on one biner. Imagine yourself pulling up to a roof with an irregular crack running out towards to lip. By grabbing one biner off of the rack you have a plethora of placement options/sizes that you can choose from, like a key chain. In contrast, imagine trying to do the same with 2-3 small-mid SLCD's. Depending on how you rack them, you reach for the first one, it doesnt fit, re-rack it, grab another, try it, it doesnt fit, re-rack it, reach for tricams...etc... For those of you who think that they are hard to place: Get ahold of one of the "midsize" blue ones. They are larger and a little bit heavier, ergo easier to practice with. Practice (with it in one hand) flicking the cam back over the webbing while holding the web about 2" from the head. IMHO they are NO harder to place than any other SLCD, you simply have to get familiar with them. To clean a stuck tricam, tri..errr, try alternately "pulling" on the point and "pushing" on the opposite end, with a nut tool; in order to rotate and "collapse" the cam. Also, leaders... dont weld the smaller ones in place to begin with. Cheers

Alright kids, I should be studying right now, but seeing as this is 3x more interesting than my day job, I couldnt resist. I contend that cost is the main reason we dont have ti biners. Even with the "cheap" ti ice screws etc that we see these days they are frequently from our friends east of the Berlin wall and hence can produce some really cheap gear. This doesnt mean that it is well designed, uses appropriate (or even quality) materials, or is well constructed; it only means low cost. As far as some of the other issues batted around: -Hardness- this is completely alloy dependent. It really is not appropriate to just say "Ti" and "Al" and leave it at that. There are worlds of difference between CP Ti (commercially pure) and 6Al/4V Ti, just as there are worlds of difference between 7075 AL and 2024 Al. Then we have heat treatment, etc issues entering as well. If we want to compare 7075 T-6 Al (stuff ATC's are made of) with 6/4 Ti then alright we can have a meaningful discussion about their physical properties. I can assure you that the aluminum will win in terms of cost though... -Ti brittleness- If you cold work Ti (by bending it into a carabiner frame) and dont heat treat it to relieve the internal stresses you could potentially produce a very brittle product. Heat treatment, when done correctly can completely circumvent this problem (this adds cost though). Note: within limits, many Al alloys dont have very significant problems with this. That is why so many of our biners are "cold forged" (ie. formed at room temp). -Fatigue life- Ti generally has a much higher fatigue limit than either Al or steel. So if you take 3 identically sized/shaped bars of the above 3 materials, and you flex each of them a large number of cycles (with the same load)without actually deforming them ***generally** Al will fatigue (and break) first, followed by steel, then by Ti. It is an intricate concept to explain, but the fatigue life of ferrous materials (ie. steel) is based on a unique physical phenomenom that Al and Ti dont exhibit, so it really is difficult to make rational fatigue comparisons b/w ferrous/non-ferrous materials. Al vs. Ti is fair game though. -Hard to work- yeah, but if you want to pay enough money, we can easily get around this.... What "hard to work" really means is that the standard machining, casting, welding processes for steel/Al arent applicable to Ti, so if you want to use the exotic metal you have to go to some extra lengths to be able to manufacture something from it. (incurs more cost) A great example is welding Ti, it must be done in an inert gaseous (Argon) environment b/c if there is any Oxygen (or a spec of dirt) around when the metal is heated to 3000 C it will react with the Ti and produce a weak spot. Thus we CAN machine/weld/cast Ti, but be prepared to pay for it. Ummm...no. Biners are either cold worked/cold forged (which means shaped using a lot of force, at room temp) or are hot forged in order to produce more intricate shapes. From a cost to produce standpoint, and a strength/quality standpoint, we are better off bending them from straight bars of the parent metal as opposed to casting them, regardless of the material used. The bottom line is this---------------------------- For the low, low price of 5 dollars we can get a biner that is perfectly strong enough, fairly lightweight, and predictable in terms of its limitations. There simply is no reason to chase down a more expensive material just to make a Ti biner. If you are worried about strength, just make them with 20% larger parent metal stock, and you will get a biner that is 20% stronger. It will still be cheaper than Ti. Happy Monday everyone....

I had two good friends (husband and wife) do this for a couple years. She worked as a driver (delivering people and supplies) and he was a network administrator. This was back when Antartic Support Assoc. before Raytheon. YOu would be amazed at the huge variety of jobs down there: scientists, doctors, pipe fitters, carpenters, EMT's, pilots, divers, cooks, cleaners, cargo handlers, etc..... They both gave the experience very high marks. They likened it to working at a "summer camp" when you are down there. Cheers

www.mchalepacks.com Somebody had to say it. Read on my friend and welcome to the promise land of backpacks.... http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB9&Number=69182&page=5&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1

If it was a "one part glue" (didnt need mixing before use) it was probably something similar to Gorilla Glue. If memory serves, they are polyurethane based, and it is moisture in the air (or in the crack) that drives the reaction for it to cure, and the end result is waterproof and very durable. You can buy it at Home Depot or Lowes, etc Cheers Shawn _______________________________________

I used to have one of the older Lowe Flash Jackets (2 layer) and I knew a guy that got one of the newer 3 layer ones as soon as they came out. They are a solid jacket, and were pretty durable IMO. They certainly represent a good value, but they wont be as breathable, or as spiffily tailored. If cost is a concern though I would not hesitate to get one. They are roughly on par with the "housebrands" REI, EMS, MEC.. Cheers Shawn _____________________________________________

quote: Originally posted by Pencil Pusher: How about other cheap gear THAT YOU HAVE USED... how did the gear perform? Any recommendations, perhaps aimed at the beginner astonished by the insane prices? Stove- cat/tuna can stove. works like a champ in 3 season conditions. Use HEET gas deicer for fuel. http://www.pcthiker.com/pages/gear/catstove.shtml Socks- your local military surplus store should have/can get heavy winter weight socks (75% wool, 25% cotton) for about $4/pr. I know cotton is bad, but these are a fair compromise. Sleeping bag- Get one of the "store brands" REI, EMS, Campmor, Slumberjack etc for your first bag. With carefull selection you will pay a slight penalty in weight but save handsomely on cost. Quickdraws- dont buy them, buy 2ft runners and biners, much more multifunctional. Jackets- lot of low priced options such as Marmot Precip, etc Fleece- Offbrand, offbrand, offbrand... Packs- buy the Mchale to begin with, so you dont waste so much money on others. Also note that there is a HUGE market for used stuff out there. Most people have some older gear (boots, pack, fleece, etc) that they would happily part with for a fraction of the retail price. And finally, the most important tip: Dont think that to have a good experience that you HAVE to have the latest and greatest toys... The entire point of the outdoor experience is to learn to live without the day to day junk (packtowel, espresso maker, knife, fork, plate, bowl, radio). If you arent having fun in the backcountry, dont go out an buy more junk, look at what you can throw away. I understand if you Republicans out there dont agree with this Cheers

quote: Originally posted by trask: McHale.com simple Actually, it is http://www.mchalepacks.com/