featheredfriends

In a Corona-fuelled round of Cinco de Mayo price slashing, Feathered Friends has marked down all remaining backcountry skis, boots, and bindings to 50% off! Here's what we have left- the format is a little screwed up but y'all can figure it out: SKI LENGTH PRICE DISCOUNTED PRICE DAWN PATROL '06 160 509 254.50 DAWN PATROL '06 167 509 254.50 HIPPY STINX '06 169 589 294.50 HIPPY STINX '06 179 589 294.50 JANAK 163 551 275.50 KAILAS 163 544 272.00 PUMORI 163 445 222.50 PUMORI 172 445 222.50 REVEREND 170CM 685.95 342.98 REVEREND 185CM 685.95 342.98 SCHI DEVIL '06 160 499 249.50 SCHI DEVIL '06 167 499 249.50 SHE'S PISTE '05 174 469 234.50 SIREN 157CM 599 299.50 TACORA 190 525 262.50 WORK STINX 'O6 167 529 264.50 WORK STINX 'O6 174 529 264.50 WORLD PISTE '06 167 499 249.50 WORLD PISTE '06 174 499 249.50 Boot selection is extremely limited, bindings include some Naxos and Silvrettas. Come and get 'em 206 292 2210

Join us for more good times this year! Hang out with Katie Brown, attend free clinics and eat free food. What else do you need? Okay...don't answer that... - Eddie http://www.featheredfriends.com/rockfest/2007/event.html

Lotsa stuff on sale - get here early for the best selection. - Eddie

Bump. See y'all tonight. Even if Mr. Phil can't make it. That makes me sad. Okay, not really. Cool adults tonight - Eddie

Thanks for the feedback, folks, there are some interesting observations and comments to consider. Keep them coming, we appreciate it.

Feathered Friends is developing a new sleeping bag. I would like to hear ideas and feedback from the CC community on the design of this bag. First off, take the spray elsewhere. This is a sincere inquiry, and while the topic may seem ripe for smartass commentary, I would appreciate it if we stick to the subject at hand. The main points I would like to hear about are 1. Is there enough demand for this bag to make it commercially viable. In other words, is this something you would consider buying? 2. Are there any features you would like to see added to this bag? 3. Are there any features you would like to see removed from this bag? Please keep these questions in mind while reading about the bag, and focusing your replies on these general areas would be most helpful. Design summary: This bag is intended to be a two-person, ultralight alpine bag. The design is totally new and not based on any existing Feathered Friends model. It is narrower than our existing two-person sleep systems, much lighter, and not as robust. This is a highly specialized bag to be used on multi-day alpine routes or through-hikes where weight savings is of the highest importance. Target weight: 2.25 pounds Dimensions: top secret. Just kidding, they are not finalized but this bag will be narrower than our current two-person sleep systems. The idea is to shape this bag so two medium sized climbers can just barely fit inside, side by side, lying on their backs. Features: - single piece fabric floor. No down in the bottom of the bag. Floor is made of water resistant, light weight fabric. Climbers either (a) cut their foam pads to size to fit inside the bag or (b) velcro their ground pads together and set the sleeping bag on top of them. - integrated permanent down-filled hoods. These will be slightly lower volume hoods than we put on mummies since the shoulder girth of this bag is pretty slim. - 360-degree filled lower foot section. The end-most down chamber of the bag (the one around your toes) is filled entirely with down throughout the circumference of the chamber. In other words, the single piece fabric floor stops short of the end of the bag by about 5-6 inches. The occupants get down all the way around their toes. Hooray for warm toes. - Permanent collar with yoke. The collar is specially contoured to fill the space between the shoulders of the occupants. This reduces heat loss through the large opening at the top of the bag. - No zippers. Both people have to wriggle in from the top. - Total loft of about 4" will give this bag an estimated rating of about 0 degrees F. Obviously the fill can be adjusted depending on the application: more down for the Cassin Ridge, less for the Pickets. - Drawcord at the collar - Snaps that hold the yoke collar in place and also allow the occupants to snap the shell of the bag to the floor at the shoulder. Kind of hard to describe in words, but hopefully a vivid imagination will envision it. There are some other design elements to this bag, but I either don't want to discuss them or they are not of great importance. This bag is going to be a snug fit for two people, and using it may involve a bit of spooning. The idea is to maximize the efficiency of two bodies inside the bag while reducing the heat loss normally associated with this general design. The collar and foot sections are essential to this goal. Obviously this bag is highly specialized. The market for a design like this is the hard man or woman who has a high tolerance for being in close confines with a stinky climbing partner on route if it means they saved 2 pounds over taking two sleeping bags. So what do you think? Is this something you would use? Is a bag like this commercially viable? How much would you pay for something like this? What features sound good? What features sound bad? What changes do you suggest? Thanks. FF

Colin Haley and Kelly Cordes score a new link-up on Cerro Torre. See y'all there! - Eddie

This may sound blasphemous coming from such a source, but the warmest synthetic parka we have seen is the Mammut Stratus Hoody. True, it does have the bulk of one of our massive down expedition parkas when you try to stuff it, but it has more loft than any other synthetic parka we've ever carried in the shop. Right now there are 7 different models on our racks, which is a new record. Have no fear, though, down still reins supreme in our book and we won't be changing our name to Synthetic Friends any time soon. A spendier alternative would be the Arcteryx Fission LT Hoody. This combines the fancy new shell technologies discussed above with Primaloft insulation. The best value out there right now might be the OR parka- Gore shell fabric with Primaloft for a pretty reasonable price. Not the most loft, though, so probably not well suited to conditions colder than the Cascades. Oh my gosh, this has now become the longest post FF has ever made devoted exclusively to synthetic insulation.

The Cloudveil Switchback pants have a more relaxed fit to them than many other softshell pants, and are reasonably priced, as well.

We have already sold 1/3 of the tickets available for this show. The last time we had this many advance sales we ended up having to turn people away at the door. Show up early or phone in your ticket purchase.

Feathered Friends has had good results with inserting a piece of foam into the heel area of Arctis shells. Feedback on the field usability of this method has been positive. Taping the foam in sounds like a good solution- replaceable but keeps you from losing them when you take your boots off.

Ah, the travails of having so many good climbers in one town.

Okay - all's ya'll sprayed about it...now talk to the man himself "Sacrificing his own summit bid to help a dying Lincoln Hall high on the flanks of Mt. Everest last May, climbing guide Daniel Mazur kicked off a firestorm of debate over the ethics of high altitude mountaineering. He’s been seen and interviewed on Dateline NBC, The Today Show, People Magazine, National Geographic Adventure, Outside Magazine, BBC, CNN and many other media outlets around the world. Join us for this special presentation and fundraiser for The Mountain Fund and the Mount Everest Foundation."

Jedi, in theory your point makes sense, but in practicality my experience is that down dries out quickly. Over 4 separate 4 to 6-day trips in the N Cascades last year I tested out bag prototypes in conditions from 20 degrees with snow to 4 degrees with rain. Even when my bag was damp from repeated entry and exit from a Bibler in the rain, each morning I awoke to a dry bag because my body heat had dried it out during the night. Adding a hot water bottle to the bag accelerates the process. This is an easy thing to do once you make camp and get the water going. Plus it is nice to have a pre-heated bag to climb into at night. One difference between synthetic fiber insulation and down that many people don't realize is that down is much more breathable. This is one reason why a zero degree down bag is more comfortable on a +40 night than a zero degree synthetic bag. More breathability means better ability to transport moisture out of the insulation. A slightly, or even moderately, down bag is easy to dry out, even in wet conditions. The catch is that there is a tipping point past which, if you get your down TOO wet, it is hard to recover from. Getting your bag this wet, however, is pretty hard to do and is usually the result of an unforeseen catastrophe or incompetent gear management. Correct. Epic and Event work great for an open bivy, but their benefits are equally valuable on long trips in a tent where prolonged exposure to condensation can be a problem. Another problem is cold conditions where water vapor freezes to the tent walls and creates an indoor blizzard. It's true that neither Epic nor Event breathe as well as untreated taffeta nylon, but just because they are less breathable doesn't mean that these fabrics are not breathable enough. Have you ever slept in an Epic or Event shelled bag for a few nights? The breathability of these fabrics is pretty darn good. It's like the speed difference between a Ferrari and a BMW. Sure, the Ferrari can go 190mph, but you can still outrun the cops at 140mph in your BMW. There is definitely a weight difference between heavier water resistant fabrics and their not-so-water resistant nylon counterparts. In an expedition bag this weight difference can be six ounces, in a summer bag it can be three ounces. Is the performance benefit worth it? It's for you to decide. There is always some tradeoff when you save weight. In many years of stuffing and unstuffing sleeping bags, I have observed no appreciable difference in the compressibility of an Event bag versus a nylon bag. This is a myth. Just yesterday I had no difficulty compressing a nylon bag and an Event bag into the same stuff sack to demonstrate this point to a skeptical customer. I don't think there is some objective superiority of one sleep system or insulation over another, just different pros and cons. It's like ice tools. Everyone finds something that works for them and suits their style of climbing and hopefully can focus more on the climbing than on their gear.

Stefan, can you explain your reasons for wanting a synthetic bag? For the application you describe, a synthetic bag would be bulkier and heavier than a down bag, both of which are considerable drawbacks for alpine climbing. I would be greatly surprised if you found a -9 C synthetic two-person bag that weighed less than 1700g/3.75 lb. The main reason most people seem to want synthetic bags these days are because of the old "it keeps you warm when it's wet" story. Now that shell fabrics (like eVent) have reached the point where they are waterproof, highly breathable, and reasonably light, that is a harder argument to make. Furthermore, since synthetic bags are much less durable than down bags, that is another disadvantage to them. Regardless of fill type, the 2-person bag design is inherently inefficient in colder weather (i.e. below -9 C). The enormous opening at the top of the bag doesn't do a great job of preventing warm air loss, and in the interest of saving weight a lot of 2-person bags forgo the ever important zipper draft tube. That being said, Feathered Friends makes 2-person sleeping bags rated to as low as -20 F. This sounds a bit excessive for your needs. If your intended use for the bag was summertime alpine climbing below 4200m in the lower 48 or Canada, then a Penguin model rated to 20 F/ -6.7 C and an ultralight groundsheet would be a comfortable option. Total combined weight is 3.4 lb. or 1560g. The total cost for a Penguin 20 with groundsheet is in the neighborhood of $460. Not the cheapest, but you get the premiums of excellent water resistant fabric, 850+ fill down, and the ability to add hoods to the bag later. If you don't want the hoods we can make it without the extra zippers and that would save another couple ounces. Link to Feathered Friends Penguin sleeping bag

Congratulations to the raffle winners. Some lucky people took home some nice prizes. Even Gator won!

Hey gang, we recently had some leaky pipes drain our roof into the store, and this made a whole bunch of our books wet. Tonight at the show we are going to offer a huge selection of our damaged book collection at huge discount. Depending on the state of the book, we'll knock 30% to 60% off the sticker price. There are lots of guidebooks, lots of instructional books, and a few pieces of mountain literature that all got damp, so we'll have something to please everyone. First come first served. We won't be fielding telephone calls or emails with requests for specific titles, this is rummage sale style.

Hey gang, we recently had some leaky pipes drain our roof into the store, and this made a whole bunch of our books wet. Tonight at the show we are going to offer a huge selection of our damaged book collection at huge discount. Depending on the state of the book, we'll knock 30% to 60% off the sticker price. There are lots of guidebooks, lots of instructional books, and a few pieces of mountain literature that all got damp, so we'll have something to please everyone. First come first served. We won't be fielding telephone calls or emails with requests for specific titles, this is rummage sale style.

Here ya go:

Consider the Hilleberg Akto. It's not a mountaineering tent, but its weight is reasonable, it has a vestibule, and numerous guy-out points. This picture cuts off all the stake points, but you can read about it in more depth on Hilleberg's website.

Feathered Friends (Seattle) stocks the La Sportiva women's Nepal Evo GTX. A couple women here on staff use these boots for ice/mountaineering and love them. They ain't cheap, but they are like a pair of jeans- if they fit well they are worth it. These boots work with every type of crampon made, they are light, and they are insulated. Come on down and check them out. Link to Nepal Evo on Sportiva's web site

Put your traction tires on and get on down to Feathered Friends at 7:30pm on December 6 for a great slideshow and the drawing of our huge ski raffle. Forget holiday shopping for an evening as you are taken to a different chilly place through pictures and stories presented by Mark Westman, featuring 4 new routes he put up in the Alaska Range and Ruth Gorge. You all know who he is so no introduction is needed. A $10 donation to the NW Avy Center gets you in the door and supplies you with a raffle ticket. As a warmup to the show we will draw the raffle prizes! These are the big ones- - Atomic Kailas skis - BD Frantic Skis - K2 Shuksan Skis - BD O1 bindings - G3 Targa Ascent bindings - Scarpa ski boots of the winner's choice - Several lovely Arc'teryx jackets We have been selling tickets for this raffle since our Gear Expo earlier this month, and everyone who has so far purchased tickets is already in the drawing. You may buy tickets to the raffle in person at the FF retail store at any time before the drawing, they are $10 each or 3 for $20. You do not need to be present to win. Link to description of raffle and prizes!!

Thanks to those who came and supported the NWAC at our annual Gear and Rep night by purchasing raffle tickets and donating to the cause. In addition to that night, we still have our Ski Gear Raffle still ongoing. Check out the prizes you can win HERE. There is a ton of great gear still be won. Come by the shop and get your tickets today!

Okay, last big gear announcement for the raffle: G3 has donated a pair of their new Targa Ascent bindings to the raffle. Now you free-heelers can tour as fast as your AT pals. Here's a pic: And this is the beer we'll be having: