Fromage

I use Scarpa Matrix boots on a DynaFit setup and they have worked great so far. The main complaint I have is the challenge of engaging the toe half of the bindings, but that is equal parts impatience and incompetence on my part. They are light, and the Matrix boots are pretty damn comfortable. And I haven't even thermomolded mine yet. If you want to try the setup I suggest you go rent some from Feathered Friends. They have DynaFits on K2 Shuksans and on Atomic TMX skis, and some larger sizes of Matrix in their rental fleet. That way you can try them for yourself before making a decision. It could affirm your hypothesis or save you from making a big mistake. Bonus- FF gives you the cost of the rental off your purchase.

I have a good stretch of free time approaching and I'm thinking of heading up towards Canmore. Unfortunately, the usual sources of route/conditions info don't seem to have any useful information to offer one way or another. Gravsports, bivouac, live the dream, acmg, wicked, none of these have any reports that suggest whether or not it is worth going up there soon. If anyone is up there or has been up there recently, can you please let me know what the ice is like? Thanks.

I have a FF Helios jacket in Pertex Quantum. I like it a lot. Packs down to the size of a Nalgene, and the pockets are more comfy for keeping my hands toasty than any other down jacket I have tried. I think it is reasonably priced, and the quality is excellent.

If you are considering twins for ice, why not climb with doubles? Weight difference is minimal and you gain the advantage of lower impact forces on your gear by using doubles. This can be an important safety consideration- you still don't want to fall, but if you do you definitely don't want to rip your gear out. Plus less rope drag is nice for alpine routes since you don't have to clip both strands. I have been using Beal 8.1mm Ice Lines since 1998 (not the same set ) and have been a big fan of those. I also like the Mammut 8.0 doubles that some friends have. But if twins are what you have your mind set on, then the choice should be simple since there are fewer options from which to select than single or double ropes.

I have this coming Thurs-Sat off. Weather looks spotty at best. Does anyone have some non-technical trips in the mountains to recommend? I would like to not sit in my tent all day in the snow, and I'm trying to convince myself that I'm not going "hiking." Alternatively, does anyone want to go to Skaha?

Good choice with the Upgrades. I put one of those on a Pulsar of mine and found it climbed really well. The pick lacks the curvature teeth up near the shaft that later model Cascade picks had, but hooking is not what Pulsars do best so I found it made little difference. I was very conservative in altering my Upgrade. I only filed a small bevel on the first few teeth behind the pick and left the tip alone. I didn't bevel them the way the new Quark Cascade pick teeth are sharpened to a point like a triangle; I beveled parallel to the edge of the teeth, so the teeth sharpened towards a ridge (although I did not bring the two sides of the "ridge" together- that would make the teeth too fragile). This minor modification increased the bite of what was already a sticky pick. I had no problems removing my placements with the top edge of the pick in an unaltered state. In general my advice would be to make changes in very small increments. File a little, climb a little, repeat if necessary. It is easier to take more metal off than it is to put it back on. Good luck!

Dave, I will ask if we can borrow one to play with. As for now, I will have a Nomic review on Monday. Can't wait to play with that...

Am I the only one to notice that the model name of the A Star helicopter is the "Ecureuil," which is French for "squirrel?" on the summit of Everest!

A hypothetical situation: say you have five days off, a potential partner, and you have never before ventured into the Pickets. You plan to go, and want to cover a realistic amount of ground, having already dispensed with the idea of traversing the entire range. So if you, the reader, have spent some time in the Pickets, I would appreciate your answers to the following questions: Given the timeframe and potential for navigational errors, 1. Would you go to the northern or the southern Pickets? Why? 2. By which routes would you access and exit the range of your choice if you had one car? Two cars? 3. For your preferred range, what pieces of gear do you consider indispensable? 4. Are there any specific hazards, difficulties or obstacles you encountered? 5. What routes on peaks were especially rewarding? Why? 6. Did you do any routes that you wish you would have skipped? Thanks for sharing info.

An attack? No. A sensational, misinformed, inaccurate, misleading statement? Let the reader decide. There was no lambasting involved, and as Miller eloquently presented his account of the situation, no mention of ankle breaking, either. In the future before you go making bold statements that tarnish the reputation of a business I suggest you get your facts straight. People have been sued for slander and libel on far flimsier grounds. I, too, will continue to support Feathered Friends. I appreciate the kind of experience that their sales staff have and the friendliness of their manner.

They work great provided there is sufficient insulation behind the zipper in the form of a draft tube. Check this one out: Rock Wren/Winter Wren Here is the link to it: Rock Wren / Winter Wren

Feathered Friends has eleven copies of West Coast Ice Vol 2 as of Tuesday January 25, 2005. If you want 'em to mail you one call 206 292 2210. This one goes up to eleven.

Take a closer look at the bolts attaching the pick to the top of the shaft. Last weekend while climbing on Monsters I noticed that the threaded end of the bolts protruding past the nuts were mushroomed. This was a factory feature, so clearly the intention is to keep the nuts on the bolts and hence the pick on the shaft. In order to remove the nuts you would have to chop the bolts below the mushroom. I don't think the rep's claims are unreasonable in terms of the pick's durability. After 5 days of mixed thrashing on the Monsters the picks still look brand new. I can't say the same for any 4mm BD or 3mm Charlet pick I have used mixed climbing for that length of time.

Nice photos. I did this climb the day before you did. We topped out on the last pitch (and there was STILL more ice above...). The trick that worked for us was to traverse left at the base of the hollow tube and climb the final pillar up the thick, solid left side. Very fun route.

Interesting. I have not had this problem with my Quark leashes in two seasons with them. I tighten the webbing snugly and the leashes stay put when I am fumbling around detached from the tools. This might have something to do with your glove system. Thinner gloves = less soft bulk for the leashes to dig through = stay in place. Using Cloudveil Ice Floes or BD Drytools over thin liners has worked fine for me. Shell gloves tend to fare a little worse in my leashes. The main problem I have discovered with the leashes is that once the webbing ices up it becomes difficult to slide it through the buckle, meaning I either get stuck with a leash on my wrist or have to thaw it out in my jacket. Otherwise, brilliant tools. 600m of water ice on them this weekend! Yee hah!

The hybrid jacket certainly has some advantages over 100% laminate jackets, but it is no holy grail. I have an Arcteryx Alpha Comp Hoody, and I like it, but I haven't used it in a wide range of weather conditions yet. For sustained wet conditions it will not keep you as dry as a full WPB membrane jacket, but does have more versatility. I think the main thing going for the hybrid jacket is that it dries fast/is very breathable. Even with a Gore jacket less than 2 years old, it is going to wet out after a while in the rain, regardless of how much DWR treatment you give it. Then you have a waterproof/breathable jacket that doesn't breathe much because the face fabric is wet. Now your jacket is wet and heavy. The hybrid jacket will also get wet, maybe even let some water through the softshell fabric, but because it is so breathable your body heat can dry it out quickly. Obviously you won't dry your jacket out from body heat while it is still raining, but once you get to your tent/hut/cave/yurt/car or when it stops raining you will dry it out. If it is raining hard enough to soak your softshell then you are probably bailing at that point. Unless you are backpacking, in which case the hybrid might not be your best choice. Contrary to the earlier post, I think the hybrid jacket is ideal for the person who is looking for one jacket to do everything- i.e. it is not a "quiver" piece. Consider this: ultralight G-tex jacket + light softshell = ~15oz + ~20oz = ~35oz Hybrid = 17oz ultralight (Marmot Precip) hardshell + light softshell (Cloudveil Serendipity) = ~$120 + $220 = $340 or... this could range up to $350 + $285 = $635 at the higher end. Yikes. Alpha Comp Hoody = $350. Not cheap, but cheaper than most 2-jacket systems. I am giving up entirely on Gore Tex for a while to see if the hybrid jacket will work for me in the mountains. Anyone want a Mountain Hardwear Ethereal Ice Gore XCR jacket in excellent shape? Cheap!

The versions of the tools- damn, I keep saying that- the versions of the Monsters I used had a pick that bolted onto the shaft at three points. Just by looking at the setup it seems as though the picks will be replaceable. I don't think the pick will be easy to break. This is for at least two reasons: 1. When torquing on placements the shaft flexes a little, absorbing some of that force like a leaf spring 2. 5mm is a lot of forged steel If you have been drytooling on Ergos and haven't broken a pick on those (3mm) then you probably won't snap the Monsters. I suggest you demo them before buying since your impressions of how they work and feel could be different from mine. One more reason to go to the Ouray Ice Fest.

I took a pair of the new Grivel Monster leashless, um, "progression aids," up to BC this weekend and spent a couple days aiding my progression with them at Marble Canyon. One was leopard skin motif and the other might have been snakeskin, I couldn't really tell. The only other leashless tools I have climbed with are the BD Fusions (7 days) and Charlet Quark Ergos (2 days), so they are the basis for my comparison. My partner observed that the Monsters looked like seahorses, and to her comment I would add that they look like seahorses that have been run over by a steamroller. If you haven't seen one in three dimensions it is not apparent from some web pictures that the shafts are flat, solid pieces of steel, not hollow aluminum tubes. After warming up with my anachronistic leashed tools I took the Monsters for a run up Deeping Wall. The ice was a bit thin, variably plastic and brittle, and in steep early season conditions. Since the Monster's pick is 5mm thick, dwarfing even the beefy steel of most Black Diamond picks, I was a bit concerned about damaging the route. The Icefall Nazis can rest assured that the picks did not shatter the young, tender, thinly formed ice. In fact, I was surprised to find that the picks placed securely without shattering the ice- less fracturing occurred than with the 4mm BD picks I have used. There are lots of teeth on the Monster picks, and I found out which ones were useful and which are decorative. The teeth on the top of the pick's point got hung up on gear a few times and I couldn't figure out how they might be of use. The swing felt a bit weird. The weight distribution seemed uniform, giving the tool, sorry- progession aid, a neutral swing. The Monsters didn't have the snap of the Quark Ergos and didn't feel wobbly like the Fusions. The Monsters certainly felt lighter than either tool, and were pretty stable in the ice. The placements felt dampened, which was probably due to the properties of the steel shaft. Where Fusions and Ergos give you feedback on the quality of your placements through the vibrations transmitted through the shaft, I didn't get that as much from the Monsters. Not bad, not good, just different. They don't feel as good as a leashed pure ice tool, but they climb ice fairly well. The handle was comfy. At first I was skeptical of the riveted construction, but I have to say this is definitely the most comfortable grip of the leashless tools I have used. I have big hands, and find the grips of the Fusions and Ergos squash my fingers a bit. There is plenty of room on the grip, which allows for two hand positions. You can swing from the upper position, which gives ample support for your index finger as a rotation point, and for hooking you can shift your hand slightly to the lower position. The grip was relaxing and felt good to hang from. I also had a go at the bolted mixed route in the corner next to Deeping Wall. The Monsters were imressive on rock. The pick angle is pretty steep, and it hooked securely on the tiniest of edges. I was surprised by how stable they were. The shafts flexed a little side to side in torqued placements, which again was neither better nor worse than Fusions or Ergos, just different. It took me a lot longer to get pumped, the grips were that comfy. I didn't do anything too fancy with the Monsters, a few matches and switching tools. The flat shaft is no comparison to the ovalized shafts of BDs and Ergos when it comes to comfort matching/stacking hands. If I owned a set of Monsters I would make some modifications to improve the grip of the upper hand positions. They come with little plastic bumpers, but a home-made custom job with some sticky foam and grip tape would probably do better. At the end of the weekend I thought I liked the Monsters. They were great on rock, decent on ice, and had some clear advantages over the Ergos and Fusions. Plus they are cheap! At $125 each a pair costs $19 less than one Fusion. They may not be rated, but for dinking around on bolted steepitude they were pretty fun. If I had to sum up the Monster in a word, it would be fun. Grivel is definitely on to something good with this grip design.

We're talking about Jule the PowerFrau here, the same one who crawled to the summit of Rainier in winter when high winds kept knocking her off her feet. Not someone who usually balks at cold temps. If she gets cold it is probably not because of her "issues." Evidence suggests inferior gear. But if you want to continue your REIdolizing, I won't stand in your way.

Last Nov when I climbed Eldo my partner and I bivied at the base of the Eldo glacier in our bags with no shelter. At bedtime the ambient air temp was 18 degrees F. She had the REI zero degree bag with a GoLite synthetic belay jacket and hot water bottle stuffed in there with her. She froze her arse. Meanwhile I was roasting mine off in my Feathered Friends -10 bag. Conclusion? The REI bag rating was excessively optimistic and the FF bag rating was excessively conservative. At least for these two people in these conditions. If Lowest Common Denominator is passing off a bag with no collar with a zero degree rating they should be sued for false advertising. Some people might be warm in that bag at the stated temp, but most will not. Feathered Friends and Western Mountaineering, the two best bag manufacturers in the world (in that order) both start putting collars on bags in the 10 degree range, and FF even gives the option on 20 degree bags. Spend the extra money and get a proper bag for those temps. A FF Ibis or Snowbunting would do you nicely. You will thank yourself.

If your main concern is price, then maybe you will be content with a 6 1/2 pound monster that fills half your pack. I have used the Dark Star before, and while it was warm, it had a narrow comfort range. That is to say, you will probably only be comfortable in it when outside temps are really low. If the air is warmer than -10 you will be sweaty. Plus the longevity of synthetic bags is short. After a couple years of use your -40 bag will become a 0 bag, then a 20 bag, and so on. Consider this: 1. If you are sleeping in conditions cold enough to warrant a -40 bag, there isn't going to be enough water in liquid form to get your bag wet to the point that you will need synthetic insulation, 2. You buy the Dark Star for $300. In four years the fill degrades to the point that it's not keeping you warm enough anymore. You now need to buy another bag. Repeat. You have spent $600 on 13 pounds worth of giant sleeping bag and get 8 years of use from it. 3. For $550 you can buy a sweet -25 down bag that weighs 3 1/2 pounds, packs waaaay smaller, lasts three times as long, and has high tech shell fabric to keep the insulation dry. Here is an example of the best down bag around. If you are going to be in super cold conditions, you will have a down parka or some sort of warm insulation to wear, and this can be incorporated into your sleeping system to add warmth to a lighter bag. So save yourself the weight and space to carry more food, and save yourself money in the long run by skipping synthetic bags altogether. For the kind of application you describe, they are an inefficient piece of equipment.

Mmmmmm And a slideshow? Righteous.

Arcteryx packs are available at Feathered Friends. They don't stock the Nozone, but can order it. They carry the Needle 65 and 45. They are comfy.

Dave- the Inspiration was somewhat broken up, but everything was well exposed. From our vantage point on the E Ridge we thought we could shoot a fairly direct line across it, but of course once we were halfway across we got boxed in and had to take some detours. There was a boot track that avoided the whole mess by staying high on the western edge and shot straight across the compression zone. That was less direct but would have been faster. Those triangular chunks of rock, if I remember from my armchair geology degree (B.A.G., class of 1998), are pegmatite intrusions. I saw them the first time I climbed Eldo and remembered them- they make for a fun little sequence on the approach. Another thing that contributed to our slowness in the couloir was my need to be constantly eating.

Thanks Dave, but I missed the hummingbird reference. The only Hummingbird on the trip was my sleeping bag, and that isn't very old. No Camp axes... Big props to Mark for keeping his poop in a group when his feet got tangled up. That was certainly a tense moment. Thankfully that snow above the mixed section provided for some very secure sticks. A couple more weeks and that route will be in primo form.