Rainier_Wolfscastle

If you want a really huge heavy duty duffle, you may want to checkout the Patagonia Black Hole II. You can smuggle a small family inside it. The TNF duffles are nice, but I'd avoid them just because the Gaint TNF logos on every corner make it easy for theives to identify the bags with the "good stuff" in them. I work at the airport and can identify these bags coming off the planes from 50 ft away. I'd ship / carry your goodies in something more discrete. If you don't require the heavier tarp material, MEC duffles are inexpensive and well made. Another inexpensive choice is the good old army duffle bag. They are super durable, but you have to dump everything out to get to something at the bottom. Just my .02

If you decide to buy a bibler I-tent for year round camping, get the two door model. It provides alot better ventilation as air can flow between the doors on each end. No condensation problems in clammy or wet weather.

Some Vans & Raichle snowboard boots come with Intuition liners in them. I bought a used pair on ebay for $10, removed the liner, baked it, and put them in my Invernos. They are well over a pound lighter now and seem quite warm.

I'd wear the mountaineering boots since you will have to cover alot of terrain on foot after you ditch the skis. Since you will be spending alot of time and money on this trip, you might as well pony up for the right bindings for your mountaineering boots. Get the Silveretta's (404 or 500) or buy some used Ramer bindings. They can be had for cheap. Here's a pair I found on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2716706387&category=36265 Fritschi also made an AT binding (FT-88) that accepts mtn boots. You might be able to find a pair of these on ebay also. I think they were designed for military use (white ones). I have a pair of these (mine are red). They are heavier than the Silverettas, but are bomber, cheap, have DIN release, and a heel lifter. Mount them on some short thrift shop skis.

I was checking out this jacket at the local shop yesterday. 9.5 oz ! for a down jacket. It's half the weight of my moonstone jacket (which I thought was light). Anyone pick one of these up yet? The nylon is paper thin.

This seems lame to me. If you pack is the right size and you are using the load lifters properly, the shoulder straps should not be digging into your shoulder blades. If the pack doesn't have load lifters, then it probably wasn't designed to carry a ton of weight anyway.

The X-15's I am talking about are Orange with black rubber handles. They look like these . They are heavy as shit. About 4-5 years old. I thought the newer all rubber ones were black prophets? I've owned the BP's and they are alot lighter than these beasts.

Good: Sturdy, accepts all current BD picks Bad: Really heavy tool. They may fry your shoulders/arms on long/steep terrain.

For anyone interested, here's a link to some pics I took at Ouray last weekend. I didn't take a whole bunch of the competition, but there are some of the climbing. Enjoy. http://home1.gte.net/4mkempt/index.htm

I could see where that would be annoying. Are these tools seconds or something? I can't imagine BD would have designed the leash this way. How about getting the upper part of a standard Andriod leash and use that instead. You will be able move the clip up and down as you please. Of course, it's not quite as tidy as the Viper Andriod leash setup, but whatever works.

How do you become the "Official" supplier of great emotions? Are there other companies providing "great emotions" without government approval? I don't get their motto. Who would describe their climbing/mountaineering experience as being full of great emotions? Must be a bad french to english translation or something like that.

Aren't the Trango S and the Trango Extreme S different boots? Sounds like previous posts are considering them the same boot. I thought the Trango S was the red one with no toe bail, and the Trango Extreme S is the new version of the old Trango Extreme. Correct me if I am wrong.

I usually belay with the reverso in auto lock off position off the anchor, but I find it is even harder to feed in this fashion if there is already alot of friction from below. I was pulling slack from climbers side. It may just be a case of the weight of 2 full water logged ropes below.

Anyone got any special tricks for dealing with friction from wet half ropes? I was belaying a second up an ice climb from above with very wet half ropes through a reverso in low friction mode (rounded side) off my harness, up thru a directional, and then down to the climber. The route was pretty straight vertical ice. The friction on the ropes was hideous. Got more of a workout pulling in the slack. I added an extra biner to reverso and the directional without much improvement. The directional above me was adding quite a bit of friction, but I didn't want to remove that from the system since it would be painfull to catch a fall directly off my harness. I guess I could have used a pully at the directional, but this seems like alot of junk to carry. Anyone got any special tricks for dealing with this? Since there was so much friction, prehaps a hip belay w/directional? Never caught a fall on steep terrain with one of these.

I can't imagine these would be warm enough for use on Denali as they have no removable inner boot for warmth like plastics. Also, they would be tough to dry out everyday without a inner boot. Doesn't Sportiva make a boot called Olympus Moon's for extreme cold?

Thanks for the reply. Sounds like what I am looking for. I ordered them and the suspenders. I agree with your comment about the pooping door. I used bibs for 5 years and never used it.

Anybody own these? Good or bad comments? I was thinking about ordering a pair. Do the cuffs fit easily over AT boots? Thanks for any replies.

I agree. They I bought a used pair this summer and have been using them for ice this winter. So far they have been warm enough for Utah Ice climbing. They perform well on ice and rock. They are probably not warm enough for really cold or long trips to the mountains. I have wide feet and had to get one of them stretched for the pinky toe. I guess my feed are kinda jacked up. Anyway, tasty now. I think they suit mid/low volume feet the best. They are a tad heavier than the new Trango Ice model. Otherwise they climb about the same.

Always wanted one of these

Any that are good for skiing will not climb as well as a mountaineering boot. It's one or the other. I'd get some boots that ski well, and just live with the poorer climbing performance. You can save some weight by selecting a boot with or adding a thermafit liner. I have a pair of Garmont GSM G-fit AT boots which are very light, stiff, and ski well. The weigh about the same as my Scarpa Invernos. The downside to these boots is plastic buckles. They save alot of weight, but I am not sure how durable they will be long term.

Looks like Trango just came out with a leashless tool that has interchangeable handles for leashless and leashed climbing. Swaps shafts like the CM pulsar. There is a pic of it in the new Rock and Ice. Looks kinda cool. They are usually less expensive than BD and CM. Don't think I could drill a hole in my Cobras. I've seen people use hose clamps to hold on pinky rests in the past.

I've used the Voile with plate bindings, clickers, and regular strap bindings. For pure boarding, I liked the clickers the best. Faster transition times. I found using rigid boots with plate bindings too stiff for boarding. I suppose if you want to go warp 10, then they might be more suitable. The strap bindings work pretty nice with leather mountaineering boots. I used Sportiva K3's and supergaters with alot of success. That combo also rules if it gets to steep and you have to shoulder the board and walk. If I bought another board, I'd get the 195 length. Floatation and speed help alot getting over rolling terrain. It's really frustraiting to run out of gas before the next down spot and have to take of board to move 10 feet and put it back on. If you get the voile, carry an extra lock pin for the bindings. Dropping one of these in deep snow while transitioning will likely ruin your ski tour. I tried securing the clips with string to the bindings, so if I dropped one, it wouldn't be lost, but the string always got in the way, and slowed my transition time down (crucial if you are touring with skiers). I found it best to remove the pin and clip it immediately to the sternum strap on my pack. This works well if you leave your pack on during transition and just stuff the skins inside your jacket.

I've used the Wild things belay jacket for ice climbing and liked it alot. It is all insulation with no useless features/weight. It packs down alot smaller than my old Lowe Alpine belay jacket (about the size of a sleeping bag stuff sack on my harness). The MEC belay jacket is also pretty good and has a dryloft shell for extra water resistance, but as mentioned before, is no longer made. Can't go wrong with the Patagonia model. I would have bought one of those if I had the extra $. I think Marmot also makes one too.

[ 11-25-2002, 04:12 PM: Message edited by: Rainier Wolfscastle ]