Swedish_Chef

"A day without spray is like a day without sunshine"

You don't know moondancing?

Hell no. I don't do business in the butt department. [ 11-11-2002, 08:29 AM: Message edited by: Swedish Chef ]

trask, can't wait til your daughter turns 16 and is reading all of the wisdom her father has posted on cc.com

trask, you are one funny sick bastard! yur pal SC (and that is NOT sexual chocolate)

Was meinst du eigentlich mein Freund? Sind wir vielleicht allen auf dem falschen Dampfer?

So, I probably go with the reverso. Here are some other more or less weird competitors: New Alp Placa (new wersion of Magic/Plaquette) Cassin Self Arrest Plate (looks very similar to the Kong GiGi) Faders Catch (kinda looks like the B52) All of these toys (and more) can be found at barrabes.com. Regarding brake force I actually prefer quite low 'coz I will only use this thing for alpine climbing. Thus it is also important to be able to pay out rope fast for easy sections. However, maybe it is better to carry one device (like a normal atc) for belaying the leader and a separate for the second. What do you think? BTW i use the HMS knot (munter hitch) quite often when climbing on a single rope. Never tried it with doubles though because I imagine rope management to be a real pain in the ass. [ 10-29-2002, 06:56 AM: Message edited by: Swedish Chef ]

Mine was a #2 knifeblade and a sling around a small rock horn. I watched quite nervously as my 190 lb partner followed the pitch. When I lead the next pitch he discovered that the rock horn (like everything else) was actually loose. So let me hear all about stinky micronuts, pound-in tent poles and tied-off horsecock.

Thanks for the beta. I will check them out. I guess another must-have title is "How to Scuba Climb" by Dennis Harmon

Any suggestions on good books for climbing-related first-aid response? Is the "Medicine for Mountaineering and other wilderness..." from the Mountaineers any good? (I know that there are quite mixed feelings for the Mounties - an organisation which I know absolutely nothing about. I can only say that "Extreme Alpinism" and Freedom of the Hills are damn good books in my opinion). Since I have to order any books over the internet I turn to you cc.comers to spray about your feelings

Beck, you really have made me quite interested in the Svea123R although I often try to avoid the mostly crappy things coming from my homeland. The things I would like to know is how this stove performs when needed the most, i.e at high altitude and cold weather? Does the self-pressurizing thing really work in COOOLD temperatures? I looked at the Optimus website and they claim the output to be 1400 W (4700 BTU) which is about half the power of an MSR. But for summer trips not involving a lot of snow-melting it does appear to be the shit. [ 10-14-2002, 02:02 AM: Message edited by: Swedish Chef ]

Well, I could probably write an article of why the imperial system sucks the royal HC compared to the SI/metric system. When reading trip reports and books such as Extreme Alpinism and comparing fuel consumption etc I have come across a small problem. Just how much is for example 22 oz in litres? Taking a look at a Nalgene bottle suggests approx 650 ml of water. Now how about white gas (with a different density)? Glancing at a MSR bottle 22 "fill oz" again suggests 650 ml. Is "oz" compared to "ml" always related to water when measuring volumes or what? And how much is a "quart"? A quarter gallon? In that case, British or US gallon...? [ 10-14-2002, 05:19 AM: Message edited by: Swedish Chef ]

Beck I can tell you about one crappy stove, check out the Optimus Nova (which got all kinds of backpackers' awards and shit). Not long ago a Swedish expedition to Mustagh Ata was sponsored by Optimus and they brought several Novas to use on the mountain. One minor problem though - the stove does not function at all above 4000 m. So they got like totally pissed, dumped the fuckers and went straight down and bought some old LPG stoves. I have the Whisperlite Intl and it runs smoothly as a baby. Used it with kerosene, oil-blended gas for small boat engines, all kinds of stuff from the paint shop and so on. No problem.

Hey fellas, thanks for the advice. The B-52 might be the shit but I don't think I will be able to get my hands on that one outside the US. Plus i kinda like the feature of having the device clipped to the harness all the time just adding biners when preparing to rap off. (I glanced through the manual and it seems like you set up the '52 just like a normal ATC, right????) I will go to Chamonix for the winter season in a couple of months so I guess I could find out myself. Just wanted to hear some input from you guys though because I don't trust some crazy ass French dudes [ 10-09-2002, 07:36 AM: Message edited by: Swedish Chef ]

Since this have only been partly discussed before I bring up the subject again... Which one of the above (or perhaps somethin else) should I get and which are only another useless piece weighing down the rack? I want a light belay device for bringing up 2 seconds , take photos, rap on etc for use with double ropes in the alpine. No problemos getting any one of them since I am one of those Euros...

I am so sorry Erden. A terrible accident and loss of a great climber. I am surprised to hear from the biner failure. If (and I am only speculating here) Goran used the same CAMP wire biners as I do (and it is quite possible, because I bought mine from him) they are rated to 10 kN with the gate open. Take care /Magnus [ 10-02-2002, 08:23 AM: Message edited by: Swedish Chef ]

Sorry guys, my fault. Back from a short trip I took the things apart and they really are steel though possibly a different alloy with a zink plating or somethin' (cause they did not rust like the rest of the crampon). Must have been too much HC for me in the mountains.

Well, i kinda discovered it when I was going to sharpen them with a file. No way those front points are cromoly steel like the rest of the crampon. Perhaps 7075-T6 aluminium but still...WTF One other thing to note. Mark Twight bitches about vertical front points being no good for alpine (which at least in theory, is correct). Take a look at the photos in the book. He is wearing Grivel Rambos on almost every picture (at least every shot from Chamonix)

Got the CM M10's the other day and to my surprise the front points were made of aluminium. Having only experience with 'alpine' crampons i found it pretty strange. Can any of you HC-lovers tell me the benefits of soft aluminium instead of steel? Better on rock or what?

buy a pair of second-hand Diamirs' and screw em' onto some old alpine boards, maybe you have to file down your plastics or the diamirs a bit to make it go. don't know about US prices to well but you might get em for $100-150. /m

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