cracked

Stone Gardens is clique-ish. Mainly boulderers, finding people to climb ropes with was impossible for me. I never really fit in, and quit going after a while. It just wasn't fun. Not my cup of tea, you might well respond differently. Never climbed at VW.

I have the Golite Six Month Night, the Coal, and their new Belay. I like them all. The SMN is BIG, WARM, and BULKY. Right at two pounds; it's not significantly heavier than the competition (eg Wild Things Belay, Patagonia DAS, etc, etc), and it's probably warmer than most. Well built, good hood, waist and hem drawcords, good pockets, the works. It weighs what it does because of the insulation, it's light for what it is. Sure, you can build a jacket that weighs six ounces, but comparing it to the SMN is apples to oranges, since we're talking warmth to weight here. Its greatest disadvantage is its bulk, not weight. The Coal was less than perfect, but the price sure was right. I liked the jacket and used it for a year, but the hood was less than stellar and the cut was mediocre. Still quite warm for the weight, very windproof and water repellent, it saved me from being very very cold a few times. When the Coal was getting too small for me, and I found a killer deal, I got the Belay. It's essentially a slightly shorter version of the Coal with a great hood, longer sleeves, an EPIC shell, and a bit of reinforcement. While I wish they didn't feel the need to add gimmicks like stretch armpit panels and reinforcements, it's a great jacket. It is very similar to Wild Things' EPIC jacket or Patagonia's Puff series, but I suspect it's a bit warmer than either. This is my go-to jacket for the stuff that I do. I always match the jacket with a light sleeping bag in the winter, and for the rest I used it when I stop for a break or belay. Once I was forced to wear the Coal while moving, but usually they're overkill. The SMN is great when you're stationary for long periods. But it's overkill for what I'm typically doing, which is (very slowly) skiing up and down little hills. And it's big enough that I really can't wear it inside my sleeping bag. So it's been relegated to trips that I haven't done yet, belaying at Smith in winter, and climbing during particularly cold weather. The Coal is pretty much all I used last winter. The Belay is even better than the Coal, the EPIC fabric is fantastically water resistant, and the short length allows for easy belaying despite the lack of a two way zipper. I cut the arms off of the Coal and use it as a vest now. Golite makes some dubious products, but IMHO their insulated jackets are great, easily on par with other manufacturers, and usually you can find them at much, much lower prices than you'd pay their competitors. So if you're a cheap bastard, snag them off of Sierra Trading Post and the like. And it's not fair to compare down to synthetic. You couldn't wear your Flight as outerwear in a rain/sleet storm. Likewise, you will never beat its warmth to weight ratio. Apples and oranges. I am not sponsored by Golite. And sorry for the thesis.

Well, right, but how do they ban someone who hasn't posted? Pulling the address off a reader's query would be a lot of work, no?

How do they figure out what IP to ban?

Someone help me up. That's the funniest thing I've read all day. Thanks for the laugh, Kurt.

Mmmm bottled water.

I heart squirrels. Poor blackie.

You are witty and original.

I don't think there's enough snow to make it worth bringing skis.

Actually, the sun is happily drifting about, it is not nearly 'fixed'.

Sounds like someone has a digital watch.

195? Are you INSANE?

POSTING IN ALL CAPS WHILE BASHING SOME OF THE MOST POPULAR BOARDS EVER MADE MAKES YOU LIKE LIKE EVEN MORE OF A RETARD THAN YOU REALLY ARE!!!!!1

Fury.

I think I agree with cj001f. So one must strive to create a moment vector whose direction is along the longitudinal axis of said Ice Screw. When one fails and the moment vector's direction varies, the Ice Screw 'wobbles', creating a less than optimal cut in the first centimeter or so of the ice.

Torque can only be defined one way: it's the component of the force applied perpendicular to the moment arm, multiplied by the length of hte lever arm. Since torque is a vector, the direction is given by the Right Hand Rule (RHR).

I have no clue what iib is trying to say, so I'll work with this. The above doesn't make much sense. The BD hanger is somewhat free-floating, so no matter if the screw is placed at +5 or -5 degrees (or more?) to horizontal, the hangar will point straight down. As long as the force is applied straight down, it doesn't matter how long the hangar is, since there is no moment arm. Now, let's imagine that the BD hangar is 3 inches long, and is fixed relative to the screw, at 90 degrees. Now, when you place said screw at 90 degrees to vertical, the load on the hangar is at 90 degrees to the screw, and the hangar can exert no torque. So, in this case, the screw will have the same pull out strength no matter where the biner is clipped (momement is zero). No, if we tilted the screw at +5 degrees (ie, hangar is higher than the teeth), then the hangar will indeed exert a torque on the screw, increasing the loading of the screw near the surface of the ice. Now imagine that we take this hypothetical screw, and place it at -5 degrees (ie, teeth higher than hangar). Now, with the aforementioned rigidly connected hangar, the force will create a moment around the screw that actually pivots around the teeth of the screw, decreasing the load on the ice near the surface, at least below the screw (the screw will try to pivot around the ice above the screw). But this is useless speculation, since the free-floating hangar design of the BD makes the hangar exert no moment whatsoever within the range of normal placements. So, the hangar design differences between Grivel and BD have no effect upon screw strength. So, I conclude that a) IIB is drunk, crazy, or stupid or b) he didn't mean what JayB is talking about. In this case, I humbly beg elucidation of the subject at hand. Geek in training, over and out.

Who gives a fuck?

Liar...you are at least 2 metric tons...this has been an established fact for well over a year now...piggie piggie Don't hate me because I'm perfect, Rudy.

Go pick on someone your own size (RuMR maybe?), Pax. We don't want anyone getting hurt.

Weight is a force. W=m*g. High school physics anyone? I weigh 0.947795596kN. I once gave ashw_justin a few feet of inadvertent penalty slack because when his skinny ass dropped on the rope it felt like he was pulling up slack.