Dane

Distal bicep detach seems to be fairly common in the climbing community for those that have been around awhile. Rare else where I was told.

Thanks Mikey. I saw the write up and the hard ice conditions just getting on your new line. And wondered. Glad it was Kate and not me I brought a "Carver" home to make myself one. Haven't doen it yet and didn't get to talk much with Colin in Cham so the topic never came up. Let me know if you ever get to use it as intended.

Mike? Like this but with a hammer?

Looks like Bradley has the Fox hammer, Simond is still making a Fox Rock versions. SMC makes a 50cm hammer. Grivel has several offerings. I like the AT Evo hammer. BD has the Raven. Petzl has several offerings that would work... like the Aztarex. Daniel asks for, "a short hammer with a big striking surface, a straight shaft, a pinky rest, and a recurve pick would be sweet." Kurt and Layton want a Fox? Fox axe Fox Rock I like the SMC but it is heavy. A full size tool that can easily replace your axe. Petzl AZTAREX Depending on what you require anything from a Chouinard Alpine hammer or an old Terrordactyl, Chacal or Pulsar would work as well. Chacal I still use an Chouinard hammer on occasion to pound pins. I also have carried a Petzl Snow Racer (340g @ 50cm) with a pair of Nomics in the alpine to get over the shrund or on steep snow where a good straight tool shaft might allow you to continue where a radically bent tech tool's bent shaft is useless and surface conditions won't allow a pick to stick. Places where a Cobra or Quark or even an AZTAREX might make more sense than a Nomic or Ergo. Nothing wrong with a long axe. But I'd keep a hammer under 45cm. I've used really short hammers (38/40/45) with long and short traditional axes (60cm and 50cm) to climb up to WI4+ on waterfalls and in the alpine. Looking through my old tools, no less than a half dozen different short hammer/axe combos What were once considered N wall hammers or just the mate to your tool with an adze. Now I am less concerned about having a hammer..even less so about an adze but do want a straight shaft on occasion for steep snow.

Agreed. You walk through the Chamonix cemetary and so many Simonds lost in the mtns there. Then think back and remember the Simond Chacal was really the first modern tool. You don' have to imagine where the experience and design genious for that tool went. I'd love to have a pair of Paranha in decent shape. Mikey did those hammers stay in one piece?

I'm in for the $20.... I've done it the other way a few times and a cat sounds like more fun to me. Makes skiing down more fun too...since you don't have to ski or lug them up! I suspect most here leave a car on the road some where. I'd be more impressed if they walked to the mountain...and brought their tablet and the burnng bush as well

FWIW when I was Chamonix and looked into visiting the Simond factory I was told they had sold the brand name and would soon no longer be building ice tools. Going to soft goods. Currently there web site still lists the Fox in a couple of versions. I made lwt hammers from Fox Carving axes this winter for Mikey and Colin but haven't hear how they worked out. http://www.simond.com/shop/categorie/cat-2-Ice-axes/cat-13-Mountaineering/ FF has it right i think. Most anything will work for a picket. Pitons? Not so much but more options than you might think. I've used adzes to place pitons a tiem or two.

"fwiw. winter conditions can make things easier to climb or harder" Ha, ha easy to say on the internet ;-) The change in a full two moths between Feb and April conditions in the Alps? Pretty obvious difference any year. No doubt both are amazing athletes.

Great effort. But... "Spring/Summer/Fall" (April 20 in this case) and Winter (Feb 18 for Ueli's climb) climbs are generally not thought comparible. The Hinterstoisser Traverse time had little to do with 20 min I suspect. More likely the temps and the condition of the ice on the wall and how much more rock was climbable. Conditions have been pretty dry last month or so and the temps have been going up.

Much as I love my Nomics a decent axe will get you up most things. It is an acquired taste I suspect. A old Chouinard alpine hammer might well do the trick as well for the OP.

More info for what it is worth. I got a new pair of Quarks directly from Petzl just as I was leaving for Cham in late Feb. First batch available for some time I was told. The spacer/pick was just as difficult to add or replace in those tools as Daniel's original Nomics. The picks on my new Ergos delivered in Nov '10 are the same picks (diamension wise) as are in my Quarks from Feb. Feb Ergo picks are marked N26 and 4328 DRY with a .130 to .135 interface. Mar Quark picks are marked N26 and 4231 ICE with a .100 to a .125 interface The spacers (washers) in both tools are different in size but all measure 3.04mm While the hammer and adze inner face measures 3.01 to 3.03. Picks measure 4.04mm full thickness. Only one bolt in the new heads will tighten the head. That is the top one. The lower bolt is for satbility but doesn't do much to collapse the head and squeeze the pick. As you can see some of the combos go well over the 4.04 full thickness of the picks. I have heard a lot of rumors and know there are some new prototypes floating around that have significgant changes but Petzl is holding it pretty tight as to what we will see in the Fall. I do agree though the new pommel blade was a good improvement in many ways. Added stability of the tool while climbing steep ice is one.

May someone should have mentioned that to Lowe and Weiss before they did Bridalveil with a 50 cm hammer and three 70 cm axes. Not likely you'll find anything on the Valcanos you can't climb with that combo. The short Grivel is a good tool as is the BD.

I'm about to buy a new pair of ski boots and am looking for more info. more as to why here: http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2011/04/mountain-travel.html discuss? Comment? Thoughts?

Nice!

Matt and I spent some time visiting factories while I was in Europe, including Grivel. Lots of "garage" manufactures with CNC machines here and may be even more there. I think you heard wrong on that one. One of my personal theories (different but the similar enough) died as well after one of those visits.

Not just the EU for Grivel's gear. Little hard to get maybe but not impossible. Drew sez: "these are the E-Climb climbbubu tools, Grivel started distributing them under the new names this year on a limited (EU) basis." Limited maybe (world wide) but not impossible in NA. E-climb and Bubu aren't the same btw. Totally different tools and companies. Grivel isn't doing anything with E-climb that I know of. Not that I would be privy to that but haven't seen any thing ot suggest it. Spain and Italy and all... And I didn't ask while @ Grivel, for several reasons, about the relationship if any to Bubu. http://www.climbubu.com/ http://www.e-climb.com/index.asp?ididioma=1&esc=1&divisa=2

thanks, some great video there as well.

Umbilicals and packs are now available in NA. More here: http://coldthistletools.blogspot.com/2011/04/blue-ice-gear.html

You never mention what kind of time frame you have that can be devoted to a road trip? Lets assume it is a month as an example. Been awhile but I spent a month climbing everyday in Yosemite my 2nd year of climbing. Living that spring in Camp 4. Our combined rack was something like 25 biners and a 20 hex/ stopper combo. No helmets, no harnesses. 5.9 and 5.10 was still hard back then. (seems harder now) And we never ran out of things to climb in that month. All but one or two 5.9 or easier. With not a whole lot more gear (had a harness and a hammer by then) I came back in the fall and did Half Dome and El Cap. If given a choice now...take all the rock gear I do own and spend a week climbing anywhere or take a dbl rack of nuts and 25 biners to Yosemite for a month.....I'd be in Yosemite with a rack of nuts

Flock the gear buy...that is easy and always possible cheap if you look around. Time isn't. "use the money for a large summer climbing trip, and worry about expanding my gear later"

Ya caught that one, hu ;-) Harness are one of the lightest on the market @ 170g. Proprietary Dyneema webbing. Cost is 60 Euro or appr. $85. plus the typical US shipping to you. Sweet ski and high mtn harness. Slick parachute style waist buckle and drop leg loops for easy on and off. Designed by the local (Cham/Courmayeur) ski guides for their own use and their clients, And I have them in stock.

Actually I ended up becoming their NA retailer...the only one, at least short term. If you want a pair of leashes or a cool pack, the are all here and ready to ship. http://coldthistletools.blogspot.com/2011/04/blue-ice-gear.html

I like this..... Well done Mikey!

Just got my lwt hoody as well..sweet!

Awesome send. Congrads.