Dane

Phantom Guides are shipping now @ $535 retail. The 6000 in late June....

Didn't see this till now. I'm on the other side of tiger mtn from you just off 18. I'd love to try your gym out. PM on the way.

It'll be good, don't miss it!

pm sent

Normally you rap/down climb/walk off the back side in the gully (Breche des Doites) where Steck finishes in the video and walk home. That would require another couple hr ski in to retrieve your skiis when you have time. Steck obviously would have a lot of spare time compared to most Now a days many just carry small skis up the route and rap a bit then ski back to the valley and hitch to Cham. Bunch of ways to do it though. My understanding is: "We (Helicopter) dropped Ueli's skis off the south side of the mountain so after descending the South side he picked his skis up at the shrund and skied back down to town, Jon" Back in town for lunch? Mind you that is 1000m of ice and mixed up to M5 (once considered the hardest mixed climb in the Alps. Still with a very good reputation) and done in 2 hrs] by Steck as a "fun" climb, not a speed ascent! A friend who had done the climb once described it as doing something similar to "The lower face is ike doing the North Face of Athabasca, then Takkakaw Falls, then Cascade". Then with another patch of snow slope to get to the Breche des Doites. All three climbs stacked on top of one another of course. Parapente is a common decent as well and likely faster

More here on all three and now you can comment on the blog as well. http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2010/04/why-double-boot.html

"while I try to figure out a good, durable, rope for alpine" Helps to first decide what your priority is, weight or durability. The catch is when you want a light and durable rope. No trick to it, ropes are all made of nylon. Fat ones are more durable than skinny ones. Heavy ones more durable than light ones. Diameter is just a starting point, as weight per meter is a better indicator of durability. For a light weight single, I am a Joker fan myself. Some good 1/2 ropes out as well that will work as a single in the right conditions.

Anyone skiing these and care to offer an opinion?

Anyone using these and care to offer an opinion of them for an all around ski for touring and lifts in and around @ Alpental?

Just a quick thought for you. I have been involved in several "club" formats, one U program, a bunch of commercial services, two S&R orgs, a few military professional "mtn" people (by far the dumbest of the bunch) and spent a good deal of time guiding and teaching. The most fun I have had, the biggest learning curve and the best climbs by far has been with the buddies I learned to climb with and still do. The rest, IMO, if you are really into climbing and want to excel at it will just waste your time. And the other guy was right, you have some good photos. Just make sure you stay alive till you are 18 "Experienced hikers" leaving Camp Muir without some common sense (which should tell you to stay off a glacier unless you are FULLY prepared to be there) and a rope are often found DEAD or never found at all.

Anyone else wants this bag send me a PM...purple and black in color.

It is a 14 year old BD design originally. Expensive then (retail was $9.00) and way ahead of their time in a number of ways. I would have thought more would have survived from the original 300 made. My guess is they didn't sell many. Joe you buy yours or was it a sample?

Send me $20 I'll send you a new BD Slacker http://www.backcountry.com/outdoorgear/Black-Diamond-Superslacker-Rope-Bag-1831-cu-in/BLD0162M.html

Yes, Chair is still climbable as a snow and ice route. Looks more like Jan. up there than April right now.

How many of us start out with a $500 bivy/belay jacket? Jack obviously knows how to sort his gear already! The mutant at an early age...he won't require tools!

"these just don't cut it on steeper ice" Really? Admittedly the G12 in the auto version being used below but House and Anderson used the newmatic bindings on Nanga Parbat. Looking up... Looking down..from the same place....just say'in.

Mike I agree. Putting a Quark or a Nomic on a plastic clipper "blind" is a pita. I generally don't and use a "body holster" on the neck becaue of it. But I really get bugged about hanging tools at the end of the day for the rap. So what ever comes out of this it will hold a tool securely and be easy to place a tool into. I might make two styles, screw and tool rackers. Good stuff keep it coming.

I have both tools from the Solvak. Haven't hung them yet. Got a topo and pictures I want to do with them. Makes me wonder just how much Bat Masterson and Twight have in common Good score John..Grivel tool? Brian, 4 sets of of RPs and one of the newest BD brass off sets. "BD's new off-set micro stoppers. These are a combination HB offset design and the rounded forward lower corner of a DMM Peanut. The material is phosphorous bronze which have better shear resistance than brass but with similar bite. Cable is attached using the nut as the swage just like the other BD micro-stoppers (a major pain in the ass to get the tooling right).This gives BD 10 times the cable durability versus soldering. BD is the only one's who doesn’t silver-solder these type nuts. Available from BD Fall of 2010." Just wish I had 4 sets of them for the summer

Layton, still working on attachments....not a big fan of rubber bands but understand the concept harness clip is a pita to incorporate. I'll make it work one way or another for both left and right handers. Why do the harness companies do that anyway? I use both sides to rack screws on! Weights BD OZ (a real biner) is 26g or .9oz on my scale under the 1oz that BD lists. actual weight of Petzl Caritool I have here is 28g or .9 oz actual weight of the aluminum prototypes shown are 40g or 1.4oz What ever design I end up with absolute maximum weight would be under 2oz. But no matter how we do it size will matter.

Might look that way but it doesn't open easily. Certainly no easier than the plastic biners and less likely to drop gear from these as the alumnimum frame is less likely to be twisted and jam the gate open in use. The same position (gate stuck open) I have seen most of the gear dropped from plastic racking biners. But to up the strength with the clipper closed I am working on a gate notch design. For racking tools like the Quark and Nomic? My idea is to have a big enough clipper that will hold two of the fat Nomic heads with ease. You can easily rack one Petzl tool on these now or two BD tools. Racking tools one handed isn't a problem. I was thinking something more like the "big bro" version of Petzl's Caritool? Thanks for the heads up on the upper shelf. Not something I use so hadn't thought about that. Easy to incorporate though. Available in two sizes: - CARITOOL (P42): maximum load: 5kg, weight: 25g - CARITOOL L (P42 L): maximum load: 15kg, weight: 60g

SS, while I'd like to, there is a lot more involved to go full strength. Either a lot more weight (steel) or more technology (hot forged aluminum 'biner), both would up the costs and initial investment considerably. My thought was the climbing community was accustomed to a dedicated harness "racking clipper" (BD or Petzl) without the worry of it being required to be a full weight "climbing carabiner". Grivel and BD umbilicals are the other items in regular use that are not "full weight". I'm using plastic so what do I know You guys tell me? BD's current version.

Dan? Dan -?

Following up on Layton's suggestion...what do ya think about something like this out of aluminum @ $15 a piece? More here. http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/951119/Would_you_buy_this_racking_bin#Post951119

Or something very similar @ $15 each? I am working on a slightly different version with a harness clip milled into the biner as well. Made of aluminum, obviously for racking gear ONLY and NOT climbing protection. No where near full climbing carabiner strength. But also not a piece of gear that is easily tweaked, broken or likely to dump gear like the plastic racking "biners" available currently fro BD and Petzl.