Dane

A buddy just did "Angel of Fear" which hasn't been this fat in something like 20+ years. Makes me want some of that Utah goodness before it falls down...if it hasn't already! Kolin's and Bill's photos.....way to GET some guys! I'm thinking this is just showing off

G12 on a size 12 boot. Petzl safety strap and front bail. Front hole is less front point...back is more. G12 with Petzl front bail as pictured above.

Anyone used the "big bro" version of Petzl's Caritool? That was going to be my next purchase. Available in two sizes: - CARITOOL (P42): maximum load: 5kg, weight: 25g - CARITOOL L (P42 L): maximum load: 15kg, weight: 60g

enough to make it worth while

$66,000 budget funded by donations.....all to be spent on labor and production costs in a 6 month time frame. "75% of the proceeds to be divided up and given to the families" If the film makes a profit, after production, the families get 75%. I'd be more comfortable if the film makers would just make the film on their own dime and leave the "donations and charity" out of the equation.

Glad the V was keeping you in check Cosmo! Sounds like an adventure to me Great TR thread guys and gals!

Most are either new and unused or like new. unless noted. Lwt use means really light use....dang near new. North Face Dryloft Goretex synthetic climbing parka, with hood. Purple XL $100 Perfect Denali jacket... new and you'll not find a better one for less money! Climb High small alpine climbing pack, (30/35L?) LG $50 (used) Lid tucked in in this picture and no tool attachments. This was one of the pattern packs I used for my custom CCW packs. PVC coated nylon like what haul bags are made from. Harness and waist belt can be tucked away for hauling. Lid will take two one liter bottles. 3 pockets, two in lid one in main body ofthe pack. Sportiva Batura..lightly used, no noticable wear in excellent shape. Wrong size for me. Size 45 $350 Arcteryx Atom Lwt Hoody, blue XL $120 Great climbing piece. Used once, wrong size. Fleece gloves all XL. HEAD, new, fleece with leather palms, 2 pair $15.00 each Pearl Izumi, new , fleece, leather palms $15 Nylon and fleece, new $5 Kayland Ice Comps, "Fruit boot", new, with bolt on 'pons, narrow size 12 US, $150.00 Pay Pal is easy.

Great stuff Mike. Got quizzed on this last week... Didn't have to prove it but knew it wasn't going to be an issue. Keep up the good work and thanks!

Ouch, Kini! Now you have gone and hurt my feelings. Some how I don't think you got the idea behind that last post I find the "ignore" button handy for annoying people like me. "use what you think is required at the time for the conditions and your skill set. I can think of places I would want several dozen pickets....and I've tripped over my own crampons more than once on "easy ground". Nope, not me, way too scary. Bunch of questions not answered in that clip. First would be why would anyone..roped or not... intentionally jump on a snow bridge? Let alone have two guys do it at once? Next question is what were they using for a belay anchor? I like Gene's quote, "I would have made something work but it would have been a backup to a seated stance hip belay for sure." But we are so off base to the original post...guess I wouldn't suggest buying a picket for a basic ice rack Hey, nice TR about the guys doing two routes on Chair today!

Now that is what we are talking about Nice work!

Hey guys, even I find it hard to believe I have never placed a picket. Good or bad thing? I have no idea but who cares! Obviously I can think of a situation that ONLY a well placed picket will make it safe and justifiable...just never actually seen one. And I can think of a couple of times I would have liked to have a few pickets. Instead I used the gear I had which was, "gentlemen, DO NOT, fall here". Easy enough ground but a huge hole we had to parallel longer than I would have liked. And I've tripped over my own crampons more than once on "easy ground". Do I think pickets are bad technique? No. You use what you think is required at the time for the conditions and your skill set. I can think of places I would want several dozen pickets....just that I prefer not to climb there, then Huge holes are classic examples. Some will think this a cop-out but really it isn't. I don't climb through nasty unstable crevasse areas if given a choice. Nasty stable ones are bad enough and I avoid those too. If I do go through them, I go really fast even if I am crawling on my belly..which i have done. I generally avoid crevasses and snow bridges, always if I think them unsafe. I try not to fall into crevasses or allow members of my party to fall into crevasses by good route finding and going in the best of conditions. I don't mind going around, turning around or abandoning a route all together if it is too broken up or the holes hidden under light snow bridges. I can always come back again as most hills stay exactly where you leave them but change often. I use boot axe belays and ice screws where I think things might be shakie. I don't carry dead men or pickets generally. I figure their required use tells me I should be doing something different. I know how to easily and quickly chop steps, bollards and set dead men made from what extra gear you do carry. But you need the right gear to make that easy and a Nomic aint it. Steps and or a boot axe belay are faster generally. Anything terrain wise those two low tech, low strength answers won't solve easily needs to be rethought imo. Falls on steep snow that get folks hurt are generally leader falls. I don't trust a picket to hold a leader fall. Doesn't take much to hold a second while on a good belay if top roped. I don't use running belays with climbers of differing experience. I belay when required. I chop steps and use two tools when required. I am careful. If I need and can't get a good belay anchor I don't climb or I don't climb roped. I don't believe in mutual suicide pacts. I just make it a point to not climb things that will need a picket...they scare me Many times in climbing the most obvious is the safest. Like, I don't climb WA ice in the rain...seems obvious, doesn't it?

It aint rocket science. No matter how we would like to confuse the issue. Doesn't take but a few minutes to figure out if a jacket will work or won't for your own needs. 30 seconds of that would be just trying on your normal size. If you actually know your own needs, size and what you are looking for. Testing a baffled down jacket for a year while clipping bolted rock climbs is like testing a Cilo for a year as a book bag. Or a Porsche GT3 while driving around town. Dumb ass use for a product specifically designed to be used else where...unless of course you need a book bag or need to stay warm with a $300 down jacket sport climbing or a 90K$ town car that looks hot. I can think of better ways to spend my money...but wait most reviewed gear in a publication is FREE to who ever writes the review ..so they didn't spend any of their own money buying that "stellar piece of perfect gear". Funny that. Funny, ha, ha, on us generally with a few exceptions if you believe everything you read. R&I usually does better. No question more gear suggestions are made and endorsed because of the coin involved than the quality of the gear. I spent enough time to buy every jacket in my review twice over just getting the basic info I wanted. How you choose to use the info or what you choose to call what I have published is up to you. I got what I needed. The use as a "belay jacket" in my context is not for the typical day at Ouray freezing in the creek bed but as a required piece of survival gear in an alpine climbing environment. In Ouray (or your local hockey rink) most anything will work to keep you warm. How the pockets or hood are designed or the insulation material used in manufacture will have little or no signifigance. How you dry out after a hard mixed lead a full days walk from the highway just might make those details a little more important to you. But there is a lot more going on in a "belay jacket" by my definition than just staying warm.

Eddie since you asked in public the photo comparison is my obviously opinionated and personal, easy answer. If you want more detail Todd has my phone number and happy to dicuss details any time. The best materials in the world can't make up for dated design work. Or in some cases (like this review) design work directed at different end uses. Some of these jackest were obviously designed for serious climbing...others were just as clearly not designed with that as a end use in mind. Sewn through down jackets from the review Helious 35.2 oz, loft 3.25" (F#18oz) Narrona 31.8oz, loft 2.25" (F# 24oz)

More like you getting off too quickly with Angelina...and no forplay http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2010/02/belay-jacketsthe-heavy-weights.html

Good idea. I simply do not have enough time in the day to get it all done. The review was simply for me. (looking to update my own gear) What could be gleaned from my comments by anyone reading what I wrote was a benefit or curse depending on what you were looking for. To be honest..the good stuff does deserve more written detail and pictures. The bad stuff? Why bother? Let the manufactures do their own R&D. Hooded Helious specifically? From the post 8 up.... Other than they don't make one to fit me, their sizing is all screwy compared to the rest of the world...and the dinky freak'in hood, terrible pockets, tiny ass zipper, and the thing actually weighted in at TWICE their advertised weight! How much more detail do you need 18oz hooded, ultra warm, down jackets I am interested in, just never seen one.

Dhamma? Does your Volant have a sewn on hood and can you get a helmet under it easily?

Worth noting a couple of things about professional climbers. At one time or another Lacelle was sponsored by Petzl, Twight by Grivel and Gadd by BD. I own and use 'pons by all three companies and have no professional connection to any manufacturer and in comparison a gumbie's suggestions. Like many of us they have an entire quiver of 'pons sitting in the gear room. What they choose to climb on personally wasn't/isn't what they always recommended in print. Given a choice what I choose to climb on for crampons depends on the conditions and route choosen that day. On ice you can easily go from hard blue steel type stuff to vertical slush in a single day of climbing. Road side crags aren't a big deal, longer routes can be. Climb longer routes fast or climb faster than the changing conditions and it may not make a difference. On a order of preferenece and reliability ( for good feet) the first crampon on pure ice to let you down in changing conditions are monopoints. They have the least amount of surface area to support you and will not easily support you if the ice gets bad enough. Right behind them but with twice the surface area will be dual vertical front points. Think about that for a minute. Your entire body weight goes on a mono, then you literally double the surface support on dual verts to even more support on dual horizontals. It will obviously make a difference. The most surface area will always be horizonal front points and because of that, they will the most reliable in all conditions. The other issue I note is most but not all vertical front points require physical placement, just as a tool does, by a kick or two instead of that good swing with your tool. It also wastes energy. First kick needs to clean off the loose ice and the second or more to actually place them securely. The lack of surface area generally requires it. Curved horizontal front points will sink into the ice under body weight and because of the additional surface area don't require much in the way of support by the condition of the ice in comparison to the other two styles. Less kicking saves energy. The majority of time that is true but not always. If I have to kick a cold fragile feature that might collapse I want a razor sharp, single vertical front point. But cold hard ice that is collapsing as I kick that will eventually get to solid ice I'll want dual horizontals. A fully featured horizontal crampon generally has at least 8 vertical crampon points. (Dartwin for example) While a G12 has 10 and a BD Sabertooth has 12. Doesn't take a lot of imagination to realise which will be more stable on moderate ice while using French technique. Same technique and places I get rests on hard technical ice. The Dartwin (which I climb in a lot) feels like a pair of roller skates compared to the other two imo with the BD a fair step up on the Grivel in the same conditions. Why do I bother with the other 'pons? Simple. Overall weight mostly and even more important to me than performance at some point, the boot/'pon fit. Even with the big advantage of real rigids on pure ice, and it is a BIG advantage..I shy away from them now because of the same reason..weight. On perfect ice or hard rock while doing nothing but front pointing all you need is 3 points...Darts or the newest Grivel "sport" 'pon is proof of that. But for pure ice and only one choice of 'pon for steep technical things like these? I choose to use horizontals. My partners? Three different sets of monos, Grivel, BD and Petzl and I generally make them lead! Does it really make a difference? Only if what you have decided to climb on won't support you in the current conditions.

Mike do you mean these? Looks good short of the lack of cuff. Funny about "all that kicking". No matter the ice I seldom have to kick with horizontals and have to kick every time on monos and dual vertical points. I find it way less effort and more secure to climb quietly on horizontal front points. All the 'pons available seem to work. I have almost 20 days on ice this year and have seldom used the same pair of 'pons two days in a row. So it is easy to identify favorites.

Ya, but you could do it all in flip flops with wool soxs and hardly notice the strain...so why should we listed to you FYI Wayne's monos are circa 1995 or so (and I'm being gracious) last I looked and it doesn't seem to slow him down any.

N. Face of Hood although a great climb is no where close to being 60 degrees for 3000'...barely 45 for most of it. You would be hard pressed to hit 70 on the steps unless you go early in the season. Majority of it a snow plod in the conditions you picture. Here is a recent TR in thin conditions with some good climbing. http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=865396

Let me know when you find that 60+ to 70 degree 3000 ice face. That is going to be some climb. Don't know of any in NA. Neither Slipstream or the GCC on Kitchener are that steep by a long shot and just barely that long. Jo-Jo's and Dave Dornian's route on the NW face of MacArthur is that steep for 6000ft and might well be the longest steep ice route in the world. 60 degrees is steep and 70 degrees is really steep on alpine ice. Few alpine climbs anywhere will have anything past 60 degrees for more than a pitch or two. Those that do will have huge, well earned reputations. The route on MacAuthor has not been repeated. http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/469477/1 I am getting a old and and forgetful but to my recollection I have not placed a picket. I have hammered in a more than a few ice axes. (for a boot axe belay but more likely just jammed them in to the hilt and stomped on them) I've carried a picket once or twice in Alaska or SA but never had the need to use one, climbing with partners or clients. I mentioned this previous in the thread but worth mentioning again I think. An experinced climber or skier my find snow climbing trivial, where another might find it unreasonably dangerous. I have never heard of a snow or alpine climb being given an X or R rating. The vast majority of places a picket will work gets skiied these days with some regularity. Same place a good self arrest skill set should work just fine. Ice and snow are a changing medium. I don't place pro that is likely to fail. Pickets are likely to fail. I'd rather trust my own skills and protect my partners or clients accordingly.

Two guys that both suggest horizontal fronts for pure ice in their writing and ice/tecghnique books..Twight and Gadd And at one time or another both employed by gear manufactures who sold monos. Gadd's comment was, "Just use the Sabertooths--I've used them to climb m12, WI as hard as it gets etc".

Here is an email from Will Gadd yesterday: "Just use the Sabertooths--I've used them to climb m12, WI as hard as it gets, high altitude, logging, great all-purpose rigs as you note. And yep, if crampons get too light then they stop working..." Here are a few personal comments as well: http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2010/02/these-freakn-pons.html Lots of good 'pons out there. I even own a few of them. Best pure ice crampon currently available...horizontal front points. And one of the best models? Sabertooth. Now sit back and listen to the screams

Typical Grivel nonsense ...Grivel doing it directly and Liberty doing it for Grivel as the USA rep. Another reciept for disaster. Take a look at what they are importing to NA as opposed to what is available in Europe and it is easy to see we are getting the rejects. Think not? Check out there new "hard" bots.

I'd bet about the same time they started charging to park in their store lots.