Dane

For the gear junkies out there I added a bunch of new content/comments on gloves, helmets, visors, boots and winter clothing systems to my blog (coldthistle) in the last 24 hrs. You might find some of the comments entertaining if nothing else

Here ya go... http://alpineclub.org.nz/system/files/Snow_Anchor_Report_2005.pdf

Missed that first time around. But ya been a while since I asked a girl along just because she had a nice rack... Welcome to CC.com!

CJB...you might want to ask Gene how many times he has actually done Rainier and been to Denali before you start slinging shit or getting insulted. Commenting on the ability of a picket to "hold squat" in any snow condition is not "shooting down your shit" but a comment on the reality and reliability of pickets. Trees and ice are the more reliable pro on Chair. Experience would tell you that.

Experience? Really? What experience do you have on snow and ice besides two trips up Chair on a fat year in exceptionally easy conditions. Now you are saying Chair, which is a simple WI2, is a X or R rated climb without pickets? How about a list of your experience so I can better judge your opinions? Gene on the other hand has climbed and guided paying clients for several years. Last I heard they all lived. Opinions are good. Getting told by someone you are "talking out their ass" in public isn't all that pleasant I suspect. Might help to remember what Gene or another skilled snow and ice climber might find trivial, someone else with less experience might find R or even X rated. The next guy along might find it a good ski decent.

Easy there lad. Gene doesn't need any help but "I love to talk about gear" doesn't mean you know squat about using the gear. Gene's opinions I value. Talking out of YOUR ass might keep you from recognising the fact you could easily and safely protect all of Chair with a few screws and slings. No pickets or pins required. Oh, and it might help to know that a picket is the least reliable piece of climbing protection still in use. In all the climbing I have done...I find it signifigant that I have NEVER placed one.

8 Mammut "screamer" QDs, 2 regular QDs, 20 lwt wire gate biners and 8 screws, perferably Grivel Helix, shorties, red and black size. That will pretty much get you up anything @ WI5 in the NA.

I find then a POS but so far a delicate, but a realively trusty, POS Handier than you would think, no question fragile, but worth keeping on my rig till something more durable and equally useful comes out. Left side too far back? Shit, and I was just thinking I just needed to drop a few # to get it around.

Couple of off hand thoughts/remarks meaning no respect to other's posts. I have cut up and used shoe laces, wrist loops and the gear sling to get off climbs. So not everything is full strength on my "rack". Plastic racking biners are no big thing to me. I like how well they work... for me. Taking 40' whippers at the beginning of the serious climbing on a alpine route and loosing your entire rack of screws I might take as a devine act of intervention and not gear failure. Have to wonder the end result of having aluminum biners in the same position though? Physical injuries or just no lost screws? The things I ponder I have however now seen a couple of climbers unable to keep gear attached using the plastic biners. After some thought I "think" it is because they are not getting the biners locked down tight as required on the harness, as in a harness slot, intended for the racking biner's use. That results in twisting the wire gate out of position on the biner when pulling gear off as the result and the unintentional loss of gear coming shortly behind that. I've also seen climbers that couldn't hang on to their own dick if it wasn't attached. My answer is use a harness designed to hold the plastic biner. And have yet to have a problem. I also carry rap tat these days and try really, really hard not to fall off things:) If I thought I might fall I'd rack differently for that pitch. Old school may be but stuff would go to a gear sling if I had any doubts. Half of it does anyway, so again, no big thing. I do like the plastic for racking my tools on decents though and in that case would like to see more durability. No hurry to get rid of the plastic part (I do replace them at least once a year which I think helps on the gate reliability) but if say, BD, would make their racking biner slightly bigger, same claw on the back fro slotting oin the harness and mades from aluminum I'd buy the first two available. Harness? I really like the Petzl Hirundos for ice and alpine.

I own 2 custom built Feathered Friends bags currently and my wife another. I have seen nothing better to date and been using them (although different bags) since the late '70s. But an observation from a reviewer's point of view on jackets of this style. When I talk belay jackets I don't consider anything with a detachable hood a belay jacket. Detachable hoods are a poor design for that use. From the FF web site on the Volant, "The fit is close to save weight, but articulated elbows and full reach sleeves allow unrestricted movement." Again close fit and belay jackets are generally not used in the same sentence. It might well be a great jacket but the Volant isn't a great belay jacket design imo. Both the Volant and the Frontpoint are baffled jackets listed in the "medium weight" section of the FF insulated garments. I choose the two jackets (one sewn through and one baffled) that I thought would BEST represent FF in my review and the only two I would likely have kept for my own use. YMMV obviously. As far as my "cutting edge" comment? Actually there is a immense amount going on in thought, detailing, design, pattern and materials for the best of these types of jackets. Not knowing or recognizing the differences is what seperates the so/so jackets from the truely spectacular. I suggest you do your own research and know what you require for your own needs.

I heard guys guys have been up Astroid Alley and Shooting Gallery, at least one party tried GGC and a couple of ascents of Slipstream. Off the beaten path and out of the wind blown it is pretty deep trail breaking in places. Little avi issues though but not as much ice up high in the alpine as I expected. Get the properties links off the pictures and look at the full size ones in my gallery and you get an idea of what we saw. Grant? CC , in excellent shape? Ya, like 2 grades harder than last March! Love it when the locals, climbing hard 6s, start calling everything 4+

I just like the scale of things in Canada :-) And this is still considered a "small" one! top of a 70m pitch start of another 70m pitch and the entire 240m upper section. The scale, reliable ice, the good FIVE bottom ice pitches in the first 450m and the amazing ambience reminds me why I have never been impressed with WA ice Is it any wonder climbers come from all over the world just to do this climb?

NIce! That even got me fired up

Just a few quick pics of conditions in Canada at the moment. It is a bit dry in many places. But fat and happy typically on water ice facing north or in the shade most of the day. A few folks here headed up shortly so thought the pictures might be helpful. TRs on the couple of climbs we actually did get up when I get some time at home. Not blindingly fast, but a good effort for me, was a 5:27 run up Polar Circus including the approach pitches. That was from the car to the top set of rap chains for those that keep track of such things. Matt Kidd was forced to whip me along the entire way ;-) Great fun and mostly stellar conditions the entire trip! The ice samari and endurance task master, Matt Kidd, having way too much fun on Professors! You know you want some! Temps ranged between -20C at Rampart to -30C in the Ice Fields to 50F degrees on Weeping Wall all in one day! Better go get it before it all falls down! Professors Carlsberg Column Pilsner Pillar Polar Circus (with 3 French @ the base of the Ribboin pitch) Trophy Wall N Face of Temple N. Face of Kitchener Shooting Gallery/Astroid Alley and A-Strain A-Strain Curtain Call And me, way stoked after hiking PC once again, 29 years and a few months after my first trip up it in 1981!

It is a trade between insulation and tape. I choose not to stretch it and get more insulation. Which is why I get one tool per roll. The stuff is made to seal leaks in pipe. I am using it to give a sticky grip and just as important to give insulation to a cold aluminum shaft.

Told you that was a good line Way to go get some.

Yes, a true super alloy, similar to, but better than Aermet for this application, stronger, tougher and more cold resistant than anyone's picks including BDs/Petzl/Grivel..by a lot. These will lessen the possibility of breaking a pick in normal use and be higher perfomace. I'll post specific numbers on all that when I back home and in the shop. Also a totally new tooth and design for BD tools. But already well respected and proven performance. Obviously a much more durable pick with higher performance standards than what is currently available with the standard pick on any tool. The CT picks offer a higher standard pick than has ever been offered by any manufacture, to date. They aren't required or for everyone. They will have a price point that is relative to the material used and performance benefits which means they will be a higher price point compared to every one else. My take on it is, if the CT picks are the advantage you are seeking for, or required by, your own climbing with BD tools you'll already know it. Production pricing and availability will be forth coming shortly.

Cold Thistle BD picks are now available. Or at least will be with a few minor changes when I get back from Canada. Worth the wait from what I have seen so far. prototypes and positioning for the pick weight holes. The tuned, production version. A little less material and a 3mm tip ground from 4.7 mm stock

Congrads to the entire family! http://www.youtube.com/user/USACLIMBINGABS#p/a/u/0/ngPOWswS_nM

Stiffer than the Batura, and a better fit for me with narrow feet. Heavier than the newest Phantom Guides. I have not climbed in them. Doug is the guy to ask.

Agreed. I was not addressing warm air conditions. Strong solar radiation (bright sun) will effect ice/snow even in well below zero ambient air temps. Wind will affect the rate of evaporation, but it will not change the ambient temperature itself. Ice/snow that is evaporating directly off the surface into the air (cold temps) isn't nearly as unstable as ice that is melting and running water under the surface. (warm temps) The only effect wind has on inanimate objects, such as ice falls, is to more quickly cool the object to the current ambiant air temperature. Objects will NOT cool below the actual ambient air temperature. For example, if the ambient temperature outside is -10 degrees Fahrenheit then your ice climb will not drop lower than -10 degrees F. Solar radiation can easily drive temperatures much higher than the ambiant air temps. Wind can cool the inanimate object back to ambient air temp.

PM sent...I'll take them

Front bales on their crampons suck. Nice they dropped it for the DART copy. But they sell more crampons than anyone in the business. Tools are light and have a nice swing. QR, among others, is the forunner of the newest Petzl Ergo. $25. for a runner on a Helix? That is as dumb as tape on the upper shaft of a tool. Nothing really new, beyound the minor revamp adding a bump on the upper rubber grip. But the Helix Ice Screws ROCK! As does the Salamander helmet and their umbilicals.

Agreed. Biggest reason my ropes hang is the inability on occasion to choose a clear and easy pulling anchor location. Its not been the knot/knots generally. 5mm and 7/9mm is a funky set up even though it works fine and the single knot I find...well....honestly...a bit scary

FWIW actual surface area on the bobbed Fusion hammer is very close to the BD mini hammer on the Cobra or Viper. Gives the tool a more pick heavy balance which doesn't hurt anything and has several advantages.