Montana_Climber

The big problems only come with long-term storage. Sort of along the same lines as a sleeping bag but for different reasons (i.e. you don't have to worry about losing loft). Leaving a tent rolled up or tightly stuffed for a long time does create stress areas in the fabric. The best scenario is to hang the tent without any creases or folds if you have the ceiling height and the room. For most people this isn't practical so loosely storing it in a milk crate is the next best thing.

Very true about the drysuits being neoprene. These are diving drysuits. Sailing drysuits are coated nylon. Neoprene is also used in the fishing industry to make waterproof waders. However, I do not think that neoprene is inherently waterproof by itself. After working in an industry with it, I am fairly certain that in order to make it waterproof it must be melded with another fabric as a laminate (or at least coated).

I climbed the Normal Route from Dec 27, 1997 to January 3, 1998. The route had about 400 climbers on it at the time - definitely a circus. It was in the middle of their high season. I'm going back next year and looking to do the Polish Glacier this time or if I have a very strong partner, perhaps the East Glacier. I want to avoid those crowds and scree again as well.

A friend of mine from Germany topped out on March 3. He said he ended up getting a good weather window, probably right after Chilly's bad window. He went up the Normal Route.

The other option is to use the Bergscrhund for Ptarmigan Ridge. The only problem with that is worrying about the avalanches pouring in. I was holed up in that one for 2 days about 4 years ago over Memorial Day weekend. Above that point it really isn't practical until you get to the summit plateau.

I never needed anything bigger than a Cam #4 at Devil's Tower but I'm sure there's some mossy, chossy, OW crammed in between two 3 star climbs somewhere on that rock.

You know Tom Frost designed his Sentinel nuts with extra long cables so that a runner is not needed. They were hell to place due to the flimsiness of such a long cable. The short ones work great for all around climbing, especially on granite. Picture of long cable Dimensions

>>>>Bring us some pictures of Grand Ledge so we can see what we're missing! Where else in the Michigan can you get such nice sandstone? Especially since it's only 40' tall.

If the bolts were put up nearly in a perfectly straight line, the draws would do almost nothing for reducing drag or reducing the chances of a cross-loaded biner. Sewn runners are completely static if they have 3 or more bar tacks in them. I used to work in a production facility for outdoor gear and had the opportunity to test slings, screamers, etc. Since this might bring up another issue, screamers aren't sewn the same way as regular runners and have a "built-in" absorption system. In actuality, the screamers were not very consistent with breaking strengths and ranged anywhere from 150 lbs (body weight) to 800 lbs. If this was a natural route and the guide clipped directly into the cable of a nut would everyone be criticizing the placement just the same? The AMGA also publishes a list of all its certified guides so that a person can check it out if he/she desires. To become an AMGA guide it costs thousands of dollars and requires extensive examinations so not everyone who wants to be a guide will become one. It takes someone dedicated and willing to go through the hassle. I have guided before but never under the guise of being AMGA certified. I am an amateur guide and therefore did not care to spend the money and time in getting professionally certified as a guide. Instead I'm spending the money and time getting professionally certified as an MD so if you need someone to cut you, let me know.

Veaduvoo in Wyoming has plenty of off-widths that'll take a number 5. I don't know of too many other places that have 5.12 OW. Craig Leubben designed the Big Bro pieces for this area. There are off-widths that require 12" placements and are parallel splitters for a 100' or so.

Looks to me like granite. Look at the sculpted rock in the background from glacial activity. The only place in the US I know of that has that sort of landscape is Yosemite.

It's a Russian company. From the sound of the designs, they seem to be inferior to American products, especially those made in China.

BD sells the kits in stores. For other companies, you might have to send them back to the manufacturer for an overall.

For granite climbing, the Frost Sentinel's are the best I've used. They come with either a long or short wire. The long is supposed to be so that you don't have to use a sling for free climbing. The short are supposed to be for aid climbing. The short are like the BD and the long are way long. They are very difficult and awkward to place when you get into the midsize and larger nuts as the wire is not stiff enough for this purpose. For general, all-around, I like BD. DMM's and WC stick a little too well for me, especially the Super Rocks. The regular Rocks are OK. Since the ABC's and Smiley's are direct take-offs of BD, they all work about the same. For difficult and small, I think they all work about the same. BD coppers, RP's, HB offsets (a little better in weird aid situations with flares).

I used a prototype VE-25 before they marketed them in stores. It was a heavy son of a bitch. There were some other features that I didn't like in the design but I was informed by some of the engineers that those kinks would be worked out so it may be a much better tent now. The plusses for it were that it was very easy to set up with sleeves for the poles and all. They were color-coded making it even easier for those of us struggling to get something up in the dark, in a storm, or both. The storage space within the tent was done well also. I am 6'0" and slept comfortably within. It withstood rain and wind well. The minuses: it was difficult getting in and out of the tent, especially if trying to do anything in the doorway (i.e. cooking, putting on boots). The headroom was a bit lacking. The vestibule was small and awkward to open from inside if you made it "storm proof". For Denali, weight isn't so much of an issue if you're on the Buttress. You're using sleds and making carries. One thing you want to make sure of is that you set up your camp properly. You can normally see which direction the prevailing winds come from and should design your camp appropriately when possible. An adequate snow wall means just up to the same height or slightly lower than that of your tent. There are a dozen or so guy points on the VE-25. It's advisable to use them all. The first time I saw the bag of stakes I couldn't believe it. Bring along some soft stakes as well to help out. (I'm not implying here that you don't know how to do this but I figured I'd spell it out for anyone who is less experienced and could benefit)

Bibler Tents Here's a direct link to the soft stakes.

I've only used an I-tent as far as this post is concerned. Those little velcro pieces that held the poles in place all ripped out in the middle of the night while on Shasta in 50-60 mph winds. With the new plastic tabs, the tent hasn't had any problems. I like the fact that my I-tent weighs 4 lbs with vestibule and that the vestibule significantly adds space to the tent. It makes it into a "3-man" tent in emergency conditions. On Denali , I used a double wall, 3-man tent from Wild Country. It was very heavy (~12 lbs) but held up to everything. On Aconcagua, I didn't use a tent until high camp but at that time I used my 3-man TNF oval. It's 19 years old now but still holds up well. It also is a monster to lug around at ~ 12 lbs. The best thing for stakes, either snow or rock, or what are known as "soft stakes". These are basically a piece of tent fabric, cut into a rectangle, with cord sewn into the sides. This piece is buried and acts as an anchor. I believe Bibler sells them.

I've used both. The Alveolites lasted one expedition before the heels feel out. My Thermoflex liners have lasted me 3 ski seasons so far. This means approximately 120 days on the slopes or in the backcountry. I keep reheating them which allows them to re-expand. You need a convection oven to do this properly. The little boxes at ski shops are exactly that - they blow hot air all around the liners to get an even heating and expansion. If you try this in a regular oven you'll burn them. The weight savings is also significant over other liners and they are by far, the warmest things I've used. Check out www.life-link.com for more information. They sell the Dynafit line of boots which come with the Raichle Thermoflex liners. I know Marmot Mountain Works at least used to carry these boots since I used to work at LL and remember shipping out quite a few pairs to them.

I bought some cork, heat moldable insoles at Northern Lights Trading in Bozeman, MT. They are fantastic. I've used them for about 3 years now and they are finally falling apart. I use them in all my shoes, running, hiking, climbing boots -- same pair. I don't remember off-hand who made them but they were $80. I used to wear orthodics but these work just as well and are about 1/5 the price.

I've used enough Gore-tex to know how well it works. A slow seepage of water is fine in really warm temps. It's the sudden downpour through the seams that I don't like. I don't mind getting a little wet in exchange for some good breathability.

Sorry Trask. Never know when you're talkin shit here. I'll look into it more carefully as an option. Thanks.

I see that someone mentioned Ramer bindings. DO NOT BUY THEM!!! They suck. I used to have a pair and they broke on me about 30 miles from the car. Fortunately, a piece of perlon worked to hold them in place for the skinning but forget any lateral forces, i.e. skiing. I went back to the company to try to get replacement parts and all they had was their wax shit and no more parts to the bindings. They just said, "Sorry". The best bindings out there are the Silvrettas, 404s for any boot or 500s for AT boots; and the Fritschi Diamirs. The Fritschis are very nice and resemble alpine bindings. They have been very solid for me even on 60 degree slopes.

Mountain Hardwear is going totally against the reason they were first formed! They broke off of The North Face because they were tired of the corporate big whigs making all the decisions. If they didn't want suits running the show then, why now? They seem to be a bit of the hipocrits right now.

That sucks! Was it from the seams or from the zippers or just straight through the fabric? I currently live in a place where we get 300" of rain a year (and you thought Seattle was bad?). I'm tired of getting soaked in my jacket on the 10 minute ride on my bike. For the mountains I'm using a Mountain Hardwear Ethereal FTX but in the jungles here (Dominica) it isn't practicle. That's why I'm looking for something really lightweight but is still totally waterproof.

Look into the Dynafit TLT All-Terrains. I have had good results with these for long approaches on both foot and ski. They take crampons well as I've climbed WI III+ in them. The longest was one of those 20 mile approaches into the Winds to climb a AI5 route that we skiied back down. With the thermoflex liners, they are good in any conditions on Denali. You also don't have to worry about overboots with them, just gaiters to keep the snow out of the tops. Then you carry along a pair of down booties for wearing around camp. To answer your question about bringing along a second pair of boots, I think it's ridiculous. Hauling those sleds along the Butt is still quite a chore. An extra 7 lbs isn't worth it in my opinion. Use the extra weight for something more enjoyable, like a bottle of single-malt scotch to celebrate with. There are several hills where you're going to wish you had no weight on at all. Then going through Windy Corner is a bitch in itself. The sleds keep wanting to slide down the hill and roll over as you are somewhat traversing most of the way through there. Are you only on planning to ski to the City? There are several hills where you probably will be carrying your skis rather than skinning on them. I'm trying to remember all the names right now, but the one just before Windy Corner was all ice and the one before that was thigh deep snow when I was there. The others leading up to it were packed out very well. I tried the Rib in '96 and came back down the Butt. We were there in May.