ken4ord

Damn, I guess we should of got a latter start. I would have liked to climb at Index.

It was pretty fun way to kill an afternoon. I got to try out three different leashless set ups. At first I wasn't sold on them, then when I started freaking around with them, matching hands, working in rests, swapping hands, I had fun with them. I would probably consider buying a leashless set up next time I buy tools. LaSportiva didn't get any boots there this time, but a Montrail guy showed up didn't get to try their boots out. They didn't have a good selection of crampons, I was sort of bummed about that because I am in the market for a new pair. The comp was fun, they made the expert climb much harder than last year. The only person to make it to the top was Will Gadd. Only one dude got past the roof most of us just were flailing below it. I guess they didn't have as much free booty as last year from what I heard, still handed out a pack, screw, headlamp, v-thread tool (I think I want to get one of those things looked real handy). The slide show mainly a lot of Alpental shots, and Canadian Rockies. I took my friend who was visiting from the East Coast to it, it was his first time freaking around with tool, he had a blast. Got brew and food with Danelle and Eddie afterwards. All in all a good time.

If you have stiff enough boots/bindings on the splitboard, you can ski down mellow terrain in skin mode. The plastic boots I use for splitboarding work pretty well for ice climbing, too. Quite stiff, crampon-compatible, rubber sole, but a lower cuff and not too much forward lean angle. I agree, I have a Split Board and it rocks. Good floatation, they climb really good with those big ass skins, it is pretty manageable put your board on your pack climb an ice route with it (within reason). The only downsides to Splits are; in hard pack conditions they have a bit of flex to them making them hard to edge and having to piece them together (not much of an issue once you get use to it though, now I can rearrange my board to whatever mode in the same time skier friends are dealing with their setup). Spits ski pretty decent, I have skied on pretty flat terrain with a 50lb sled behind me for 14 miles, downhill skiing with a split is sort of wobbly, but whats the point when you can ride downhill.

If you have stiff enough boots/bindings on the splitboard, you can ski down mellow terrain in skin mode. The plastic boots I use for splitboarding work pretty well for ice climbing, too. Quite stiff, crampon-compatible, rubber sole, but a lower cuff and not too much forward lean angle. I agree, I have a Split Board and it rocks. Good floatation, they climb really good with those big ass skins, it is pretty manageable put your board on your pack climb an ice route with it (within reason). The only downsides to Splits are; in hard pack conditions they have a bit of flex to them making them hard to edge and having to piece them together (not much of an issue once you get use to it though, now I can rearrange my board to whatever mode in the same time skier friends are dealing with their setup).

Climbing is always going to be there. So do other things while you got the chance. It blows that your injured, but make the best of it. There is more to life than climbing, not much more, but there is still other things to do. In the past I used the down time to read, check out music, smoke tons of dope, lift, ride my bikes, cook good food, hang with non climber friends that I would normally not see that often, go to movies, sleep in, go 4 wheeling, look for unclimbed cliff, hike, all things that go by the way side when I am climbing. Hell we live in a great city for stuff to do, go out and do it. Those are all the things that I have done when I blew out my knee, when I blew out my finger, and more recently when I sprained my foot and wrist this summer.

Idex looked a little damp on Sunday, but L-town was dry and we saw some sun too.

I had some fiends using long lines, all of them stopped because it was a bitch to haul up when the rope was all paid out. I guess you could always cut a 120 to make two 60's if you didn't like the long rope set up, but then you are left with two double that are the same color. From what I remember I think Sterling is going to be making an 8 something bicolor for the application you are talking about, that might be the way to go, if youwant to try it out, that way if you don't like the setup you can just go to two different color 60's.

I use Patagucci cappiline socks, they come in different thickness for different temp days. I can't stand wool, even if it is smart.

Did anyone ese get on this thing, or are you guys the onlys now?

I hear ya, I hope to stay away for the next several years.

I saw that one, believe or not that wasn't even the funniest scene in that show.

If you are saying you oppose locking biners on the rope end and then have locking biners opposed and connect to them for the rope to pass through you are not doing yourself any favor. What you have done is added two extra elements to your system that could fail, not that locking biners fail. My point is sometimes simpler is safer. The more complicated you make a system the more chances you create for error. If any of you can get a biner to disengage from a bolt with rope tension, then you have powers beyond mine for fuckin' up. For that matter if you can get the rope to dissengage from a set of correctly opposed draws on a top rope anchor, I suggest you give up climbing and take up water colors.

It is easy to replicate the gate opening by hanging on the draw and moving the draw by hand. It is extremely difficult to get the gate to open with rope tension. It is next to impossible to get the biner to unclip from the bolt with the rope tension. The two draw idea is dumb. The top draw biner get cross loaded, levered across the bottom biner, it looks like a good way of ruining your biners. Iann's got a real good point we should really practice safe climbing, locking biners on both ends of the draw or quick link. Where quick links have not had an offical study done in climbing application, I think we will all be safer with locking biners. Wait, I was just thinking climbing can be dangerous, stay home so that you do not risk injury.

Try it you'll like it. Better than sitting at home when the wether is to shitty to ski. Yeah the mountain biking down in DC is awesome! Yeah right.

Yes, Clip rotate the biner to make the the gate opening be away from the hanger.

Hey Jake I went from the greatest SLC to Maine blue water ice to PNW. The first year I went ice skiing in Maine I was done with skiing. The lift tickets were outrageous, the snow sucked ass, and it was colder than hell. I gave my ski away and stuck to snowshoing and XC skiing. Eventually I got into ice climbing, that rocks in New England. I would suggest selling the ski gear and buy ice climbing gear. With that said there are place to go that are decent all backcountry. Mt Washington has some great stuff, there is the ever famous Tucks, on to the East the Gulf of Slides has a lot good lines in it, on the other side of the mountain there is Oakes Gulf, Double Barrell. That is your best bet for good backcountry and I know guy that hit that shit early, make sure you have your rock skis though. One favorite of mine that was an easy on was Baldface Mountain lot of moderate potential there. Then over in Franconia Notch there were several mountains in there that were fun Lafayette and Cannon. These are all in the North Conway area in New Hampshire. In Maine there was Mount Katahdin for some real killer backcountry, but the trouble with that mountain was that you had to plan way in advance and the weather and avalanche forecasts hardly ever that good. New York over in the Adirondacks supposedly has some good backcountry, but like the rest of New England, the weather is somewhat unpredictable. I always wanted to make it up to Labrador and Cape Breton and check out the highlands for potential backcountry, but never made. There is some great ice climbing that is going in up in Labrador. Though you really need a fair amount of time to get up there. Hope this help good luck.

Man I love their films, but come on, $12, fuck that . I'll wait for the vid or DVD.

It doesn't matter what whether you have the biners opposed or the same side. In the examples that tomtom post what is critical is the side of the hanger you clipped into and the direction of travel, not whether you have your biners alligned or opposed. Even then you have to let the tension off really quick to have the biner release from the bolt, in most cases the biner will close staying on the bolt. And as Catbird mentioned if you are ultra paranoid rotate your top biner and drive your second crazy. I know, I used to do that and when my second would come up to to it they were like WTF. What you need to be more worried about is backclipping not the orientation of your biners.

Same side for no particular reason.

Here's my opinion, oh yeah Dru I already know it sux, so whats your point? I hate gear slings so I almost always rack on my harness. I can reach the gear with either hand and I don't have a mess of gear swinging in front of me every time I go to make a move. Cams on the left side (I am left handed, but I can still reach them with my right) organized on single biners small cams up front to big towards the back, followed by draws. Very large cams 3.5 Camelots and up I will put in the back loops unless I know I will definitely need them. For that matter if I have gear that I know I won't need I will leave it with my partner or put it on the back loops of my harness. On the right I have nuts and tri cams if I am carrying them, followed by draws. Usually I only have nuts unless I know there is pockets, then tri-cams can be useful. You say hexs, yeah there light, I'll give them that, but why use them when cams are so easy to use and you already have them on ya. In the back loops of my harness are spare biners, cordelettes, nut tool, knife, locker, belay device, sometimes a windshirt. I will usually shoulder several slings with a single biner attached. With all that said though I can climb with any system that my partner uses. Being flexible, predicting placement stance, gear selection efficency and learning how to make do with what you have and don't have, is way more important than where you put all the crap.

is this the "new math" option 1: buy at $150, sell at $0 = lose $150 option 2: buy at $400, sell at $200 = lose $200 ! Sorry I forgot I have to spell it out for some of ya . My point is a $50 more potential loss you then you get to try out ice climbing with some real nice tools, instead of taking some old clunkers to the crags to experiment with. I know funny math.

Before they had bent shaft tools and all the latest leashless dry tooling set ups, there were only straight shaft tools. It didn't stop people from doing some mixed climbing and dry tooling with them. As Don so eloquently put it, it is taking a step back in advancement. One thing to consider, is that new ice tools usually hold their value pretty good. You can spend $150 for some straight shaft tools and not get any money back trying to resell them or spend $400 on some new modern tools and if you didn't like ice climbing you could get rid of them really easy at $200 or more. So the way I look at it is you are better off just shelling out the coin for some more modern tools, also it will make the expericence much more enjoyable. But if money an issue I got some old Charle Moser Pulsar I'll sell ya for cheap, yeah they are staight shaft tools.

Yeah too bad you had to read all the way through that to get your answer which happens to be the last line, "Above all, if you are not sure that the Monster is appropriate for the type of climbing you do, then it likely isn’t and you shouldn’t buy it."

Hey Dru, I don't care if it ice in Bozeman or Canadian Rockies, it fucking ice that is nearby, don't curse it. I can't wait.

What up specialed I noticed you changed from "shut the fuck up and climb" to "I prefer syrup", how sweet.