ken4ord

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.

Oh yeah. I removed one and vowed never to remove another, I warned partners if I ever came upon one I was leaving it behind.

Nope. Shit happens.

I be down with checking it out the next time, let me know. Oh yeah, BTW you are an alien, latex WTF, I don't want to know.

I know what you mean man, I could see a couple of oz. weighing me down falling down the ice face i am trying to solo, yeah right . The weight savings is not worth the frustration trying to place them. Also because the way the hanger is set up on them and because I have seen them come off there is no way in freezing hell I would trust my life to a POS like that, give me a modern screw any day.

Nice relics Off_White. The only thing I have heard those Salewa screws are good for is placing as a fixed piece in soft sandstone and chalk cliff. And that drill, damn talk about carpel tunnel syndrone. No wonder back in the day the bolt were so far apart, who in there right mind would want to hammer in bolts with that set up.

Hey any kind of bolt if it looks like this or this

Hey JayB have you ever tried the Foot Fang monos. Damn those things really sucked ass. The front point was really long not necessarily a bad thing, but it always got hung up on things, the back points were so far back and too close together (closer together than the Switchblades) that it felt like you could never get stable. Check 'em Hey skyclimb why the .4 Camelot? I have never used them, nor do I need one, but I can't see anything wrong with them. cj001f, where did you find those relics damn, they look like they look like they were made in the dark ages. Are you sure that is climbing equipment? What is the red thingy, is it some type of rigging device, I have never seen that one before? Mike, I have checked out those FROG things out, but they seem sort of stupid. Have you used one?

Everybody is talks about what to buy, how about what to steer clear of. What type of climbing equipment had you wished you never bought or think has to be the dumbest and most useless piece of shit you have ever seen. Also why do you think your least favorite item is a POS. Here is my vote for POS award These things I had bought because I thought they were such a great deal. Man at $12 a screw how could you go wrong. Well I didn't know that these had detachable hangers (seriously I had two of them where the hanger came right off) or that it would take about 20 minutes to place a single screw cause the teeth weren't sharp at all and there were no threads on them to speak of. Ok I fixed the link, doh!

That's not being a nice hippie, calling people loser. What wrong Dave upset about getting older.

Anyone from the Seattle area planning on going that wants to carpool up?

Fuck yeah nice pics of the weekend freshies. Damn RUMR, never seen such a big baby, it snowing, the PNW sucks, it raining. Damn dude, how are you going to survive the next 6 months? It sucks to be you.

Yo happy birthday d00d!!!!! Time to get your on now.

One of my favorites is when a passenger falls asleep in the car, to drive towards the shoulder and hit wake-up bumps and scream out loud. It usually wakes them pretty damn quick, just make sure you know how to perform CPR. On the old adjustable bic lighters we use to pop the metal tab off and crank the fuel way up so that the flame is about foot high. Then place the tab back in place. When they light it usually scares the shit out of them or burns their hair. Another good one is to make the gas igniting sound (whooooffff!) when some one is trying to light the stove.