fenderfour

Tina! Eat the ham!

The fit is ok. The rear bail has to be positioned just right or it doesn't want to lock down. The geometry on the heel of the boot makes lining up the plastic bit on the crampons a bit difficult. After the crampons are on, they stay on just fine.

Are you European? Maybe Canadian? In the US, that's only 2 days between posts.

I used them in some seracs last summer. They swung pretty well, but the seemed kinda heavy. A lot of the tools on clearance have tubular picks. They set a lot better, but were tough to clean.

Get a harness that fits you well and go to a reputable shop to get help fitting it. Otherwise a harness is a harness, although everyone on this board will sing the praises of whatever piece they have been using for the past XX years.

Any cobbler or shoe repair place will do it. Don't expect too much stretch from a pair of heavy boots.

The XL stretch Elements fits just fine. Maybe you need to bulk up a bit, you know, hit the weights?

I've used it for most of this year. Pros: Super light Cheap Material is much tougher than silnylon packs (BD's new stuff) Cons: Too big no side compression straps Belt sucks bad No strap reinforcement (top strap has started to rip out) Solutions: Add side compression straps. There are already tabs in the design, just sew them on. Add strap reinforcement in the form of cordura backing sewn through the pack and the straps Widen the belt with a wedge-shaped piece of cordura. It's still too big. If you can sew, it's no biggee, if you can't - get a different pack.

DAMMIT! I've been listening to 500 lb cat for the past few days in my car. I need to look at this board more often.

I remember an over-the-counter pain med that was available in Canada that had caffeine, acetaminophen, and codeine all in one pill. Is it still available? Dru?

No variations, just the standard routes. Unfortunately, the day we climbed Monkey Face (saturday), we dicked around climbing other stuff in the morning and had a little trouble finding the correct route to the notch. We ran out of time and had to bail out of the mouth. It was getting dark very quickly. Oh yeah, all bolts were present. I could have french freed the bolt ladder. The bolts were very close together. I never got past the second step in my aiders. Fifi hooks and hero loops would have done the trick with a few draws for protection. I would have had a daisy chain set up as a chicken cord in case I got tired.

No nailing.. yet. It was great weekend out there. Temps were approaching 60 in the day and freezing at night. The bolt ladder was a hoot and the rap was ridiculous. Thanks for all the suggetions.

I want to do the easy aid. That's half my reason for doing this route. I'm bringing a couple o' hooks just in case there are bolts missing.

Tanks y'all.

Does the bolt ladder on the Pioneer Route of the Monkey Face have hangers or is it just bare bolts? The guidebook doesn't say anything aboot it, and my half-hearted seach of the net yielded nuttin. -Thanks

I did a bit of work in metallurgy. There is a misconception about tempering and hardening of steel. In order to fully harden metal, you would get it cherry red hot and cool it as quickly as possible without cracking it. In order to fully soften metal you would heat it to cherry red and let it cool as slowly as possible. Tempering is the next process which uses much less heat to make the steel softer to get the exact characteristics where you want them in the steel. Tempering is usually done in an oven at temperatures that will only cause color change on near-polished metal. You can see this color change on motorcycle exhaust pipes - the straw color slowly changing to dark blue. This color doesn't go away after cooling, but it can be polished away. Using a grinder of any sort on something as thin as an ice pick is very likely going to affect the temper making it softer and causing you to sharpen it more often. A quick rule of thumb - don't get tempered metal too hot to touch and you will be fine. Does this mean that you are destroying your picks by using a grinder? No. They will just dull faster.

I noticed that OR has some new, really reasonably priced down sweaters on their website. OR Down

I-River has been great for me over the past two year. Before I got an armband, I would run with it on a neck lanyard with it tucked under my shirt. I can only imagine the foul horrors of moisture ad foulness that it experienced ther, but it's still working great. The sound is very good for such a small unit but the headphones that com with the unit suck. Most smaller platyers lack the power (amplifier) to get loud. The I-River players do not suffer from this.

Off-topic, but I couldn't help but notice the birthday cake by NOLSe's name. I think he's turning 12 today.

G-12's will fit 13's, regardless of the binding type.

-007

Seracs on the Coleman Glacier on Mt. Baker, Nisqually Icefall on Mt. Rainier. I've never been on the Nisqually, ut I've been on the Coleman a number of times. It's a hoot. There's a great campsite on a ridge just above the glacier. Nothing else is in right now.

Keep it cheap and light in the alpine:

I've got an XL Mountain Hardwear that I would let go for cheap.

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