OlympicMtnBoy

Either the Association of Assorted Jerkoffs, or the American Alpine Journal. Thank Bill, I've been in the former every year since I was like 9 and learned how. It took me till 2005 to make the latter, and 2007 to find out about it.

What better thing to put in spray! It's funny what you find when you google yourself. I had no idea! Now I'm gonna have to find a copy. Ok, please continue spraying.

Yeah, I have the Montbell UL as well because it weighs less than some of my fleece jackets and is warmer. I don't view the down sweaters in the same league at all because of the moisture issue. It may weight less than the fleece it's replacing, but it doesn't replace the functionality if it gets wet and I've been wet in my Montbell many times. The down comes out when it's going to be cold enough to not rain, or super dry, and then often gets used as part of the sleep system anyways. Not that it has anything to do with anything. I'm jsut procrastinating at work.

I bought mine there. I missed them when I looked last night. It looks like the Hagans are the only ones that come with an heel locked/free binding (non releasable) (unless you want to pay $700 for something with a Fritschi AT binding). I wouldn't mind having an extra 20 or 30 cm on the ski but then I'd want a releasable binding.

That's awesome!

Yer just jealous cause you saw mine. ;-) I'm sure someone who can ski can make em look better. You saw how they worked in the powder, and like I said, they work great in spring corn too. They don't work great with a breakable crust to get down cause you bust through too often and catch the tips, they aren't long enough to deal with much in the way of inconsistent snow. Same thing if it alternates with icy spots since you don't have a whole lot of edge to deal with and flexy boots. Some spots are better with snowshoes or skis, but I like having them in my quiver and they have made for some good approaches and fun times like this weekend (plus one total suffer fest getting down from Colchuck with crusty/icy/soft in the sun snow where I had to just take them off and posthole). I've heard a lot of opinions about em, but very few from people who have actually used them. I've never actually seen anyone else with a pair in the US (aside from the non-backcountry variety with fixed bindings) and mine don't seem to be available here anymore.

Interesting to see Aerogel get to the market so quickly. I wonder if they are replacing the Ice 9000?

WHEEEEW WHEEEEW WHEEEEEW WHEEEEEEEW (the fashion police siren) THAT"S IT FOLKS, MOVE ALONG THERE IS NOTHING TO SEE HERE THERE IS NO DOWN SWEATER IF THERE WERE A PATAGUCCI DOWN SWEATER (which there isn't) NONE OF YOU WOULD BE COOL ENOUGH TO WEAR IT PLEASE MOVE ALONG NOW AND FORGET ANYTHING YOU IMAGINED YOU SAW --- end of fashion police public service announcement ---

I'd agree with Blake, in a warmth/weight analysis, this is no where near optimal. Just because they use ultralight fancy fabric, and ultralight insulation, does not mean the whole thing is functionally as light as you can get. You could add a few more oz of down and get a nice much loftier jacket. Actually, I just looked at the Western Mountaineering flite jacket. It's 10.5 oz and considerably loftier (http://www.westernmountaineering.com/index.cfm?section=Products&page=Jackets%20%26%20Vests&viewpost=2&ContentId=55). Thus the main purpose for this particular item is fashion, not light weight warmth. This should have been obvious from the uselessly tiny and heavy down compartments in the first place.

I think it was in the Banff show too although not one of the one's shown in Seattle. There was a write-up in their glossy program. Who wants to go check out some WA mines this winter?

Maybe you can rig them for some super ultralight six point crampons? Or STP has some CAMP steel pons, the back half will fit these and you can have some steel aluminum hybrids (although I rig mine with the steel up front). ;-)

Anyone wanna head to Leavenworth from SEA with me on Sunday? I'd like to get out and swing some tools if anything is in. I might be open to other ideas for Sunday too. Shoot me a PM. :-)

Hey Andy, good to see you again! We have to get out some time. It wasn't the best show in Seattle but it was still fun. My fav was the Old Man of Hoy, I guess the visual part wasn't fantastic, but I liked the poem a lot. They didn't really have either a good environmental or cultural film by the usual standards (not sure how the animated bit was winner for "mountain environment"). There was a lot more focus on basejumping/snowkiting/sking/biking/dws that was about projecting things or showing a whole lot of short bits of action from different angles or with tons of time to set up camera shots. I really missed the long climb/epic journey/wilderness bits they have had before. I also saw the Sharma bit (which I actually liked) at the Reel Rock Tour and the mtn. biking bit somewhere before too. Oh well, still a fun evening once I managed to get in. :-)

I use an USHBA basic as well for TR solo, with an occasional backup knot. It's the easiest device to climb with that I have used since it's basically self feeding. The test quoted above was looking at factor 2 falls with big guys (simulated) and while it is interesting reading isn't very relevant to this sort of situation. G is right that many ascenders and self-belay devices will fail or shred the rope at those forces. For lead solo I use a gri-gri.

GC, I have them and I used them in Peru this summer up to almost 20K. I got them because I was worried my single leathers might not be warm enough. It never got that cold, but the boots were extra toasty warm. I managed several miles of approaches with a giant pack with them on too and didn't have problems. I like em, but I'll still climb with my single leathers for anything but Rainier in winter here. They will work fine for ice climbing, probably great if you get really cold feet, but won't be nearly as sensitive as a single boot. They are a lot better than many double boots I've used (I like the sticky rubber), but I'm not an expert, they are the first pair of double boots I've owned. My liners fit about like any other shoe, the left one was a tad bigger on my cause my left foot is smaller. A whole thumb is too much extra in the liner I would think. 1. You need to have room in the shel for a liner of the proper size. 2. A liner ofthe proper size should pretty much fit before it's molded, molding it will form it to your foot better, basically like breaking it in. It's like a hiking boot new out of the box, and then after you've been wearing them for a season. Don't expect miracle size changes. Good luck. :-)

Trip: Mt. Stone - Route 1 Date: 11/24/2007 Trip Report: After some tasty turkey, and a day for it to settle, I headed out with my old friend David who was home visiting family as well. The weather forecast wasn't real clear, but I figured since I'd never been up to Lake of the Angels before it would be a good choice with the possibility of climbing something if conditions looked good. Something white was lightly falling from the sky as we turned onto the Hamma Hamma road. David said it must be lots of lichen coming off the tree. We started the hike in and as we busted up out of the trees at the end of the maintained trail, the sun also busted through the clouds. Mt. Stone looked good so we headed up towards the standard route, little did we know that you can't see the rimey summit from the trail. We headed up the snow which made travel really easy. The recent snow had already consolidated for good travel, probably all fluffy again now though. We climbed up under the cliffs and traversed left and up to the ridge (skyline). Here was the first steep bit. The snow wasn't bad, but there was some hard ice under it so we put crampons on after this. One more little icy step popped us onto the ridge and we finally got a good view of the real summit. As you can see, the clouds came back with wind and some more lichen. Looking at the thin coating of ice over the rock was not inspiring given our lack of a rope and my dull aluminum axe and crampons. We investigated anyways. Right before turning around to head down, the sun reemerged striking new confidence into our hearts. Uncovering the cairn marking the route on the right we had overlooked helped too. The normally 3rd class rock was iced over, but I managed to chip out a few of the key holds and made my way up about 20 feet to easier ground. David wasn't as comfortable with the need to downclimb the icy rocks and sent me up the last 100 feet on my own. Here is the obligatory summit self portrait. It took about 5 hours from the car. I headed down after a minute. At the top of the sketchy downclimb I tossed my pack down to David and then picked my way down. I got a couple of solid sticks in the ice with my aluminum axe and made it down. We gathered our stuff and headed down. Here David points back. The summit block looks nicer in the sun. The route is on the far right up the ice smear to the snow. Here is David coming down the last bit: On the way down Mt. Pershing lit up with the sunset. I'd like to get up there too. On the trail out we waited a bit to check on some kids coming down behind us to make sure they had a light, and then strolled back to the car. There was one other party signed it that said they were climbing Stone too, but it looked like they were spending the night at the lake first (which I still haven't actually seen). Great climb, the conditions really made it a bit more interesting than usual and it was good to climb with David again. I'll definitely have to explore that area more. I wonder if that waterfall on the approach ever freezes? More pictures can be found here: Picasa Web Album Gear Notes: Aluminum axe and crampons. Approach Notes: Putvin Trail almost to Lake of the Angels, head up right into the bowl below Stone when you can (4,500 ft), the snow started around 4,000 ft but wasn't deep. That's probably changed now.

In Vermont it was never a problem. Here though, my impression is that the parking is often more of an issue than the climbing since the road side is often narrow near the road cut (hence the reason for the cut) and parking in such areas is often illegal, even when you think you are all the way off the road. Sometimes cops keep their eyes open for abandoned, broken down, or slid off the road cars near these icy areas where people don't usually park and when they find out you are none of the above, they are annoyed at having stopped for no good reason. I think the nuisance/distraction issue is less likely to come up if your car is nowhere to be seen (parked in a lot or off a side road). I think proximity to ski areas increases the chances you'll get an annoyed cop too. Then again, don't come crying to me if you get a ticket while following my advice. ;-)

You mean you had a thumbs width of room when you try on just the liner, and then no room when you try on the liner and the boot? Maybe the liner is too big for the boot? I think you are supposed to size the shell first, and you should have about 1.5 fingers fit behind your heel in the shell only with your toes at the front. Mine are fit this way. My left foot is a tad smaller than my right so my left liner shrank to fit it and it is a tad loose in the shell but doesn't seem to affect anything when laced up. There is a fair amount of give when you mold the liner, you need to make sure the shell is the right size first.

Yep, just heat up an old knife with a torch or your stove top and cut away, pretty much works the same as an electric hot knife. It helps to cut on a cutting board or something just like you would with the electric knife, just slowly press the well heated blade into the rope. A soldering iron works too, some even have a cutting blade.

Hardware is cheaper than most PLBs, the $99/year for service is about the same I think. I like that you can transmit a "help, send rescue" message, "help send friends" and "check in" feature instead of just an emergency broadcast. Never used one though, probably wouldn't bother unless I was doing another real remote trip. Doesn't look like they have much coverage in Kyrgyzstan. I guess that's another thread though.

All right, sound like a party! Thanks for that extra bit of info John, you coming to the party too? I'll put it on my calendar to see if we can organize something for early summer. :-)

Damn thing always sells out before I hear about it. I'm looking for one ticket too. - S

Still no takers? Anyone for anything on Sunday? You can't just sit there and watch the Everest reality show ALL day, even if it is raining!

Welp, add my name to the list. I've been up there in summer but not winter. About 50% of the time I can escape work on short notice if we get a good window. Weekends are pretty easy to extend one way or the other. ;-)

The weather sucks most everywhere and the doc says I should ease back into using my shoulder, so I guess it's time for a "training hike". Or maybe exploring a mine or something since then you'll be wet either way and I know a couple I want to check out. I'm up for either sat or sunday (possibly both), have a car, am in the Fremont (Seattle) area, etc. Anyone else just need to get outside? I'm headed to dinner and movies soon, but PM me your phone number and I'll call when I get home (give me a "don't call after" time). I'll even put an extra beer in my pack for you. - OMB