Dr_Crash

http://www.garmin.com/products/forerunner301/ Damn, you can get altimeter and HR (Suunto, Polar), or GPS and HR (above), but not all three? Anybody has seen something like that? drC

"Only the paranoid survive." And yes, I haven't seen many setups where everything is redundant, including the slings connecting the biners, the biners themselves, etc. drC

Nothing wrong, no. That's the right thing. Many guidebooks talk about lowering through the chains rather than rappeling. The Exit 38/32 guides (at least 38) too. So we shouldn't be surprised to see it. drC

I'll take care of some of the not so useful once the pic is posted RE: the sewn in webbing with loops, aka daisy chain, it's there as mec said so you can clip or lash stuff to your pack, using the loops to choose at which height etc. Oh, and what you really want too is a good primer to packing stuff in your pack... drC

And then there is the UIAA approved geographical definition of what is a summit and what is not. drC

The Hogsback is technically a glacier climb drC

I was thinking of weighing 17 of them and dividing by 119/7, but your method might be simpler And of course you don't want to weigh them individually, you've got to hang yourself w/ and w/o the tool in hand and look at the difference. drC - Just teasing

Good point, sir Dru. Though my hands are not calibrated, but maybe Mr Nelson will chime in and tell us what his super precise scale says? drC

Of course, one can invest in some good rechargeable AAAs and a fast charger. And still buy batteries in a town near the climb if needed. Now, who's going to build me my combo altimeter / GPS / HRM watch? Pleaaaase? drC

Thanks for the answers, and Don's info re: vibrating. The weight difference between the Aztar (590 g) and the Quark (645 g) is 55 g per tool, i.e. ~4 oz for the pair; you can drop it to 33 g by using a Freelock leash instead of the Clipper for alpine (~2 oz more then for the pair). This is according to the weights in Petzl's tool brochures. I can't find that 15 g difference Don mentions (I guess 33 isn't that bad, but that's buying another 2 leashes). The Aztarex is 500 g, and once you add a Freelock leash, you're looking at 540 g. So all these tools in Petzl's line are basically around 50 g from each next fancy tool. I borrowed an Aztar M (a single tool following a miscommunication with the loaner of said tool) for the week-end, and will play with it on Baker on alpine stuff. drC

Fodder Which Is Worthless (FYI, really, what tomtom say). Freedom and Accidents are must read. Climbing anchors and the sequel are great. And they're definitely perfect for bathroom because it's all chunked in one to two pages individual things. The Mountaineers publish a book called "From Gym to Crag" targeted at people like you who started inside and are coming out in the lght. I have no idea whether it's good; check your local library before commiting to a buy. drC

Just stumbled on that one: drC

So: Aztar will be nice in alpine but suck on ice, but Quark will rock on everything ('xcept for weight and $ factors)? Is that what you're saying, Dru? (I found a few posts on a French alpinism site asking Quark vs Aztar and Quark was the recommendation too, and one where someone with Quarks said they were a bitch to use in AD couloirs, or 70 degrees alpine; may be referring to the inability to push the shaft in hard snow?) drC

I'd love to! I can't quit my job or even take a lower paying / more flexible job on my own volition (gotta love WA divorce laws). Now, maybe I could get fired drC

Argh! Sunny during the week, always rainy on week-ends, what kind of weather is that? I wanted to go camp w/ family in the Olympic NP this week-end: loom at this forecast. where all days but the week-end (and following Mon) are sunny days/ I am getting frustrated . drC

Don't worry about cost. For the difference, I'd rather make the right choice. I've been bitten a few times by not spending the extra $50 on something that I ended up keeping for years. It's cheaper to pay $35 more than ditch/sell the thing and spring for the other one altogether. Dru, why is Stemalot bitching about the Aztars on ice climbs? (Leashes are easy to swap out, I think one can put the Freelock on the Quarks just like you can put the detachable leash on the Aztar?) drC

Damn, GPS for <$100. Time to relegate my $400 sextant (and that's extremely cheap for a metal sextant) to a wall ornament drC

No experience, but I wish someone made a watch with GPS, barometer, and HR monitor. And not charge $899 as Suunto would do. If they can market a GPS watch for $149, you'd expect to see sub-$300 watches with all the above features... And they would sell like pancakes (once one solves the 15 hr battery issue with smart power management :-P) The main issue with a GPS in a watch form factor is the size of the antenna, and thus the acquisition time and quality of reception. (I want an external antenna connector for my gadget watch and a flexible 30 ft wire antenna that weighs next to nothing.) drC

So people should climb for free in Patagonia but pay a a fee on Rainier to go above 10,0000 ft? drC

Sounds like the first three rules of the WA State Divorce Code: (1) the wife wins, (2) you lose, and (3) see rules one and two. drC

So all the people who rave about using the Quark for alpine are just using overkill/inadapted tools? (Something pretty common: buy the most expensive---and heavy in this case---one and then say it's great for everything; happens in all fields.) drC

Well, for the usage I describe, a mountaineering boot would definitely be better. But does that mean the Aztar would make the alpine climber happier than the Quark. I am only buying one kind of tool to start, it's got to cover everything for a couple years. drC

Before I plunge for a pair of Aztar (one hammer, one adze)... Is the Quark a much better tool, worth the extra weight on an alpine climb? Main use will be alpine and tooling around on local ice (crossing fingers). I looked at Grivel's line too and it looks like all their tools are heavier, so I am back to Petzl (no BD for me). drC

Yes, no auto "favorite topic" unless one explicitely asks for it. In the same vein, it would be nice to have a "My Active Threads" view that returns all the threads that one has posted to (within a time limit) that got some other responses. What software are you migrating to? drC