rhyang

The company has been around for at least a few years. There was an article back in 2007 and other stuff if you look. I remember seeing some at Ouray Mountain Sports this past February (can't remember which model though).

If I'm not sleeping on snow or car-camping then I just bring a foam pad. Ridge rests or z-rests (or whatever) are also easy to cut to desired length. Mine are trimmed down to about 36". Your pack, extra clothes, etc. can be used under the legs.

If none of the patches work I'd just send it back to Cascade Designs and ask them to quote for repair. They've been pretty good to me. Sent them a 10 year old thermarest ultralight that had some delamination problems and they sent me a brand new prolite 3. Another time I sent them a 14 year old thermarest with some puncture holes (probably due to broken glass from my car accident) and they sent me a new trail lite.

I used to have one of these -- the older version that weighed more like 1 pound 8 oz. Used it on a bunch of trips like Rainier in July and Shasta in May. I generally used it with the wild things belay parka. Curious to know what the date of manufacture of these are. I eventually decided my old one just wasn't warm enough anymore (it was probably made in 2004 and you know how synthetic insulation is).

The petzl version has a similar thingy (probably what BD copied it from ) After having a plastic ice clipper break several years ago, I'm presently using wiregates (old BD hotwires) in my ice clipper slots. Unless they had the hook thingy I see no reason to switch.

Pics ? Did I miss that thread ? I do remember the thread about how it might be done .. just didn't see the gory details & results.

Looks a bit like one of these - http://xray.bmc.uu.se/markh//climbing/iceclip.html A few years ago in Cody an older ice clipper broke while I was on rappel. Fortunately it was near the end of the rap, and there was just soft snow below, and only an ice tool was hanging on it. I've heard of these things breaking on other folks too. I've started using wiregates instead (BD hotwires + the rubber things the ice clippers came with).

Hmm, cool looking down hat. fyi Some of us really appreciate a good hat - Crystal Crag (eastern Sierra) this past September The llama hat is actually quite warm. There is a picture somewhere on the web of Laura skiing in her moose hat, and it would appear the antlers act as lateral stabilizers.

Leading ?! Good god no, that's too scary and dangerous. I just tape mine to look cool baa

I've used electrician's splicing tape in the past -- not electrical tape, but the self-adhesive stuff, which seems to work well. Available at Home Depot, Ace hardware and probably Lowe's. Recently though I switched over to hockey tape after an ice climbing buddy from Canada bought me some - Renfrew 24mm x 18m from Canadian Tire. The Canadian maple leaf flag logo is quite fetching

The trails are in a designated wilderness area, so nope. There is about 2 miles of fire road on the route he took which is legally rideable though - Cone Peak Road aka Central Coast Ridge Road, about 6 miles worth from the pavement at Nacimiento-Fergusson Rd (2664') to the wilderness boundary (4200'). It's a nice scenic workout if you're in the area.

So I notice that BD now has crampons made mostly of stainless, except for chromoly frontpoints. Simond has crampons made mostly of chromoly, except for stainless frontpoints ("structurally hardened martensitic", whatever that means) -- their Vampire model. Gimmicks ?

Wonderful pics. One of my favorite places in the Ventana Wilderness. Nice work !

Ah, I see why the hole might need to be drilled now. With the sliders bolted on your hand would end up about 0.75" above where it normally would if you were using leashes. That would certainly decrease the reach of the tools, probably have some effect on swing too.

I own a pair of aztars and used to own quarks w/grip rests. Bolting a quark grip rest onto an aztar looked a bit unlikely - maybe it requires mods to the aztar grip or new holes drilled ? The grivel sliders bolt right on though - I haven't actually tried climbing on this rig though -- just did it to see if it would work