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.

Tentatively sold. Will update if the deal falls through.

Bought new in early 2006, used in the winter Sierras & Cascades, several trips up Mt. Shasta, Mt. Rainier Casaval Ridge, Mt. Shasta Kautz alpine zone, Mt. Rainier No rips, tears, or holes. Includes all original instructions, stuff sacks, stakes, guylines, etc. Great for Denali, Rainier, etc. MSRP $600, asking $225. Prefer local SF bay area buyer, but will split shipping.

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 !

I emailed Camp USA about the Awax not too long ago, and here is what they said -

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

I have the same crampons (vasaks), and I'm pretty sure they are made of chromoly steel (kind of like some mountain bike frames), which does get superficial rust. What I do is just air dry them at home, then wipe them down with white lightning bike chain lube, simply because I have a bunch of it.

Incidentally, I suspect that the cyborg & sabretooth crampons are on sale at REI (and other places) because they are last season's model, made of chromoly (what most steel crampons are made of). The newest models are made of stainless steel. It would also appear that BD has changed their anti-balling plates again .. wonder how long they will supply replacements for the older models ?

PM sent ..

I know this is kinda late, but one of my climbing partners found a digital camera on a rock while hiking up the Legg Creek approach in South Fork on 18-Feb-2009. The last pic seems to be dated in January, assuming the dates were set correctly. He posted on a couple of sites, but nobody claimed it, and he forgot about it until now and gave it to me. I want to get it back to its owner, and after all I don't have a battery charger that works with this thing

The difference between class 2 and class 3 in the Yosemite Decimal System (YDS) is that in class 3 you have to use your hands for upward progress, while for class 2 you are only using your hands for balance -- you could conceivably keep your hands in your pockets. The presence of a little snow & ice doesn't change the rating. For example, the main trail on Mt. Whitney is class 1 whether or not there is ice and snow. I remember one spot where you were a little sketched and asked me what I did. I'm not much of a teacher, but I did my best to coach you. There was some low-angled melt/freeze ice near some rocks. You need to keep your crampon points engaged when walking on that stuff. Maybe re-read your copy of Freedom of the Hills about "french technique" or take an alpine ice climbing class (do the Mazamas have something like this ?) Sometimes on glaciers you may have patches of exposed ice (since that's what a glacier is made of ), particularly towards late season as the snow cover burns off. If you are heading up the Emmons route on Rainier in late July I bet you will see patches of exposed ice near the toe of the Inter glacier. It helps to know how to walk on that stuff .. just in case .. Hope you had a good holiday ! Just got back from Tuolumne Meadows myself .. climbed a bunch of good stuff, but managed to drop my camera down the first pitch of a climb yesterday .. disappeared down a huge moat of a snowbank (probably won't see it again until August).

Nice climbing with you and Justin, but a couple of notes : - Overnight winds were probably about 20mph, definitely not 60. My BD firstlight didn't shake all that much, but it was guyed out pretty well .. maybe look into staking out that new tent of yours a bit better next time. - My water didn't freeze overnight - next time: (a) bury your bottles in the snow (it's a good insulator, contains lots of air), (b) those insulated water bottle parkas OR and EMS sell are nice too, and/or © put bottles in the foot of your sleeping bag to keep them warm. - Sunday the clouds were around 10000' and stayed there, apparently blowing west to east. - There was no class 3 rock on the route we took, it's class 2 at most. - We didn't descend the Bolam glacier, but a gully which is a variation of the standard route. - My first aid kit needs to contain ibuprofen & tylenol, not percocet (err, not that it does actually ) This was the fourth time I've been on HBR, and my eleventh time to Shasta's summit. About two years ago I was in a car accident, broke my neck, and sustained an incomplete spinal cord injury. I'm kind of a gimp now, but this was my third time up Shasta since the accident. I'm glad you enjoyed your first time on the mountain, it's one of my favorite places. Cheers !

Had some poles bend on my EV2 several years ago in a storm (should have dug it in / guyed it out better) and sent them back to MH with a letter asking them to quote for repair, and that I needed the poles back for an upcoming trip. They did the work for free and included some spare parts.