rhyang

-12C is about 10F. s'ok - it's Monday.

http://www.onlineconversion.com

no. they [are designed to] fit snug and aren't really "that kind of glove." i suppose if you got them looser-fitting you could, but what's the point? thanks, just a dumb newbie question.

This is an intriguing setup - any pics would be appreciated !

Do you folks who use Ice Floe gloves wear liners underneath them ? Or is that a bad idea ?

I've seen them on sale at backcountry.com, think it was towards springtime. Also might check out hiltonstentcity.com

Anyone ever heard of defects in coating or burrs on teeth or anything like that ? I'm assuming these kinds of things would affect ease of placement / removal and not safety...

Are the dart monopoints offset ? I just tried on the leverlock sarken and it worked much better on my boots than the spirlock binding. Sweet ! edit: err, never mind. petzl website says they are offsets.

I was wondering about whether ice screws marked 2nd quality / blemished are generally ok or if there could be issues that would make them more difficult to place, etc. Specifically curious about Black Diamond turbo & turbo express. Thanks for any info !

One thing I was advised to do, that seemed to work well for me is going for an 'acclimatization hike' the day before. I spent a night at Horse Camp, then went up to Hidden Valley and climbed up to the Shasta-Shastina saddle at 12k' the first day, then Shasta the next via avy gulch. I was winded of course but no ams. Maybe just climbing up above 11k' slowly and coming back down a day before doing the whole thing would work for you ...

Thanks all - I appreciate your insights. re: adze - I also have a bent-shaft BD shrike (ya the one that's on sale everywhere) that I've used on multipitch alpine ice climbs in the sierras, with an adze for the express purpose of chopping stuff like footholds. Worked great on blue ice once I changed out the cobra pick for a laser pick (the cobra / titan / whatever pick seemed great for more aerated alpine ice like on Shasta's north side, but plated miserably on water ice, though I'm sure that also had to do with my newbie technique). Aztars don't have interchangeable adze/hammer heads, nor do shrikes. For the single-pitch and/or beginner-level toproping I expect to do on waterfall ice in the near future I don't suspect I'll need an adze anyway. Yes, I got my aztars really cheap on ebay. I don't expect to be leading anytime soon, but am curious - do people use adze's for clearing junk ice to put in screws, or is the pick usually better for that ('spect it depends on the tool too). later on when/if I get good at this maybe I'll get quarks or whatever. Now all we need is some decent ice down here so I can practice ... for now I'm just salivating at the pics in the gallery.

Agree with that for alpine stuff. But I figure on waterfalls I'll be on toprope for a while and am a little worried about popping the adze into my face or something.

Cool. At my level becoming a weekend warrior hack is an aspiration which will take me at least several years to achieve

Dana, North Peak, and a smaller practice gully. Mendel sounds awesome but probably way the hell out of my league right now... Anyhow, cool thanks. So psyched for ice this season !!

I've been climbing couloir ice in the Sierras this season with a Petzl Aztar, and it seems to work well for me, in terms of grip size, swing, penetration in blue ice, and light weight in general (21 oz). So now I'm looking at my first season of waterfall ice climbing (total newbie), and am thinking of just using two aztar hammers, at least to start with (ebay is so great). My winter outings are probably going to be limited to places like Lee Vining, Provo Canyon, or Ouray if I'm lucky (or Banff if I'm really lucky). However, I've been told by some that this tool is actually too light to use on waterfall ice in the winter. Any idea if a newbie ice climber can get away with aztars in places like these ? Quarks look very nice, but I wonder if that's going a little overboard right now.

I've seen pictures of sabretooths on the older blue freneys, and it at least looks secure, but when I tried mine on some xt's (42.5), the fit looked sketchy (lots of outside edge sole on one side, lots of crampon not under the sole on the inside edge). I wonder if there was some change from the older model.

Curious to know if you've managed to find crampons that fit this boot ...

DIY ! Excellent.

Interesting ! btw I read somewhere on cc that petzl sells sarken front units for $75.

Dunno if this qualifies as a decent review : http://www.rockandice.com/gear/130/gear.boots.1305.html Tried a pair on recently from REI (since they were on sale). My feet measure 9.5, and the boots in 9.5 fit better than the 10's. Seemed too heavy for me - almost 5.5 pounds (Vasque is seriously lying about the weight). The laces were weird, just like the review warned. Finally decided that they were too narrow in the toes and too wide in the heel for me, but ymmv. It also looked to me like smaller scree and whatnot could get in between the clear plastic and the synthetic upper, causing abrasion, but maybe that's not really an issue - gaiters probably would cover most of the openings.

Cool, thanks for the tips.

Anyone know if it's possible to set up the rambocomps or rambos as offset monopoints ? All the pics I've seen seem to have the mono's in the center (though I guess one option would be to visit the hardware store and use a hacksaw).

I wouldn't call BGT a fraud unilaterally. I've met and hung with some of their testers IRL and I do think some of them exaggerate their level of experience. I'd take the tester's background with a grain of salt, and apply the BS filter to their 'results'. If someone sounds like they are full of it, then they probably are. No surprise.

I got a pair of spirlock sarken's in the mail yesterday and had a look. The frontpoint hoods do look wider than the g14's. Looks to me like a horizontal frontpoint crampon that has had vertical sections welded on to the bottom. I like the idea, but obviously haven't tried them to see how my noob footwork fares in them. Unfortunately, the spirlock binding didn't live up to my high hopes - no matter how I adjusted the length or tinkered with the bail and bail holes I couldn't keep the back end from flopping around on my boots, and decided to just send 'em back rather than try pounding the bail with a hammer or something. Maybe will look at the leverlock at some point, or try out the 'wirelock' that AMH says they have on their website.

I bought a pair of Freney Pro's from them online, and they said if they didn't fit then I could just send them back for a refund. Sure enough, I had to send them back and they credited my visa card minus the shipping. Damn those were nice boots.