bonathanjarrett

Aaaaaaaaaargh. For the sake of not disrupting the newbie thread on building a rack with what will certainly become a rant, I have started a new topic here. So the question is this: Does anyone out there seriously think that hexes have a place on the modern climbers rack? Following the argument that hexes have a place on an alpine climbers rack I looked at three pieces that would complement as set of nuts. For the comparison I looked at BD C4 camalots versus BD wired hexendrics. The total weight for three hexes covering .94"-2.5" (#5,#7,#9) is a hair over 9oz. The total weight for three C4 cams covering essentially the same range .94"-2.55" (#.75,#1, #2) is about 14.3 oz. Yet for each of these peices you get a much great range of expansion, placement, and security. All this for saving 5oz? Sounds pretty good for me. I have seen people climb with packs and ropes that are rediculously overkill for the objective. Yet they choose to save weight on their rack by using hexes. They sound like a herd of goats with that jangling. My preference is to use tri-cams. Three pieces that cover essentially the same range as mentioned above weigh in a hair over 8 oz LIGHTER than the hexes.

I would surmise that you lead at some level? First you need a belay device. The reverso is probably the most versatile device out there. You can use it as a normal device or in autoblocking mode. Trango's Jaws and BD's classic ATC are also great choices. Obviously you need a new rope. I would steer away from a super skinny cord as your only rope (i.e below 9.8 or so) because they will most likely wear more quickly. Look at the proportion of sheath, the weight per meter, and the number of falls. Obviously how a rope handles and feels is important as well. Read the reviews. Although a bit spendy, a rope like Mammut's 10.2 supersafe might be a great all around rope for you. If you are going to mostly clip bolts at Smith, a rack of 10-15 draws will be necessary. People will spray about this biner versus that and which company makes the best draw, but in my mind it comes down to two things: price and feel. Yes you could outfit yourself with super spendy keylock biners or wiregates on fancy-a$$ dogbone draws by some designer gear manufacturer. But you can do very well if you shop around and look for bargains. Often you can buy quickdraw packages at a discount. What really matters in the end is how the gear feels in your hand and how easy the biner is to clip for YOU. Some longer shoulder length slings (and biners) are also a great idea on your sport rack as are a handful of small lockers. If you are also planning on leading some trad: -Set of nuts. Wild country Rocks are my preference. BD makes a similar style. (stay away from the smallest aid pieces that some makers add at the beginning of their set as they are body weight only) -Set of cams up to a number 3 or 4 friend (this is personal preference but Metolius and BD are two stellar choices if for different attributes) -DON'T make the classic newbie mistake of buying a set of hexes because they are cheap and old skool. Spend your cash elsewhere first. -Pair of 7mm nylon or 5.5mm spectra cordalettes -nut tool -a couple of HMS lockers The list could go on and on. But as a basic leader's rack you can do quite a bit with this. There is a pretty informative article in the current Rock and Ice about the characteristics and relative advantages of nylon versus spectra. It might help you better decide what you are going to spend your hard earned dough on when you buy slings and cords.

So do you get the onsight if you rap-bolt the headwall before sending it? I mean really, you would have seen all the crux moves and ideally slapped a fatty glue in right before them? There goes the sick-a$$ headpoint!

What did you do to your shoulder? I probably can sympathize; I dislocated four years ago once and it has never been the same again. In the past few years I have probably had a dozen re-dislocations even though I recently had surgery to reattach the labrum to the bone. The joint is still super unstable. If you are going to have surgery, DONT do it arthoscopically. They can miss some of the damage that way. That is what happened to me. I have found in the last few years the best thing to do is make the supporting muscles super strong, because the hard tissue does very little when the joint comes under load. A critical exercise has been internal and external rotator cuff exercises.

I am sorry but that was the silliest thing I have ever heard. You all are splitting hairs over a rediculous topic. The essence of climbing, whether it be sport clipping or alpine, lies in gathering information about the route on a moment by moment basis and responding to it physically and mentally. Any climber worth their salt also looks ahead, reads the terrain, and makes a plan (which they will most likely alter as needed). Onsight does not mean no knowledge of the route. It means no knowledge provided by an outside source: guide book, friend, climber on the route, etc. Anything that you can see for yourself from the ground or on route is fair game. Onsight is the ability to adjust to the terrain that you discover around yourself while climbing.

Anyone out there buying and using 70M ropes? What for? Any thoughts?

Check out Mammut's soft shell collection. They are pricey but generally top of the line without the silly bells and whistles that come on some pieces. I have a Laser Jacket (hooded) which is excellent. Their New Age Jacket does not have a hood, and it is also an excellent choice. Both are Schoeller fabric, the former WB 400, the latter dryskin-extreme. If you are looking for softshell pants, my favorite is their Courmayeur pant. Their Champ pant is also great. Both are schoeller fabrics.

I was changing in the parking lot of Timberline after climbing; it was stinking hot down low, so I was going to take the long underwear off and slip on some shorts (the kind with the bathing suit lining). There didn't seem to be anyone around, so I dropped trou and was about to jump into the shorts when a tour bus rolled up right next to me. My toe snagged in the lining of the shorts, a mass of Japanese tourists with cameras got off the bus expecting to shoot pictures of Hood, but all they saw was my bare ass. Flustered, I tripped and face planted in the parking lot with nothing on but shorts still tangled around my feet. Of course they started taking pictures. Somewhere in Japan my retarded, naked ass is in someone's vacation photo album.

Read John Long's "More Climbing Anchors"

I think you nailed it! Well articulated.

It seems from reading everyone's posts that almost everyone owns a hardshell jacket with some sort of waterproof breathable fabric. However it also seems like many people are either not entirely satisfied with the performance or bring it yet rarely ever put the thing on. Why is that? Have we been duped into thinking that we have to carry a hardshell? Surely there must be a better solution out there. It is surprising that owners of Gore-Tex haven't risen up in revolt, because G-Tex's claim that it is "guarenteed to keep you dry" is misleading at best. Read the FAQ on their website. Their claim states that, "No liquid from the outside will get to you on the inside".

I guess my point is that what we are dealing with here is a judgement call based on experience, comfort level, pack size, technical knowledge, etc etc. There are going to be pros and cons to each side of the debate, but I would never say one technique is better than another. There is a time and a place for a Kiwi Coil, chest harness, or no chest harness. The chest harness is a function of the size of the pack that you have on. At some point you need to decide that the weight of the pack is great enough that the discomfort and difficulty of stopping a partner's fall does not outweight the probability of being upended and potentially seriously hurt when falling into a crevass with a heavy pack on.

This is all well and good to postulate about centers of gravity when you are sitting at a computer, but how many of you all have ACTUALLY pitched into a crevass with a heavy pack on with or without and chest harness? Similarly how many of you have ACTUALLY arrested the fall of a partner who was wearing a heavy pack while wearing a chest harness yourself? Is there really anyone out there who is willing to fall into a crevass with an 60-70lb pack on without a chest harness? Kiwi coil? Perhaps, but what about the middle person on a rope team? Strangulation? Never heard of it with a PROPERLY ADJUSTED chest harness.

Oh my God! That almost happened to me once too!!

I would like to solicit opinions on the merits of waterproof/breathable fabrics from my fellow climbers. Lay it out: Gore-Tex, competing laminates, DWR, umbrellas. What do people think? Have we been swindled into believing that Gore-Tex and the like are the pinnacle of weather protection?

I think we have raised an important debate about the merits of water-proof breathable fabrics. Obviously opinion is as important as science. So as to not mire this discussion in our personal debate I am going to start a new thread in the climbers section so that others can weigh in with their thoughts also.

You call me an idiot, but you are the one who has been completely brainwashed by the waterproof-breathable industry. REI and the like have swindled the public into believing that if it not G-Tex it is crap. Gore-Tex hats, gloves, and shoes exemplify what I mean. There are people who buy the G-Tex version of an all leather boot because they actually think that it will keep their foot drier. Come on! Apparently you are unable to think for yourself and experiment with alternatives. As for the umbrella comment, it was merely a farcical reference to the fact that if the suggestion that I made doesn't work, you need to start filling sandbags to stop the impending flood.

The question is whether you feel like you are likely to be flipped. A heavy pack will put you in greater jeopardy and therefore a chest harness becomes more important. If you are traveling with a light day pack, I would not imagine that you would need any chest harness. On expeditions when I carry a heavy (read 75 pounds)pack, I use the following system. If I am at the end of the rope team, I tie into the rope about 3-4 feet from the end with a figure 8 on a bight and locking biner. This travels up through a biner clipped to my chest harness. The tag couple of feet is tied directly into a reinforced grab loop on the pack. If you pitch into the crevass you can drop your pack immediately, relieving the tendency to be flipped. If you are in the middle of the rope, tie in with a butterfly and locking biner. Then connect your pack to your harness with a locking biner and cord or webbing. I have found that in either case, tied one inch webbing to be perfect as a chest harness.

A piece of tied one inch tubular webbing is the best way to go. Rarely are you going to be pitching into a crevass with a pack so large you should need a manufactured chest harness. The tied webbing can serve double duty for a variety of tasks such as setting up crevass rescue anchors. It, if fitted properly, works just as well as a manufactured chest harness, and it is certainly easier on the wallet.

My advice is no hardshell at all. The only reason a hardshell really works is the DWR treatment applied at the factory. That is what truly provides protection from rain. The water needs to bead up and roll off. If it doesn't, the outer nylon becomes soaked and the garment is essentially impermeable. Your sweat from the inside makes you soaked. As well once it is soaked it takes forever for the jacket to dry. My solution is an ultralight shell treated with Nikwax's DWR treatment. It keeps you very dry, breaths way better than any fancy GTX membrane, and the nylon itself drys exceptionally fast even if it becomes soaked. If it is raining so hard that does not work, you need an umbrella...seriously.

Sharpen; allow to dry; that's it. RUST? Climb more...They are gonna rust. Steel + water = rust. It's a fact of life. They are not going to be worse for wear though. Walking on rock is far worse than a little rust.

European Death Knot... aka the overhand. Leave 12 to 15 inches of tail and cinch it down tight! Don't use this knot if you have more than 2.5 mm difference between rope diameters or the ropes are icy. Also don't tie an overhand knot in the tails. Doing so negates the benefit of the knot to begin with. This is a scary looking knot (hence the tongue in cheek name). However under the low load situations in rappelling it is more than adequately strong. I believe this is the knot currently suggested by the AMGA.

Has anybody bought or used the new Marmot Pounder (40 degrees) or Pounder Plus (25 degrees)? It is not on their website yet, but it is for sale. Wondering what the verdict is.

Any recommendations out there for a synthetic alpine sleeping bag? Weight and compressibility are obviously a concern. I would like to keep it under 2.5 lbs. Temp rating around 25-32 degrees.