Coldfinger

Gee maybe the guy asking for help said: "My hands are fairly small." The G29 is a freaking brick in the hand, even in the short frame version. Funny how listening goes by the wayside anytime guns come up.

Huh? My alias is just fine last I knew, and that's a bit of a slur, but it's spray and you're you so wgaf. It's a fair question to ask IMO, no more strange than folks who ask what kind of equipment is best for a beginner in climbing. Besides, it's an entertaining AND informative thread. Seems like the fellow has some common sense, I'd just quote the aforementioned Dirt Harry: "A good man's got to know his limitations." Meaning don't let being armed get you into any more trouble than you might otherwise get into. Some folks feel a Double Action Only wheel gun is best for self defense and new shooters safety-wise, some prefer automatics, whatever. I'd say start off with a revolver, DAO or otherwise. BTW I became a convert after having spent two winters living on the desert outside of El Paso, there were some pretty sketchball types rolling through camp at all hours of the day and night scoping me/us out. And Dane is right, in those situations seeing them coming (thanks dog) and my brain was what did the trick, that and the fact I can throw the Harry squint when need be!

Nice, now that you mention it Exit 38 probably does have a lot of addled folks on antidepressants. Priceless! I've always found sidearms are useful when dealing with the odd NOLS course or Boy Scout Troop, but we're not PC. Happy New Year to you, was wondering when you'd chime in.

I'd STRONGLY caution folks not to fall on gear there, happened to be around when a top rope anchor blew with bad results.

Good 'ol Dirty Harry and his S&W N Frame! OffWhite was just fine in his editing job, just bad humor (funny tho). I'd still say try a J or medium frame in .357, make sure it's stainless steel, not parkerized or lightweight scandium frame. Buy the ammo here: Bang! Let's put it this way: Either: You go to exit 38, and on the way back those lovely Russians send somebody up the trail with a shotgun or .45 to hold folks up while they rummage the cars and something goes wrong. or You run across a pissed off bear or moose. What Dane says is absolutely true, best keep your eyes open and see either from a long way off and use your brain. But in either case I bet the .380 stays in your pocket and it ends up in a used gun case where you bought it the next day. I just can't see actually drawing a .380 on anything or anyone, and yes a big part of that is b/c I'm actually a nice guy.

Good lord, guess my math is rusty. Thanks for the correction. Big point is that the stubby places less stress on the ice (leverage), right Jim? So what's you're take on the flat curve for the longer screws from zero to positive angle? And it appears from the second graph Jim posted that hard ice really reduces the slope to where there ain't much diff. Well I guess I'm sold on two things: 1. Stubbies rock, less stress placed on the ice. 2. I'm going to have to re-learn screw placement--figuring in both the ice quality and angle of the screw--especially if I'm using stubbies. Oh well, shouldn't be too hard an adjustment to make.

It's below the pic, believe the folks were JJ Engineering. They have a link to a BD report that makes good reading too. Very good points folks make about the quality of ice and the temperature of the location (Canmore in Jan. vs. Cascades in July) as well. Personally I used to rely on 22's and some 17's, seems like 16 and 13 are my choices now.

Think I'd need a few OE's before I'd do that old school fifi thing! Crisssakes...... Guess the bottom line is that this system will work well for me, tradeoffs considered, especially as I don't plan on doing too many way extreme routes. Seems it will suit a lot of the alpine terrain I've seen quite well. Dane's perfectly right about the length of quite a few of the climbs one can do, especially if one has to rap many times back down hard terrain, just seems like at many places one wanders off through the trees and gullies on the way down and only a few raps ensue. As for Alpine, a lot of the stuff I've done has many ledges, crack changes and other weirdness, so it's often a kiwi coil or far less than the full length of some of the ropes we've brought (60m and up) anyway due to rope drag, route finding and/or communication issues. I'd definitely agree with Dane if the plan is to lead a pitch and then have a top rope dance party, but then there's usually more than one rope anyway among the crew. But for $165 I'm not going to complain and for once the rope got more comments for its awesome appearance than I usually do for my handsome mug......... That and it was a big plus not having to lug around, handle and coil the usual XXXL pile of cord, though Dane did do most of the porterage of the hunter orange wonder. At least I have a good excuse to use your rope(s), then we can bring my screws (which I like very much--haven't seen many Helix's out there).

My bad.

Pick your choice of .38 +P (town) or .357 (trail) in a j frame Smith or Taurus depending on $$, most .380's are toy guns and not very accurate or good with barriers.

Howdy, here's the update from a few days at the Bozeman Icefest: Bright Orange color was f'ing great as it made the sharpie middle (three inch wide) and ten meter (one inch) marks really stand out and helped make the rope visible in low light. The neon color meant the marks could be seen easily by both leader and belayer to boot. The ten meter marks were nice for 40m raps with a pull cord and even nicer for gauging rope used (as in the length remaining on a lead as well as the reach of the 50m & pullcord!). We ended up using the pull cord only once, seems 50m works well by itself, and the Rando was what we used and was really great. Middle mark on the Rando made coiling easier also. The 30m 5mm Mammut pull cord wasn't used but does seem a good deal less tangle prone than normal 5mm cord.

PS--I had thought the "new" conventional wisdom with screws was 15 degree down angle was best but the pic makes it look like that really only applies to stubbies. As has been pointed out I can't read graphs--oh well. Still interesting how the stubby's curve is different, looks to be that it's behavior is different as it depends more on the surface layer.

Well been doin a little research with help from folks here and elsewhere and the pic below says a lot........ From here: http://www.jjgeng.com/html/body_ice_screw.html Seems like some folks favor these 22's for bad ice, which the study speculates to be true, but the results show more of a difference between the 17/22 and the 13. However, seems like most folks use and/or carry the 22 for threads, so the Beverly/Attaway study seems to point to not only length, but also orientation (as in horizontal vs. vertical as well as the angle of the bore holes) as the key to stronger threaded anchors. I'm just becoming skeptical of the 22, especially since I'll usually skip "bad ice" or at least skip placing anchors in bad sections. (Or, I hack away the "bad ice" which is one reason I still prefer one adze.) With screws the pic is interesting as the curve flattens at zero degrees, which is the most natural angle to drill, at least for me, with NO diff from 17 to 22, but also has a big diff with the 13 in strength and a different curve (additional strength with increasing positive angle, flatter slope) too.

Just was wondering what you all think about that length and how much you use it. Some manufacturers make 12, 16 and 22cm screws, but BD makes a 19cm as well. I have used the 16 a TON (and the 19 a lot) more than the 22, seems like I have that for the rare times I need a thread, but wouldn't the 19 work well for that? Now that we have some modern test data, seems like the 22 is not that much stronger than the 16 and 19. Anyhow, just curious.....

Hey Dane, funny I have been thinking the same thing about the "Belay Jacket", just found an Arcteryx Atom SV on sale, pretty impressed with how warm the dang thing is for its weight and size. My 2 cents is that it may be more worthwhile to get trimmer fitting belay hoodies. The Atom SV can be worn over or under shells, that offers a lot of possibilities. My prob with a lot of the hoodies is they are NOT warm enough to bank life or limb on here in Wyo. Seems like the Atom SV and the Millet Belay Device both offer that extra bit of warmth over hoodies and are MUCH smaller in the pack than the burly jackets.

For SURE wouldn't use a synthetic bag, they're bigger and heavier but I've had a few synthetic bags rated around zero and they were WAY colder than any down bag I've used in winter. Don't think synthetic bags are as warm as advertised by a long shot.

Well it seems they do DESTROY many climbing related returns, even if they're unused, one fellow told me he had to cut up a brand new dead bird harness simply because the lady bought the wrong size and exchanged it for another.

Geez sounds like you have been in an office, have fun in the field!

Not to be harsh but it's your own fault you missed something here...... Yes most folks DON'T do what they intended with their degrees, but the gift of education is learning how to learn, developing practical skills (yes those papers might have been meaningless in the long run but learning HOW to write them might have been the real point), and --gasp--growing up! I just think you're selling yourself short, maybe you should consider holding off on college for a few years and getting a few things out of your system and learning a few more about the world and yourself. This trip sounds pretty sweet, did a few like that myself at your age. Sounds like a good path. It will help you get into and make the most of a good college. Just don't make it into an excuse not to go to school eventually, this isn't an "either or" situation! (There are good schools with low "in state" tuition btw) And yes there are schools for "different" people, I went to one and it really fit me well. I do apologize if I sound harsh, but I found my education was key to everything that followed, and no it wasn't easy and yes I did have my share of fun. Bottom line is look inside and see if 4 years of getting drunk is all you think it can be, but be a little respectful of something that some of us took seriously and worked had for. You're going to find life is full of hard choices but not making one is the worst one to make!

My 2 cents--you'e got a little time. Change your approach. Move to a smaller place with a good scene, climb like a loony while you wash dishes, make some contacts and it'll happen. You can get an OEM cert through a lot of Ski Patrol programs and I wouldn't discount becoming a patroller or other ski industry professional first then doing that in winter and look to move into guiding in the summer. There's a lot of crossover (look at BD) between the two industries and ski is easier to get into.

Hey look, having worked in the ski and guiding industry--and having been hurt in the oil and gas industry (not too badly, but without workmen's paying for the $1,000 MRI, I wouldn't have known my bicep was about to end up in my shoulder)--it's no small thing to know at least within the parameters of performing a job, you'll be covered if you get hurt. These days health care cost is a BIG consideration with work, just saying......

Since I sold one Fin and retired the other (nice piece in the collection now), I found two other possibilities. 1. BD Livewire, nice green color stands out, big opening, at REI on sale. 2. WC Xenon, nice bright yellow color, big basket, $6.50.

At least it would be workmen's comp!

I've got two reasons he'll always be Old Larry. 1. He got confused and PM'd me for help. 2. He forgot he PM'd me.

Howdy Steve, I use Silvretta bindings and Karhu 10th Mountains in a 186. We got lots of DEEP loose snow here at times so I need a combo of width and length for floatation. Length is nice for when I can haul ass and glide. Big plus of skis is one can fly up or down stuff you might be able to walk on. I find waxless is nice as it can be a pain to climb and skins are GREAT but not needed all the time. Just try something like TGR for a forum, lots of backcountry fans on the pass these days......