Coldfinger

Well one can spot a fool from a good way off (like the owner of the tent now in the middle of Titcomb lake), other types are a bit harder to figger out. All the patches on my tent tell one I am Scotch. Just didn't care to be conflated with $600 tents, not my style, but Tarps don't make for very comfortable camping here until the first hard frost. Might be a good market for used Firstlights now that they come in a new color! As for additional guy points, I wouldn't bother, still think the thing will be floppy, but that's how the Siberian Larch survives cold and wind so maybe that's best. You could try some spare epic fabric (BD will give you some), sew your guy point to that and just sil-seam grip the whole thing on. I suspect that might be stronger. I personally have survived a two day storm in a Firstlight and while it was pretty grim as the tent flexed, snapped and got knocked over, it never exploded or even showed a stretched seam, I was impressed.

Tell that to the 90 mph winds I had to deal with recently and oh yes we actually have glaciers and big ones here in Wyoming because it gets COLD. Having spent my fair share of time using tarps (blue) and other primitive and improvised shelters in the Wind River Range, yes they do work and no you don't need a $600 tent and no I didn't even say that, I merely opined that some piece of crap Walmart tent don't belong here. $600 tents are much more of a Colorado phenomenon since there is so much yuppie trash (although to be fair we do have Jackson) there, just love it when we get overrun with CO plates. Funny thing is that tends to be in August when we have such nice weather. Anyhow, it can be quite amusing to see all the hordes of out-of-staters and their rico tents all over the Cirque and Titcomb, but fortunately they seem to be nice folks so I don't really mind even if my $90 tent isn't nearly as nice.

"WE all now know...." Spent a few nights in a real Walmart tent and that piece of crap dripped on my head all night, not to mention you'd probably need an ass (mule) to carry it. Yeah "as we all now know" Walmart tents are a real good idea in real mountains like we got here in Wyoming, might be good on Ellinor, but I do get a kick out of what folks will pay for tents, I paid less for my Firstlight than you'd guess.

Was just reminded how much like a willow these are in the wind! My 2 cents: worthwhile putting an extra heavy coating of seam grip on the outside and seal the inside too--might help the seams avoid explosions!

Howdy everybody, Just picked up a mint XGK II, MSR was so kind as to upgrade it to shakerjet and the unipiece pot supports, but was wondering what people use (other than the trilium stove base) as a stove block to keep it from melting a hole in the tent floor. Wood? What works best for you? Thanks!

That's rsobtch@gmail? You tried the ham in the bacon forum?

Yeah but if we let them get married then who gets to claim the headaches? Sounds like the end of the age old excuse to me.

Yeah I could google that but he seems to have made it his own!

Yeah that makes sense, guess you want the wedding cake and eating it too. Since when are we all implicated in each and every marriage on the face of the earth, nevermind partaking in them? Two straight idiots get married in Tacoma and I partake in that here in Wyoming how?

He got it harsh style--usually when you "resign" they don't announce it was in lieu of termination. But then school administrators seem to resemble a certain German shorty more and more. Sounds like a good lawsuit. But all I have to say is right on! The Teabagger idiom is worse than Lancelot's wedding rescue. We live in farcked times when 1/4 of Americans think our president is muslim when he is not. At least we made the news (Fox no less) without anybody dead for once. Way to go Choada (seriously), beats being some avatar tiger on coffee break and nothing more than sport surfing through hard times...... WTF is a Choada anyway???

Well I've got wide ones and the Aku Spyder GTX fits great if you can find them. Otherwise usually a boot with fabric uppers and a minimal rand combined with work on a rubbing bar or stretching vise has been my best bet. Sportiva has a narrow last in their single boots as they seem to want to be the lightest by ounces over the others over common sense underfoot (had a pair and couldn't believe how narrow the sole was). You might try a pair that are a bit long, I've had good luck in trail shoes and plastic boots going longer for a better fit and boots have the shank and heft to make up for a less than close to the toe fit.

Don't get a fat rope, beal booster 9.7 is hard to beat for lead trad cragging etc.

I'm much more likely to cook inside with a canister stove as it is much more subject to the wind, but almost always cook inside if it's winter with a good white gas rig (xgk). That being said I don't cook inside with anything messy or stinky any other time than winter as I live in bear country. Winter cooking is always dehydro as dish cleaning is a real pain in the ass and I need the pot to keep rolling with the meltwater.

Minitraxion SOLD! Thank you.

Well, most folks use 60m ropes so that's a bit of a bummer, that and your rope is a HALF rope, meaning you need two to lead safely and most folks don't mix and match twin or half rope brands and/or diameters. Next most 8mm glacier ropes come in 30 to 37m lenghts and cost around 60 to 80 bucks. http://www.justropes.com/ClimbingRopes/shop/item.aspx?itemid=6 Finally, one can get that rope new for $145 or so. Hope that helps.

PM sent.

Howdy, I have an XGK stove (non shaker jet) with the foolproof stainless steel fuel line and goodies (listed below) asking $80. Everything in good condition, pic below. I will ship free to the lower 48, PayPal only. Questions and offers welcome. Comes with: Large MSR stuff sack. Small OR stuff sack (fits stove head, trillium base, piece of closed cell foam & windscreen nicely). MSR Trillium stove base. MSR 20 oz. fuel bottle. MSR fuel pump (installed replacement plunger and collar). Windscreen and ground thermal shield. XGK Maintenance Kit. Piece of foam to insulate Trillium base.

BTT, taking obo's.

BD Magnum pack sold, thanks!

Howdy, I'll ship free to lower 48, PayPal only, pics below. Reasonable offers welcome, especially on more than one item. 1. BD Magnum Pack, good condition. SOLD. 2. BD Son of Crag pack, pretty used, makes a good small haul bag/pack. $18. 3. Petzl Vasak Sidelock crampons w/ spare front anti bots, used twice, great condition. $80. 4. Petzl Adjama harness, size m, good condition. $20. 5. Petzl MiniTraxion pulley/ascender, great conditon. SOLD. 6. DMM Wallnut #11 (new), Wild Country Rockcentric #5 (used once) & Wild Country Titan racking biner (new). $15 set. 7. Mountain Tools 4 loop adjustable gear sling, good cond. $7.

I've got a Petzl mini traxion pulley that will work as either an ascender or a locking pulley (crevasse rescue) I'll sell you for $50 shipped to lower 48. I'm going on a trip so sit tight till tue. night.

BTW the Bod harness design (upon which Couloir is based) was a notorious nut crusher. Might want to get a good harness light enough for alpine but still good for cragging.

Well I've got a pair of BD Rage tools I bought 6 years ago and they'll probably be the last pair I buy for a LONG time. Great swing weight, nice curved shaft, nice finger rest (even with a leash gives a natural pivot pint for the tool to swing on). Good shaft for plunging. Will take whatever new picks BD comes up with. Try seeing if you can locate a used pair of those. A lot of the lighter tools (aztar, aztarex, matrix light) don't have the punch you need for hard ice. And a lot of leashless tools are kinda tough to use on the more mundane alpine most of use do.

Ditch the ascender, pretty useless. Ditto heavy locking biners, find the lightest belay biner & belay device for the diameter of your rope. I use a DMM bugette & sentinel with a 9.4 and it is just fine. Petzl Tibloc. DMM Revolver or small Petzl pulley. Long Prussik sling. Short prussik sling. 6-8 Ultralight Wiregate biners (pick your brand) 1 or 2 Ice Screws (16 & 19cm?) 1 Deadman. 2 24" slings You'll need those if you ever cross a glacier, or encounter a patch where some pro or a real anchor would be nice.. And just get the Sabretooth, Serac is NOT for steep ice.

Well that's why I prefer to buy boots with heel and toe welts for wire crampon bindings, also seems like a lot of the ultralight mountaineering boots have unnaturally narrow construction and not enough midsole to support full clip bindings in the name of saving weight. If you don't like heel pressure, try the Petzl sidelock binding, I've used a pair of Vasak's with that binding and they are probably the best snow and glacier setup I've ever owned. Going to sell them soon though as I am retuning the Dartwin forefoot as it sucks for alpine.