DaveH

Every review of the Helium friends says they are lighter than C4's. I've read all the technical reviews about the differences - I'm trying to get comments from the average joe climber who has used both to find their comments on what they did or didn't like about the Friends compared to C4's and Dragons.

Has anyone tried the new Helium Friends? How do they stack up against C4's and Dragons?

Was up there over the long weekend at the end of July. Road conditions are good apart from one section of alder jungle. One of our group managed to get a Toyota Matrix to the trailhead without too many problems. The climbers trail is a mess, probably due to the heavy snow winter. Tons of deadfall everywhere and plenty of trees leaning over that haven't sprung back up. On the way in, we tried to stay reasonably high. Coming out, we took the lower route. Neither seemed any less unpleasant or easier than the other. We did find quite a bit of flagging but joining the dots wasn't easy due to the mess. We didn't attempt the NW ridge due to poor weather but did grovel up the E ridge (normal descent route) in an intermittent snow storm. There was a ton of snow near the top of the mountain and it looked like the top section of the NW ridge ran into a large snow head-wall with suitably sagging cornice. Given that there has been 10 days of hot weather since, most of that snow has probably gone by now. Oh, and take several gallons of Deet, the mossies were the worst I have seen.

Dru's picture is out of date - that was definitely the situation for a while after 10 metres fell off the summit in December 1991. However due to the fairly active erosion processes that happen in the NZ mountains, the overhanging ice dagger which was what the summit turned into has slowly returned to something more "normal". However the very top is still unstable and the final approaches up the summit ice-cap can vary significantly in steepness and difficulty depending on the time of season, amount of snowfall over the previous winter etc. However as Dru mentioned, it is definitely no easy walk.

Dane, you forgot about dominatrix's - don't they use leashes as well? (I've only heard about this from others, never tried it myself of course....)

The Rab Latoks at Europe Bound in Vancouver are CDN$75 + taxes (12%) so that makes them CDN$84 which at current exchange rates is basically USD$84. I wonder how those sticky silicon palms will hold up handling screws and other metal hardware bits compared to leather palms - anyone had any experience with them so far?

As an ex-pat Kiwi now living in Canuckland and with more than 20 years experience in NZ's Southern Alps, I strongly support the comments made by Off_White and a couple of others earlier - if you are inexperienced and want some local assistance, go with a local. Climbing at Mt Cook is not like climbing in the Cascades - if you think the weather can be wet and miserable in the PNW, wait till you see what a ripping nor'wester coming off the Tasman Sea looks like. It can go from cloudless blue skies to a roaring storm in a few hours and that storm can last a day or 3 weeks. Add to that shitty rock, lots of crevasses, ice fall danger (the standard Linda Glacier route up Cook is a shooting gallery for much of its lower half) and long routes. It is not great newbie country. If you're going to fork out a heap of $$$ for a trip like this, why not give yourself a bit of insurance - at least a local can offer good advice on options when the weather hits so you don't spend most of your holiday sitting in a hut or inside the pub staring at the rain outside, or suggest different routes if the ones you want are out of condition or out of your league.

Anyone seen or tried on the new Metolius Safetech helmet? It is meant to be designed to give greater protection in a fall. From the catalogue photos, it looks as if it still has the back-of the-neck protection deficiency that I mentioned above.

I have a helmet story from several years ago that has affected my views on head protection. I was descending a peak in New Zealand's Southern Alps (my home stomping ground) with a group - 5 in my lot and 4 in a separate team. It was late in the day and we had to drop down a steepish snow-filled couloir that was a rockfall funnel. One from each team were climbing down together when they both got hit. Strangely, they were both wearing the same type of helmet - the old bucket style Edelrid plastic. My friend was hit bullseye on the top centre of his lid. The rock punched an almost perfectly circular hole about an inch and a half in diameter - when he took the helmet off later a blue plastic circle fell out of the helmet cradle. Apart from a bit of a headache and a sore neck, he was fine. The dude from the other team was not so lucky. He curled himself up which exposed the back of his neck. A rock caught the back of his helmet, took a nice triangular chunk out of the bottom edge and left him with an inch long gash in his neck just missing his vertebrae. He was also knocked out for a few minutes. Fortunately, he was being belayed from above so didn't go for the big slide. Both groups combined to get him to safety and a cold damp night was spent sheltering under an overhanging ice wall. Next morning, with his gear distributed among the rest of the team and fixed lines set up, he was able to get down to the glacier and walk out 4 hours to his vehicle with just a stiff neck. Ever since then, I instinctively do the turtle thing if rocks or ice are coming in my direction, ie. I try and pull my head straight down into my shoulders rather than bending my head forward which seems to be a more natural position. Most modern helmets don't appear to have much neck protection. They are usually shaped high at the back so you can look up without stabbing yourself in the back of the neck every time - I guess statistics indicate that neck hits are a rare occurrence.

Hey guys, don't knock long axes. I climbed Point Five and Zero Gullies on the Ben back in '86 with a 70cm bamboo shafted Chouinard axe. Something shorter and more technical would have made it easier but it can be done. And then it can also double up for the bar fight later on...

They're all fleeing north from south of the 49th parallel to escape Obama.

I've heard that the new line for next year is more than cosmetics - prices will be lower and a bit more "snap" has been built into some of the models. G3 got slaughtered by Black Diamond in the market place this season so they have had to react.

wfinley, what model were you skiing? I have tried the Barons and didn't like them - in technical terms, they are described as "damp". In my terminology, they felt dead. Having said that, I have a friend with Aces and he loves them for just about all conditions. If you are looking at Shuksans, better grab 'em quick. Rumours on the street are that the Shuksan production line has done its day and next year they will be replaced by something derived from the Apache line-up.

Sounds like your Intuitions haven't beem moulded properly. I used intuitions inside a pair of Koflach vertical's on Denali last year and had no problems. I had them moulded by Intuition (I live in Vancouver about 10 minutes bike ride from their warehouse) and have never had any issue with my feet moving round, blisters etc. They are very snug and quite comfortable.

So are the new Cobra fangs able to be retro-fitted to the current Cobra or will there still be a need to resort to duct tape/super glue etc?