lazyclimber

Hey folks! We're clearing out our Spring '12 line of goodies, making room for our soon arriving Fall line-up. If you haven't yet checked out our gear, now would be a great time to pick up one of our key styles at a great deal! Fast/Light Pants, NWAlpinist Salopettes, and Limited Edition Big Four Jackets just hit the closeout bin! Deals up to 40% off! Whaaaat?! NW Alpine Summer Closeouts Thanks for supporting local, USA manufacturing! See you in the hills Nick Isaac info@nwalpine.com http://nwalpine.com/

One more note to consider. Reputable climbing helmets are tested by UIAA and CE standards. Note that I say reputable; as any company can design and make a helmet, sell it on the market and reap the rewards, without sending the product in for testing. Testing costs money. When shopping for a helmet, I would highly encourage you to look for a helmet with at least the CE certifaction and it's all the better if you get the UIAA certifaction. Why, you may ask? I'll explain. Climbing helmets are designed to lower the amount of force transferred from a falling object through the helmet and thus onto our weak flimsy neck. One test is the blunt impact test (helmet-top impact test). This test is performed in a controlled lab setting where testers drop a 5kg weight with a 50mm-radius from the height of 2m. The force that is transferred to the neck can not exceed 8kN for the UIAA and 10kN for the CE certifaction; thus making the UIAA test more strict. The 2nd main test performed on climbing helmets is a penetration test. For this test, a 3kg weight (shaped in a conical form) with a .5mm tip (very very small) is dropped from a height of 2m onto the top of the helmet. The striker (weight) is allowed to penetrate the shell of the helmet, but it can not touch the head form. The result from this test is simply either pass or fail. There's a couple other tests that are performed as well, but I would consider the two above tests the most important to consider. When it comes to skiing, boarding, cycling or any other sport, the helmets in these sports are NOT tested the same way that a climbing helmet is tested. There may be some overlap in the testing methods, but climbing helmets tests are strict. When it's all said and done, you should spend the $50-90 bucks on a climbing helmet that fits you comfortably. Save this helmet solely for climbing. If you sustain an impact enough to dent the helmet, replace it and thank your keen wits for buying the helmet in the first place. $70 bones for an elios is a small price to pay for not having a huge crater in yer' dome. Cheers! and happy climbing! Nick

I absolutely love the features of this bivy and have used it many times. The fabric (tegraltex) is extremely durable and is equivalent to the bibler toddtex (IMO), both incorporate the fuzzy/hairy 3ply laminate. Things I love about the bivy: *bug mesh (keeps the skeeters out during your spring/summer adventures) *the triple zipper's on both side of the panel opening mean that I can be all cozied up in my bag/bivy, lean my back against a tree/rock and stick my arms out either side to work on my stove or whateva'. *The panel opening is easy to get in and out of. *durable as all hell *ID makes all their goodies up in Canada, eh? Things I don't love so much: *not the lightest weight, (nor the heaviest however). *It doesn't pack down as small as other bivy's. *Condensation has been a bit of an issue for me at the footbox (i think my feet put off a fair amount of moisture at night). I strongly advise a microfiber/pertex shelled sleeping bag to protect your down (I use only down bags at this point). Other bivy's to consider: ID eVent South Col (drool) packs down to half the size of the salathe, and nearly half the weight... though does not have ANY bug mesh or 'creature features'. Lightweight and simplicity is the key here and I would plan on using it only in cold, mountain type environments; where I would use the Salathe in any environment.

And when you really think about it, how many college towns (or towns in general), can you hop on your bike w/ your rack in your pack; ride 10 minutes and trad climb till your done sauce? Not that the columns are huge by ANY means, but you can still run laps and plunk some gear in the wall.

go ducks.

Nice TR! It was good chatting with you guys (and gal) throughout the day. Sorry we missed you @ the cervesa dispenser, we were just happy to be off the snow and not cooking in the sun. Nice job recovering that ski btw, I noticed that didn't make it into the TR See you up there next time...

Just broke in my new Venom hammer this last weekend and was impressed with the results. Great tool as a 2nd. It comes with BD's lockdown leash already attached and I found the leash easy to use and comfortable (all this considering the price of the Venom, $124.95'ish) The head swung well and balanced and stuck in the ice and snow great. The contoured head is also quite comfortable for a gloved hand. No complaints here. 2 thumbers up.

Trip: Mt. Hood - Cathedral Ridge (Early Season Variation) Date: 2/2/2007 Trip Report: Drove up to T-line late Thursday night with a full moon and high winds. We (Geoff, Lee, Dane, Sophie, Thad and myself [Nick]) slept till 1am. Caught a snowcat @ 2am and rode up to the top of the Palmer. As of 2:15, we were crampin' up getting ready to hike to Illumination Saddle. Descended to and then hiked across the Reed glacier without problem. Traversed up and then around Yocum ridge. We couldn't find an easy way to descend down to the Sandy Glacier so we built an anchor and belayed Dane as he downclimbed a steeper pitch. He placed 2 screws on the descent. We fixed the line so the rest of us could descend faster and began the process of getting the other 5 of us down. As I downclimbed (with a prusik backup), my crampon popped off and flew down to the Sandy (sweet). I switched over to rappel at that point and descended the rest of the way to the glacier. Sophie, Thad and Lee then rap'd without incident. Geoff cleaned the anchor and then down-lead the pitch and cleaned the screws. Luckily Dane had been watching me when my crampy popped and watched as it slid down the face and bounced a ways down the Sandy. Lee hiked down to where Dane thought he saw the crampon come to a rest and snatched it up for me (very lucky). We crossed the Sandy without any further issues. We approached Cathedral Ridge via the early season variation. Due to the lack of snow, we encountered some easy'ish water ice (not sure on the difficulty, but the concensus was WI1). Dane once again led this section and fixed a line. The rest of us followed up with prusik backups. Having an ice axe and a spare tool was VERY helpful. I cleaned the gear as the others started heading up the gullies to the ridge. The ridge was not as I expected - due to the lack of snow, there was a lot of exposed rock which made it feel more like mixed climbing to me as I used my axe on the ice and grabbed rocks and pulled myself up with the other free hand. We continued up the ridge climbing various ice/snow pitches without too much problem (encountered 45-55deg faces). Upon reaching the summit ridge, the sun was high in the sky. We all crossed to the true summit nary a problem. Summit @ 2:00pm; time from the top of the Palmer to summit - 11 hrs 45 min. We had many breaks along the way. We descened the South Side via the Old Chute back to Timberline (man I hate that slog), and returned to the parking lot @ 5:00pm. I have tons of pics, but haven't read how or where to add them - so those will follow shortly, along with some vid. Video link of one of the steeper ramps that we encountered - Steeper pitch on Cathedral Ridge - via myspace Gear Notes: Ice axe, spare ice tool, crampies, a few pickets, and a handful of ice screws Approach Notes: Snowcats rule! I now feel completly spoiled and fully recommend it to anyone who wants to save a couple hours of slog time.