CaleHoopes

i love the fact that a thread on the everest sherpa brawl (later tonight on UFC) has turned into trying to figure out why swedish girls don't come from switzerland.

Goat's Beard is an awesome shop. If you're climbing up near WA Pass or Goat Wall you can find anything you need there. They also have apparel and camping gear. Very cool. Don't ignore the Mazama General Store either. Best General Store in WA IMHO.

Bootfitter for the win. If you are in the Seattle area... go check out Sturtevant's. I went there and had my Baruntse's fitted and I've never looked back. The most comfortable boot I own. They will make you awesome custom footbeds. Take the socks and everything you'd normally wear. They will heat mold the liner and they will even do adjustments to the shell.

Milk jugs are good. I've had many friends do that. One of my partners on Denali had a full foot cutout from a milk jug on his crampon when he went for the summit.

The Andinista is a classic too that I can't make any derogatory comments about.

Yes. I'll give you two great options: CiloGear Worksack 75L and Black Diamond Mission 75 Both are great packs. The Cilogear 75L when all stretched out is going to be way over 75 litres. If you really want to spend money, they have the design in other material that greatly reduces the weight. The modular nature of this pack means you can configure it many different ways. I can say that on Denali, being able to configure your pack different ways is invaluable as you have to move crap all over the mountain. ESPECIALLY with a guide service who will likely hand you random group gear and food throughout your expedition. Everything installed it would be about 4 lbs. Mission 75 is much less modular but also very versatile. It will pretty much do exactly 75 liter so you'll have to make sure your kit is fully dialed. It's only 3lb 12 oz and rides like a dream. However, like I said, it's probably right on that edge of not being enough space. I took a 7 lb McHale pack that I regretted. Why? I bought it 5 years ahead of time and therefore it didn't quite fit me right when I started using it. Plus it was darn heavy - which could have been an extra bag of food or something else that would have been consumed. +1 for a lighter pack on Denali. If you're trying to do 60 lb in the pack and 40 lb in the sled, then you just need something to carry 60. Both these packs work fine for that! P.S. The CiloGear suspension is adjustable too - buy at 2nd Ascent or Marmot in Seattle (they can order) and they will do a full adjustment of the aluminum stay.

OMG I think I already miss ice. Nice work

TO: CouleeClimber Dude, if I lived in Grand Coulee, I'd have ice climbed all season at Banks. MUHAHAHA As for guides, it's really not that bad of a way to go. If you choose wisely, you can learn a lot. Some of the guide services for Rainier are only about the exact skills to get you to the summit. Others will let you pull out of them anything that you want to learn. I'd suggest a 4 day climb to learn a ton - unless you go alone. There are people here that will do your training and such for free, but it might be harder to organize. Good luck! I'm sure you can figure out a way to get er done!

Ivan! Kick ass trip! Last month went down and did Cat in the Hat & Birdland. Great stuff - was my first trip to RR. Vegas sux but RR rox (is that redundant??!?). Nice pictures and nice sends. I agree, that last pitch on Cat in the Hat before the rap from the bolts is most excellent!

Since you're from Portland, you can try the Mazamas. Also, for mountaineering you can probably get some instruction from Timberline Mountain Guides. Additionally, tons of guide services here in WA are available for training. That's my best suggestion.

Also, while they are sometimes hard to find locally, many manufacturers actually sell shorter ropes. One solution? Buy a sixty and cut it 40/20 - If you go to a shorter climbing gym (like VW Redmond/Everett), then the 20 is perfect for rock leads in the gym and then you could use the 40. And then you could buy a 8.8-9.4. On Rainier I've often used a 60m 9.4 and just created coils. If we ever had a drop in, then the coils would be great to create a quick drop-c. Yep, more rope to carry, but ultimately worth it IMHO. That being said, If I'd owned a 40 I'd be happy climbing on that too. Good place for ropes? http://justropes.com And they have an awesome coupon code: 20% off RBG2011

Excellent send Loren!

curtveld, I agree on large biners. Tiny no worky for me. I like the tiny load bearing ones however if I need to attach something to the pack or whatever. But I don't generally use them for any climbing.

Yeah, I don't agree with the "You'll piss people off". I've climbed on many different types of cams as a follower and never had any problems with people complaining. C4's seem like the most popular, but it looks like many of the other cams have their uses and/or niche. I think where this gets interesting is when you're using older cams with more difficult cleans or placements where there are double stems and such. If it's too hard to clean, that's been a problem for me. However, that's more about the choice in leader's placement than the type of cam IMHO (unless we're talking over cammed or under cammed units).

Thanks guys! Bearbreeder - all good points. What you're really saying is get out with someone experienced before you go too far on a rack. BStach - thanks a ton for your recommendations! I totally look forward to this process.

Nice send! Epic screaming barfies!

What the hell, it's looked fun to me before. Plus I have a bunch of friends who have been to the base but NEVER gone to the top of the haystack. This looks way more fun than the crappy scramble IMHO. So, the rock there on that flake wasn't horrible? And you topped out on that?

alpine et has an excellent point. I will tell you that this boot works fabulously with the Petzl Lynx. However, the Petzl Lynx has turned into the gold standard of adjustable crampons IMHO. I was able to move my pair of Lynx from my Baruntse's to the Salewa Pro Gaiter (same boot as original poster except for the gaiter) with only a small adjustment to the center bar which was easily made in the field (they were demos so I had to do it on a -10 degree morning at Ouray in a demo tent). Toe welt and fit are indeed something that can be hard to determine. So, the "hybrid" is really just telling you that there is no toe welt. Crampon fit is another discussion.

Better yet? http://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/crampons-snow-ice-climbing.html Good description. And Gene, you're right of course.

Hmmm. The original poster's boot choice has a toe welt though. I get what you're saying though. I just wonder if the description for the boot was wrong then. I actually look close at the boot for whether it can support the crampons I want on them ;-)

Many of the manufacturers use different terms for crampons. These boots will fit a full clip-on crampon with a toe welt and heel welt. So, when they say hybrid, you are probably looking at being able to fit all crampons, honestly. So, one thing to think about if these will be your first boots - single layer boots take longer to dry on multiple day trips. If you are a person who gets the sweaty feet, you will want to consider that. These boots are pretty nice and fairly warm. Just be ready to spend time to dry them out overnight.

Very happy with my OR Ferrosi Hoodie. Perfect windshirt.

Ok, so I had some great and not so great experience with the GAITER version of these boots at Ouray. The pair with the Gaiter's are warmer than the ones without for sure but the rest of the boot is exactly the same. Pros Climbed WI5 awesomely! Felt very confident in them in very steep terrain. More than warm in the gaiter model. Excellent Ice boot Lightweight Fits Petzl Crampons FABULOUSLY Cons Lacing system sucks - very hard to get lacing system to work right every time. Gaitered zipper painful Very little difference between climbing mode and hiking mode. Very stiff ankle (great for ice, crap for walking) Difficult approach boot. Sized differently in that model Performance = regular width, Insulated = wide (mentioning this because they may have this kind of weird model for the non-gaitered boot too). I climbed a whole day in Ouray in these boots and thought they were the best boot there. However, I admit the demo guy didn't know the boots and was kind of a jerk (like I was doing him a favor). So, I came home and ordered two pairs from Backcountry.com and a pair of La Sportiva Batura 2.0 GTX boots. The two pairs were one Regular and one Wide. Then I took the pairs over and climbed ice at Banks Lake. Problem? The approach in the Salewa boots was almost unbearable. We only hiked up a quarter mile at 45 degreesish, and over some talus. If I had to do ANY distance in these boots, it would not treat me happily. Once again, they climbed ice awesome. But only when vertical was I happy in them. In contrast, the Batura's have a very flexible ankle and climb ice ok, but I could actually climb a couloir in them and I don't think I'd be happy doing that in the Salewa's. I do worry about the shank in the Salewa's breaking over time. If you could see a demo model, it's really just a strong metal strip that they loosen and tighten inside a vibram sole. I believe Dane has pictures. Changing the mode in the field (in real winter conditions) would totally suck. Too stiff and takes too much work. Plus with the horrible lacing system, I sent both pairs back and kept the Batura 2.0's. They are lighter and 50 dollars more expensive but they are also flexible enough to keep my back of my ankle from being torn up by the boot. Good luck with your choice. I could see them being used on Denali in some scenarios. I would continue to use my Baruntse's for Denali. Warmer and can go to summit. If you're staying below 14 for some late June ice climbs, these would be just fine for that. OH: And to the review of the Mountain Trainer boots... I have those and they are totally different fit and feel IMHO. My Mountain Trainer shoes are easily the best approach shoes I've ever owned. I wear them every day, have done multiple approaches in them and after a year I'm abusing them. They are even better if you get a no work lacing system for them. Then they are the killer app in approach shoes!

Wallstein! Thanks for the great review. That was the kind of experience I was looking to hear about for sure (regardless of the shameful plug)...

So, a lot of the responses from Mountain Project regarded the cost. I agree this is way overpriced. However, I also believe that MH's gear using Dry Q is way overpriced. That doesn't remove it's merit as a technology. It simply prices it out of casual use as far as I'm concerned. What's interesting to me here - is how the technologies are changing. Imagine that in 5 years, Encapsil is firmly planted in outdoor technologies and the price point has come down. It'd be amazing to have a very warm very light jacket in my pack that's not made up of horrible water soaking untreated down. So, really I'm just watching these technologies. I find it interesting to see if I can catch the "change" that affected the entire industry. Once again, Encapsil is probably more suited for AK range, belay jackets in below zero temps (yes, I had like 5 days like this in Ouray) or something like that. Will I spend $700? No. Am I intrigued? Yes.