jfs1978

850 down fill rating, zero degree mountaineering bag. Excellent condition except for a small (repaired) hole in the top. Otherwise no issues. Stored in a large storage sack (not stuffed). Still has many years of use left in it. Selling in Bend, Oregon but passing through Portland soon if needed. View craigslist ad for photos. Craigslist posting

I have a wide forefoot and deal with the same issue on several La Sportiva boots. Some models work but most do not. Scarpa has become my go-to for the most part. Some Lowa and Salewa and Millet also fit well. It comes down to spending some time trying on everything you can get your hands on though. Every company's basic last is different. Scarpa's Rebel series has been a good fit in the range of warmth you are looking at. Two other things to keep in mind. I change out and mix and match insoles on every pair of boots I own - frequently. I'll swap insoles depending on the climb and how much of a "performance fit" I want based on how technical the climbing is. Secondly, I wear fairly thin socks almost all the time and rely on the boot to keep my feet warm. The days of heavy, thick wool socks to boost the warmth of a boot are gone imho. A bulky sock reduces sensitivity and takes up a bunch of space around your toes especially. Hope that helps.

For a truly independent, two-person team on standard, moderate glacial routes on Rainier, a 45m rope, a standard set of rescue tools, and anchor material should be adequate. A shorter rope can (and certainly does) get used on many routes...but implies a growing list of obvious limitations. Second, an ice axe and a single picket generally are enough. Often you can bury some third piece of kit from your pack when the snow conditions warrant. In typical "climbing season" snow conditions the picket and ice axe are usually sufficient. Of course this is entirely dependent on current conditions and I've certainly carried two or more depending on route and season. The ***generally*** smaller crevasses found on a route like the DC don't require huge, "Alaska sized" distances between team members (despite the fact that you do often see teams roped up with 20m or even 30m intervals on the DC and other routes). Worst case scenarios with an incapacitated, crevassed victim on a 45m rope still leave room for improvisation assuming the rescuer is able to rappel and solve the issues while down in the crevasse. Comments about never "needing" a picket on a Rainier route seem to be glossing over the fact that you NEVER need them ... until you NEED them ... just like a lot of things in our mountaineering kits. Cheers.

I've used the Mont Blanc Pro with Petzl Leverlock crampons and not seen the issue. Not sure what would be causing your problem with the Grivel's. That said, two thoughts: Maybe moving the attachment point for the rear bail (move the wire to the other holes in the crampon) might change the angle the heel lever needs to reach to fully snap into place. Or, if you can find some Petzl Sidelock crampons you might have better luck. I have seen good crampon/boot compatibility with these but have never owned a pair. There is no lever to engage in the sense of a traditional bail. good luck.

Gear bin cleanout: CL posting with pics: original craigslist posting was hacked due to my own error. Whoever the hacker was came from here. But ... dude...seriously? That's the best, most humorous thing you could come up with??? Ok...back to regularly scheduled programming. The CL posting will be back up as soon as I have a chance to get it done and pics uploaded. Portland, Oregon area at the moment. Prefer to deal in person locally. Will consider shipping (especially if you buy several items at once) but you pay the cost. I'm travelling a lot at the moment so am posting this in a rush. Almost all of this gear has seen use. Most of it has seen a decent amount of use. Some of it has been very well used. Prices are intended to reflect this. I won't have much time or inclination to haggle on prices. I also am not intending to make a bunch of money on these. I need the space as much as the cash and would rather have people be stoked on a deal. I'm in Portland temporarily and would prefer to meet up and swap cash for the items. I don't have a paypal but could work something out if that is your only option. For sizing, I am 6'0" and about 180lbs. 33 waist, 32-34 inseam depending on mfr. My shoe size is 11.5 street shoe. Ok here's the stuff... REI Taku (waterproof/breathable) pants - several years old and a couple patches. One spot needs a quick Tenacious Tape repair and these are good to go. $60 Marmot light/medium weight soft shell pants - good condition, no holes. $40 OR Cirque soft shell pants - good shape but a couple minor holes from errant crampon points $60 66 North Softshell pants - good quality softshell pants. Single butt pocket. Very good condition with no holes. $50 REI Heavy Weight Long Underwear/Fleece pants - good shape, no damage $20 REI light insulating layer. Hooded. No damage. Roughly like an R1 Hoody in design but a little lighter weight. $20 Outdoor Research Helium Hoody - one patched hole on elbow but otherwise nothing wrong with it. About three season old. Used for maybe 5 trips. $80 Patagonia Nano Air Hoody - Large - No damage. Lightly used. $150 OR Hardshell Jacket - Pertex waterproof/breathable. Good shape. Used for one season. $70 Belay devices - ATC Guides and Petzl Reverso 3s - all used. Never dropped. All have some wear and I always get a new one long before they are worn out. It would be stupid to throw them away. $10 each Gri gri 1 with locking carabiner - very little wear. Still years of use left. $55 w/ biner. $50 without Metolius Master Cam - green. Never placed. Like new. $40 Metolius Fat Cam - Orange - very lightly used. excellent condition - $40 BD C4 - #2 - well used. Needs some lube and trigger wire won't last forever but is good to go. $30 (no carabiner) BD C4 - #0.75 - well used. No damage. Needs some lube but is also still good. $35 (no carabiner) Petzl Ascender - Left - Very light use. excellent shape. Minor wear - $50 Crispi leather double leather mountaineering boot. Very heavily used and lots of cosmetic wear but these are still good for someone's first cold weather, double mountaineering boot. I've used these comfortably on Rainier in the winter multiple times. I have a moderately wide 11.5 street shoe size and these have always felt like a perfect fit. $90 Crispi leather Single Insulated Boot - Again very heavy use and lots of cosmetic wear. They don't look like much but they have been warm and are extremely durable. Comparable in warmth, weight and design to a La Sportiva Nepal. Maybe a little heavier. $75

Petzl badly needs to redesign that buckle on the Scirocco. Mine has now been retired after the buckle started releasing any time I looked down at my feet on a climb - regardless of whether or not I'd completely cleaned out the metal filings that clog up the clasp. It seemed to have to do with the flimsy plastic they build the buckle out of. It's pliable enough to allow it to clasp under just the force applied by the magnet, which apparently meant that after a year of frequent use it degraded to the point where a solid direct pull would cause it to release. I almost lost the helmet mid-climb more than a few times before finally tossing it into the dustbin. Not cool.

Take a closer look at the way the two attachments work. Very different and not something that can be modified. You have the wrong crampon model for your boots.

I'm not sure I understand your question. Converting Pro to Clip is not just a matter of swapping a fabric strap. The Clip version has two posts that attach the toe basket plastic to the crampon body. The Pro model is completely different - has holes for the bail wire. So in other words...can't be done. What am I missing in your question?

They're basically like new. I've only used them for three or four trips. Main issue is I likely won't be back in the PNW before the end of the November. Will let you know if that changes.

I have a pair but am out of state traveling for a while. How soon do you need them?

burke082, really good idea to get some experience and some qualified instruction first. Despite the fact that Hood's SS is an entry level mountaineering experience, all of the locals regularly see folks attempting it who are simply not prepared at a basic level. The only metric we have to assess your preparedness is the list of questions you've asked here ... and it sounds like you're new to this stuff. Cool! Welcome aboard and hope you have fun. But don't add unnecessary hazards to what should be a fun, relatively easy, relatively low risk experience. Hood in the Fall and Winter can be a very different animal than in Spring, and your ability to assess conditions is key. A few pointers from random folks on the web isn't going to get you to where you need to be. Oregon and Washington based guide services offer courses that can get you prepped. Look into those and there's no reason you can't be ready when Spring rolls around and conditions line up. Oh and Welcome to Oregon! It's kind of awesome here.

Yes there are a lot of factors and that 50% rough number is variable. Also, there are variations in failure modes and which material fails depending on whether the test is done in a static vs. dynamic load test. So a correction, my comment about the "extension material" being the specific failure point is probably not always accurate. In the end it doesn't matter unless you just like geeking out on these things. The larger points to consider are redundancy and material wear distribution. There are a million forum threads discussing the ins and outs of destructive testing and material strengths. Interesting reading on a slow evening ... like a REALLY slow evening ... maybe. =)

From a "best practices" standpoint, attaching a PAS or sling to both the leg and waist tie in points is considered optimal. The concern is that people leaving their PAS or rappel extension girth hitched to the same, single point increases the chances of long term abrasion degrading the integrity of the belay loop. This has been a factor in some reported accidents. Both the leg loop and waist belt tie in points are typically reinforced with material intended to decrease or delay this abrasion as well as providing some redundancy by being through two points. In addition, anecdotal evidence points to an increased reduction in ultimate breaking strength (of the extension material) when girth hitching tightly around a single point. Typically this can result in a (roughly) 50% reduction in ultimate breaking strength of the dyneema webbing material. The upshot is that yes, while occasionally utilizing the belay loop as your attachment point will likely not result in failure (50% of 22kn is still an extremely strong attachment assuming no material degradation), running your attachment through both of the standard tie in points removes some of the risk factor and introduces little in the way of inconvenience. So go this route if using a PAS or sling in this way regularly.

Serpentine can be accessed on rock only. Backbone will likely still require a short section of snow. Descent down the backside has a short boot pack snow traverse to get to the rock slabs. All was still manageable with some stiffer approach shoes to kick steps in. Sliding out of control on the descent snow slopes would end poorly if you went at the wrong spots.