akicebum

Trango S sounds like your boot. The Lite is more of a technical ice/alpine boot. The Trango S is a great hiker and is super light.

Forget about it. No contest here. BOZEMAN, MT Not your typical liberal arts screw off in the woods school. With more science oriented majors students that attend school there are generally more focused and motivated than in other areas. They'll actually show up before 8 am to go climbing. Crazy I know. You have Hyalite for ice and the Gallatin for rock. Great partners, small town and great skiing. Bozeman is a great place for a climber to live and go to school with so much good climbing so close. Wake up early jam up the spectre and then go to class, it doesn't get much better. Boulder, Durango, and all of the other schools that have been mentioned are just fine. There are way more people which means way more bullshitters and hassles to contend with in the hills. BOZEMAN.

I could be down. Where do you want to go?

Index? I am in granite falls. Gimme a call 406-529-5321 ryan's the name

And do what hitch to the crag everyday? I've been to red rocks without my own whooptie before and is expensive.

Fair enough. Thats just what my boss told me when I was peddlin wares. I don't know too much of the ol climbing gossip. Scott said that Yvon was kinda worn out. I think did hear something about the lawsuit, whatever. I use BD cams I like them. Made the mistake of looking for some canadian beta, and a partner for tomarrow. Saw another gear post about cams I use (I rack Camalots and aliens, had a rough year). Glad to see none failed and I'm tired of hearing all hatin. I'll shut up. Rag away guys. Have a good winter, be safe.

Fair enough. I'm just down on the product hatin. Have fun be safe.

Have any cams failed yet? Is it a valid concern? I've watched these discussions snowball out of control. It is just bad press, and BD makes a functional product. They aren't going to sacrifice function for profit. If you want to do something productive take some of the new BD© cams and test them yourself. If you find discrepencies then make a post. Otherwise you are just bandwagon bashing a company trying to gain a professional edge.

This crap went on with Aliens, again with laser picks, and now BD cams are under review. Couple things to consider. Yvon sold the BD to the employees when profit margins weren't what he wanted and diverted his energy into patagonia and I am sure we are all glad he did. Climbers are, for the most part, a bunch of penny pinching bastards (myself included). The company is trying to reduce production cost which could allow them to spend more money on R&D or whatever. If you don't likem don't buy em. Climbing is inherintly? (I can't spell) dangerous, ever heard that anywhere. That doesn't mean that cams should fail, but use your head. It isn't until you are about to explode that you worry about the integrity of you gear. Most of the larger retailers test the gear themselves. I am sure they'll let you know if they find some inconsistencies. Finally. To beat this into everyones head, I am sure everyone has heard it before. All this gear is just for show anyway, the real trick is not falling. Get out have fun, place your gear correctly and while you can and you'll long and happy life. Peace

If ya wanna go hit me up. 406-529-5321 Ryan.

I'm down, my partner just bailed for tomarrow. Gimme a shout 406-529-5321 Ryan.

Grivel picks don't break, they bend. If they break then you've done all you can. However, their tools will break occasionally. The racing wings didn't just disappear because they were too expensive. I'm not sold on the whole forged head bullshit, but I have full faith in grivel. They have been at the head of every single evolution in the ice tool species. While other manufacturers have fine tuned and built upon their ideas, grivel is generally the first. In regard to the head width. If you are busting up another 800m of neve after having climbed a route that required you to use a technical ice tool, then you'll be far more psyched that you are cramponing up neve and not post holing through powder. The skinning head will be the last thing on your mind, or at least for me. Besides the tool is wayyy lighter. I've only used the Quantum Monsters and they are badass. I look forward the swinging the others in the line. I prefer grivel. But Most of the technical ice tools out there do the job. This quantum series tools are crazy expensive. Hey ice season is upon us, hell yeah.

Grassi lakes? Is that the main access to the river? Wicked Wanda, Fearfull, Rainbow all that steeze? I'm a bit of retard, never know where the hell I am. But I climbed Rainbow last year and I wanted to go back for Fearfull if it is in. Am I totally screwed? How about "The Real Big Drip?" Access Screwed up on that too?

Is the gravel road the bugs open or closed?

Oh yeah JoJo? It is on the list, but I think we are looking at something a shade steeper. Thank you for the quality responses guys. I need to learn how to read a calender, I thought we were heading out this week, but I have to wait another 12 days. The Big Hose looks like a stellar line, I hope we have time and conditions to get over that way.

Anyone been out there this fall. Has there been much snow?

Hate to burst your bubble, but there are probably a tenth as many people there because everyone and their brother (myself included) is on the parkway. I saw hear about palouse after the season was alread over, but I am definitely going to check it out at least once this year.

Intuition is the only way to go. The only problem you may discover is mentioned above. You will probably need a half size smaller boot. Intuition is lighter, warmer, and doesn't absorb moisture the way most stock boot liners do. Remember you get what you pay for and La Sportiva makes some very good expedition boots. Good luck.

No fuckin chance. lo siento, but the best ice and mixed is in canada. I'm livin up there most of the winter, ouray is cool, montana is ok minus the approaches, but canada is the lower 48 show period, dollar be damned.

Yeah I hear that. I'm all about breaking myself instead of killing my coworkers. But for preseason I don't want to screw up my base by doing a gozillion pullups. I do the whole one piece bullshit, but I like doing pull-ups and it doesn't really bother me day after day, but I don't want to screw myself up down the road.

So I'm curious. I have read myself into a circle here. 25+ reps has your working in a purely aerobic zone, right? Sooo if it is ok to run 6 days a week, then it should be ok to work out the same muscle group 6 days a week as well while still giving you an adequate recovery, taking into account your diet and sleep. I know you don't run fartleks every day, but pull ups and core exercises should be ok if you aren't maxing out right?

Yeah, I climb mostly with the mixed, but some hairball thin ice pithes on top of difficult mixed terrain totally screwed me last year. Those cascade picks are sweet, but I climb like a moose and torque the living shit out of my tools. I have a cascade pick you could play horse shoes with. I've check out the evolution picks and swung alp lights, it seems like a good pick I just don't know how it would do with the kind of clearance you get with the Ta-Koon. Thanks for the reply.

Check out the Grivel Air Tech. They are aluminum so they won't last long on rock, but they are super light, fit that boot well, and they come equipped with antibot plates. I've used them as have many of my friends. BD also makes an aluminum crampon I think it is called the Neve, haven't used them, but they are light as well.

I'm curious if anyone has used the Grivel Evolution picks on the Ta-Koon. They seem like the would be a lot better suited on ice than the mixed pick, but still beefy enough for stout mixed. Your thoughts.

I grew up in Juneau and I have had my eye on a series of steep winter problems. The weather is particularly horrible and I have never had the time or means to get the great routes done. My main partner moved to Vermont and I don't know anyone down here that climbs hard alpine. If you are interested in heading up let me know, the majority of the routes are 800ft-2800ft all extremely steep and sustained hard 5th class climbing. I am looking for a partner, I have had several sponsor interests in these projects so a good plan would make it a great deal cheaper. I have photos, but I'm an asshole and I am not putting them on the world wide web. I have all of the logistics dialed, contact me if you are seriously interested I will be around for the rest of the summer.