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hafilax

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Posts posted by hafilax

    I'm thinking of cutting the slings off my new C4s

    in Climber's Board

    Posted

    Hello friends.

     

    Thank you for taking the time to indulge my tangential and silly post.

     

    So I bought a whole rack of BD stuff, did you know it's all made in China now? Doubles .5-4, and double sets of stoppers, quite an investment. I don't know why I'm so geeked up about the stuff being made in China... I guess it's cause my old rack was all American and European, and I'm brimming with National Pride. Alas, I digress.

     

    My old Camalots were double stemmed and I just clipped a carabiner to 'em and away we went. These new C4s with their groovy thumb loop are plenty nifty, but the webbing is kind of a bummer. I guess if I were climbing Quarter of a Man they'd be perfect, but I'm not. I prefer to slut around on junky choss where the rope drag is constant and you clip a 24" runner to everything. I also don't care for the way it makes the cams hang down an extra 6" lower when racked up. I'm thinking of getting a knife and a buzz and cutting... cutting the slings off and throwing them away! Then I'll clip a biner to 'em and have a nice orderly rack that sucks up into my armpit. I know, I know, it'll cost me 2kn per piece if I fall, but that's unlikely. And I still have like, what, 10 or 12kn left over?

    Please, tell me. Tell me what you think.

    Gracias and Mahalo

    The thumb loops will suffer less damage in a hard fall with the original slings. They went with those nylon slings over dyneema or doubled dyneema because they weren't satisfied with the drop test results. That's also why the dragon cams have that funky sling double bit in the stem.

     

    That said, lots of people direct clip them aid climbing so it's probably fine.

    cross fit for alpine training?

    in Fitness and Nutrition Forum

    Posted

    I've been doing crossfit for a couple of years now. I did a grand total of 5 days of climbing this past summer and have to say that I'm no worse than I ever was not that I have ever been a strong climber. Bouldering OTOH dropped a full grade.

     

    I did a 'Paleo Challenge' and quit after 3 weeks. Hated it. It's great for people to discover if they have sensitivities to grains, beans or dairy but it's over the top for most IMO.

     

    The biggest thing missing from crossfit for the alpine is pure endurance training. You really can't train for full day efforts with 10 minute workouts. It's better than nothing but I run out of energy on a big day after a few hours.

     

    I am definitely stronger than when I started although I've plateaued recently since our coach hasn't been programming a lot of pure strength days.

     

    Being sore doesn't have much to do with warming up or cooling down. It's purely a matter of overdoing it. Too much volume too soon will make you sore regardless of what you do before or after. Warming up will prevent acute injury.

    rope drag and fall factor quandry?

    in Climber's Board

    Posted

    It's often easiest to start with an oversimplified model and work from there.

     

    To begin with, imagine the zero friction case where all of the energy is converted into heat in the rope. The fall factor is then the fall distance over the length of rope between the belayer and the climber.

     

    In the second case imagine infinite friction. Only the rope between the climber and the last piece will stretch during the fall. The fall factor would therefore be very close to 2. This would maximize the impact force on the top piece for the given fall distance.

     

    To generalize this to intermediate cases it seems reasonable to assume that rope friction between the belayer and the top piece increases the impact force on the top piece.

    Recommend me a softshell jacket

    in The Gear Critic

    Posted

    I went to the Arc'teryx factory store on Sunday and they had very little selection especially in a medium. A few Atoms and the only softshell was the Firee which is "Ideal for alpine/urban transitions". I'm not sure if it's just bad timing on my part or what but I rarely find much of interest there.

     

    I think I've narrowed things down to something like the Ferrata 2. I stopped by MEC today and they only had a size small and there doesn't look to be much in the online system. I like having a hood for tree bombs and spindrift. The Marmot Uptrack looks similar but with their M3 softshell and non-MEC brand price

    http://marmot.com/products/up_track_jacket_fall_2011?p=182

    Recommend me a softshell jacket

    in The Gear Critic

    Posted

    Not quite a softshell, but something I just looked and am thinking to try this winter (please not that I haven't used any of these pieces, but have read great things about ether).

     

    1. Base layer of your choice.

     

    2. Mid layer, which can also be used as outer for the approach, etc.: Arcteryx Acto MX Hoody (or similar piece with a tight-weave non-membrane fabric). This looks to breathe amazingly, be quite wind resistant, repel some water and provide some warmth, while being lighter than a 'normal' softshell.

     

    3. Outer layer: Arcteryx Alpha / Beta FL (or other Active Shell garment). These are super-light, reputed to be extremely breathable and are fully wind- and water- proof.

     

    Most of the benefits of a softshell, hardshell and windshirt? Any thoughts on this?

     

    That's what, $1000 in jackets (retail)?! :shock:

    Recommend me a softshell jacket

    in The Gear Critic

    Posted

    My Javelin actually works OK with two glaring exceptions: it leaks like a sieve at the seams between the hardshell and softshell; when I sweat I get nice soaked stripes under the harshell parts.

     

    I actually don't mind getting wet in it because I generally dry off quite quickly since I kick out so much heat. The annoyance is the water literally running into the seams. I figure that something made entirely out of a similar softshell material will do me pretty well. I can't figure out what kind of material it is though.

     

    Thanks again for all of the discussion. It's definitely helped me figure out what to look for. I realized that my description of how I will use it was probably misleading. I rarely wear a shell on the way up unless it's cold enough that I'm not sweating like crazy, including in the rain and snow so the jacket doesn't have to be on the far end of the breatheable spectrum.

    Recommend me a softshell jacket

    in The Gear Critic

    Posted

    I think the Acto would be perfect if it wasn't $300.

     

    I'll go check out the Prodigy (power shield o2) and Fusion (Schoeller) hoodies at MEC. I'll try to track down a TNF Kishtar or a Marmot Pro Tour which are made with power shield pro to compare. Those jackets are also $300 so A'T isn't alone there.

     

    Thanks for the suggestions.

    Recommend me a softshell jacket

    in The Gear Critic

    Posted

    Now that I have a real job it's time to update my worn out gear. At the top of the list is a new softshell jacket for ski touring and mountaineering. My current softshell is a shitty Dead'bird experiment gone wrong: the javelin. Water runs through it in the rain. I have Patagonia Alpine Guide pants that work pretty well for me.

     

    I am a hot person and sweat heavily and tend to wear a softshell like most wear a hardshell. On the way up I'm typically in polypro and maybe a midweight fleece. When I get chilled the softshell goes on.

     

    Softshell isn't well defined any more and there are so many variations that go from snow shedding fleece to basically a hard shell. I've lost track of which fabric does what. My requirements are good snow and rain shedding and not fully wind blocking. For full on wind or rain I will put a light hardshell over top.

     

    So what are my best options?

    a libertarian wet dream

    in Spray

    Posted

    Maybe - but enough of an outlier to be a minimal problem in reality for a few reasons.

     

    The first is that the actual incidence of home fires is so low these days, which is why firemen have found ways to keep busy by responding to medical calls.

    So nobody should pay.

     

    Then there's the fact that not paying would probably cost them more elsehwere, like on their homeowner's policy, banks would require it as a condition of extending a loan, etc.

     

    And finally - there's peer pressure from the neighbors.

    So everybody should pay.

     

    Wouldn't be perfect, but IMO it'd be better than someone in a duplex subsidizing the cost of fire suppression for someone living in a mansion, much less someone who doesn't own any property forking over money to protect someone else's.

    So there should be some kind of progressive fee system. Something like a property tax?

     

    I'm just trying to understand why it wouldn't be simpler to impose a required fee. I don't see the advantage of allowing people to opt out.

    a libertarian wet dream

    in Spray

    Posted

    Maybe - but enough of an outlier to be a minimal problem in reality for a few reasons.

     

    The first is that the actual incidence of home fires is so low these days, which is why firemen have found ways to keep busy by responding to medical calls.

     

    Then there's the fact that not paying would probably cost them more elsehwere, like on their homeowner's policy, banks would require it as a condition of extending a loan, etc.

     

    And finally - there's peer pressure from the neighbors.

     

    Wouldn't be perfect, but IMO it'd be better than someone in a duplex subsidizing the cost of fire suppression for someone living in a mansion, much less someone who doesn't own any property forking over money to protect someone else's.

     

    Can you explain the advantages a little better. Maybe I don't understand the system well enough (I didn't read the long posts above if it's in there). How does a duplex owner end up paying less than someone with a mansion?

    a libertarian wet dream

    in Spray

    Posted

    The biggest problem with that protection racket is that if my neighbor chooses not to protect their house it's a threat to mine. Even in the case the fire spread to the house next door at which point the fire department went into action. Any of that damage would have been entirely avoidable if the original fire had been put out. Is it up to me to convince my neighbor to buy into it or pay for it myself?

     

    That model might work in rural areas where houses are spread out and the emergency response might not be timely but if the fire can spread from house to house it isn't in the town's best interests IMO.

    Kitty flipping -- god bless america!

    in Spray

    Posted

    I had a roommate whose only interaction with animals was my cat. He got used to just dropping the cat when he was done. Another friend got a new puppy and my roommate was cradling it with its back to the ground when he decided he was done with it and dropped it. It didn't land on its feet. Our other friend nearly decked him but luckily the dog was OK.

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