Black Diamond Venom Hammer - 50cm. Carried in the pack skiing. Decided to go back to a true tech tool (but keeping the 57cm adze as a general axe). $100, shipped.
One could argue that the same thing could be said about Joe Simpson. When Simpson nearly got himself killed in a variety of preventable mishaps before the crawl for life incident, it was probably from British bullheadedness and optimism, rather than stupidity. Simpson's redeamable qualities, of course, are that he is a good writer and he's not from Colorado.
People do make the same argument made about Joe Simpson.
it's interesting to note that simpson seems to have enduring popularity in the outdoor community (good storytelling) and Ralston's major popularity is with the "general public"
Maybe you should talk to the French/German/Italians/Swiss/Slovenes.... the ones who actually live in the mountains.
I'm sure they'll lose money on the whole $100 or whatever it took to develop it.
There's this amazing thing called "culture" there. You know, art, museums, interesting people. The shit Seattle pretends it has and the trustafarians in Boulder are fleeing.