tradhead

Gotta disagree on the Platypus. Had a couple of them, none of them lasted long before they started leaking. The final straw for me was having a brand new 100 oz bladder (exact same model as your top pick) blow a leak on the approach to Prusik. I had used for it a sum total of four hours when it started leaking. I think that the Platypus plastic is brittle and cracks way too easily for my taste. Obviously, opinions differ.

(Poorly) sewing the hole shut using upolstery thread, liberal application of seam grip all around, then duct tape on both sides is my usual preference. Sail repair tape from West Marine is as good as K-tape but much cheaper on a unit basis if you use much, but duct tape is plenty stout for most repairs although not quite as polished looking. Make sure that you cut the duct/sail repair/K-tape into an elliptical or better yet round shape before applying it to the repair as it will stay adhered much better that way. Sharp corners make for points where the patch will preferentially delaminate over time. Another coat of seam grip on the outside patch can be useful to further reinforce repairs in high wear areas. If the hole is only 1/4" long, a couple of stitches with strong thread with a bunch of seam grip on top should be more than sufficient.

I found some gear hanging on the tree at the base of Prime Rib this weekend. Describe it and I'll figure out how to get it back to you.

Regarding the incident from the ANAM with the woman and the gear sling, I had a scary thing happen last year that could have ended up similarly. I've historically used a gear sling for trad routes for faster change-over between pitches, but have over the last few years tried to wean myself from the habit owing to objections from partners. Anyway, last spring I was leading with a gear sling on my right shoulder and took a leader fall. As I fell, a cam from the rack got hung up in the sling on the next piece below the one that I fell on and the gear sling came taut around my shoulder and neck at the same time as the rope caught me. Thankfully for the timing of everything I only got a sore neck but could see how the gear sling (and over the shoulder single runners to a lesser degree) are a potential safety liability that could have killed me that day! I am now torn on the merits vs. risks of a gear sling. If I am pushing my lead limit I will likely no longer use one, but if the risk of falling is low the convenience still seems like it outweights the risk. I may change my mind after more time to reflect on the experience described above but that's where I'm at right now...YMMV.

Tried it once with a brand new non-dry treated rope. Very messy in the washing mashine (lots of residue); not worth the expense IMO but YMMV.

Sent you a PM.

Rumr - Agreed that ductile is good. A low strength, brittle bolt would be worse. My thought with mentioning ductility is that for me it is frustrating when you try to torque a 300 series stainless bolt and it just stretches instead of pulling up tight under the desired preload. Also to the point on the size of the bolt, it's true that anything over 1/4" in chrome-moly is overkill. I was trying to provide a comparison of relative tensile strengths for 300 series stainless vs. chrome-moly steel bolts and didn't really consider the specific loads involved for the roof rack application. Sorry for sending the wrong message.

I'm an engineer not a metallurgist but - most cheap stainless fasteners are not hardened and are very ductile. That being said, if they are big enough, they can still work. I'd need to run some numbers to confirm but as a minimum I would go up one standard diameter size (i.e. 3/8" to 1/2") if using stainless instead of hardened chrome-moly fasteners. YMMV...

I have heard several stories from acquaintances that had not skied in 10-15 years, where their ski boot shells catastrophically exploded on their first or second run out. I'm not sure how the plastic in ice climbing boots compares to ski boots but be forewarned...

Possibly iffy weather, likely cold and some snow. Tried to go at the end of March several years back and couldn't get there from SLC. Multiple storms in a row capped by 3 feet of snow on I-70 east of Green River at the end of my trip. Snowboarded in SLC instead and went to Red Rocks for a few days. April and October are your best bets in my experience.

R squared of 0.28 is a pretty poor curve fit. It's hard for me to draw any conclusion from the second graph other than that there is a wide variation in strength between ice screw placements.

Went sport climbing at the Coulee today. Looked at Frenchmans and Fugs Falls which are both not anywhere close to climbable. I realize that it is early in the ice season, but wanted to pass the info on to save people the trip if they were wondering if any of this stuff is in yet. Here's a photo of Fugs Falls: I don't have any pictures of Frenchman's Falls as I was driving, but suffice it to say that it was running strong. We did see a huge porcupine on the road by the falls; pretty cool.

Dan, I would worry about a rivet lobotomy in a frontal impact, especially with the Meteor. Maybe some stronger glue would be in order? Niquid nails and expoy are both very good depending on the application. If the curvature of the hemet is an issue, I'd grind the Multimount to fit or use plumber's putty.

Chris, I could be wrong, but it is my understanding that polyethelene/Spectra fibers have significantly better UV resistance than nylon. See the graph in this article from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailcloth Note that the graph shows UV resistance, so a higher value equates to better performance. My biggest concern with using Spectra slings is that it has much greater specific stiffness than nylon and essentially no permanent stretch at failure. This equates to less energy storage and way less energy absorbtion capacity than nylon, so Spectra slings can generate dangerously high loads if shockloaded with minimal or no rope in the system. This is an issue for anchor material and potentially slings on the first piece after the anchor. I believe that several companies including DMM have studied this issue of late. If I'm using a spectra sling as the primary anchor material, I always try to incorporate the rope independently for redundancy in case the anchor gets shock loaded for some reason. Just my 2 cents, YMMV.

Probably better off using a plumbing copper tubing cutter than a hack saw if given the choice; I've cut two cracked poles off this way and it works very well. ALso, possibly easier to cut the expansion joint with a die grinder or angle grinder? I'm pretty sure this only applies to flicklock poles - I've only repaired the kind with the plastic wedge mechanism, which I glued in place afterward in the now-shortened pole with JB weld. Given how the plastic end was only staked in place originally, I figure my repair is stronger than new and hasn't failed on me after much use (so far anyway...)

Royal Columns at Tieton has good climbing at a variety of grades. Smoke bluffs at Squamish...

Mark - Pretty sure that steady-state heat transfer is not a function of specific gravity of the materials under evaluation. Checking Matweb the 11X ratio on thermal conductivity seems reasonable. (Not sure about the delta T associated with the thermal condctivity values from Matweb but will verify the trend at work tomorrow.)

I would substitute E. Buttress of Middle Cathedral for Royal Arches or Nutcracker. Much longer then Nutcracker and much more sustained than Royal Arches. A Fifty Classic so it will be crowded but so are most/all moderates in the Valley...

I have nothing but great things to say about Ramuta's work. Timely, fair prices, and imppecable workmanship. As RUMR said, a freshly resoled pair of broken-in shoes from Ramuta are better than a new pair at significantly less cost. As another plus, his resoles are bomber - I've never had one delam unlike the other guy in Fremont (Dave XXXX) where delams were a constant issue and often very severe the few times that I used him...

+1

Is the shaft made from mandrel wound carbon fiber or some knock-off? Some things sold as carbon fiber in the outdoor industry are really black plastic or fiberglass. (North Face pack stays come to mind...) For the asking price it seems unlikely to me that it would be the real thing.

Don't know specifically because 16 x 20 is too big for a small, low set-up cost digital press. As a point of reference, 500 qty of 11 x 17 4 color one side glossy 20# is $340 ($0.68/ea - depending on lead-time) at a local printer. I'll do some research on 16 x 20 or the closest economical size. Are you anticipating ordering 100 or less? If so, toner is probably the best bet.

Porter - I'm interested in ordering at least one. The wife works in printing so she may be able to hook up a deal if you get enough orders to justify printing them offset (will offer better quality than toner if cost effective based upon order quantity.)

I would imagine that you could drill holes in strategic locations in the thin wall hexes and not significantly affect their strength. Look at the difference in weight between the current camalots and the last generation; partially realized due to greater lightening of the cam lobes. To do so safely would require analytical tools not available to most.

Here's the one we used: http://alpinelines.blogspot.com/2008/10/wa-pass-wine-spires-paisano-pinnacle.html Note that the topo is spot on in most regards but the noted pitch lengths generally did not jive with our belay locations for whatever reason. Also, we felt that the pitch after the crux was a bit run-out with poor rock at its most difficult point so be forewarned. You can find a few TR's on cc.com if you sniff around.