RafalA

Cool, thanks for the report. Nothing I haven't heard about, though!

Not sure why you guys are bushwhacking in double boots to begin with... "For what those boots cost they should be able to withstand one day of bush wacking. If they can't then wtf good are they as a climbing boot?" I can only presume that they climb very well, though I don't have a pair so can't tell you for certian. If you want to bushwhack, go get yourself a pair of full-leather hunting boots. They'll survive many a day trudging through bush, but won't climb worth a damn. Match the product to the intended use. I don't use my 6000s on hikes, and neither do I use my Escape hikers when I go climbing...

I use the Phantom Guide all year round around the Rockies - high alpine in summer, ice and mixed all winter. They're a great boot: warm, comfortable, can hike all day long and climb exceedingly well. I don't know how cold I've had them, but it gets to -30 around here and haven't had any issues. For summer alpine with mostly rock I use the Rebel Carbon, but these are nowhere near warm enough for winter use. I've had them to -7 or so and standing around my feet did get cold. The climb mixed really well, though, but are not so great on ice where you have to kick for placements. I haven't used them climbing yet, but just got a pair of Phantom 6000s. Almost the same fit as the Guide, but significantly warmer. A touch bulkier, but the sole is the same size as my Guides, so not expecting too much difference in climbing performance. Also had the Mont Blanc and Freney GTX. Both much, much stiffer than the Guides and a very different fit. They're comparable in warmth, though not as warm as the Guides. The Mont Blanc feels like a rank - solid, as if you could kick them into anything. The Freney (now Jorasses) are pretty much ice-specific. Narrow, tight fit but a very solid frontpointing platform.

Sweet! Missed it last year, will have to check it out.

Nice dude! Looks like the Pencil is almost in?

The Ergo excels at overhanging drytooling, horizontal roofs and crazily featured ice. Not so much when things are below 90-degrees. The Nomic is an excellent all-around tool on everything from easy ice to hard mixed. You can even pound pins with them. I haven't used the Quark enough to comment. The Fusions are nice on rock, but their pick angle makes them literally bounce out of the ice. Mixed performance somewhere between the Nomic and Ergo. (i.e. better than one, worse than the other.) Cobras are great ice tools, and decent on moderate rock, but aren't aggressive enough for serious mixed. Imo, the Viper sucks at everything. Quantum Tech is another phenomenal ice tool that is decent on rock. Very light, though, and quite adept at piolet canne despite the large pinky pommel. It all really comes down to a) how many pairs you can/want to own and b) what your primary use is. If I were to have one pair of tools it'd be the Nomics with Ice picks and CT hammers.

Carabiners are by far the biggest place you can save weight. Also look at belay device, lockers, misc, etc. Then I'd replace nylon slings with dyneema ones. After that maybe lighter nuts? Cams are hard to save weight on. Performance is better than weight savings here. One of the new, lightweight helmets can shave quite a few grams off, as well.

How about the new Warthog 38L from Blue Ice? 38L & 890g http://www.blueice.com/products/en/26-warthog-38l.html I haven't seen one, but my 26L Warthog is one of the best climbing and carrying packs I've ever used (and I have used a CiloGear). It's burly, simple and light. My only complaint is the lack of an easy, quick attachment method for modern tools. The 38L looks just as good...

Within the BD line-up, the best compromise is actually the Spot, not the Storm. Spot: LED Type : 1 TriplePower, 4 SinglePower (2 white, 2 red) Lumens : 90 Max Distances : 70 m (TriplePower LED); 15 m (2 SinglePower LEDs) Max Burn Time : 50 hours= (TriplePower LED); 200 hours (SinglePower LEDs) Batteries : 3 AAA included Weight With Batteries : 90 g, 3.2 oz Storm: LED Type : 1 TriplePower, 4 SinglePower (2 white, 2 red) Lumens : 100 Max Distances : 70 m (TriplePower LED); 25 m (2 SinglePower LEDs) Max Burn Time : 50 H (TriplePower LED); 125 H (SinglePower LEDs) Batteries : 4 AAA Weight With Batteries : 110 g, 3.9 oz For 10 lumens less (hardly noticeable) you get 75hrs more burn time in low, same max distance and 20g less weight (very noticeable, especially on your head!). FWIW, I've got the Spot and the Icon, and love both for very different uses. The Spot is small, light, and comes with me everywhere. For serious climbs in darkness for long periods of time, the Icon is hard to beat with a crazy bright beam!

Thanks for the offer! Will definitely keep that in mind. Give me a shout anytime you're up this way... lots of stuff to climb around here!

Lots of goodness in this post, but this is totally worth highlighting. Getting a good deal on boots is only wise if you are sure the boots work for you. Zappos is ok, with free returns, but you can only wear them around the house. Backcountry and REI offer true 100% satisfaction guarantees. Man you guys in the US are lucky. Hard enough to even find a place up here that will order something not stocked by MEC, and no chance of returns on most of that!

Not to be annoying, but get the ones that fit best. Always. What you're looking for is a mid-insulated, full-shank boot with, preferably, toe and heel bails (fully automatic crampon compatible, in other words). From LS, your choices are: Batura, Nepal EVO, Trango Extreme EVO and Trango Prime. From Scarpa, you have: Phantom Guide, Mont Blanc, and the Jorasses Pro (or the Freney, if you can find one, the Jorasses is the new version). There are also options from Kayland, Lowa, Millet, Mammut, etc. The new-style gaitered boots (Batura, Phantom Guide) may be too warm for what you're planning to do, though they do tend to climb better than the more traditional leather options (Nepal, Mont Blanc). The more ice- and mixed- oriented boots (Trangos, Jorasses) seem to fit narrower and have more ankle flex, though often their sole is stiffer. The leather boots will (probably) last longer if you take care of them. Hope this helps!

There are some waterproof packs out there, all the others are just water resistant. For DWR, I'd try washing it with the same stuff as Gore-Tex jackets - the DWR renewal wash stuff. Otherwise, I'd probably wash it in the machine (in a large cloth bag to prevent the straps from tangling) with some mild detergent. Or, you could always write Arcteryx and see what they recommend...

Scarpa Rebel GTX - walk like a stiff trail runner, climb like a clunky rock shoe. Comfortable and light.

+1 for it being absolutely awesome ...and another note that it's sold out. Our shop won't be getting any 'til Fall.

Mt. Blanc is as insulated as Nepal. Actually, can't think of a boot with front toe-welt that isn't insulated. Pretty much everything meant for alpine rock has a flush toe box and sole for better edging performance. See if you can scare up some of the new Petzl rubber toe bails that slot into full-auto crampons.

Instead of a chest harness, I would suggest a more comfortable harness with more gear loops (if you want to rack on the harness). I have the Arcteryx B360a and it is awesome for carrying shitloads of gear. I can, and have, fit a giant alpine rack on it with room to spare: it has six gear loops, plus room for at least 4 screw racking biners. The wide swami is super-comfy and because it's so big, it is very supportive and doesn't slide off my hips when loaded down. FWIW, giant alpine rack is something to the order of double set of nuts, 12-14 cams, a few pitons, 8-12 screws, 12-14 draws, hammer, pair of ice tools, etc. You're not carrying that much gear, by my count: 4x nut biners, 1x hex biner, 9x cam on biner + usual runners and loose biners. That should easily fit on any regular harness with 4 loops.

I've used the CAMP Lift and it's internal mechanism is virtually identical to the Ushba. They both slide up and down equally well and lock as soon as there's a load. Both can be used as a makeshift belay device as well, though they are hard to unlock once heavily loaded.

First, what's your intended use? Sport, trad, alpine, ice? Do you have large hands that'll make small biners seem even smaller? I have a set of 10 (or is it 12?) cheapo BD draws that I use exclusively for sport climbing. Clipping and falling on bolts is hard on biners, and for sport I don't care about weight. A mix of 12cm and 16cm lengths. Otherwise, I have primarily WC Astro's for trad / alpine / screamer draws to use for trad, alpine and ice.

As others have posted, Scarpa tends to fit wider, Sportiva narrower. But even within their lines there are differences... The Mont Blanc is a general mountaineering boot with a leather upper. I have a pair and love them - tough, warm and dextrous enough for ice climbing. The Jorasses Pro is designed as an ice climbing boot. It fits narrower than the MB, has a synthetic upper making it more supple and flexible, and is about equal in warmth. If you want a winter and ice climbing boot, the Jorasses will suit you better provided it fits. The MB is better for year-round use, though it is a bit too warm for low-elevation climbing in summer.

I've given up trying to ski in mountaineering boots, and am now just planning to use the AT gear for any ski approaches... much, much more comfortable both up and down. I know that doesn't help you with the Kong skis but that's just my experience.

Ok, so I got it to work. Not sure what I was doing wrong before, but it's all working now - thanks! Maybe just needed to restart the browser :-) Now time to weigh all my gear you don't have in the database!

DMM Phantom for color-coding cams. WC Astros for draws. Petzl Ange S for gloves, water bottle, etc. Camp Nano 23 for knife, cord, etc. All the ones I have are true to manufacturer weight spec, too!

Hm, perhaps my browser is not allowing me to update the 'amounts' - I figured this is what that box is for, but whenever I enter a value it doesn't 'save' into the form. With regards to jackets, yes, I meant that I carry two insulated jackets with me, i.e. the Atom LT Pullover as a mid-layer and the Kappa Hoody as a belay jacket (for the day ice climbing pack). Hope this explains my comments!

The amount input for carabiners, quickdraws, etc. doesn't work...