RafalA

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...

Friday bump. Make me some offers!

All items best offer, I'd rather sell to someone who'll use it than keep the shelves in my garage full. Pics will be put up shortly, or message me for high-res versions. US or CDN dollars, doesn't matter which to me, and I can take PayPal. PM or post here, or e-mail rafal dot a at gmail dot com. Everything located in Canmore, AB so can be picked up in the area if you're passing through, or shipped at cost. Scarpa Mont Blanc GTX sz. 44 / 10.5 - used but not abused - $250 Arcteryx Zenta LT gloves, Men’s size Medium - worn a few times skiing last winter, decided to get gauntlet version, look like new - $100 BD Punisher gloves, size Medium - brand new, never used - $50 Petzl Belay gloves, size Medium - used a few times, show no wear - $20 BD Alpine Carbon Cork trekking poles - the usual scratches from scree, no cracks, bit of cork missing out of one grip, come with snow and regular baskets - $75 BD Blaze pack - used a few times, like new, very cool pack, awesome features, doesn’t sit well on my shoulders - $40 MEC Genie 30 DSL pack - a few straps cut off here and there, inside back panel has a few holes that don’t actually affect anything, just cosmetic, I have too many packs and prefer my Arcteryx’es - $25 BD C4 #1 (red) - brand new, never used, comes with matching Neutrino, won’t sell for less - $40 SOLD BD Flex Center Stainless crampon bars - brand new, never used, ordered a set but turns out the crampons I ordered already came with a pair of these - $10 Yates Screamers, the standard ones - two years old, never deployed (obviously) - $10 each (have two) SOLD DMM / WC dogbones, dyneema, 10cm - brand new, never used, just took the biners off ‘em - $5 each (2 black, 2 red, 2 orange) Integral Designs Vapor Barrier Liner socks, size Medium - brand new, never out of package - $10 BD Ice Clipper - lightly used - $5 Simond Ice Screw / Gear Rack, the solid gate version - used - $15 Buck Redpoint knife, blue - scratched to hell from hanging off my harness for a year but it'll open even when iced up with some help from an ice tool pick, replaced with smaller knife - $20 Petzl crampon pouch - generic, not used - $10 Osprey Hydraform 2L / 70oz reservoir - used a few times but then I discovered the rigid design doesn’t fit into my pack’s top pocket, got a CamelBak instead - $20 Thanks for taking a look!

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.

Used for two seasons of ice and a few alpine trips. Awesome boots, still in great shape - just the usual wear and scratch marks from scree. New laces. $300 obo PM here or email rafal dot a at gmail dot com

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...

More: ropes show up in 1M lengths, showing only weight g/m.

One more thing: would be great to create your own 'database' within the database, so that I can just have a separate collection of everything I own, then just select the items into a 'pack' that I'm actually taking with me on a given trip.

Very cool idea. Guess I'll need to actually weigh all my stuff now! As others have pointed out, I'd like to see (more) user-verified weights. Also, it would be cool to have editable and multi-category tags, and be able to select multiple items. For example, the Arc Atom LT / SV / Kappa Hoody are listed under insulated jackets, so I can only select one. I typically take two of these with me, so one is left out from the calculator. Finally, and I can't quite sort this out, what is your end goal for this site? How will you maintain it? Ads? Membership fees? Keep us posted on the progress!

This is starting to sound like the fitness vs technique debate on Dane's blog. Yes, it can be done in wool and corduroys. But, also, yes, it will be more fun with the best there is. I've done both. I used to be a poor student with no money who used the cheapest gear I could find. I did some crazy shit back then. I still have the ex-military wool pants and boots, probably a sweater kicking around somewhere. Now I've got the latest and greatest, and it's just plain more fun. I don't get wet, sweaty or overheated. I don't worry about my clothing too much, as it just plain works. Wet snow, dry snow, wet ice, dry ice, I wear the same system of softshell and hardshell. I've a friend who's very 'Maritimes' - i.e. pretty damn old school. He prefers his wool sweater to a fleece / softshell top for climbing in, most of the time. Yet the pair of Arcteryx softshell pants he bought on my recommendation is, in his words, "the best $200 I've spent this season on climbing gear" (this was before he upgraded to Nomics, though). Buy the best you can afford (look for deals, though!). You won't regret it (probably).