Jon H

Heading up to the Canadian Rockies/Canmore area later this winter for my first visit to the area. Objectives are long alpine routes up to WI5/M7. And Polar Circus. Just because. Is the new Brent Peters book adequate? Should I try and find a (relatively) fairly priced Josephson 4th ed? Thanks all!

I think you got your front-back description crossed? Anyway, to add the "universal" heel will be problematic. The plastic cuff is riveted directly to the steel crampon heel. I doubt that the part you're looking for is even available for new purchase. You can try Liberty or you can also try The Mountaineer in Keene NY. They have been longstanding Grivel distributors and keep a very well stocked parts bin. Other option is to buy a full replacement heel. That way you can swap between crampon styles without buying a full set of new 'pons.

I can promise you this - you're gonna be miserable trying to ski in your Phantom 6000 boots. If the glacier gets any steeper than about 8 degrees (the pitch of the gentlest bunny slopes), you're gonna have a really bad time. My partner and I both took Phantom Guides and Silvrettas to Chamonix just to tool around on the glacier and approach climbs. It was an unmitigated disaster and nearly ruined our trip. And we weren't even trying to ski with sleds. Just daypacks.

Great story. I love tales of adversity overcome by teamwork in the mountains.

JCA - thanks for posting these great historical reports.

I'll say it now - any belay technique with the brake hand in a "palm up" position is downright terrible. It doesn't matter whether you're using an ATC, Grigri, Cinch, Smart, or any other device I can think of* - turn your damn brake hand palm down and belay. *(One minor exception - the relatively rare AlpineUp, when used to belay leader on double ropes, is probably better with a palms up technique. That's the only exception to the rule that I'm aware of.)

Jace asked for comments on strap configuration, not for everyone to shit on his new purchase. That's like telling your buddy that his new girlfriend is fat. Why be a dick unnecessarily?

8 pages worth of discussion on MP: http://mountainproject.com/v/edelrid-mega-jul/108052298 Long story short: Many people like it, some don't like it, everyone agrees it's not perfect. It belays a leader or toproper very well. It can be a bit jerky until you dial in the technique though, especially on rappel. You can flip it around to a plain tuber configuration (eg non locking) for rapping, but it's still nowhere near as smooth as an ATC. A couple people reported that the wire loop popped out from the device mid-rappel - not a true safety issue per se, but enormously inconvenient, and could escalate to be a safety issue in the face of objective danger, etc. I have one. I use it occasionally. It's sitting there in a bin with my Cinch, GriGri, and Alpine Smart. None of them have managed to replace my trusty ATC Guide - they all have a tradeoff that usually makes them less desirable in one (or more) performance categories. I use my Cinch for single pitch sport, and the plain old ATC for everything else (trad, multipitch, ice, alpine, mountaineering, etc).

What a wild TR. I love historical recollections. Please continue to post!

Sick TR. Thanks for posting! Makes me want to get back to Cham pronto.

The BD pick issue is mostly historical. I haven't seen any new reports of picks breaking in several years. Further, they've done a fantastic job of listening to users - the newest Laser picks don't need any tuning, they've really got the tooth profile right now. Quarks seem like the better option for what you're doing. Keep in mind their performance on mixed is so-so. You would probably be better served with Nomics (but poor performance on Lib Ridge) or something like the Cassin X-All Mountain which should tick all your requirements nicely, not to mention very affordable.

Any time you can clean your anchor pins by hand is a good time to reconsider your objective for the day.

I've also used BD heel levers on my Darts with no problems to speak of, even on some hard mixed with monopoint torquing.

Great video, thanks for posting it up. Really enjoyed the music and of course, the climbing.

Great video. The approach segments brought back memories from last summer when my partner and I took a shot at Liberty Crack. Hoping to do the Thin Red Line one day.... just gotta do a "couple" more hangboard sessions first

I'm flying in to Seattle on Sunday and landing at 10:45AM and fly out on Tuesday morning around 7:30AM. I have a meeting downtown at the Capital on Monday from 10AM - noon but I'm free other than that. What should I do with my free time? Is that realistically enough time on Sunday to make it out to Index or should I just be content with a session at SBP? What's worth seeing/doing/eating? Want to do it with me? Want to let me surf your couch? I've climbed and stayed with a bunch of CC fellas who I'm sure would all vouch for me being a stand up guy, solid partner, and respectful house guest.

I did the exact same thing last summer.... Went to to Index, aided City Park. The first 30' are a bolt ladder so you get used to standing in aiders, then move into tiny nut placements once you hit the "business." Tiny offset brassies will be your best friend here. About 1/2 way up the first pitch you can bail off to the left and hit some bolted anchors on another climb and bail if necessary. It took me 90 minutes to reach those anchors (maybe 50'?) on my first attempt. Sooooo slooooooooooooowwwww. Hopefully you manage better. After running up that a second time, we went out to Washington Pass the next day to attempt Liberty Crack. Last year in August the snow pack at the base was pretty treacherous and still quite long - Microspikes would have been REAL nice to have. We sorta crawled our way up using nut tools... pretty sketchy. Watch all the Supertopo videos on "Learn to Aid Climb" first. Make sure to save some daylight to find the rap slings off the summit of the Liberty Bell... they're around a small shrub down the left side off the summit. A small, exposed downscramble is required. Good luck! EDIT - If you happen to find a small point-and-shoot camera on the approach in the talus below the Bell, please let me know. I'd really love to get the pictures off that card.

OK, let's clear up a couple things... The Baruntse stock liner IS heat-moldable (AKA "baking") and you will get the best fit and results if you do bake it If you are planning on using an aftermarket footbed (and you should), then remove the stock footbed, insert your Superfeet, then insert both into the outerboot Superfeet does make a specific model that is heat-moldable, however you will not harm a regular blue/green footbed by baking it If you plan on baking your liner, I would STRONGLY recommend that you get it professionally done if you've never seen the process before. It's way too easy to screw up. You need toe caps and other specialty items.

I have a pair of Sidelock Darts that I would really like to convert to the normal Heel Lock style crampon. I can't get a good fit at all on my Phantom Guides. What are my best options? I haven't been able to find Petzl heels or heel levers for sale independently. Anyone have any ideas? It appears that the SideLock has been discontinued by Petzl. Anyone know why? Safety or it just (understandably) sold poorly?

Nope, the cave has a bunch of fixed pins and tat for an anchor. There used to be a smaller cave at the same height, but to left of the huge cave. That smaller cave collapsed some years ago - I seem to recall hearing something about there being bolts there.

Plenty of stores have the old Quark Cascade pick (best production ice pick ever made, according to a couple people on this forum) in stock. I know just off the top of my head that EMS.com has them and there are several others as well. Asking the same old MSRP of $50 IIRC. They run 20% sales pretty frequently. I suspect that they'll be running a good sale (I suspect 20-25%) within 2 weeks as Christmas gets closer. Just sign up for their e-mail list. Further, if you also sign up at EMS rewards and answer 5-6 simple questions, they will also e-mail you a $5 coupon code right away. You could be out the door for about $70 shipped to your house for 2 picks.

Mammut Moses or the new BD Oz ("hoodwire") are great replacements for the old Nano biners. They are both full size, easy to clip, and extremely light. The Oz has the added bonus of having a keylock nose for non-snag goodness.

I have a similar foot - long, low volume, fairly high arch, and laughably narrow heels. All my heel-lift problems were instantly fixed with a pair of Scarpa Phantom Guides. I have green Superfeet in them too, but I'm not sure it even makes a difference. Before getting the Guides I had owned (and hated): LS Nepal EVO, LS Trango Prime, LS Nuptse, Kayland M11, Mad Rock Alpinist (ugh), and Koflach Degre. I had horrendous heel lift in all of them except surprisingly the Mad Rock, but they left me in such crippling pain (just shitty boots) that I got rid of them after 3-4 climbing days.

+1 Listen to this guy

A camera dropped out of my partner's pack on the approach to Liberty Crack. Most likely it's in the talus field at the base of Liberty Bell. While in all likelihood the camera is gone forever, we would certainly appreciate the camera's (and more specifically, the SD card's) return if found. It is a blue Fujifilm point and shoot. It contains photos from a 3 month road trip from CO - WY - MT - AK - WA - BC and more. Long trip, lots of photos. A safe return would be great. Thanks!