shoo

That, and the fact that he's a muppet.

Gonna shamelessly bump here. Took a bit of a break, and now we're back. W00t.

Glad at least one person liked it! Was certainly fun doing a collab w/ pegatron illustrating. Speaking of which, worth noting that pegatron, illustrator of the Masterbelayting, Asshole blogging, and PASSGAS posts, has never done comics nor had any of her drawings in public before AC.com. She's kicking ass so far, no? Also helps us out a TON if people leave comments on the site, whether you love it, hate it, love to hate it, whatever. The more feedback we get, the better posts we put up. And to sobo, have no doubt that both dogs and ghettoblasters will both be hated on.

Ha! I take it all back and buying a fig. 8 immediately. Glad y'all are enjoying the site, as we're enjoying making it. Any feedback is helpful if you have it. What kinds of posts do you like, what kinds not so much?

Which belay technique were you using, new or old? There has been a lot of discussion suggesting that the GG2 works beautifully with the new technique, but sucks using the old.

In switching back and forth from mono to dual point, I lost one of the little spacers necessary for mono mode. Of course, no one sells replacement spacers anywhere around here. Anyone know if this is a part I can just happen to find at a large chain hardware store, or am I going to have to order direct from BD?

I recently drilled holes in a pair of BD ice picks to add the petzl head weights to these. I can get pictures here, as well as bit sizes (i used cobalt) eventually if anyone is curious about doing the same. The swing changes substantially, but the jury is still out if it's significantly better than stock changed to the ice instead of mixed pick or not. There is definitely more momentum in the pick, so the thing sinks hard. Overall, makes the tools pretty damn heavy. It'll be a question of whether the added weight increases the chances of a one swing stick or not. Can't tell for sure yet. It really doesn't do much towards making the tool swing more like a nomic, in my opinion.

Hi Dane (or anyone else who has done this) I'm currently drilling out a pair of 2010 BD ice picks to add the petzl head weights to them. A couple of questions for those who know more about this than I do 1) Is this is a bad idea? Will the act of drilling this out weaken the pick sufficiently either by ruining the temper or just by having holes to risk it breaking at the head weight? 2) What size bits did you use to drill the two holes? 3) Any general tips for getting this done? I've never drilled steel before. I am planning on using a drill press w/ cobalt bits, oiling it down, clamping the pick to the table, and going very, very slow.

Anyone know if they're shipping with some steel epoxy and release solution? I can't imagine that many people just have that stuff lying around (I certainly don't), nor could it be that cheap.

I understand that. However, if they keep doing what they've done previously and delay tool shipping until middle of the season, you have a conundrum. For those of us with only one pair of tools, we'd have to ship them off to Petzl, wait for them to process it, and wait for them to ship the new ones back. This isn't an issue if Petzl actually gets their tools out on time, but could be an issue if they are delayed again until the ice season starts. Edited to add, Sorry, the above sounds a lot harsher than I intended. Petzl's doing the right thing here given the circumstances, and I applaud them for it. I have no doubt they'll do their best to make their customers happy.

To add to that, the warranty return at the end of the year is a little iffy. Petzl hasn't exactly been on top of their game with regards to getting out gear within their expected time frames. This version was scheduled to be released in the US in August 2010. By my last update, they were scheduled for Jan 2011, right in the middle of the ice season. Who knows if this will further delay delivery. I, for one, don't particularly want to blow 2-3 weeks of next year's season sending my tools back to Petzl and waiting for them to come in. If they actually have tools ready in August, that would be great, but I'm skeptical. Cross-posted on mountain project

Pretty happy they addressed this in such a short time. However, does anyone actually see the solution they propose? If it's a pommel modification, I was hoping they'd provide extra pommels so that you can change the size if desired for this season.

Holy crap! Most of their tools have built in belay and rigging plates! I really don't know what to think about that. It's definitely innovative, but questionably useful? Jaw. Dropped.

Absolutely. Honestly, the e+lite is the one piece of kit that I believe every single climber should own. It's VERY bright, super reliable, weighs virtually nothing, takes up almost no room in a pack, and not all that expensive. There just isn't anything out there that competes. I have 2. One stays in my cragging pack, the other in my little on-the-climb pack. These have saved my and partner's ass on multiple occasions. I change the batteries either once a year or when I think I've been using it too much. I've never had it go dead on me, so I can't tell you what that point is.

Why exactly didn't you just glue it on? That would seem simpler and far safer.

I just put in an order for these tools. I actually may get a chance to do a side-by-side BD Fusion vs. Petzl Nomic review this winter, which would be pretty sweet.

Can't speak specifically for the neo air, but I've used the repair kit on my regular style thermarests with great results. The tub trick works wonders for finding those tiny leaks, and the repair kit does it's job admirably. I agree with the above poster in that you may have another hidden hole somewhere, assuming you patched your thermarest effectively alreeady.

My instinct would say a peak force reducing plate of some kind, similar to a Kong Kisa (http://storrick.cnchost.com/VerticalDevicesPage/MiscDevices.shtml) That screw is a bit odd, though.

Hi Dane, I love the stuff you're doing with the ice tool mods. The one thing I would criticize concerning your nomic hammer mod vs. the new nomic hammer is the strike angle. The CT hammer is exactly perpendicular to the shaft near the head, which would make the strike angle strange. That may be necessary due to the hammer being flat against the head, probably to reduce changes in swing due to the extra hammer weight. The Petzl hammer, however, is at an angle closer to the shaft at the handle. I suspect that will make it strike flatter. The obvious cost for doing so is bringing the hammer further out from the head, changing the swing of the nomic. Food for thought.

Out of curiosity, how much to the nomic head weights change the swing of the fusions? I am considering frankentooling the BD picks to take the headweights.