JH60

Thanks guys. In theory I'm most concerned about the boots because the Trangos have a kevlar outer layer that I'm sure lets dust through, especially if carried by wash water, where it could then just rub against the membrane layer in the gore tex liner. In practice, the Trangos are three years old and have enough wear that they are just a few trips away from the dumpster. The Bibler tent is only a couple of years old, however, and at that price it better last more than another couple seasons (though I'm not counting on getting the 20+ yrs I got out of my old TNF VE25).

Did a late season climb of Mt. Shasta last weekend, including a dry, windy and dusty night at Helen Lake. As I was packing up my campsite on the way out monday I noticed that my gear had an unusually heavy amount of volcanic rock dust. I don't normally fret too much about post climb gear cleanup, and don't like to wash technical gear unnecessarily to avoid damage to special coatings. But it occured to me that fine volcanic dust is used commercially as an abrasive and can't be good if allowed to remain in the expensive "Todd Tex" walls of my tent (Bibler iTent) or boots I used (LS Trangos) or other Gore Tex stuff. Do other take special care to clean gear when it's exposed to a heavy layer of fine volcanic rock dust, and if so do you do anything beyond just washing it with water and/or shaking off the dust?

Thanks for the tip. I'll try that.

Yes, and I've tried putting the tongue inserts in several different places on the tongue, but perhaps I need to keep fiddling with that.

I've been trying to get La Sportiva Nepal Evos to fit me well and so far have had some problems, and wonder if anyone here can suggest something I haven't thought of or tried already. I know the usual answer is to try other boots, but of the ones in the insulated leather mountaineering category I have tried so far (Scarpa Cumbres, LS Nepals, Lowa Mountain Experts) the Nepals fit the best. I was also leaning towards Nepals as they are supposedly good for my type of feet (fairly low volume and narrow). Also, my LS Trangos fit well, though I know they're a different last, and I'm looking for something warmer and more durable than Trangos, but more flexible and comfortable than my plastics, for water ice and alpine climbing. My problem is that the 43.5 Nepals are really warm and comfortable, and I wore them for an entire season (including up Rainier Liberty Ridge, some alpine ice couloirs in the Sierra, several days of snowshowing, and a week's worth of WI climbing) and broke them in well, but despite trying superfeet and custom molded Sole footbeds, and various lacing techniques, I still beat up my toes and lost toenails on long descents and on several WI climbs. I got rid of the 43.5s and bought a pair of 44s, but now, regardless of the insoles I use and lacing technques I try, I get enough heel lift that I get blisters after just a few miles of walking, and have reproduced this experience perhaps a half dozen times in my attempts to break them in. Duct tape on my heels helps for a little while but just delays the inevitable onset of blisters, and gets sticky crap all over my socks. Should I keep suffering and figure either my heels or the boots will break in eventually, or is it time to forget the Nepals and try some lesser known brands? Or is there some way to rescue the Nepals that I haven't thought of? I haven't had this kind of heel blistering with other boots I own (LS Trango, Asolo hikers, old leather Scarpa mountain boots, now retired, and Scarpa Omega plastic). Thanks in advance for any advice.

I have the GSI and have used it for years. I originally scoffed at it when I saw it at REI, but when I got it as a Christmas gift and actually tried it in the field, I discovered it makes really good coffee. The biggest problem I've had with it (other than the issues already noted in the thread about relative efficiency in use of coffee, the need to cool it if you're making cofee for more than one person, and the risk of damaging the gasket through overheating) is that it's difficult to get it to sit properly on my Whisperlite stove since the base is small, so I usually have to hold it while it's brewing. I now mostly take it on short backpacking or car camping trips where my espresso-loving girlfriend joins me. I have started taking instant on trips where weight and brew complexity and clean up is more of is a concern, and have made up for the relative lack of caffeine in the latter by packing some 200 mg caffeine tablets (yes, I know, drug addiction is a sad thing).