its MR.gumby 2u

thanks for your posts, guys. being a single wall, i'd expect some condensation, but i was concerned that it might be constant and major, as was my very old s.d. single wall tent. it sounds like it's a managable amount, so i'm thinking i'll pick one up. thanks again, phil

bumping this up one time as i'll be heading to the states in a couple more weeks and am still looking for some imput re: condensation issues before buying.

i've been using using a previous version of yours, ve23 or 24 or something for 15 years or so and still going strong. if it's just you & your buddy, i don't see any reason to "upgrade". still, if you must, you could do worse than these price point tents: for your kids' backyard camping, one-up your neighbors w/ one of these tnf dome more seriously, if you're considing a basecamp tent basecamp tent for your hanging belay bivies, only $50,000 hanging bivy for that ultra-extreme pitch

this one is just too deep for me

that's MR.Gumby indeed 2u.

i'm actually from the land of quahogs. i'm planning a climbing roadtrip out west.

titanium certainly sounds like the way to go, but are those russian ones the ones with the little pop-up knobs for speedy screwing? speed screwing sounds good to me. also, does titanium work on bare rock? could i bolt my next route in the time it takes to pitch my tent??

how much rail would i have to tear up to collect 120 spikes? the main problem i see with this is that i'd have to stop a lot earlier than usual to pitch camp. once gathered, do you carry the spikes with you, or do "real ballers" collect them every evening?

oh, i am so with you on this. if i cook my first night's dinner directly on the dome as it's cooling, i'll not only be able to save carrying 2 or 3 oz's of fuel, but be able to warm up my sleeping bag before crawling in. additionally, if i use it this january, the dome should melt down through the snowpack to terra firma where the ambient temp should be hovering around 32ﾟ. oh, i'll enjoy a quiet chuckle while everyone else is freezing their keester off.

but slightly more seriously, i'll be holding onto a handful of the better ones as well as the snow stakes, but the remaining 90 or so are more than i can use for beef brochettes. any ideas?

heehe. seems to be catchy

heehee again

it depends on how many of my women friends are coming along.

i'm planning on climbing mt. winniethepooh in illinois. i have 120 tent pegs. would these be enough? if not, would 4 trekking poles, 4 pickets, 3 ice axes and a couple of ice tools be enough of a supplement for any conditions i might encounter. i want to be prepared, cause i hear those who aren't prepared for the unexpected are those who die. thanks in advance, its MR.gumby 2u

"if accurate" is the key word. 9oz for a full-sized R4 rated pad would beat anything else on the market and leave them in the dust. and this is PO's "budget concious" offering for beginners. beats their own best high-tech inflatable warmth-to-weightwise by maybe 50%. too good to be true

Closed cell sleeping pad evaluation chart pad..................................R value...weight.....size Therm-a-Rest Ridge Rest Solar....3.5.....540g....183 x 51 x 2 cm Therm a Rest Ridge Rest SOLite..2.8.....400g....183 x51 x 1.5cm Therm a Rest Z Lite.................2.2.....410g....183 x51 x 2 cm Zotefoams Evazote Winter.........2.1.....525g....150 x50x 1.5 cm Zotefoams Evazote Extra...........2.1.....775g....185 x 60x 1.5cm Zotefoams Evazote Standard.......1.6.....350g....150 x 50 x 1 cm Zotefoams Blue Foam Regular......1.4.....220g....140 x50 x 1 c m Zotefoams Blue Foam Long.........1.4.....275g....190 x 50 x 1 cm Exped MultiMat.......................0.9.....340g....201 x 99 x 0.32 A few points stand out. The ThermaRest products are the clear winners as far as warmth-for-weight. The SOlite beats everything hands down, being better than 27% warmer than the z-lite even though slightly lighter. The Solar is 25% warmer than the solite, but 35% heavier.. Also, the much denigrated blue foam is not as warm as the thermarest products, but easily edges out the evazote, which surprised me. The evazote had reminded me of my old ensolite pad, and i dutifully carried the evazote winter on many an outing which didn’t entail carrying too much climbing gear. With a lot of gear, i’d bring my lighter ridgerest. Everyone raves about the evazote, so of course if i slept warmly, it was thanks to the pad, but if I slept coldly on the ridgerest, it was the pad’s fault. The numbers seem to point in another direction, though. And of course I’ve never bothered to note the actual temperature. hmm. the evazotes are dense. maybe too dense, like lead. Also, note that the zotefoams, for all their weight, don’t keep you covered lengthwise very well. If you’re loathe to carry one of the new lightweight, compact inflatables in conjunction with a torso length foam pad, then 1 full & 1 half length pad will get you through most any night. This last winter & spring, I’ve slept very well with just 1 ridge rest solar. 1 solite and a half-length of blue foam would be warmer for around the same weight, but at the expense of more bulk. Of course, these are backed up with your pack under your legs, rope flaked out, freeze-dried food packages, etc. when need be. as a side note, last time i compared closed cell pads with inflatables,their edge lies in bulk to warmth, for when you need to cram in as much other gear as possible. if bulk is not that much of a consideration and you factor in prices, a good foam pad is still the way to go.

oops. those were for lowering or rapping, not seconding. sorry

anyone remember that old 3 or 4 wraps around a biner technique, or that biner intensive build-a-biner-chain-kind-of-thing with pairs of opposed biners?

for the last 10 years or so i've been doing the bivy bag + siltarp(summer) or betamid/megamid scene, but it seems i always get dumped on by the weather. especially after my last three trips with mixed sleet, snow, rain in spring and rain + bugs the rest of the summer for about 19 days out of about 3 weeks, i find myself longing for the comfort of a double-wall tent. my old nf mountain 24(?) is still servicible, but a real pig to carry. my other tents have been run into the ground long ago. i picked up a nemo obi1 for 3-season use, and on my last trip it worked well enough at slightly less weight than my bivy+tarp. now i'm looking for a new winter/mountaineering tent. i don't need to rehash the singlewall/ doublewall pro's & con's debate, or need info on biblers or integral designs, etc. and i know i can shave 2 or maybe even 3 pounds off my old nf mountain with some of the new double-walls. however, the stats on the nf assault 2 look pretty impressive on paper: low weight, "drywall" "technology", includes detachable vestibule, & at a relatively reasonable price. i used to have a single-wall tent about 20 - 25 years ago which was usually wetter inside than out, due to condensation. i don't expect miracles, but i was wondering if the assault 2 might actually have "dry walls", relatively speaking. the problem is that i've only been able to find about 3 user reviews. 1 said they hadn't had any major condensation issues, another said it was weather tight, and another said the listed weight was correct. encouraging, but not enough to base a decision on. if anyone has had any exprience with it, i'd be real happy if they could weigh in the pro' & con's. and on another but related topic, i've seen reviews re: the bd first light which seem polarized between saying it's drum tight or you might as well sleep in the rain. is this an old version/new version issue? and while we're at it, any rab summit "shelter" users out there? any and all input will be welcome. thanks in advance, phil

alpine moderate pretty much defines me. i generally try to avoid situations that look like they could result in taking a whipper, although i've taken my share of falls. however, "falls" on straight-forward alpine routes is most usually a misnomer. slide and tumble is more like it. (or more amusingly, fall through cornice & tumble while thrashing with ax). as long as you don't take what amounts to a fall on rock over sharp edge or inadvertently chop your rope while thrashing with ax, you should be good to go. my current alpine rope, which caught a short fall last spring, is (i think) 8.6; my previous was maybe 8.2. however, from a legal point of view,i certainly wouldn't recommend using a skinny rope. in fact, you'd have to be mentally incompetent to do so. i personally recommend using an 11mm rope in all instances.